“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
~ Laurie Buchanan
Mental health, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune issues… what do these and many other ailments have in common?
They can be prevented and mitigated with food.
Not just any food, or what passes as a sorry excuse for food, but real, whole, nutrient-rich, and properly prepared food.
If we trace back from these diseases, we come to the question of how we have been nourishing – or malnourishing our bodies. How have we been supplying our body with what it needs to heal, repair, grow and protect us? Or have we been filling it with processed sugars, bad fats, processed foods full of chemicals, preservatives and other toxins?
It’s not always our fault. Sometimes we are fed incorrect information by the people and organizations we are supposed to be able to trust: some of our doctors, some scientists and analysts, the health-related government agencies, even the large corporations that supply the items we consume on a daily basis, to the advertisements that seduce us and manipulate our willpower!
But at some point we do have to take responsibility. We have to either educate ourselves or seek out those who can educate us on the proper way to take care of our precious bodies and minds.
… in the end, knowledge has to be converted to action or it’s worthless
~ Tony Robbins
The six issues I listed in my first sentence are all issues that have hit too close to home for myself and my immediate family. I’m sure it’s the same or similar for many of you. I used to often tell myself “I wish I had known…!” I wish I knew this information existed. But I had no idea that disease can be caused by what we eat. I want to be able to remove the regret from as many people as I can so they won’t have to say to themselves “I wish i had known!” So they can feel empowered to heal themselves, to prevent disease, to have access to real information and not disinformation that misleads and lines the pockets of Big Business.
We are not doomed to get the diseases we are predisposed to, that our parents and grandparents suffered from. With proper nutrition and lifestyle, we can actually change our genetic code and break the chain, making a better future for our children, our grandchildren and beyond.
“Genetics loads the gun but the environment pulls the trigger.”
~ Dr. Judith Stern
Great essay! Starting in 1991, after I was diagnosed with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) that was inherited from my mother who in turn inherited it from her father, I was placed on a strict diet by my nephrologist and began three times daily kidney dialysis. I was told that diet was the only thing, other than maintaining regular dialysis, that could save my life so I began researching foods that were low in potassium, phosphorus and sodium. After researching and consulting with my dietitian for many years I became something of an amateur expert on nutrition and continued to thrive until 2005 when I received my first living donor kidney transplant.
My weight went from 125, very undernourished, to 195 over the next four years until I eventually became more serious about my post-transplant diet. I never followed a strict diet plan like Weigh Watchers, but I adhered closely to the Mediterranean diet and eventually lost weight until I was down to my current 170 pounds by eliminating sugar, red meat, for the most part, and cutting back alcohol consumption from an egregious 25 drinks a week to five drinks a week now. I had previously quit smoking and doing drugs, except for the occasional recreational smoke, over 20 years ago.
Now I am at the point where in addition to eating as many fruits, vegetables and whole grains as possible I am thinking’ about becoming a Pescaterian. I will admit to buying a freezer full of steaks when I realized the price was going up in May and now treat myself once or twice a month and also having a bit of a cheese addiction although I limit myself to one small wheel of Brie per month and a deli-thin slice of cheese on my daily sandwich. Breakfast is almost always Cheerios with sliced bananas, strawberries and blueberries. I eat fish and seafood most nights of the week but occasionally cook chicken and pork as well.
Sounds like you’ve made some great changes in your life for your health! I know that couldn’t have been easy. Very well done.
I am the oldest surviving dialysis/transplant patient in Virginia. This is Lee New. BTW. 🙂