Sondra Lewis and Dorie Fink have a combined twenty-five years of healthy cooking experience. As professionally trained educators, Lewis and Fink do more than offer readers information—they teach them how to use it. Their varied life experiences give them a rich background from which to draw upon and, because they have lived through the challenges of healthier cooking themselves, their solutions are tried and true.

Lewis and Fink first met in 2003. Previously, Lewis had experienced significant health challenges that required specific dietary restrictions. By necessity, this involved using healthier foods. As she healed, she saw firsthand the benefits of healthier eating and eagerly looked for ways to make it an easy and natural part of life. When Lewis met Fink, Fink was dealing with health challenges in her own family and exploring ways to use nutrition to bring a sense of normalcy and health to their disrupted lives. Both Lewis and Fink were working with tight budgets, their days were busy, and their energy was limited. But they had a strong desire to find things that worked – and that could work for the average household.

Together they began sharing ideas, brainstorming solutions, creating new recipes and developing nutritious meals with limited time and resources. Their love of learning and of sharing their knowledge with others spurred them on to putting their ideas on paper and creating a book. Eventually, Simple Choices for Healthier Eating was born!

Sondra Lewis has a Bachelor of Science degree and has taken graduate studies, which served her well as a Family and Consumer Science educator. She also worked as an assistant manager in college food service for twelve years. Lewis is the author of Allergy and Candida Cooking: Understanding and Implementing Plans for Healing and enjoys healthy cooking to maintain health and manage allergies.

Lewis lives with her husband in Coralville, IA. There are many days when she cooks for herself and has food prepared for her husband when he gets home late from work. These evenings led to the development of recipes that work when cooking for one or two. She loves sharing food and ideas with others, including her church family. This led to many thoughts about cooking for a crowd.
Lewis enjoys speaking about healthier eating topics and teaching cooking classes.

Dorie Fink taught elementary school and now adds to her mothering responsibilities various writing and speaking engagements. Dorie assisted Sondra with the writing of Allergy and Candida Cooking: Understanding and Implementing Plans for Healing.

Fink and her husband Steve live in Eau Claire, WI with their two boys. Many fun, frustrating and exhausting moments led to a variety of tips for letting kids help with meal preparation and coping with an unpredictable schedule – at home and in the store! She regularly interacts with other young moms, discussing the challenges of feeding a family. For two years of the writing and recipe creation for Simple Choices for Healthier Eating, Dorie’s husband, Steve, was in graduate school. This meant it was a necessity to find creative ways to expand their food budget.

For more information about their working relationship, please see pages 241 to 242 in Simple Choices for Healthier Eating.