My story, and why I became interested in nutrition.

My name is Diana and I grew up on a farm with my Mom, Dad and 10 brothers and sisters.  We grew our own food, raised our own meat, baked our own bread and made home cooked meals. When I was a teenager we moved into town, and although we gardened as much as we could, our diets gradually changed.  We were all healthy and I never dreamed that things would change so much and so quickly.

When I turned 50 my father, Ralph, died of colon cancer.  Three years later my brother Chuck died of colon cancer.  With his death it was discovered that he had a genetic disorder called AFP (attenuated familial polyposis) and testing showed that half of my siblings had the same disorder.  A sense of panic and helplessness overtook me, even though testing showed I did not have the gene.  My sister Nita decided on traditional treatments and died 3 years later.  Another sister decided on traditional treatments and still survives.  My brother Ken was diagnosed the same time as Nita and decided to use holistic methods instead.   He survived for 7 years but sadly died in November.

My love for nutrition and fascination with the healing powers of food parallels Ken’s fight to stay alive.  He and I became partners in the search for answers and hope.  He researched and shared with me.  I researched and shared with him.  Because of him and what we learned together I made sweeping changes to the way I think about food, the kind of food I buy and prepare, and  consequently to my overall sense of power and control.   I used to live to eat, in a way.   Now I eat to live.  The strange thing is that now I enjoy food more than I ever did, it is just different food.

One sad realization that I came to on this journey was that most people were not open to hearing about it.  I was filled with the desire to share everything that I learned with my family and friends.  But after so many eye rolls I finally realized that I could not make anyone want to improve their health.  The “want to” had to come from them.  Another thing that I realized is that my delivery of information came across as judgmental, even though that was not my feeling or motivation.  Since we can only change ourselves, that is what I decided to do.

When I got the opportunity to get certified with Precision Nutrition, I did not hesitate.  I wanted to learn how to share in a more helpful way.

I am super excited to be able to say that I am Pn1 Certified!  I hope that my journey will inspire others to start their own journey to better health.  It is a very empowering journey.

Diana Thuma Pn1