An incurable autoimmune disease was my lemon. Using my story to impact hundreds of thousands of people is my lemonade.

For months, I suffered from drastic weight loss, joint pain and malnutrition. After countless doctor visits, I was diagnosed with a severe form of Ulcerative Colitis at age 22, just two months after getting married. Despite an expansive array of debilitating medications and prednisone steroids, I found myself hospitalized numerous times each year, admitted repeatedly for multiple blood transfusions due to morbidly low hemoglobin levels.

Left with a choice between surgery or a life-long weekly treatment with harsh side effects, I began my own research to explore other options despite my doctors telling me that diet couldn’t help me. I embarked on a new diet- eating only grain-free, sugar-free, starch-free, and unprocessed foods. Although no doctor would support a dietary change as a part of my treatment, I realized that I could take things into my own hands to achieve real results.

I noticed immediate improvement, but committing to a new, drastically different diet was not easy. When my son was just 9 months old, I had an extreme setback, which caused me to be hospitalized yet again, and required multiple blood transfusions to save my life. He was unable to see me in the hospital for almost 2 weeks and I was bedridden for months after returning home. I realized then that I had no choice but to get well, and would do whatever it took to be able to return to being his mom. I began eliminating more food groups including dairy and legumes, following a plan that closely mimicked the Paleo diet.

Seeing drastic progress after just 48 hours, I started to dedicate my free time to creating delicious comfort foods that could be enjoyed on a restricted diet. I started my blog, Against All Grain www.againstallgrain.com, to help others suffering from similar ailments continue to enjoy food and realize that they are not alone in the journey. I set out on a mission to tell everyone my story in attempt of helping others. After just 3 years running, my blog now has over 1 million views a month.

Since then, I have released 3 cookbooks: Against All Grain, Meals Made Simple, and Against all Grain: Thankful all of which have repeatedly landed coveted #1 bestseller’s spots. My social media following has far surpassed anything I had ever expected, and I have humbly found myself as a beacon of hope for those suffering from illnesses or caring for loved ones with such.

I transformed my adversities into opportunities and created my successful blog, Against All Grain, and 2 New York Times Bestselling cookbooks in an effort to help those in need eat well and feel great, without feeling deprived. My fans thank me time and time again for sharing my story, and my response is “How Could I Not?” If I struggled through everything I did and came out on the other side of it without sharing, then it would all be for nothing. My goal was to always help just 1 person that may find themselves in my shoes. Just 1. And now I’m reaching millions a month. It’s truly the most rewarding and indescribable job, besides being a mother!

I never imagined that spreading my story and my passion of healing through food would become my job.  I now make a living on what I do, and my husband was even able to join along side me to make it a family business. We both work from home so we can enjoy more time with each other and our son, Asher.  When I was lying in a hospital bed clinging to my life years ago, I could have never expected to turn what I was going through into “lemonade”.  It was so hard to see how a positive outcome could come from something so horrific, but I refused to let it beat me and set out to do something with everything I had experienced and learned, and share it with the world.