First Person

Iris Zuckerman, a wife and mother of three, was living her normal day-to-day life, raising her kids in Chicago and working in legal research when without any reason to believe there was anything amiss, she got news from her doctor that a recent mammogram showed cancer...

Gigi Robinson is a photographer and influencer with a focus on body confidence, chronic illness, and clean beauty. As a child, she was diagnosed with a trio of conditions: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)...

Everyone asks me "Why did you go plant-based?" And the answer is simple: Health. I want to live my healthiest right now. Everyone thinks it's some big sacrifice, and at first, I thought that too. But when you start to eat more plant-based foods you realize it's easy to do…

Michelle Blackwood is a vegan and gluten-free Caribbean chef and cookbook author sharing recipes on Healthier Steps. She’s also a registered nurse and focuses on healthy meals that nourish the body and taste great. She initially went vegan two decades ago in hopes that the plant-base…

Karyn Calabrese is 74, yet she doesn't look a day over 50. She believes that the secret to her youthful demeanor and appearance lies in the powerful anti-aging properties that come from a raw vegan diet, which only comprises uncooked, natural, plant food in its whole form...

Ruth Heidrich is an athlete, author, and breast cancer survivor who has adopted a vegan lifestyle for over thirty years now. On a plant-based diet, Heidrich saw her breast cancer go into remission, and she progressed from running marathons to doing triathlons, becoming the first known vegan to …

"Processed food was my emotional outlet. I considered it to be my best friend and put it above anyone else." says 44-year-old Evon Dennis. It led her to become depressed, and at her highest, she weighed 250 pounds. She remembers being too embarrassed to go out, so instead, she would send h…

JennyLee Molina is a vegan influencer, entrepreneur, and mom. For years, she fell prey to the Standard American Diet (SAD) where she chose convenience over health like many other Americans –– until she found out she was at risk of contracting a chronic illness...

Chuck Carroll was worried at age 27 that he wouldn't live to see 30. Even after bariatric surgery he was convinced that the weight would come back. He had tried everything, and no diet had been successful. This was his last chance. He had gone into the procedure weighing a massive 420 pounds (a…

Molly Yingling battled heartache and stress after losing her father to what she described as a "sudden and quick" heart attack in 2018 when he was only 68-years-old. Molly grieved with her family and mother Rachel, who dearly loved her husband...