GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008 - 70

s p ec i a l a dv e rt i s e m e n t s ec t i o n sue’s t otal transformation GRAND reader Sue Kirwan entered to win GRAND’s giveaway of Kat James’ villa-based T Transformation® otal health and beauty retreat on the pristine Outer Banks of North Carolina. GRAND checked in with Sue many times over the four months since. Here, we share her exciting story of real transformation. they tell you to, but it never brought my blood sugar down. My tachycardia (irregular heartbeat) made strenuous exercise risky for me. Just around the time my doctor became insistent upon my starting the diabetes drugs, I decided to put my health in God’s hands. Soon after, I thumbed through an issue of GRAND and stumbled on this contest. I asked my husband if this could be what I prayed for. He said, “You’ll never know if you don’t enter.” I was floored when I received the call telling me that I’d won!! GRAND: Was the experience what you expected? SUE: Not at all. I was expecting bland “health foods,” typical lectures and tedious exercise requirements, but my notions about the rabbit food and suffering were wiped out the first day. The program is so carefully planned foodwise, you never realize you’re not getting the bad stuff. I learned about rare foods that taste like familiar foods, but have a very different effect on blood sugar, like coconut flour, which Kat said was the only flour that can make fluffy baked goods that don’t spike blood sugar. Salba was another food I’d never heard of that she added to many different foods to lower their impact on blood sugar, while increasing their fiber and nutrient content. She also used organic black soybeans instead of black beans (Edenfoods has them) and hempseed (by Nutiva) instead of grains. She used a baking product called “More Fiber Baking Blend” (from NuNaturals) that is the first product containing a debittered stevia that has all the baking properties of sugar (moisture, chewiness, etcetera!). Even the meat served was entirely different. It was grass-fed (from U.S. Wellness Meats), which, I was amazed to learn, has a similar omega-3 content to wild fish!! The sea salt she used (Real Salt) has not been shown to cause the sodium imbalance associated with blood pressure problems like table salt can. Even the coffee alternative Teeccino was healthy. This group of strangers, looking to get healthy, cooked, ate, learned, and lived together, family-style in that gorgeous villa. We all wondered how we would ever lose weight eating that food, but we knew that Kat was sharing what had transformed her so dramatically, so we trusted the process. There was no portion control. No one was ever hungry because there were always strategic snacks laid out, like turkey jerky (not the chemical-laden kind, but a free range one by Shelton’s), coconut flour brownies, or nut balls we made and dipped in chocolate right there. The beach pilates sessions were gentle, so I could do them. The personal care products and makeup were the highest-end natural products available. The photo shoot and makeover with Kat were unforgettable. I saw things in my reflection that Kat knew I would soon start to see even without makeup. GRAND: Sue, you won our giveaway of Kat’s program based in part on an entry you sent in saying why you felt a Total Transformation® would be grand at this time in your life. Can you tell us what made you enter and a little of your story that you told us? SUE: All of my adult life I have cared for others. I helped care for my father when he was ill. I raised a fine son. I cared for my husband for years through his painful knee and back injuries. I had the delight of caring for my first grandson for a year. I became my mother’s legal guardian for 15 years as she succumbed to Alzheimer’s. When I saw the ad in GRAND about Kat’s program, I realized that I’d taken care of others for so long, but not myself. My weight was out of control. I had acid reflux which got worse whenever I dieted. I also had trouble sleeping. My doctor said I had diabetes and needed to get on medication, which I’d put off because of my sensitivities to so many chemicals and medications. I went to nutrition lectures for diabetics and ate just as PHOTO BY CURT COENEN, NORTH LIGHT STUDIO - JACKSONVILLE, FL

GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008