Small Changes = Big Impact
Happy New Year! I’m sharing with you some of my favorite cooking, health, and lifestyle practices I return to again and again because they work. No resolutions or overhauls, just a few adjustments, because, after all, small changes = big impact!
1. “Cooking + Love = Happiness”
After cooking together years ago, Chef Alain Sailhac said something I’ve never forgotten: “Cooking + Love = Happiness.” I think of it often. Time in the kitchen, especially when meals are warm and shared, changes how a day feels, and this in turn calms your nervous system and boosts your immune system. Soups, stews, and bone broths can be healing anchors in your winter repertoire, finished with good olive oil and eaten slowly.
2. Choose Warm During Stress
During stress, I reach for warmth: warm food, warm rooms, and warm company. These small choices make a noticeable difference in digestion, mood, and clarity.
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans gathered around fire. To cook, stay warm, tell stories, and feel safe together. I feel it every time I light a candle or sit by the fire, and especially love this practice early in the morning. It sets the tone for the day, and if you don’t have a flame, here’s a meditation by Ram Dass: "Sit Around the Fire," which reminds us that healing often happens simply by remembering who we are.
3. Slowing Down
I spent much of last year learning what happens when I don’t rush. When I allowed myself to pause before reacting or responding, my shoulders dropped, my breath deepened, and I heard what my body had been trying to say. Health improves not when I push harder, but when I give myself space.
4. Saying Yes Without Planning
Some of my favorite moments come from letting go. Running through fresh snow. Singing and dancing with my son. Playing a fun game with friends. More play opens space I didn’t realize I was holding closed.
5. Way of Life
During my research in Greece many years ago, I embraced the ancient concept of diaita, meaning "way of life,” and my health and life changed. Food mattered to Hippocrates and other ancient healers around the world, but so did sleep, movement, relationships, joy, time outdoors, music, and connection to spirit. Health was never separated into parts, and modern research is finally catching up to that same understanding.
6. Simplify
Teaching Culinary Archaeology alongside Lifestyle Medicine and Brain Health Strategies at Stanford, NYU, and Canyon Ranch reassures me that most people don’t want more information. They want simple, practical tools that fit into their real lives. In 2026, we are seeking less overwhelm and more nourishment.
As 2026 unfolds, I’ll continue sharing ancient wisdom for modern life, offering practical ways to support brain, gut, hormonal, and heart health in the context of real, full lives.
With love and gratitude,
Lisa