Leanne Ely, C.N.C., Certified Nutrition Consultant

"My mission is to educate parents that their children need real food. Not the garbage Madison Avenue is trying to pawn off as food their kids need. Parents need to understand that their job is feeding hungry souls, not filling holes. I want to empower parents in that process -- not do it for them, but show them the way. I believe good, healthy, real food can make a huge difference and as far as I am concerned, the proof is in the pudding. I made my daughter well when the doctors could not."

My background has always been in food. It has taken many different directions, but primarily, my focus has been food. As a former caterer, I learned to cook from some fine chefs and cooks along the way. Even with my very busy schedule catering, I still managed to entertain a lot at home and did a lot of self-teaching. I should also mention that it didn't hurt that my mom was a fabulous cook!

I have a radio show in the works, write features for a newspaper, have my own newspaper column, "The Manic Housewife," and have written for magazines, Web sites and newsletters. My newsletter, Healthy-Foods, is a free weekly ezine, delivered every Friday to your email box. To subscribe, send an email to: join-healthy-foods@ds.xc.org.

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