The Planting Wellness Program

A 12-week Program to grow healthy habits

to prevent type 2 diabetes

Are you experiencing some of these issues:

An expanding waistline
Lower energy or physical fitness
Rising fasting blood glucose or hemoglobin A1c levels
A prediabetes diagnosis

Maybe your doctor has warned you that you need to improve your lifestyle soon or she’ll put you on meds. And you don’t want to go on meds.

You’ve seen family or friends suffering with type 2 diabetes . . . and you don’t want diabetes.

We all know that lifestyle changes like eating better and exercising more can help prevent type 2 diabetes.

But, let’s face it, change is hard.

It’s not like you haven’t tried. You learned about the benefits of a whole-foods plant-based diet so you’ve been leaning towards eating more plants or you may be 100% whole foods plant-based. At this point, your blood work is still in the prediabetes range.

It’s discouraging. This is a tough place to be.

And, it’s also a good place.

Yes, this discomfort you feel is a spark. We need a spark to ignite change.

But a spark isn’t enough. To really get your fire of transformation burning, you also need fuel. And plenty of it. That’s where I come in.

I’ve developed The Planting Wellness Program specifically to support people who want to reverse the downward trajectory of chronic lifestyle disease that is so common in our modern world.

The Planting Wellness Program is specifically for people who have a diagnosis of prediabetes. That means your blood work shows:

HbA1c is 5.7 – 6.4, or/and
fasting blood glucose is 100 – 125.

This Program is for those who want to make eating more whole plants a central part of their strategy to lower their HbA1c. They may not want to eat 100% plant-based, or they may be vegans who want to eat healthier.

Anyone who wants more wholesome plants on their plate, and wants to improve their blood sugars is welcome and can benefit from this Program.

I offer a step-by-step, flexible approach for developing your own unique healthy habits. The Planting Wellness Program guides your transformation in a self-directed, organic way. Since every aspect of our lifestyle contributes to our well-being, in addition to building healthier habits around food, participants are encouraged to address other aspects of their lifestyle like movement, sleep, stress and social connection.

This is a fully online 12-week lifestyle coaching program where we meet on Zoom weekly in a small supportive group. I provide short, carefully-curated modules plus additional resources. At every step you’ll be engaging your values and strengths to move closer to your health goals. You’ll build self-care skills that lead to sustainable progress.

Why we struggle

Over millions of years of evolution humans adapted to a wild environment where food was scarce and danger was just around the corner. Our voracious appetites were honed through scarcity: scarcity of food and little time for rest. Now we’re surrounded by abundant, cheap, manufactured food, expertly formulated to be irresistible so we’ll keep buying more and more of it.

We will insist we love it while it’s slowly killing us. That may sound like an exaggeration. Unfortunately, it’s not.

If you’re one of the lucky ones who is not eating a lot of junk food, you have it better. But let’s be honest. We’re swimming in a culture where it’s normal to medicate all our discomforts with food. Bored? Eat. Stressed? Eat. Like aspirin, it’s only short-term relief and does nothing to address the cause. Our needs for social connection, creative expression, proper nutrition, movement (and more!) aren’t met by our extra trips to the kitchen. So we struggle.

It’s not our fault! Our appetites are well-matched to the environment we’re adapted to.

The only problem is: that environment no longer exists.

Let’s also acknowledge the influence of the devices in our purses and pockets. They’re cleverly engineered to entertain and distract us. When indulged in too often, they get in the way of our connecting in person with others, with ourselves, and living a full life.

It’s no wonder we struggle to adopt healthy habits. Tripwires are everywhere.

This Program provides a much-needed boundary between the harmful aspects of modern culture and your one precious life on this beautiful planet.

By joining with others with similar health concerns, who also want to level up their lifestyle, you’ll finally have the support you need to reclaim your health.

So, if you’re unhappy with how you’re feeling in your body… I know this sounds weird but, in a way, that’s great! It indicates you’re aware and in touch with yourself. That’s big. And it shows you care about how you’re feeling. That’s beautiful. You’re reading this because you believe in your natural potential to feel better and live a healthier life through your own efforts. You are powerful.

Lisa’s story

When Lisa first came for coaching she had just learned her blood sugar was in the prediabetic range. This was upsetting to her. Her mom had diabetes and it was really limiting her life. At first Lisa said she “had to lose 40 pounds.” This was a heavy weight on her shoulders. She felt defeated before we even got started. As we worked in a gentle way, honoring her unique values, and her circumstances, she realized that what she wanted more than anything was to be a model for her 13-year old daughter. She wanted her daughter to see her acting with self-respect and being persistent with a difficult problem. When she applied those values to her self-care, she felt more motivated than ever before. Lisa also realized that preventing diabetes was more important to her than losing weight. Applying her motivation to a habit change process, in a few months, Lisa was able to lower her glucose into the normal range. And her healthy habits felt truly sustainable. She knew what to do when she might veer off course. An unexpected benefit was that her relationship with her daughter became closer.

More about the Program

So how will this Program support you to eat more plants and get healthier?

Luckily, we have most of what we need inside us. We carry inside us natural resources like your deeply-held values, strengths, purpose and passions. In the Program, you’ll creatively enlist these resources to fuel and direct your actions. We also practice mindful awareness and acceptance of our bodies, thoughts and feelings. Awareness and acceptance are keys to transformation. With the application of evidence-based tools from habit change research you’ll be taking steady and effective steps forward each week.

Best of all, you take your new self-care skills with you after the Program is over.

I call this The Planting Wellness Program because it’s like you’re a gardener of your wellness. With tools of change, you plant a garden of healthy habits that continues to reap wonderful benefits in your life for years to come.

About Marian

I’ve been in the field of health and healing for several decades. I love supporting people to reclaim their health and well-being. I’ve been immersed in the wellness coaching world, as a student, coach and teacher, for more than a decade.

In the past few years, I’ve witnessed the wonderful synergy of coaching in small groups. I’ve had the privilege of co-teaching in two trainings for coaches (Wellstart Health’s Coach Training and Food Revolution Network’s Plant-based Coaching Certification). I believe health coaching is a powerful approach for building a more sustainable, peaceful and healthy world.

I’ve been a student of whole foods plant-based living since 2007 (or even, since 1980 when I first became vegetarian). Cooking is my jam. I’m also nerdy about nutrition and health sciences. I love to learn from the experts who understand the research and can communicate it well. We know so much about how to eat for good health. It’s a lot less controversial than some “influencers” online would have you believe. The hardest part of behavior change is not what to do but how to implement change. That’s why the science of habit change has been my focus for over a decade.

And, of course, how we care for ourselves is guided by much more than science. I meet you at the intersection of rigorous science and everything that makes you, you. That’s where the magic happens. My mission is to guide you to grow strong roots in a sustainable, wholesome lifestyle. (You can read a longer bio on my website.)

In my clients’ words

“There are so many things you did for me, Marian. Before we started I did not have a lot of hope that I could lose weight and keep it off. Today I am able to effortlessly plan my meals and eat healthy food without feeling like I’m deprived. Thank you!!! You are a wonderful coach! Hopefully many other people benefit from what you do. It truly changed my life.” ~ Elizabeth S.

“I worked with Marian for a year, both 1-on-1 and in groups. Both were powerful and effective. Her guidance has been invaluable to me in making better choices around my health. She helped me get deeply connected with my values of health and freedom so I could finally release an addiction to coffee and binge eating.” ~ Lara Hedin, mother and yoga teacher

Included in this 12-week Program

* A private group of 4 – 8 participants
* Weekly 1-hour live Zoom group coaching sessions. Attendance highly recommended (on camera is important for us to connect) We’ll use a scheduling app to choose the day and time for meetings.
* Short 10-15 min weekly modules, available in both video and text format, delivered via email and youtube
* Weekly homework: listen to lessons and reflect. Total time: 30-60 minutes (in addition you’ll be selecting Actions you want to take each week)
* A digital workbook provided in Google docs (or you can use a paper workbook)
* Group chat in a private online forum
* 40% discount on 1-to-1 sessions, up to 2 sessions during the Program.

Zooming in on the lesson content

You’ll be cultivating human BEING and human DOING skills:

Human BEING skills

Discovering your unique values, passions and strengths and applying them to fuel your actions.
Practicing present awareness of our bodies, thoughts, and emotions.
Cultivating our wise, compassionate Self to lead self-supportive decision-making.
Practicing self-acceptance and self-kindness

Human DOING skills

Formulate a vision you want to move towards.
Design and commit to specific Actions each week to move forward.
Review your week and your results. Learn and choose your next steps.
Bring your warm-hearted presence to participate in group meetings. Share your struggles, your wins, and respectfully interact with others.

This Program is for you if:

* You want to eat more plants, especially whole, unprocessed plants and one of the reasons is to help get your blood sugars into the normal range. Or, you’re already as plant-based as you want to be but you’re not experiencing the health improvements you would like so you want to experiment with changes to your food and other lifestyle parameters like movement, sleep and stress management.

* You want to honor your intrinsic wisdom and intuition about self-care while also remaining open to new ideas and stretching yourself.

* You value self-reflection and you believe taking action is also very important.

* This is a good time for you to invest a couple hours or more per week in lifestyle change. (The lessons take 30-60 minutes AND you will choose additional activities each week.)

* You appreciate having some structure and accountability.

This Program is not for you if:

* You’re looking for a ready-made diet plan. This isn’t a cookie cutter diet laid out for you. You formulate your own compelling goals and the steps you want to take. The Program supports your process.

* You want training in plant-based eating. “What the heck do I do with brussels sprouts to make them taste good?!” Very good question! (and we do have ideas…) But that’s not the main focus of this group. We will surely exchange cooking tips and ideas but this isn’t a comprehensive plant-based training.

* You’re looking for a therapeutic diet or/and exercise plan to treat a medical condition. If you already have a plan given to you by a licensed health professional, such as a dietitian, you can use this Program to implement it. But we don’t prescribe therapeutic diets to treat conditions. If you’ve already been diagnosed with a health condition that may be related to your lifestyle, let’s talk about whether this Program is right for you.

* You think of yourself as seriously addicted to food. Overeating is a common issue and participants are often working on it. But if you’re convinced you are suffering with a serious addiction, I encourage you to seek out programs specifically designed to address this. (I can suggest a couple.)

* You hate writing exercises. The Program includes some writing in a workbook. You can do a lot or a little writing. Writing helps you maintain continuity, motivation, and achieve results.

* You want to talk about eating animal products in group meetings: like how much chicken or eggs you should eat. I welcome anyone who wants to eat more plants into this group, including meat eaters who don’t want to become 100% plant-based. But this Program focuses on getting more whole plants on your plate, not on navigating eating animal foods. I want group discussions to be relevant and sensitive to everyone’s interests, including vegans.

Price

A Program such as this would typically cost upwards of $700.
I’m offering this run of the Program at a discounted rate: $375. (further discounts may be available for individuals on low incomes)

Why so inexpensive? Because I need your help, too.

I’m passionate about helping you guiding you to make lifestyle changes to supercharge your health and well-being. I’ve combined everything I know and created something brand new. Some might call it a beta program.

I prefer to call it a plantiful adventure!

And I need your feedback along the way to make it as powerful and effective as it can be. To that end, all participants in the Program will fill out a 5-minute feedback form every 2 weeks. Since I’m asking for your commitment to this contribution before you enroll, here’s exactly what the form will look like:

1. What did you most like about the Program these last couple weeks? (short answer)
2. What did you least like about the Program? (short answer)
3. How much do you feel you progressed towards your goals in the last couple weeks?
Give it a 1 – 10 rating: 1 – zippo, 10 – enormously!
4. Overall, are you over the moon (10) or very unhappy (0) with the Program?
5. Feel free to add further comments here:

This feedback form will help me personalize The Program to your needs as we go. A win-win for you, me, and all participants!

If you’re ready to dive into a plant-strong approach to preventing diabetes, fill out this short form to get on the waiting list in 2025. I’ll reach out to you soon to schedule a free initial conversation to discuss whether this Program is a good fit for you. If you haven’t heard from me within a few days, there’s been a tech glitch, so please shoot me an email: marian@blumingwellness.com. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, too.