 Some stories begin with a diagnosis. Lena’s began with shortness of breath she couldn’t ignore and a prognosis that left her feeling hopeless. The doctors gave her little reason to believe things could improve. But what happened next wasn’t a miracle handed to her, it was the result of ordinary choices repeated day after day. Lena simplified her meals. She chose fruit, the food she once overlooked, and leaned on it as her foundation. Grapes, watermelon, papaya, berries, what she once thought of as snacks became her staples. She prayed. She showed up to her appointments. She began listening more closely to what her body was trying to tell her. The change didn’t come overnight, but it came. She noticed her swelling ease, her energy return, and with each follow-up visit her numbers told a different story than the one she first heard in that fluorescent hospital room. In time, Lena lost more than 150 pounds on an all-fruit diet. She moved from congestive heart failure and pre-diabetes to a life where she could breathe easier, walk freely, and share her journey with others. The moment that stayed with me wasn’t just the weight loss. It was the day Lena decided the story on paper wasn’t the only story available. She chose to become an advocate for her future self, and that meant asking better questions, choosing whole foods over packages, and building quiet discipline when doubt got loud. If you’ve ever felt stuck in your own body, Lena’s story is a reminder that momentum doesn’t always start with something dramatic. It can begin with a gentler plate, a simpler meal, a single honest choice you return to.
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 Barbecue has a way of bringing people together, but for those who’ve stepped into plant-based living, it can feel like a flavor you have to leave behind. Harold Leffall shares in this cooking episode how jackfruit became his go-to for recreating that familiar BBQ experience. The process is simple yet satisfying: shred canned jackfruit, season it with paprika, cumin, onion powder, garlic, and a drizzle of avocado oil. After baking until tender, Harold combines it with a smoky, tangy barbecue sauce and tops it with a purple cabbage slaw for crunch. The result isn’t just about taste, it’s about memory. As Harold explains, jackfruit takes on the flavors you give it, making it a blank canvas for your favorite comfort dishes. This sandwich delivers the smoky sweetness of barbecue while staying true to a plant-based lifestyle. For anyone exploring new ways to eat, this recipe proves that you don’t have to compromise on flavor to make a change. It’s not about replacing something—it’s about creating something new that feels just as satisfying. Ingredients: See the full recipe below for exact amounts. Try more recipes and wellness tools inside the Good Living Now community:
Ingredients:
 Some stories begin with a plan. This one began with nothing working. Big Tommy Burns grew up wanting to be the strongest man in any room. He trained, competed, and learned to push through pain. But strength does not negotiate with a closed door. Years after college, jobs were scarce, bills were real, and the usual answers went quiet. In that silence, he tried something different: he stopped eating and started listening. He describes the first fast like a private retreat you carry into regular life. Day one is noise. Day two asks questions. By day ten, he says, the clutter thins. The cravings don’t disappear as much as they lose their authority. He remembers a night sitting with a stack of applications, arguing with God, and choosing trust. The next day, an unexpected name appeared on a job listing. A door opened. What struck me most wasn’t the number on a scale or the length of a fast. It was the way he talked about attention, where it goes when we remove the constant rhythm of meals and distractions. He talked about old thoughts surfacing, about forgiving himself, about the way a body can feel different when the mind finally gets quiet. None of this was presented as a prescription. It was closer to a field note: here’s what I noticed when I made space. The takeaway is simple: if you feel blocked, you may not need another task to add. You may need room. Fasting was the room he chose. For you, it might be a different kind of pause. Begin with safety, begin with counsel, and begin with respect for your own limits. But do begin. Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com Join our broader wellness community focused on real-life change, faith, and lifestyle transformation  Every reset has a beginning. For me, it starts with a bowl of vegetables, seeds, and beans tossed together with a creamy garlic dressing. On its own, this salad is colorful, filling, and full of flavor. But it also carries a purpose, it’s the way I prepare myself before stepping into the 10-Day Green Juice Challenge. Eating something clean and grounding makes the shift into juicing smoother, both physically and mentally. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about creating a foundation that feels supportive. For some, that first step might look different. For me, it’s this salad. So if you’re thinking about joining the challenge, or even if you’re just looking for one simple meal to help you reset, this might be a good place to start. Because sometimes the path to change begins with a single plate of food. If you’ve ever felt stuck, tired, or stretched thin, maybe your next step is as simple as choosing foods that lift you up instead of weighing you down. Ingredients (recipe style):
 We met in a quiet studio, but the story did not arrive quietly. Malaysia described nights of unanswered pain, the fluorescent stillness of a hospital room, and the slow work of finding language when language fails. She did not offer a formula. She offered presence. There is a difference. What stayed with me was not a list of steps. It was the moment she decided to speak up. She shifted from being a compliant patient to an informed partner in her own care. The tone of her story changed there. She was still afraid. She was still exhausted. But she asked better questions, invited second opinions, and built a circle that could hold her when the room felt small. Recovery, for her, did not look like a straight line. It looked like learning to rest, testing small routines, and giving herself permission to release expectations that no longer fit. It looked like faith. It looked like choosing to become useful to others again, not by pretending nothing happened, but by allowing what happened to shape how she serves. If there is one takeaway, it is this: advocacy begins before the appointment. Bring your questions. Bring someone who knows you. Bring the courage to pause and ask for clarity. That pause can change the room. If you are building your own routine, we created tools that support simple daily practices. Explore them here: www.thegoodlivingnow.com Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com Join our broader wellness community focused on real-life change, faith, and lifestyle transformation  When Harold Leffall talks about green juice, he’s not just talking about what’s in your cup. He’s talking about what you’re ready to let go of. For ten days, you’re invited to take your hands off processed food, sugar, and noise, and return to something simple: nature in a glass. This isn’t about weight loss. It’s not even about juicing, really. It’s about finally doing something for yourself that feels good, clean, and doable. In the episode, Harold walks through every step, from shopping smart to cleaning your produce to listening to your body when it speaks back. He tells the story of a woman who swapped medication time for beet and celery juice. Whether or not you follow her exact path, the point is clear: small shifts matter. And when it comes to juicing, one shift can lead to another. If you’ve been looking for a sign to reset your relationship with food, your energy, or your health, this is it. Ten days. One green juice at a time. 👉 Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → Good Living Now Podcast 👉 Explore Harold’s tools, juices, and community → www.thegoodlivingnow.com  Cooking has a way of teaching us things beyond the kitchen. In this week’s episode, Harold Leffall stepped behind the stove to test a vegan pancake recipe that promised fluffiness without eggs or dairy. At first, it seemed like a simple mix of flour, almond milk, and a few pantry staples. But as Harold admits, improvisation played a big role, especially when he couldn’t find his whisk. There was laughter, a few uncertain moments, and finally the golden sizzle of batter hitting a hot pan. That’s when the experiment turned into a story about showing up and enjoying the process. The pancakes came out fluffy, topped with fresh berries and maple syrup, but the real takeaway wasn’t about the recipe. It was about trying. About finding joy in small wins, even when the process feels messy. Cooking, like life, rarely goes exactly as planned. And yet, if you keep going, you often end up with something better than expected. That’s the heart of this podcast, not perfect recipes, but honest moments that remind us of what’s possible. If you’ve ever doubted whether vegan pancakes could taste good, this story might change your mind. 👉 Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast 👉 Explore Harold’s supplements and health tools → https://www.thegoodlivingnow.com 👉 Join our wellness community for real conversations about food, faith, and transformation.  Yvette didn’t start with a goal of 100 days. She started with a crisis. Her blood sugar was so out of control that she passed out and woke up in the hospital. Doctors prescribed more medications, but something in her spirit told her there had to be another way. That whisper became a decision. And that decision turned into a discipline that lasted over three months. In this powerful episode, Yvette opens up about the surprising lessons she learned while juicing, like how cravings reveal more than hunger, and how discipline isn’t about willpower but trust. Trusting that your body can repair. Trusting that your future doesn’t have to look like your past. She talks about what she drank, how she kept going, and what it felt like to break her fast at midnight with a slice of yellow watermelon. She also shares what she wishes more people knew: that giving your body grace takes just as much strength as any workout. This isn’t a highlight reel, it’s a real one. Explore more from the Good Living Now community: Subscribe on YouTube → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast Check out Harold’s supplements + health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com Join our growing wellness movement rooted in faith, food, and real change.  When Jevon Cole decided to do a 40-day watermelon fast, he wasn’t trying to go viral. He was listening to his body. The plant-based chef, who runs two thriving restaurants in Dallas, had been feeling off. Bloated. Sluggish. And as someone deeply rooted in wellness, he knew he needed to reset. What started as a short cleanse turned into a 40-day commitment to one food. Watermelon. Just that. Some days he juiced it. Other days, he ate it whole. He lost 28 pounds, saw old cravings fade, and even documented moments that most people don’t talk about, like visible signs of detox and emotional clarity he didn’t expect. Jevon doesn’t romanticize the process. It was uncomfortable. It challenged his willpower. But it reminded him that food is not just about taste or tradition, it’s also about energy, simplicity, and trust. He’s not suggesting you do the same. But if you’ve been looking for a real story, one that cuts through the noise, this episode might be it. -- Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com Check out Jovan's restaurant Chakra Chow → www.chakrachow.com Join our broader wellness community focused on real-life change, faith, and lifestyle transformation  Harold Leffall stood in his kitchen surrounded by mushrooms, walnuts, and lettuce leaves, none of it looked like tacos. But the smell? That was different. With just a few ingredients, he threw together a recipe he once would have laughed at: raw tacos made from plants. No stove. No meat. No dairy. But when he took that first bite, something clicked. This episode isn’t about following a trend. It’s about realizing how familiar flavors can show up in unexpected forms. With coconut aminos and Chipotle spice, the walnut-mushroom blend wasn’t just “healthy”, it was satisfying. There was a moment near the end of the episode that stuck with me. Harold said, “It smelled just like a taco.” And you could see it in his eyes, this wasn’t about pretending. It was about redefining comfort food. → Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast → Explore Harold’s health tools and resources: www.thegoodlivingnow.com  There’s a moment in this episode where Harold pauses, right before mixing the garlic cashew dressing, and says, “You don’t need any kind of special equipment… just a bowl.” That line stuck with me. In a world full of blenders, extractors, and high-tech gadgets, it’s easy to feel like wellness is out of reach unless you have the perfect setup. But this moment? It’s a reminder that real change often starts in the simplest way. In just a few minutes, Harold walks through three of his go-to salad dressings, each one made with ingredients you can pronounce and find in your kitchen right now. No preservatives, no shelf-stable shortcuts, and nothing pretending to be healthy. Whether it’s the creamy garlic cashew, the bright avocado lemon, or the refreshing dill yogurt, these aren’t just recipes, they’re a declaration. A quiet stand against the idea that fast always means fake. And for anyone wondering where to start? Sometimes, it’s as small as mixing what you already have in your fridge and saying, “This counts.” → Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast → Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools: www.thegoodlivingnow.com → Join our wellness community focused on faith and real-life change.  When I was walking through the valley of a health crisis, nothing felt simple. Every decision came with weight, every moment felt uncertain. And in the middle of it, something small, a tropical fruit, became part of the quiet rhythm that grounded me. Soursop. I didn’t grow up juicing it. I didn’t know its name until someone mentioned it while I was going through cancer. But once I tried it, there was something about it that felt... real. Earthy. Sweet. Almost sacred. In today’s episode, I share how juicing soursop with just a touch of pineapple turned into something more than just a recipe. It became a reminder: that healing, in whatever form it takes, doesn’t always have to be complex. It can be as simple as drinking something fresh that makes you feel human again. We talk about ripeness, where to find the fruit, and how to reuse the pulp instead of wasting it. And under all of that? A story about slowing down, paying attention, and creating space to care for yourself, one glass at a time. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the idea of “getting healthy,” this one’s for you. 👉 Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast 👉 Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com 👉 Join our broader wellness community focused on real-life change, faith, and lifestyle transformation  Zach was 33, a dad of five with one more on the way, when he heard the words no one wants to hear: “You have stage 3 cancer.” But what followed wasn’t panic. It wasn’t even immediate treatment. It was prayer. A pause. And a clear sense that something different was being asked of him. Together, he and his wife Savannah turned their home into a lab of healing. They juiced. They researched. They detoxed. They cried. They changed their entire life. And after 11 months, despite the pressure to go the conventional route, they followed peace all the way to a surgery where the doctor said, “That might’ve been the best decision you made.” This episode isn’t about prescriptions. It’s about permission. Permission to listen inward. Permission to question. And permission to believe that healing might not always follow the script we’re given. If you’re walking through your own valley, or standing beside someone who is, this story is for you. Encourage readers to:
 When Harold shared his story, one moment stood out above all: standing at a gas station, soaked, humiliated, and unsure how to explain it to his son. He had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Surgery left him in constant pain, and incontinence became his new normal. But this wasn’t just a story about physical symptoms. It was about how quickly life can change, and what you do when it does. That gas station moment wasn’t just embarrassing, it was the beginning of a shift. A journey that would lead Harold through juicing, changing his diet, rejecting pills, and eventually even therapy to work through long-buried trauma. It didn’t happen overnight. He didn’t have a miracle. But what he had was the willingness to try again, to keep going, even when healing felt slow. Nine years later, he’s off medication, cancer-free, and helping others walk through their healing journeys with honesty and hope. If you’re in the thick of it, pain, diagnosis, doubt, just know this: healing might not come all at once, but it does come. Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com Join our broader wellness community focused on real-life change, faith, and lifestyle transformation  It wasn’t the diagnosis that broke me. It was the shock of it. You walk into a doctor’s office expecting routine results, maybe some “watch this” advice, and instead, you hear “you have diabetes and high blood pressure.” That’s what happened to Georgina. No fanfare. Just a sentence that dropped into her lap and changed her whole direction. But what stood out in today’s episode wasn’t just the diagnosis. It was her fear. Not the loud kind, but the quiet, generational kind. Her grandfather lost his leg because of unmanaged diabetes. That history came rushing back, and for the first time, she realized how deep this could go. Georgina didn’t sugarcoat anything (no pun intended). She shared how she tried keto, how she was chasing advice online, how she was crying through juice fasts that didn’t work. But slowly, she began listening to her body. She noticed how she felt. And that became her compass, not the scale, not the trends. That shift is what helped her rebuild trust with herself. And when she went back to the doctor and they said, “your numbers are no longer in the diabetic range,” she already knew. Her body had been telling her all along. Stories like this remind us that healing isn’t always loud. Sometimes it starts in private, over green juice, over tears, over courage to start again. Subscribe to the podcast’s new YouTube channel → https://youtube.com/@GoodLivingNowPodcast Check out Harold’s supplements and health tools → www.thegoodlivingnow.com Join our broader wellness community focused on real-life change, faith, and lifestyle transformation |
Author & Motivational speaker
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