The 3 Best Things I Did For My Health as originally posted on: https://www.arespectfullife.com/2017/05/12/the-3-best-things-i-did-for-my-health/
If you have followed along with my blog posts, I recently posted ‘How I Lost Over 100 Pounds Eating Mindfully’.
As a recap, I was a BBQ restaurant owner (smoked meats) and a craft
beer drinker. I had gained about 150 pounds in a little over 5 years
doing things like eating late after I closed the restaurant, and
drinking too much amazing Michigan Craft Beer. My health deteriorated
and I ended up in the hospital with a long list of prescriptions.
How
could someone gain that much weight? Some of it, as mentioned above,
was life circumstance. Part of it was poor discipline and poor choices.
Another part of it was that I was on a bit of a destructive path after
some devastating events (see blog post here) in my life and just didn’t care. It was all a toxic combination.
Being
hospitalized scared me. I didn’t know what was wrong exactly and
neither did the doctors. Their answer was to give me a long list of
prescriptions. I had severe Edema in my leg, and my hands and wrists
were swelling. I also had an allergic reaction to one of the medications
my personal physician had prescribed.
When
my health deteriorated, I lost everything. I lost my business, my
relationship with my girlfriend, and my income. I could hardly walk. I
couldn’t work. I could barely function. I am very fortunate to have a
supportive and loving family. They helped get me back on my feet.
After
being hospitalized, I spent several weeks doing some intense research
about healthy eating and an anti-inflammatory diet. I realized that I
needed a mindset change. I needed to re-prioritize my life and my choices. I found out the hard way that if you do not have your health, you do not have ANYTHING.
My
research led me many different websites. I did find a lot of
conflicting information. There are some very powerful lobby’s and
industry advocacy groups in the U.S. that make finding facts difficult. I
also found a nutrition website that had a LOT of great information, but
they were trying to sell a few certain products and supplements, and it
skewed their perspective and their reporting of so-called ‘facts’.
The
biggest thing that I found is that FOOD IS MEDICINE. Treating a
condition from the inside is the best possible route for your health. I
decided to use food AS my medicine.
I have had a couple of serious back injuries. (See previous blog posts).
I was an ibuprofen fiend. I would take SEVEN (7) 200mg ibuprofen 2 to 3
times daily! It would only take the edge off. I never wanted to take
prescription painkillers as they are highly addictive so this was the
route I chose.
Change #1:
I stopped taking ibuprofen and started including Turmeric in my diet. I
started taking 3 teaspoons of Turmeric powder daily (one teaspoon, 3
times per day). Turmeric is
a powerful anti-inflammatory and better than any drug on the market.
You can buy the powder in the spice section or you can take a supplement
(buy on Amazon by clicking here). More information on the benefits of Turmeric click here.
Change #2:
I started hydrating with water that had Lemon and Lime juice in it.
This meant that I stopped drinking diet soda (which robs your body of
calcium and is full of sodium). Lemons are full of Potassium and Limes
are full of Magnesium. Your muscles need Potassium and Magnesium to
properly function. When your muscles are ‘spent’ or worn out, they stop
receiving blood which also means they stop receiving nutrients. This is
the main reason that people experience muscle spasms. As a person with
muscle and skeletal issues from injuries, the severe muscle spasms can
be debilitating. Lemon juice also helps with weight loss. I am happy to
report that I don’t experience muscle spasms any longer. My healthy
muscles continue to get stronger every day!
Change #3:
As a BBQ restaurant owner, you can imagine that I ate a LOT of meat. In
the past when I wanted to lose a few pounds, I would do a low carb diet
and drop off 20 pounds in no time. I followed the Adkins Diet years ago
and it worked for me. This time was different. I had to lose a lot of
weight quickly to regain my health. I STOPPED EATING BEEF AND PORK,
rarely ate chicken, but would eat eggs and fish. I also stopped eating
dairy products. I went to a primarily plant based vegan diet.
Since
making these changes I can tell you that I am a lot happier and
healthier. I feel great! I exercise regularly and I have now cut
chicken, most fish and eggs out of my diet and am almost entirely plant
based. Essentially, I have followed an anti-inflammatory diet. My follow
up post on this is here.
As
a Vegan, one of my primary concerns was getting enough protein. I will
do a follow-up post to this concerning protein and Vegans. In the
meantime, here are some decent resources if you are curious about a
plant-based diet.
Also, check out my Top Amazon Vegan Picks here.
I highly recommend the documentary Forks Over Knives
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