National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to promote screening and early detection of breast cancer.

Roughly 1 in 8 women in the United States will get breast cancer. Next to skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common kind of cancer in women.

Symptoms of breast cancer may include:

• A lump in the breast
• A change in size, shape, or feel of the breast
• Fluid (called “discharge”) from a nipple

You have a better chance of surviving breast cancer if it’s found early. Talk to a doctor about your risk for breast cancer, especially if breast or ovarian cancer runs in your family. Your doctor can help you decide when and how often to get a mammogram.

Lake Health Urges Women to Schedule Their Yearly Mammogram

Quick Guide to Healthy Living

• Get Tested for Breast Cancer
• Mammograms: Questions for the doctor
• Talk with a Doctor if Breast or Ovarian Cancer Runs in Your Family

Personal Health Tools

• Breast Cancer Risk Tool
• Breast Cancer Tutorial
• Mammograms: Questions for the doctor

More Information (Health A-Z)

• Breast Cancer
• Breast Self-Examination

Resources

Source:  Healthfinder.gov

The Lake Health Resource Center hours vary Monday-Friday between TriPoint Medical Center and West Medical Center. Voicemail and e-mail are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please call before visiting to ensure staff availability.

E-mail: library@lakehealth.org
Telephone with voicemail: 440-639-4387
FAX: 440-354-1916 or 440-953-6297

If your request is urgent, call the Lake Health Resource Center to ensure staff availability!

TriPoint Medical Center - Physician Pavilion
7590 Auburn Rd.
Concord Twp, Ohio 44077

West Medical Center
36000 Euclid Avenue
Willoughby, Ohio 44094

The Lake Health Resource Center/Library is proud to announce the start of the Laptop Lending program!  The pilot project began at West Medical Center on Monday, September 12, 2011.  Lake Health patients, families and visitors (18 years or older) may borrow a laptop for up to 4 hours while at West Medical Center from the Resource Center. 

Patients and family members call the Resource Center at ext.33123 to request a laptop.  If Resource Center Staff is unavailable, patients are directed to ask their nurse to contact a Nursing Supervisor to obtain a laptop.  Four laptops are available for the pilot project. If the pilot project is successful, additional laptops will be purchased and the program will be implemented at TriPoint Medical Center.

The purpose of the program is to help our patients stay in touch with family and friends by email, Facebook, Skype, etc., keep up with work or school, watch DVDs or listen to CDs or play games, or search the Internet for good health information. 

The Lake Health Resource Center hours vary Monday-Friday between TriPoint Medical Center and West Medical Center. Voicemail and e-mail are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please call before visiting to ensure staff availability.

E-mail: library@lakehealth.org

Telephone with voicemail: 440-639-4387

FAX: 440-354-1916 or 440-953-6297

If your request is urgent, call the Lake Health Resource Center to ensure staff availability!

TriPoint Medical Center - Physician Pavilion
7590 Auburn Rd.
Concord Twp, Ohio 44077

West Medical Center
36000 Euclid Avenue
Willoughby, Ohio 44094

Every September, Fruit and Veggies – More Matters Month promotes the health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet that can help protect you from:

• Heart disease
• Bone loss
• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Some cancers, such as colorectal cancer

Quick Guide to Healthy Living

• Help Your Child Stay at a Healthy Weight
• Watch Your Weight

Personal Health Tools

• Analyze My Plate Tool
• My Pyramid Menu Planner
• MyPlate.gov Daily Food Plan

More Information (Health A-Z)

• Fruits
• Vegetables

Resources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Produce for Better Health Foundation Fruit and Veggies – More Matters Month Sponsor
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Help Manage Your Weight
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nutrition for Everyone: Fruits and Vegetables
• Produce for Better Health Foundation, Why Fruits and Veggies
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers Market Search
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Growing a Healthier You: Nutrition From the Farm to the Table

The Lake Health Resource Center hours vary Monday-Friday between TriPoint Medical Center and West Medical Center. Voicemail and e-mail are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please call before visiting to ensure staff availability.

E-mail: library@lakehealth.org

Telephone with voicemail: 440-639-4387

FAX: 440-354-1916 or 440-953-6297

If your request is urgent, call the Lake Health Resource Center to ensure staff availability!

TriPoint Medical Center - Physician Pavilion
7590 Auburn Rd.
Concord Twp, Ohio 44077

West Medical Center
36000 Euclid Avenue
Willoughby, Ohio 44094

Source:  Healthfinder.gov

You may have read the headlines awhile back in your local newspaper.  Obesity is contagious.

Based on data emerging from several large scale clinical studies, researchers announced that those of us who socialize with, or live with those who are obese have the tendency to "catch" it, making obesity into a sort of fatty measles.

This news made all the major papers and media outlets and of course led to the obvious and unfortunate conclusion that obese people were to be avoided just as we might give those with strep throat a wide berth.  As with many pieces of research that are trumpeted with great fanfare, this one is now being called into question.  Unfortunately, the media spotlight rarely catches up with the reviews and criticisms that occur after an announcement is made.

A  recent article in the New York Times  pointed out the shortcomings of this research.  Basically, it's extremely difficult to separate contagion from other phenomena.  Perhaps overweight people tend to cluster together because they choose friends who have similar lifestyles or because watching the behaviors of close friends and family tends to normalize those behaviors in their minds, making them more acceptable. 

The jury is out. 

However, I think that this controversy gives me the perfect opening to discuss one of my favorite related phenomena:  the fact that those who develop new, healthy, lifestyles seem to have a strong influence on those around them.  In fact, a large percentage of my successful patients report that someone in their life,  a spouse, friend, or child, will have lost significant weight and changed behaviors as a result of watching their progress.

I call this the Tag-a-Long Phenomenon and I believe it demonstrates the same principles documented by the researchers on obesity contagion:  but in reverse. 

A friend of mine developed an autoimmune disease and was overweight.  As a result of knowing and observing me, she adopted a grain-free diet and became a 90% Primarian.  She lost all of her excess weight and had a marked decrease in the symptoms of her disorder (which had reached the point where she was about to begin steroid treatment).  About a year later, her overweight son adopted the same diet and normalized his weight.  Sometime after that, her husband, who had been highly skeptical of dietary change, began to eat the same way.

Our practice treated a man who had been told he needed gastric bypass to control a new case of diabetes.  After losing all of his weight and becoming a Primarian eater, his wife came to us for similar treatment.  We then treated their children.  Friends who knew the family turned out to have been influenced by their results.  Some came to us and some adopted similar eating principles on their own.  This single man's food conversion has now effected upwards of a dozen people.

We work with the president of a major company.  After losing significantly and becoming a runner and primarily Primarian eater,  our patient noticed that members of his management team began to show similar inclinations.  One became a marathoner and others lost and maintained weight.  The change in their lives has led to an interest in new programs and healthy initiatives throughout the company.

What is contagion?  In my view, its definition is clinically unimportant when it comes to behaviors.  Whether we call it contagion, influence, or modeling, it is obvious is that human beings closely observe one another and learn from what they see.  If eating too much is the norm in your circle, it will be harder to avoid it.  However, if you make the effort to be someone who changes and has a true shift in belief and behavior, there will be many people around you who will watch and perhaps mimic your efforts.

Because behaviors get into the cultural atmosphere and have the ability to spread "virally",  it is important to create an environment that values health more and relies on medicines less.  We all have a bit of the lemming in us.  But given the chance, it's as easy to follow the one who's ascending to the mountaintop as it is to pursue the one who's headed off the cliff.

Transformative Principle #4: Release the Death Grip, Restore the Humor

These Transformative Principles are part of a series on achieving permanent health change that began on March 21.  The "principles" are not meant to be gospel.  They are simply thoughts of mine that are based on observation of successful maintainers, personal experience and--to some degree-- my own conjecture.  I hope they provide some food for thought as you continue your own quest for health transformation.

It seems to me that many people who are trying to transform have the feeling that they are holding on for dear life.  It's not uncommon for maintainers to write about their "white-knuckled grip" on new behaviors.  Constant vigilance, which is necessary

What strange beings we are.  Here we are trying to accomplish something that must rank up there with one of the most difficult challenges in the world, yet we don't want to give ourselves any credit for the attempt.  Only success will do.  We find ourselves clawing at perfection and hating ourselves for failure. 

Transformation is a process of shaping; of getting closer with each new try.   I once had a friend whose child was having many difficulties.  She told me that a psychologist had described her child's trajectory by comparing it to the course of an airplane.  A plane doesn't actually fly in a straight line, the therapist had said. At any given moment, it veers off course a bit with the prevailing winds.  It goes slightly too high, slightly too low, this way and that, and then corrects.  The point is that it eventually gets to its intended landing spot. 

Health transformation won't work if you allow each deviation to provide a reason to quit.  If you give up because you get blown off the path, the journey stops there.  But since deviations in the trajectory are normal to development, it does us no particular good to grip the process with clenched hands.  Relax.
Remember to laugh. 

In my book, I write about intensity.  I talk about being a "warrior" and being "tough, not moderate" in your approach to transformation.  I still believe in those principles and I will write about them later in this series.  But let me add another analogy, this one from the tennis world.  (I really like analogies!)

My tennis coach was recently teaching me how to hit a volley.  The volley is a shot that's hit directly at you when you are standing up at the net.  Because you are so far forward in the court, that shot comes at you fast.  You must block the ball with your racquet quickly to avoid getting hit right in the nose.  It's scary standing up there with someone on the other side gunning for you.  As a beginner, your tendency is to hold onto the racquet for dear life.  Your hands are clenched so tightly that they can hardly move.  Your eyes look like saucers.  Your jaw is tight.  All the muscles in your body are tensed with anticipation.  There's only one problem.  As soon as you tighten up, you can't react to the ball.  So my teacher taught me a technique.  Keep everything loose and relaxed.  Force yourself.  As the ball approaches, THAT is the time to squeeze the racquet using a firm grip.  Relax.  React.  Firm Up.

And when the ball hits you in the nose, shake your head and laugh at your imperfect game.  Once, just a few years ago, you couldn't even contact the ball with your racquet.
You can be tough, determined, in fact a better warrior if you learn to relax.  You're on a journey.  It's strange, funny, human, and beautiful. Enjoy the ride.

These Transformative Principles are part of a series on achieving permanent health change that began on March 21.  The "principles" are not meant to be gospel.  They are simply thoughts of mine that are based on observation of successful maintainers, personal experience and--to some degree-- my own conjecture.  I hope they provide some food for thought as you continue your own quest for health transformation.

Transformative Principle #3:  Find Others Who Have Transformed

Many of my maintenance patients seem to relate to the following analogy: 

Everyone you know is having a great time swimming in the ocean.  The only problem is that the ocean is terribly polluted.  Large blobs of chocalatey brown oil are bobbing all over the surface. People are swimming in it, swallowing it and inhaling the fumes, yet they claim they are enjoying themselves. You see this going on and become increasingly concerned about the danger.  Suddenly, you see a beautiful island.  Exhausted from the drag of the oily sea, you pull yourself up onto the shore.  Like a pelican in the gulf, you are coated in oil.  You set the work on the laborious task of cleaning it all off.  Finally, spent but relieved, you turn to look at the beautiful place where you've found rescue.  There's only one problem: you are all alone on the island. 

Almost everyone who tries to accomplish transformation feels like the odd-man out.  Eating mindlessly while complaining about health and weight is a cultural norm.  We are social beings and living life in another permutation ostracizes us to some degree.  It becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the pressure to return to the fold.

Successful transformation is infinitely easier if your island is populated.  Thanks to the internet, this is a lot easier to do now.  After losing over 100 pounds, Lynn began a chat room relationship with a group of women who call themselves "The Maintaining Divas".  Years into the process, they remain close and even travel to reunions so they can talk face to face.

One of the best pillars for transformation is having another like-minded person in your household.  Generally, this is a spouse or significant other.

These Transformative Principles are part of a series on achieving permanent health change that began on March 21.  The "principles" are not meant to be gospel.  They are simply thoughts of mine that are based on observation of successful maintainers, personal experience and--to some degree-- my own conjecture.  I hope they provide some food for thought as you continue your own quest for health transformation. 

Transformative Principle #2: Transformation requires re-engaging with your body.

As people gain weight, they often create a separation between themselves and their bodies. The mirror may become their enemy.  Clothes that define their shape may be passed over in favor of garments that conceal. They may not want to exercise because they are afraid of how they may look.

It's surprisingly easy to live entirely in your head, blocking out not only visuals but the messages that your body is sending.  Modern medicine is a terrific thing, but sometimes we cede control to doctors as a way of further distancing ourselves from our own physical aspect.  It's easier to have a cortisone injection in your knee than to heal that knee yourself.  It's scientific and unemotional to swallow cholesterol medicine.  It's messy to look at the way you've been eating and try to turn it off.

Those who have undergone transformation still see their flaws.  They may not like them  (see Lynn's piece on The Green House), but they are looking and they are connected.

Transformation is about wanting to take care of yourself in a deep and permanent way.  It's impossible to care for something that remains shrouded from view.  So start looking.

I don't believe in platitudes like "You need to learn to love yourself" or "You just need to do more for YOU".  Wanting to transform is not a switch you can flip from off to on.   Working on inhabiting the part of you that lies below your collar bones is part of the long and scary process of changing.

This is where physical activity can be very helpful.  Movement, exercise, things that force the body into action put you into direct communion with your muscles, bones and organs.  This part of the transformation prescription need not be strenuous.  It might be Tai Chi, walking in the park, or slow stretchy yoga. It might be quiet meditation with deep, complete breathing.  It might be private time with a "Sweatin' to the Oldies" DVD.  Or it might simply be more time looking at yourself and passing over your faults in favor of reminding yourself of your body's amazing potential for rebuilding and recovery. 

E.M. Forster begins his celebrated novel Howard's End with a single phrase…."Only connect….."  The meaning of these words has been debated ever since the book's publication.  Some think it refers to the inability of certain characters to relate to other people.  Whatever it's intended meaning, it remains an emblem of Forster.  These two words shimmer because we all understand that we are nothing without connection: whether it is with our friends, our children, our spouses, or our world.  And that connection begins with an appreciation for our very selves and for the bodies  that have been gifted to us.  Connect with that body and it can begin to heal.

Transformative Principle #1: Transformation is about belief.  But belief can develop through habit.

To be transformed in your relationship to food and health, you must deeply believe that eating and living in a particular way are central to who you are.  That is quite different from understanding intellectually that eating well is good for you.  No one who begins the process of transformation has yet developed this connection.  The journey toward developing it is the soul of what we call "maintenance".

In my office, a common refrain from patients is, "I really, REALLY want to lose 30 (50, 80, 100) pounds."  Another is, "I really, REALLY want to keep it off this time."  Unfortunately these "wants" are easily subverted by other cravings.  Those who are still simply dieters and not yet transformed still also want to live life as they did before. This is natural.  They still want to eat spaghetti dinners and have dessert. They still would like to find a place for fast food.  They believe in some deep recesses of their minds that there is a bargain that can be struck that will allow them to resume a controlled version of this life after weight loss.

Transformed maintainers generally find eating and being the way they were distasteful.  This isn't to say that a piece of cheesecake doesn't still look good, but through the daily practice of new habits they have come to appreciate what it feels like to live in health.   The balance has shifted. They don't want it to change.

No one who is new to the process of transformation can expect to feel this way at the point that maintenance begins.  The good news is that practice, leading to habit, can create this new belief. I think the Nike people really knew what they were doing when they designed their "Just Do It" logo.  When you "Just Do" something long enough, its value starts to make a deep imprint.

Transformation occurs via doing and initially that doing has to be a conscious effort.  You will have made the quantum leap when you go from wanting to stay away from unhealthy foods to really not wanting to eat them anymore in some visceral way.  Patience and practice is key.

Nothing in our lifetime reminds us as strongly about the forces of nature than recent events in Japan. Earthquakes, storms, and tsunamis make it abundantly clear that we humans do not control our world despite a strong desire to believe differently.  The earth is constantly transforming itself.  Some of this activity is chaotic and unpredictable (like the Japanese quakes) and some is cyclical and regular.  March 20th marked the vernal equinox; the moment when the sun crosses the equator and night and day are equal in length.  For our northern hemisphere, the equinox marks a welcome slide into spring.  The earth will transform, and we, as part of nature, will go where it goes.

Yet despite the transformative patterns of our planet, many of us see life as a long, slow decline.  While it is true that life's end is inevitable, we too can reassert ourselves and bring a fresh spirit at any point along the way.   We forget that we have bodies which are self-renewing and capable of miraculous self-healing.  We only need to get out of our own way.

When Lynn and I first started this blog, we were struck by the inadequacy of the word "maintainer" to describe someone who had found a new way to manage food and weight.  We asked readers to contribute better descriptors, but there seemed to be none.  After thinking about this for some time, it occurred to me that the reason is simple:  we were looking at wrong process. Successful maintenance actually has very little to do with registering the same number on a scale day after day.  It has everything to do with transformation.

The people I've met who have put overweight behind them have transformed the way they look at life.  This process takes some time and it is not always successful.  The vast majority of dieters never set out to achieve transformation.  Without it, they are almost certain to grow fat again.

What are the elements of transformation?  I cannot claim to have an absolute corner on this knowledge. I can only contribute the benefit of observation and experience.  As a result, I have decided to launch a Refuse to Regain Season of Transformation which will coincide with the coming of spring.  Over the next month, I am going to post a daily (or almost daily!) transformative principle on my Facebook page at Refuse to Regain: Barbara's World.  I will post the same principle on this blog.  Some of these will be accompanied by explanations and some may speak for themselves.  None of them are absolute truths or perfect rules.  They are simply the elements that I have observed in those who have accomplished dietary and weight transformation.  You may have heard many of them before but I believe they bear repeating. Some of these principles are my own personal beliefs and may be subject to your modification.  Others are more universal.

As the seasons change, we are often stirred to action.  Some basic instinct pulls us along with the changing world and we feel a new desire to re-invent ourselves.  I hope that the thoughts that appear over the coming month will help those of you who want to transform but haven't quite made the leap.

As always, I welcome your ideas, comments, and personal transformative principles.  Happy Spring!

Nathan Pritikin: 69.  Robert Atkins: 72.  Roy Walford: 79. Adelle Davis: 70.  Aveline Kushi: 78.  Marjorie Shostak: 51. Jack LaLanne: 96.  Ancel Keys:100. 

David Murdock is a billionaire who believes that he knows the formula for the perfect diet.  Not only has he built his own research institute to refine his theories, but he is confident that his food choices will keep him alive to the age of 125. This would seem to be quite the claim since the longest documented lifespan is currently 122, it was a woman, and it occurred only once.  Nevertheless, Murdock is dismissive of those who eat differently.  According to an article by Frank Bruni in the NY Times:  

In restaurants Murdock will push the butter dish toward the server and say, "Take the death off the table." He will ask employees or friends who are putting sugar in coffee or milk in tea why they want to kill themselves and will upbraid people leaving healthful food unfinished about the vitamins they're squandering.
While Murdock's judgmental bent has doubtless reduced his list of lunch companions, his dietary certainty is by no means rare.  There are any number of books, blogs, eating experts and devoted disciples out there who purport to know the "truth."

Here's my message.  If you are looking for the one true diet........caveat emptor.

While we can safely say that diet is important and a strong determinant of health, there is no one diet that has the corner on perfection.  In fact, history shows that strict adherence to specific diets does not guarantee the avoidance of medical disaster; no matter how much one "believes". Since this is so obviously true, we all need to be careful about those who claim to represent the one true path.

Nathan Pritikin founded an institute based on his beliefs about a diet that was high in natural foods and very low in fat. This diet is similar to the diet that Dr. Dean Ornish advocates today. While Pritikin's own heart disease appeared to regress on this diet, he died of leukemia at the age of 69.

Robert Atkins claimed that eating a diet that was very low in carbohydrates but included saturated fats would protect people against obesity and heart disease.  He died at 72 after a fall that was never fully explained.  Rumors persist of a cardiac history.  No autopsy was ever performed.

Dr. Roy Walford was one of the founders of the CRON movement which believes that extreme longevity can be achieved by long term caloric restriction.  The movement persists, despite the fact that Walford developed ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and died at age 79.

During the 60s and 70s, healthy eating was defined by the work of Adelle Davis, a nutrition activist and author who advocated whole unprocessed foods and avoidance of  food additives.  She died of bone cancer at 70.

Aveline Kushi was the wife and partner of Michio Kushi, one of the founders of the macrobiotic diet.  This strict eating plan is often suggested to cancer patients.  It advocates high fiber, low fat, primarily vegetarian foods with an emphasis on soy.  Despite adherence to this plan, Aveline Kushi died of cervical cancer at age 78 and her husband developed colon cancer in his 80s.

Marjorie Shostak and her husband Dr. Melvin Konner were instrumental in researching and popularizing the Paleolithic diet.  Both were anthropologists who studied the diet of ancient peoples.  While Konner is still living, his wife succumbed to breast cancer at age 51.

Heloise Menell was my aunt.  She played bridge, often forgot to balance her checkbook, had her nails and hair done religiously and did no exercise.  Her diet was heavy on hamburgers and other types of meat.  She liked a good stack of onion rings when she could get one.  Her refrigerator was always filled with chocolates.  She died at 101 after a brief bout of pneumonia.

Ray Kurzweil is an author, brilliant futurist and eccentric who believes that we may by nearing the time when man will merge with machine to make humans essentially immortal.  In order to assure that he lives long enough to benefit, Kurzweil eats no sugar, few starches and small amounts of lean protein.  He also takes approximately 150 supplements orally and receives IV infusions of others.  He is currently in his 60s and claims to be in excellent health.

Ancel Keys was the man who changed America's view of fat.  His seminal Seven Countries Study purported to show that those who ate fat got heart disease, while those who abstained did not.  The study has been widely dissected and criticized over the years, especially because of data that was conveniently excluded.  Nonetheless the study launched America on a low fat, high carbohydrate course that is believed by some to have triggered our current obesity epidemic.  Keys later became an advocate of the Mediterranean diet.  He lived to be 100 and was very physically active late into life.  When asked whether his diet had contributed to his lifespan, he wisely replied, "Very likely, but no proof."

The basics of Jack LaLanne's plan for longevity boiled down to complete avoidance of sugar, lots of raw vegetables and fruits, lean animal protein (not red meat), many supplements, and a great deal of exercise.  LaLanne lived to 96 and was healthy in his later years.

Jerry Berkeley is my father.  He eats a low fat diet, a ton of bread (none of it whole grain) and a large serving of fat free ice cream with chocolate syrup every night. His vegetable and fruit consumption is minimal.  He walked daily for many years after having a heart attack at the age of 50 but is now prevented from doing so by arthritis.  He is an amazingly youthful 97.

Go figure.  The point of this exercise is not to depress you or to prevent you from working on a clean diet.  It is, rather, to relieve you of guilt.  No diet is bomb proof and no one has a corner on the truth.  Each one of us must find the diet that makes us feel best and which, in our view, gives us the best shot at health and happiness.  We can greatly reduce our risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancers and other ills with diet, but we can't eliminate these risks.  Will we live longer if we eat better?  It's impossible to know.

Given these truths, here are my suggested guidelines for finding the right diet for you.

1. Your diet is good if it is helping you achieve normal blood sugar, decent cholesterol readings, low triglycerides and a good blood pressure.  If you already have some of these problems, your diet is a good one if it is lessening these markers or allowing you to decrease your medications.
2. Your diet is good if it is allowing you to stay a a good weight.  That weight doesn't have to correspond to a perfect BMI, but it should be as low as you can comfortably maintain and should stay relatively stable.
3. Your diet is good if your energy is good.  If you are sluggish or have no energy to get out and move around, look at making a dietary change.
4. Your diet is good if it exposes you to the fewest carcinogens.  We get enough exposure to cancer causing chemicals in our air, plastics, x-rays, and modern products.  Avoidance of processing and additives is the basis for every healthy diet whether it is Primarian, Pritikin, Vegetarian or an Atkins variant.
5. Your diet is good if you can believe in it and stick to it.  If you are simply eating reflexively, without any specific thought, it's unlikely that your diet is healthy.  The reason is simple: we are presented with few good choices.  In order to eat well, we have to eat mindfully.  On the other hand, exceptions like my aunt Ellie prove the rule.
6. Your diet is good if you wake up without guilt.
7. Your diet is good if eating it makes you not only healthy...but happy.

This is the best we can do.  But even this is a lot.  In the meantime, don't waste your time feeling badly about the fact that you don't eat perfectly.  Find your own way.  Clean things up as much as you can and enjoy the process of personal discovery.  And by the way, (note to myself!) when you do find the diet that fits like a glove, avoid the temptation to proclaim that it is the one and only truth.