Hippocrates said it a long, long time ago: let your food be your medicine. Friends, I have sat across the kitchen table with a lot of folks over the years, and the conversation nearly always comes back to the same place — what we put on our plates, day after day, is the foundation everything else stands on. Your body is a perfect machine, and like any good machine, it runs on what you feed it.

So here are my kitchen-table rules. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive — it should never be expensive to be healthy.

Rule one: crowd your plate with vegetables. The green ones first — Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and their cousins — then the reds, your peppers and friends, plus cauliflower and pure citrus fruits. Grapefruit is a personal favorite of mine; it brings fluid and nutrients along with all that brightness. If you have a juicer, juicing your veggies is a wonderful way to get all the good in one glass. If juicing isn’t something you’re ready to start, no worries — lightly cook your vegetables so they stay a little crisp, and save that cooking water! It’s full of the good stuff; use it as a broth or just drink it warm.

Rule two: ease the sugar out, a little at a time. I won’t sugarcoat it, friends — sugar does you no favors, and it hides in nearly every processed food on the shelf. But I’m not going to tell you to quit cold turkey, because that’s how folks get discouraged. Try this instead: reduce your sugar by about a quarter each week. Four or five weeks of gentle steps and you’re there — and your taste buds will have come along willingly. Do the same with the processed foods and the refined carbs, which your body treats much like sugar anyway. Everyone is different — you know your body — so take the pace that works for you and just keep heading the right direction.

Rule three: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. You’re mostly water, friend. Here’s a simple check I teach everyone: look at the back of your hand and give the skin a gentle pinch. If it tents up and is slow to settle back, your body is asking for more water. And if the outside of you is thirsty, you can imagine how the inside feels — your skin is your largest organ, and it’s telling you about all the others. Keep the water coming, all day long.

Rule four: feed your mind the same way. A positive outlook isn’t just pleasant — it’s part of the recipe. Gratitude, a few kind affirmations, time with positive people who lift you up: these feed the healer within, the wisdom your body was given from the very start. You are fearfully and wonderfully made — there’s only one of you — so tend the whole person, not just the plate.

Start with one rule this week. Add another next week. Small, steady steps are how real change happens at every kitchen table. And as always — everyone is different, you are your own best assessor, and for anything you’re working through with your doctor, keep working with your doctor. I’m here for the plant-based side, and I’m cheering you on.