Gilda Leiva: finding the way back one step at a time.

These days Gilda Leiva can throw together a mean meatless taco using cracked wheat, a cashew-based cheese substitute, refried beans, fresh lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and tasty avocados. She's often asked, "How can it look cookbook perfect, taste more scrumptious than beef, and still be so healthful?"

Thankfully, she's not a chef to keep secrets.

Instead, the 56-year old teaches cooking classes as a men3her of the health ministry outreach program at Concord Seventh-day Adventist Church, near San Francisco. She also walks three miles a day five to six days a week with her husband Mario and manages to perform yoga exercises as well--mostly when it's raining or when she herself is feeling a little under the weather.

This model of health credits her lifestyle reformation to a time seven years ago when anxiety and depression clouded her outlook. Ongoing family concerns forced her to reach out for help.

The anti-anxiety, anti-depression drugs her doctor prescribed lifted her troubling symptoms. But, within 10 days she dumped them in favor of tracing the root of her problems to its truest, deepest source.

She took the first step on a long journey back to optimal health by beginning a three-week stay at the Weimar Institute, a California-based Adventist organization geared toward health education. Institute course instructors encouraged bet to eat a vegetarian diet and exercise regularly for both physical and mental benefits. "I learned that plenty of fresh air and sunshine made me feel better," Leiva says.

But it was the spiritual guidance that got her through the dark passage and into a healthier place.

During her slow climb back to a more manageable existence, one Bible verse stood out in her mind: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun" (Psalm 37:5, 6).

Like many others grappling with the same internal battle to stay positive and productive, Leiva described herself as a strong person before her bout with anxiety and depression. "It was like I had strength and I had to show it all the time," she explains. "But that experience taught me to be patient, to wait, because I wanted to resolve everything now. I learned that I had to wait on the Lord, because He has a time for everything. It helped me get closer to God and to trust Him more."

When she returned from the retreat, that deep spiritual awareness began to pull her daily health plan into line one step at a time. First, Leiva remembers, she inventoried the kitchen. "I got rid of all the 'bad' things. Otherwise, they were just a temptation. I even gave up chocolate!"

She then refilled empty shelf space with legumes, cereals, assorted pastas, and other staples, and began the habit of charting a weekly menu featuring tasty vegetarian recipes. Besides sparing her multiple trips to the grocery store, the chart kept her and her husband on track.

As for getting on an exercise program and sticking with it, she discovered that the accountability of a physically active spouse with a shared notion of what's doable is extremely helpful. But, with or without a workout buddy, she adds, the key to long-term success must be a highly personal one. "Exercising gives me energy and makes me feel good," Leiva says. "Now, it's like my body asks me to get moving."

Yet it is the spiritual fitness--leaning on God--that keeps her faithful to the other more tangible aspects of healthy living. "When I don't have the time, when I don't make the time [to eat right and exercise regularly], my anxiety comes back," she explains. "It's controlled now, but it can return at any time."

Gilda Leiva has learned that becoming and staying fit is a constant battle waged in all areas of life. However, success is possible only when mind, body, and spirit work together toward that satisfying fitness goal.

Pam Mellskog is a freelance health writer based in Boulder, Colorado.