I am excited to introduce the fabulous team behind this blog! For the first year and a half I completely ran the whole thing by myself, and at times I felt like I was just flying by the seat of my pants. But after experiencing my fair share of technical difficulties as well as some serious blog growth, I quickly realized I could no longer do this on my own. So I am excited to share all the names and faces that make this blog what it is today. There is no way everything would keep running smoothly without their invaluable help! Also almost everyone on this list either has or will be publishing guest posts so look for their names as they join the conversation here on the blog.
-
Lisa Leake, Blog Creator
I am a wife, mother, foodie, and blogger who started this site to (hopefully) inspire others to cut out highly processed food. Prior to my unexpected and “almost didn’t happen” blogging stint I absolutely loved both food and cooking, but never wrote anything a day in my life (other than thank you notes and term papers!). I actually worked for Bank of America mostly doing corporate event planning up until my older daughter was 4-years-old…so as you can see quite a contrast from food writing. I am glad I overcame my “lack of writing skills” concern though and went down this path anyway because as it turns out, combining a deep passion with determination and hard work can take you to some pretty unexpected and exciting places!
Sometimes it feels like I don’t have much of a life outside of this blog (and the cooking that comes with it), but I do have other interests! They include traveling, gardening, sewing, craft projects with my girls, entertaining friends, throwing an occasional party, running or biking for exercise, and both decorating and organizing our home. Yep, I am your classic type-A busy body…even though I sometimes try I never actually sit still for very long!
To learn more about how this blog got started check out our “about” page.
-
Jason Leake, My Husband
Jason is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to professional experience, skills, and blog responsibilities. He has a mechanical engineering background and has worked as a product engineer, application engineer, real estate sales agent and investor, and sales executive. But in August of 2012, Jason had the opportunity to leave corporate America and begin working on the blog full time. Hooray! Jason’s primary blog roles are editor, ad network manager, and accountant (ugh!). He is also involved behind the scenes with most every other aspect of the blog including strategic development, grocery go-getting, first tier tech support, and emotional support. 
Outside of work, Jason is a very involved dad and husband. He loves adventure, mountain biking, camping/backpacking, live music, international and domestic travel, home improvement projects, truthful people, and of course real food. He also enjoys rock climbing, running, and meditation (but is a novice at all three). One day he’ll get back into whitewater kayaking, and he has a dream of renovating an Airstream trailer and traveling cross-country with the family visiting national parks. Jason and Lisa both currently reside in Charlotte, NC with their two daughters ages (almost) 6 and 8.
-
Amy Taylor, Team Assistant
A bit more than four years ago, on a whim, Amy and her family decided to leave their Ohio home to go live on the beach in Florida. While there, Amy was finally able to fully turn her attention to what she believed she should be focusing on: the health and well-being of her family. Thus began her nutrition education as well as honing in on our American food system and how very out of touch we’ve become with what we eat. It has become Amy’s mission to feed her family in the healthiest ways possible and to educate others along the way.
Interacting with our readers is a high priority, and that’s where Amy comes in. By answering the comments on the blog Amy helps our readers find the information they need. She also ensures that certain blog pages (like the recipe index) are up-to-date and sends out the “10 Days of Real Food” wristbands to our real food graduates.
Amy is an amateur yogi, herb and vegetable gardener, Ted Talk addict, and nature lover! Her educational background is in child development. Amy is now a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and looks forward to adding some punch to her new found passions! Amy currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband and 2 young boys.
-
Shawn Keller, Facebook and Email Moderator
Shawn was born and raised in Northern California. When she was 18, she moved to Florida and it’s a good thing she did because that’s where she met her husband! After 7 years in the Sunshine State, they decided it was time for change. They packed up their stuff, put their finger on the map, and ended up landing in Charlotte, NC. Shawn has always had an interest in health and fitness, but it was when she became pregnant with her first child that she really started to feel passionate about eating real food.
Shawn is the newest member of our team and her main responsibility is answering reader questions on our Facebook wall. Just like with the blog comments and emails it got to the point where FB questions would start going unanswered if I didn’t get some help! And it’s important to me that everyone gets the responses they need. Shawn also helps Jill manage incoming emails when the volume is high.
Shawn stays busy with three kids (a 6 year old boy, a 4 year old girl and a very busy 2 year old boy), a dog, and last, but not least, a husband. Her weekends are usually filled with running the kids to their various sporting events. When she does have free time, she loves to bike and hike. Really, anything outside makes her happy Shawn also loves to cook and bake, so you can often find her in the kitchen.
-
Kiran Dodeja Smith, Sales Manager
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Kiran was a Junior in college when she realized that the accounting degree she was pursuing was not the field she wanted to work in for the rest of her life. So instead, she continued on and completed an MBA program with a focus in marketing. Upon graduation, she moved to Charlotte, NC with her (now) husband. After working for 3.5 years with a regional bridal publication, she started her own business, a regional magazine targeting parents. She successfully ran the publication for 8 years, during which she expanded her family to include four children. In November 2011, it was time for a change.
Kiran handles all of our sponsorship partners and advertising sales including giveaways and discounts for our readers. If advertising your company or website on 100 Days of Real Food might be a good fit then Kiran is your girl! Kiran brings a strong understanding of advertising, marketing and promotion as well as skills gained from running a small business and can assist you in finding the best way to promote your business to our targeted demographic. In addition to working with sponsors, Kiran will also be writing some product review posts for the blog. She currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband and four children.
Vani Hari (a.k.a. Food Babe), Contributing Writer
Vani is a management consultant turned food activist writer. She has made it her mission to spread information about what is in your food, how you can make the right purchasing decisions at the grocery store, and how to live an organic lifestyle. Her insights can be found on her blog FoodBabe.com and here on 100 days of Real Food in her column “Food Babe Investigates.”
Vani is incredibly passionate about nutrition, travel, politics and the environment, being an inspiring and energetic speaker at health and wellness events. The success of her writing and investigative work can be seen in the way food companies react to her uncanny ability to find and expose the truth. Major food companies like Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Kraft Foods, Whole Foods, Coca-Cola and McDonalds respond to her writings. Vani has been profiled in newspapers like The New York Times and USA Today, and is regularly featured as a food expert on TV programs like Inside Edition, Dr. Oz, and CNN.
-
Andrew Wilder, Tech Support
Andrew Wilder has been a “foodie” for as long as he can remember, but it wasn’t until his “a-ha!” moment in 2009 that he decided to make healthful living and eating a primary focus in his life. Shortly thereafter, he started his blog, Eating Rules, to help others find the same joy in real food.
Andrew can also be found working on related projects such as Blog Tutor, which is internet consulting and web design for food bloggers, and Healthy Ads, an online advertising network connecting ethical companies with health bloggers and their audiences. It’s all thanks to Andrew that when you visit our blog things run quickly and smoothly!
[...] Our Team [...]
[...] help ring in the New Year, we invited our (mostly Charlotte-based) blog team and their spouses over for a pot luck dinner on Saturday. Oddly enough though, the fun began weeks [...]
[...] am Jill (assistant to 100 Days of Real Food) and a little over 2 years ago, my husband started suffering from digestive problems following back [...]
[...] Our Team [...]
[...] has a real food blog of his own called Eating Rules…to learn more about Andrew check out our team page! [...]
[...] Our Team [...]
[...] Our Team [...]
Hello,
It amazes me when I come across websites/enterprises such as yours, that you can make a living from it, because its just so hard to believe the average person on the street is just so damn stupid, that they need to be told all this, and don’t just inherently ‘get it’.
I kind of don’t believe they are. It seems impossible/improbable.
It seems such a fundamental principal, if you’re interested in staying healthy for as much of your life as possible, that you should only put into your body food in a state that’s as close to its natural state as it would be growing/living in, in the wild. ie. with as little adulteration at the hands of man as possible. And obviously don’t eat chemicals synthesised by man.
It almost seems a parallel scenario with the one where someone makes a resolution to lose weight, so they order in-home exercise equipment.
This satisfies their conscience because they can say to themselves they’re doing something, but really they’re still just stalling as they really know, deep-down, it will take 3 weeks for the equipment to arrive.
THEN, when it arrives they can stretch it out another 2 weeks working out how to assemble the equipment.
Hence the vast majority of equipment sourced in this manner ultimately sits and gathers dust.
When really, if they were serious: getting off their back-side and getting out there and putting in the hard work is the simple answer.
I wonder whether your offering strikes similar psychological chords within people leading a not otherwise healthy eating lifestyle.
I wonder if many of your customers are playing the same conscience game with themselves, just pretending they didn’t know the truth/didn’t know how to change (cause it’s do basic)? just so they can satisfy their conscience that they’re ‘now’ taking steps, meanwhile this gives their subconscious ‘permission’ to continue to eat unhealthily as long as they make small progressive improvements along their ‘education path’ with you?
I’m babbling, but I just don’t see how it’s so difficult, that people require so much latent education and guidance.
Hi Matthew. While I am very educated about it all now, I did not give processed food much thought as a child, teenager, young adult, and even as recently as my 30′s. Processed was normal. If you are not brought up to look for the difference between what is real food and how we as average Americans have pantries full of what is NOT real, it can take a very long time to wake up to it. It did for me. It took motherhood to make me want to look deeper. While I understand your skepticism, we are called to meet people where they are and welcome them to make important changes now.
Sincerely ~Amy
don’t get me started on parenting. how some parents can put what they put into their children’s mouths is beyond comprehension. it should be a criminal offence. you gotta wonder if they actually love their children or not.
i would have thought one thing you’d like to see as a parent is for your children to not make the same mistakes you made and to do it better than you.
there should be ‘food police’ patrolling supermarket check-outs, making on-the-spot balanced assessments of parents’ carts, and arresting them if it’s below par.
it’s gonna be interesting to see the state of the english speaking (as a 1st language) world’s health as a whole in 15 years. i say english speaking because this junk-food/unhealthy eating pandemic seems predominantly confined to such countries: US, UK, Australia, etc..
Whilst bad eating habits are catching on in continental europe and elsewhere, foreign language speaking countries have many years to go till they are even 20% as bad as the ‘english spoken as a 1st language’ countries.
Matthew,
You seem like an intelligent person. So why not go out and try to educate those people that you think should just “get it” (like Lisa and her team)? Complaining and judging others on the comment section of a blog isn’t going to make a change. If you feel that serious about something then why don’t you try getting off your back-side and getting out there and putting in the hard work.. it is the simple answer
Have a good day!
I’m sure you can work-out the answer to your question.
WHY don’t I? =>time, financial commitments, obligations, etc.
if I could go back to school days and make different career choices, I would now do something in a health context. though back then as a naive 17 year old in a country town, having to take steps towards making career path choices, there was no way I could know a career could be forged out of pursuing health.
unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), life’s about compromise and sacrifice (you can’t get something for nothing, which applies to everything in life), thus you can’t always do what you want/you’re passionate about.
meanwhile though, I obviously do/impart what I can in the context of the people I know and come into contact with, if they’re interested.
this is my last post, so I’ll leave my 2 cents for what it’s worth (of course, delete this post if inappropriate or OTT or too long), which is based SOLELY on my personal experience and results, obtained from my continuing 30 year interest/hobby in:
“diet and nutrition and its role in, and contribution to, a healthy ageing process”, and since 1996: research into human physiology and biochemistry, and molecular biology.
Some people collect stamps. I’ve collected 30 years of knowledge, trialled and errored it, applied and put it into practice with me as the Guinea Pig:
Core personal nutrition ethos since 15 years old:
————————————————
- if you can’t find it somewhere out there (out the window of your house/car/plane/train) in nature growing/grazing/flowing AS God intended (not GM), then: DON’T CONSUME IT, or (to be practical given modern-day lifestyles), consume it in as close to the state as you would find it in nature.
But better to go hungry till you can find it in the preferred state (which you should have already pre-prepared for anyway).
ie. don’t consume anything made/invented by man.
ie. don’t consume additives (..cause they’re man made)
ie. if you have to deviate from above, make it as unprocessed as possible
Dietary fundamentals:
——————–
- bowl of organic rolled oats with scoop of unprocessed bran and sliced banana for breakfast
- with 60 grams high quality Native (undenatured) Whey Protein Isolate stirred through
- with water (a good WPI will make the taste as good as with milk)
- no dairy (reasons to involved to elaborate here as to why)
- no bread (or only occasionally because you make it yourself)
- no simple carbs (simple carbs are usually the domain of processed foods, though there are a few natural ones to avoid, eg. white potato)
- organic: red meat twice per week; chicken once per week; fish once per week (optional)
- vegetables to the max., particularly cruciferous (organic if possible)
- no added fat
- no added sugar
- no added salt
- minimal alcohol
- minimal fruit (sugar is sugar)
- vegetables to the max.
- vegetables to the max. – did I already say that?
Other dietary policies:
———————-
- only eat to 80% full
- structure eating habits to include small snacks throughout day, rather than large meals
– even stretch half your enormous bowl of breakfast over the whole day by refrigerating. protein and slow release carbs = ideal
- try and always feel a bit hungry
Very Important:
- when your hormone levels start to fall, and levels become out of balance with age, Naturally restore them to healthy youthful levels EARLY
- take your health into your own hands, next to your family it’s the most important thing in life
- do your own research, don’t believe anything ANYONE says (including conventional General Practitioners), even if it’s in print
- supplement daily with (at MINIMUM): Ubiquinol; Pomegranate; Thymus; Magnesium; Phosphorus; plus, Life Extension Foundation’s Life Extension Mix product.
- exercise supplements: Arginine and Creatine are useful in terms of providing a little extra zest to help you physically, energy wise, put the most into a session
Exercise staples:
—————-
- one: 3 mile jog; OR 24 lap swim, per week
– optimally: one of each
- two sessions of isometric exercises per week (each one after jog or swim), with 5 sets of 10 chin-ups included (incorporate leg raises in chin-up sets to work abdominals and strengthen core)
– women: hands shoulder width apart on bar
– maintains all-round tone
– guys: hands approximately 1m apart on bar
– attains and maintains a V-shaped athletic (with a little bulk) masculine physique
– you don’t need to ‘pump iron’ or work-out with weights and stress/destroy your joints to attain or maintain a healthy, and what society deems an attractive physique.
your own body weight combined with resistance, exercise (particularly swimming), and optimal hormone levels and balance is sufficient. for guys: if you actually ask them, very few women find the pumped up lumpy body builder physique attractive.
– most importantly, you don’t need to use steroids (which are for people who are trying to get something for nothing [doesn't happen in life in the long term]. whilst, like a washing machine on credit, the price is deferred, you’ll still end up paying later with your health)
Physical Status:
—————
- 45 years; 180cm; 82kg
- can still run a 6 minute mile like when in school
- still have an 8-pack etc.
- resting pulse: 62
- resting blood pressure: 100/60
- HBa1C; LDL; Cholesterol, etc. all optimal
- no joint or connective tissue issues
- physically, feel no perceivable difference to when 25. can still do the days work of a 25 year old, though more relevant (to me), is that: providing after a hard-days physical work, I have a decent early meal with a couple of scoops of protein powder, and 8 hours sleep, I can get up and do it all over again day-in-day-out.
In Summary
———-
40+ has been an especially enlightening period, being a critical period in the ageing process, when any legacy from youthful unhealthy lifestyle choices, as well as declining hormone levels, start to physically manifest themselves. if I need any reassurance what I’ve practised and advocated makes a massive difference, I only need to look around at the state of the health of friends I’ve known for 20+ years who are now also around 45.
Many friends have maintained a regular exercise routine, probably to an even greater and more competitive extent than I have, though from observation exercise has not seemed to have made too much of a difference by itself in terms of muting/blunting the ageing process. It seems to be the whole package that makes a difference.
some readers might say, in making personal experiences public via this blog, that I think I’m better or some other rubbish. But if so it will likely be from the ‘quitters’ and the “I can’t do it” types, who are looking for a way to dismiss and write-off what I’ve stated above, and justify to themselves why the above isn’t valid and why they shouldn’t do it. ie. trying to find a way around putting in the work.
however, if someone reads this blog, who has practised similar habits, please also leave your comments.
Healthy ageing seems to me to largely be all about the “R”‘s: renew; repair; regenerate; refurbish; recompensate; remake; remodel; rebuild, etc. etc.
Unlike when younger, with age, the body produces diminishingly less of the raw materials (predominantly hormones) it needs to achieve the “R”‘s.
Therefore, it appears logical that you need to continually feed the body the right fuels (diet) it needs to produce the raw materials it is still capable of producing, and also to supplement the raw materials it is no longer capable of producing.
[...] and will be part of his new interview series for the blog. To learn more about Jason check out our team page or his post entitled “Real Food From a Man’s Perspective.” [...]
[...] Our Team [...]
[...] is a guest post by our Facebook Moderator, Shawn. She recently put together a fabulous little “Rainbow Party” for her daughter’s [...]
[...] Our Team [...]
[...] is a regular contributor on 100 Days of Real Food. To learn more about Vani check her out on “Our Team” [...]
I think this is a great idea for a site/business and I wish you well!
I think it is amazing how many people do not think at all and keep eating fast food, canned food, frozen food, etc. The fact is we eat some of that too but we limit it and NEVER eat such things as hydrogenated fat or high fructose corn syrup, aspartame etc.
The point is, everyone is at their own stage of development but it takes sites like these to help wake people up to at least THINK about the food they eat.
It’s the same with water! I sell water filters but before I bought my first filter I had no idea about how bad plastic bottles were, that chemicals like pthalates and bpa may leach into the water, that bottled water is often just filtered tap water (and not filtered as well as it could be with your OWN filter system), and so on.
So we all evolve and the sooner we evolve to not eat and drink stuff that hurts our bodies instead of helping them, the better!