Andrea McGovern
WILLOUGHBY HILLS-Susan Mikolic is a changed person. She freely tells you this if you ask. In fact, Mikolic’s business, Stepping Stones Mental Health Educational Consulting, grew from her conviction that others can change their lives, too.
A registered nurse, Mikolic described the valley into which she and her family had fallen. She was 45 pounds overweight, a significant amount on her tiny frame. She had developed an auto immune condition that completely drained her energy and caused her chronic pain. She said that when she went to the grocery store, she would find herself crying in the car on the way home, worrying how she was going to get her purchases into the house.
Her two young adolescent sons were both severely depressed. Her marriage was falling apart, because she had no energy to devote to anything but the kids’ needs. Her successful career had deteriorated, and she was now on Social Security disability because of her condition.
Through the grace of God, Mikolic said she began to see a way out of the quagmire. Attitude was the biggest part of it.
“I took back my power,” she said. “I realized there was much I could do to change my life. It wasn’t about other people fixing me but about fixing myself. If I wanted to make my life better, it was up to me to do it.”
Some of the changes Mikolic made were in her family’s diet. They now eat unprocessed foods as much as possible. She said the way to do that is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store.
“I stay away from foods in boxes and cans,” she said. “We eat foods God made, mainly meats, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products, including aged cheeses.”
She converts recipes by making substitutions, such as brown rice for pasta. She said that at the start of the new regimen the family followed it strictly. Today, they’re able to tolerate the occasional lapse because of the other lifestyle changes they have made as well.
“This is my philosophy about how this all works,” Mikolic said. “I call it the energy equation. We all have a finite amount of energy each day. How we spend this energetic bank account affects how healthy, peaceful and joyful we feel. And we can choose how we make our energetic expenditures.”
She explained how foods affect that daily energy. “Food is the fuel for our bodies,” she said.
When foods are processed, she explained, “we can’t clean the chemicals out of our bodies without a large energy expenditure. It costs us. It doesn’t make sense to use some of your limited energy resources to process out something (unhealthy) you put in. By eating more pure foods, you have more energy to devote to the rest of your life.”
She said that some of her illness began while she was working in a nursing position that required her to be on the road most of the day, traveling to different outlying units of a major hospital system. She said she didn’t have time for decent meals, eating mostly fast food on the road. Then, she was too tired to cook when she returned home in the evening, so the family ate mostly prepared foods.
But the changes the family made weren’t all about food.
“We truly transformed our lives,” she said. She believes that, little by little, God presented them with teachers who taught them other ways to conserve their daily energy allotments.
“Believe me, I was a victim,” she said. “Now I believe everything is a gift or blessing. In that frame of mind, there is nothing to be upset about. If God sends me a blessing, I say ‘thank you.’”
She said the family has learned to watch their feelings to avoid spending energy on negative thoughts. To do that, she said, you have to pay attention to your emotions, and if you are feeling down, recognize what thoughts may be causing the feeling and change them.
Today, Mikolic said, exercise, prayer and time spent in nature are vital to her well being. She walks three miles per day in the park, winter and summer. She said she has learned to slow down, and realizes now that doing nothing is sometimes the most important thing she can do for her health.
The Mikolics are parishioners at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills. Mikolic’s website, www.theenergyequation.net explains more completely her system for living well.
McGovern is a freelance writer.
ANDREA MC GOVERN
Susan Mikolic made drastic changes in her family’s diet to boost energy levels and promote good health.
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