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"It is my personal mission to help improve the quality of life for at least one person each and every day.” Jodi Jones, CSN, Founder of Vitality Gourmet."
For many the road to success comes after years of study and experience in a given field; not so for Jodi Jones. Her triumph came as a result of more than a decade of suffering, and her success has come from the simple power of healthy eating.
In her late 20’s Jodi had her first experience with pain and fatigue, it seemed random at the time, but over the next decade, pain and weariness took over her life. As a corporate executive Jodi needed energy, but she didn’t have it. And her doctors couldn’t determine the cause of her symptoms. After many years, she was eventually diagnosed with Lupus and Fibromyalgia. Over the years she became increasingly debilitated. No longer could she take her dogs for a run, play golf with her husband or go flying like she once used to. Eight years of taking doctor-prescribed medications including prednisone, cortisone shots and four different daily medications didn’t help; her symptoms continued to worsen.
Once a vibrant and successful marketing executive, by the time she reached her 39th birthday Jodi was a shell of her former self and, unable to meet the demands of her position as an executive at a software development company, Jodi was forced into early retirement. This devastating experience was compounded by her husbands lay-off from technology giant Hewlett-Packard after a 24 year career.
Desperate to recover her health and vitality, Jodi sought meaningful explanations for her illnesses and alternative treatments to remedy her condition. In desperation, Jodi contemplated her own choices in nutrition. She admits, “I haven’t always been focused on healthful eating. In fact, I was known as ‘junk food Jodi’. My metabolism was my curse. I could eat anything in any quantity and consistently weigh 105 pounds.” In reflection, Jodi realized that perhaps her own abuse of her body is what has left her malnourished, with damaged blood cells and a compromised immune system. It was this epiphany that led her to a wellness institute in Newport Beach, CA, the Grossman Wellness Center in Lake Forest, CA, and eventually down the road to recovery and success.
Her experience at these wellness centers was eye-opening and awe-inspiring; Jodi clearly embraced the connection between nutrition and disease. “I had never really believed this in the past,” she says “I thought it was all hype. But it is not, and I’m proof of that…so are hundreds of my clients!” Within six months of following a lifestyle of wellness, Jodi was symptom free. Within a year Jodi’s illnesses were in complete remission. After a decade, Jodi got her vitality back ~ and with it, an extreme passion to share her success with others.
Jodi immediately began pursuit of health education. She became a certified sports nutritionist and personal trainer and formed the Wellness Alliance Network, an organization dedicated to awareness and education on balanced nutrition and healthy living. She began working for Dr. Michael Grossman as his nutritionist and together they co-authored a book called The Vitality Connection: Ten Practical Ways to Optimize Your Health and Reverse the Aging Process. The book received acclaim in the nutrition industry and is distributed through major bookstores and on Amazon.com. In addition to her book, Jodi has been widely interviewed and published in Women’s World Magazine, Fit Magazine, Today’s Women and on various health-industry publications.
Committed to good nutrition, Jodi continued to thrive physically and personally, but she recognized that many of her patients did not experience the same results she did. Perplexed, she began to investigate why. At this time, most of Jodi’s patients were struggling from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or obesity, chronic fatigue, and the list goes on. She would provide them with weekly counseling, meal plans, recipes, shopping lists, vitamins, etc. Each week, she would review their dietary intake journal and see that they were following the plan about 40% of the time and were not achieving their health goals. Over time, Jodi realized that people, in general, just weren’t motivated nor did they have the time to shop, cook and clean up every day, let alone exercise, too.
Realizing that 40% would never be enough to bring about sustainable change, Jodi began a pilot program with five patients where she became their private chef for one month. She created a delicious breakfast smoothie recipe that they were required to blend each morning. She prepared their meals and snacks for five days, and they were on their own for two days. Within one month, each of them lost an average of 10 pounds, felt more energetic and started to exercise, and with Jodi doing the cooking, they all stayed on the program until they achieved their original health goals.
Now the mystery was solved and Jodi had a proven formula for success. That year Jodi launched cooking cooperatives where patients could cook ten servings of one of “Jodi’s” recipes and exchange the meals with nine other co-op participants. Then in October 2004 Jodi hired professional chefs and began looking for a commercial kitchen. Today, Vitality Gourmet employs five gourmet chefs, operates a 2,400 square foot commercial kitchen in Southern California, and they’re looking for more space.
Just four years after finding the cure to her own quality-of-life destroying illness, Jodi Jones is in better physical and mental health than she’s been in for 20 years. She has a thriving business and with her team, Vitality Gourmet has helped over 200 people achieve their health and fitness goals and restore balance to their bodies and their lives. Jodi’s is a story of perseverance, dedication and triumph, and she wants you to experience the liberation that success.
Find out more about Vitality Gourmet Meal Programs |
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