Susana’s Journey on the RESTART® Program

Susana Vasquez is a previous RESTART® participant of Amy Gonzalez, The Holistic Dietitian. RESTART® is a 5-week nutrition workshop with a 3-week sugar detox or “real food” challenge intertwined. Susana expressed interested in sharing her story of her journey doing the program. Read our interview below!

Tell me a little bit about yourself!
My name is Susana Vasquez, I’ll share a little bit of my food journey as a child.  Coming from an immigrant Mexican family, our diet consisted of rice, beans and meats seasoned in various ways. Most of our foods were made from scratch as my mother was used to this growing up. Then came the teenage years and early adulthood, fast food was something I craved and wanted. Fast forward years later and many health issues came up. Now at the age of 36 I’ve learned so much through my food journey. Slowly peeling away layers of how emotions affect my cravings, the way certain food bother my digestion and simply how food is effecting my body. And of course, Amy Gonzalez for guiding me through it and helping me see what I couldn’t.

What intrigued you about RESTART®?
RESTART intrigued me because I was in a point in my life where I needed to restart my diet, I was exhausted, I could not eat many things. Grains bloated my stomach, sugar exhausted me, I was at a point where I just wanted to be vegetarian except I knew that it wasn’t the answer. I was at a loss and wanted to try something that can help me.

What made you want to join the program?
The want to live a normal life that I once had.

How did your friends and family react?
Friends and family didn’t say much because they knew I was trying what I could to feel better.

Did you slip up?
I did slip up and I did feel awful when I did. When I talked to Amy Gonzalez about it she didn’t make me feel horrible, she actually taught me to use it as a learning experience. Which I did by eating wheat crackers and automatically my body had a sensitivity reaction.

What was the hardest for you?
The hard part was at times when not preparing enough and not having something to snack on. But I’ve learned to have more small snacks around in case there is not a meal prepared.

Did you ever feel deprived?
I actually did not feel deprived because the way RESTART is set up you are satisfied. I didn’t feel hungry.

What was your favorite part of the program?
My favorite part of RESTART was learning allergic reactions of foods to my body and also seeing what foods my body craved and enjoyed.

Did you experience any changes to your mood?
I did experience changes in my mood. I was so much happier because my stomach wasn’t bloated or irritated.

Changes to your body?
I noticed I had more energy and that my bloating went down very fast within the beginning of the second week.

Changes to your productivity?
Much more productive because I had so much more energy.

Changes to your relationships?
The people around me liked me more, I wasn’t a witch around them!!

What surprised you the most out of the experience?
This experience really took me back to the way my grandmother and mother cooked from scratch, natural and back to basic foods.

What was the greatest benefit you saw from yourself? 
The benefit was feeling so much better, and learning how the body works during the RESTART classes.

Would you do it again?
Actually, answering these questions really encourages me to do it again. IT was such a benefit.

It’s Amy here! I am currently taking registrations for my upcoming RESTART® sessions! I have both online and in-person opportunities available!

Check out date listings on my RESTART® page.

Hope to see you there!

Photo credit: Susana Vasquez