Happy holidays!

After a long hiatus, I'm bringing the Spartan Diet newsletter back! I’m also super excited to share that the Spartan Diet book will be published in 2018, finally! A true labor of love of ten years in the making. (But who’s counting?)

I’m looking forward to 2018. How about you? 

Every year is a new opportunity for self-improvement, for self re-invention. It's a chance to adopt better habits, learn new things and re-embrace the good ideas that have gone by the wayside. 

As cliché as it sounds, a new year is a great time for introspection, reflection and action. It’s a moment to think about how we can eat better, feel better, be more productive and see how we might rise to the challenge of becoming our best self. 

What’s your diet been like in 2017? How much are you exercising? What’s keeping you awake at night? How are you cultivating joy? How are the relationships in your life going? How are you nourishing your body and soul? What are your goals for 2018? 

If you follow me online, you know that my husband and I are nomadic. We usually live abroad to explore the world's culinary traditions. Sadly, the industrialization of food has gone deep and wide almost all over the world. 

It’s disheartening to see how diabetes, obesity and other lifestyle related illnesses keep spreading worldwide as other countries "catch up" to the American fast food, chain restaurant mindset. 

I confess that it's hard to stay on the Spartan Diet when we travel. Our lifestyle makes it tricky. 

We want to try all the local foods. That's a big part of what makes living abroad exciting. 

Many of foods are simply not available now in non-industrialized form. For example, a local dish might have traditionally been made with ancient grains, olive oil and honey, but today is made with modern wheat, palm oil and corn syrup. It looks like the real thing, but it's not. 

We're lucky enough to make friends and get invited over for meals or drinks. Of course, we happily accept and enjoy whatever is offered to us with gratitude. It's simply an incidental fact that much of these foods aren't necessarily healthy. 

When we were in Georgia (the country) recently, we tried all kinds of foods and beverages we had never seen in our lives. Some were healthy and some not at all. Ditto for Morocco. The novelty of it all is alluring and in those circumstances our policy is to eat as locals do.

We also get so excited by the food culture in France, for example, that we end up eating lots of bread and cheese -- and drinking a bit too much wine. When we’re in Italy, we, of course, eat way too much handmade pasta and pizza and fried foods -- and, again, too much wine. And we love it all!

In 2017, I launched a new business called The Gastronomad Experiences inspired by our own lifestyle, which we call gastronomad living. We live like nomads in different places around the world. The first of these agrarian foodie travel retreats, The Barcelona Experience, in September, was the hugely successful and joyful for us. And, according to our guests, unforgettable and epic! (If you’d like to learn more about The Gastronomad Experiences, or better still, join us for one of them, the next is in Northern Italy, just one hour from Venice! And it’s going to be the foodie adventure of a lifetime!)

My husband, Mike Elgan, my favorite journalist and writer, recently published his first book called Gastronomad: The Art of Living Everywhere and Eating Everything. It’s an amazing life-changing read and it also makes a great gift for foodies and travelers -- anyone really. There is also a Kindle version!

In the meantime, I’m picturing a rewarding 2018 for myself. I have big goals! One of the things that I’m looking forward to is finishing the Spartan Diet book. 

So here are my goals for 2018, which I’m sharing right here so you can hold me accountable.

• Follow the Spartan Diet healthy lifestyle principles 100%
• Publish the Spartan Diet Book by fall of 2018
• Share more recipes on the Spartan Diet blog
• Host at least three Gastronomad Experiences in 2018
• Disconnect from social media except to post once a day and express gratitude to people who support us on social media

I think I’m ready, no, I’m eager to get started and take 2018 by its horns, so to speak. Are you ready for 2018? Are you ready for transformation?