By Randy Gage
Jun 6, 2006, 09:57
The Battle for Control of Your Body
I sat by my 86-year-old grandfather’s bedside as he lay in a hospital during his final days. He faded in and out of consciousness. When lucid, he told me point blank, “I’m not getting out of here. I don’t want to.”
This was no surprise to me. I remembered a couple years earlier when his sister (my great-aunt, Nettie, also in her eighties) told me that the upcoming Christmas would be her last one. At that time, I tried to argue, pleading with her to not affirm such a negative statement. She shut me down fast:
“I don’t want to live another year,” she replied. “I’m too sick. I can’t sleep. I am in pain all the time. I can’t take it any more. I want to have this last Christmas, and then I’m done.” And that is exactly what she did.
So when my grandfather told me he wanted to play his last hand, all I could do was love him and support the choice he made. I wanted him to hang around so I’d have someone to call on Father’s Day, go to a Marlins game with, or just talk to about old times. But I couldn’t ask him to endure any more pain and suffering. Like his sister, he had been in poor health for over a decade, and almost every moment of every day was a challenge.
When my grandmother reached her final days, she couldn’t express such a sentiment. And I doubt she ever would have, being the type who never wanted to burden anyone. But we’ll never know, because Alzheimer’s disease stole her mind from us. However, she too experienced great suffering and pain in her final years.
Pretty much all of the aging folks in my family have shared two constants: The typical American diet, and the disease, breakdown, and suffering that are the result of it. Unfortunately, this is the diet America has exported around the world, along with the negative results.
No book on prosperity and success could be complete without looking at the wellness part of the equation. One could easily argue that health may be the most important component of an abundant lifestyle. Yet it is an aspect most people ignore. In fact, people often trade away their health to get a particular job, win a promotion, or earn a certain amount of money. You learn quickly enough that it isn’t worth it. Getting to your “golden years” with a sizable nest egg – but without the good health to enjoy it – is the cruelest irony.
Another issue is that people never achieve their dreams because they don’t have the mental acuity, good health, or necessary energy or to realize those dreams. For years I stated that I would become rich if I could just get my body to keep up with my mind. And ultimately, that’s what it took for me: getting my health to the state where I could operate at a peak state of performance. If you are like most people, your wellness is more than likely seriously lagging behind where you would like to be on the path of success.
In the last thirty years, forward movement has been made in the areas of health and wellness at what most people consider an amazing rate. Cures for many diseases have been discovered, treatments to contain many other diseases developed, and huge strides made in nutrition. The end result of all of these advances has been that, while most people are living longer lives, they are assailed with health issues and disease and end up spending their final years in misery. There is an epidemic of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and other degenerative diseases.
Where’s does this universal breakdown in health come from? I believe it’s the result of two ominous trends in the foods that we eat.
The first of these has been the steady transformation of foods into addictive substances. The potato chip company can have their catchy slogan of “Bet you can’t eat just one,” but that innocent catch phrase actually foreshadowed a serious and concerted effort to make foods addictive.
Creating foods that make you physically desire them again and again in very big business. So big, in fact, the tobacco companies have slowly transitioned from trying to hook you on cigarettes to getting you craving for junk food instead. This business is even better than cigarettes, because most of the junkies don’t know they are hooked. (For more insights on this, read The Wellness Revolution by Paul Zane Pilzer.)
Because of what we now know about smoking, a company like Philip Morris can no longer advertise and target youngsters to hook them on Marlboros. But they don’t need to, because they have free rein to hook kids on goodies like Oreo Cookies, Cheez Whiz, Kool-Aid Slushies, Jell-O, Life Savers, and Ritz Crackers.
Today, millions of people have unknowingly become junk food junkies because many of the foods we are being programmed to buy have a strong physiological addictive factor.
Let’s look at how it works in layperson’s terms:
We all have bacteria in our digestive track. Most of us know we have “good” bacteria and “bad” bacteria. We need both. When in balance, the two bacteria create the perfect environment to digest our food, extract the necessary nutrients out of it, and eliminate the rest from our body as waste.
When we eat refined flour products (like white bread, crackers, pastries, chips, and pasta), they feed the bad bacteria in our colon. Foods with yeast in them do the same thing. Eating sugar also causes the bad bacteria to multiply rapidly. And, of course, the refined sugar we have it our diets today dramatically speeds that up. Making matters much worse, refined sugar is now added to practically everything you can consume now. (Which is perfect for creating an addiction, as you soon will see.)
Of course we know that sugary sweets like Krispy Kreme donuts, Cinnabons, cotton candy, ice cream, and soda are virtually all sugar. But did you also know that tomato ketchup, frozen peas, spaghetti sauce, salad dressings, and about a million other things contain sugar?
In any event, this refined sugar, yeast, and refined flour acts like fertilizer to the bad bacteria in your intestinal track, causing it to run amok. It actually makes you crave more yeast, refined flour, and sugary foods. So you lose the willpower to pass up dessert, continue to crave bread or rolls, and find yourself wanting another soda an hour after the first. It really is a physical addiction.
If you eat ice cream, cookies, or potato chips, you will keep craving more. And the more you eat, the stronger that physiological urge becomes. This keeps feeding the bad bacteria in your digestive track, which increases your physical cravings to eat yet more.
As this bad bacterium runs amok, you lose the natural peristaltic action that moves food through your colon and on to final elimination. Instead you become impacted, with your last meal pushing through the rancid, decaying, and putrefying previous meals. These toxins in your digestive track seep back into your blood stream, and there is increasing evidence that this auto-toxicity is responsible for many modern-day ailments, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, lethargy, hyperactivity, and even Attention Deficit Disorder.
In addition, your colon walls become encrusted, reducing your ability to receive nutrients from the food you eat. You slowly become nutrient-deficient, even though you are eating regularly.
The second ominous trend is the movement away from real, “living” food into dead, “fake” foods. Ninety percent of what most of us eat on a daily basis is now fake food.
Years ago in their book Fit for Life, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond taught us that to live, we must eat living foods. Living foods like peaches, carrots, and apples have enzymes that keep us alive. Dead foods like potato chips, candy bars, and fettuccine Alfred have no enzymes and bring us closer to death.
REAL food is fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and raw nuts. And the meat eaters can argue with the vegetarians about eating flesh. But one thing we can say for certain:
Dunkin’ Donuts, Frosted Pop Tarts, and M&Ms are not real food. Cheetos, Fritos, and Doritos are not real food -- even if it does say “made with real cheese” on the package. (Because of course cheese is not real food!) Hot fudge sundaes, stuffed-crust pan pizza. and rocky road ice cream are not real food. We have convinced ourselves (along with lots of help from advertising agencies) that things like cake and cookies and chips are real food. They’re not.
The end result is we have become overfed, but malnourished.
Our bodies keep sending us messages saying, “I need more nutrients.” So we feed it more. But we’re feeding it so much dead and fake food, that we’re still nutritionally deprived. Fake foods have little or no vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, or fiber – all things that are vital to wellness. So our bodies ask for more and more. The end result:
We are being “super-sized.”
It started as an American trend. We made fast food an art form. But this American trend has morphed into a worldwide one.
I’m writing this chapter from aboard a Qantas 747 on the way from California to Australia. I took my first trip Down Under about eight years ago. Back then I marveled at how slim everyone in Australia seemed to be. Just like I used to be able to sit and people-watch at the Café Ruc in Paris and be able to spot the Americans from a block away.
No longer.
From Singapore to Moscow to Caracas, people have readily embraced the fast food/fake food diet, and their bellies, thighs, and extra chins are showing it. When the first McDonald’s in Ljubljana, Slovenia, opened, people were lined up for miles to consume their first Big Mac.
I could recite the statistics on the increasing percentages of people who are overweight and clinically obese, but why bother? Numbers don’t connect with people, and the percentages would be obsolete by the time this book gets into your hands. Here’s all you really need to know, if you want to really understand what is happening:
Think about the size cookies were when you were growing up. If you’re at least thirty years old, I bet they were about three inches across. Then they started creeping up to five inches. Now you can find them the size of a Frisbee.
When I started my illustrious career as a dishwasher at Mr. C’s Pancake and Steak House on Midvale Boulevard in Madison, Wisconsin, soft drinks came in three sizes: 8 ounces, 12 ounces, and 14 ounces. Today, go through almost any drive through and you will find the small is 14 or 16 ounces, the medium is 20, and the “best value” is 24 or even 32 ounces! One convenience store chain sells a 64-ounce soda. That is a bucket!
Growing up, my best friend was Ed Stack. Ed was a big boy and also the only person I knew in the entire world that could eat a whole Whopper from Burger King. In fact, when we went to Burger King, our other friends often came along just to witness someone eating the whole thing. Today the chain routinely runs promotions for double and triple Whoppers. Value meals with extra large fries and sodas!
How much of your daily requirements of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidants, and fiber do you think you’re getting when you consume a Frisbee-size cookie, a 64-ounce soda, or a triple Whopper?
What percentage of your daily fat and cholesterol intake do you think you’re getting? We are eating more and receiving fewer nutrients. We are getting bigger and bigger, but our actual standard of wellness is worse and worse. And as we age, we are paying a huge price for our lack of good nutrition in degenerative diseases, pain, and suffering. My grandfather, grandmother, and great-aunt all lived to their mid-eighties. But was the poor quality of life in their later years really worth it?
So what’s the answer?
How do we take back control of our bodies and claim the wellness that is our birthright? Well, we can start by planting our own gardens, growing our own organic produce, and singing “Kumbaya” together.
Right.
If you would swear off all fake food, and eat nothing but raw fruit, raw vegetables, and raw nuts, you’d be the peak specimen of physical health. The reality is, that isn’t going to happen for most of us. The frenzied pace of today’s lifestyle is not likely to lessen. In fact, you could argue that it will only speed up. Mothers used to spend eight hours roasting a turkey for the family’s evening meal. Now they throw some processed turkey slices in the microwave for ninety seconds and impatiently wonder why “cooking dinner” is taking so long.
The real secret to wellness is some common sense and moderation. And realizing that if you watch five hours of television a night, you’re going to easily view twenty-five or forty commercials designed to keep you sick, fat, and lethargic. You must recognize and counter-program against this subliminal brainwashing if you want to be healthy. And you’ll have to really evaluate what you eat. What percentage is fake food, how much is addictive food, and what kind of preventive wellness activities you practice.
In the interest of disclosure, let me put this out front. I live in Miami, site of the original Krispy Kreme store on NE 6th Avenue. When I drive by, and that “Hot Donuts Now” sign starts flashing, I’ve been known to have problems with the steering on my car. When I change planes in Atlanta and I have to pass by the Cinnabon stand, I have sometimes succumbed to sins of the flesh. When I researched this chapter at Burger King, they were offering a new chocolate/banana shake – which I might or might not have tried.
Let’s be realistic: When you’re having a Super Bowl party at your place, your friends are probably not expecting you to serve alfalfa sprouts and tofu burgers. You no doubt all have a busy lifestyle and will likely continue to consume meals on the go. But you can still be smart about it.
You need at least five servings a day of fresh fruit and vegetables. And no, peach cobbler, carrot cake, and strawberry Pop Tarts don’t count! Take the advice from the Diamonds’ book and eat only fresh fruit before noon each day. This will load you up with precious enzymes and provide good fiber and lots of great nutrients. It also gives your digestive track a rest and provides you with greater elimination of toxins.
Always start with a fresh salad before your other meals. This will fill you up with some living food, and you’ll eat less fake food. You’ll eat less fat and keep your blood pressure and cholesterol at lower levels.
Stay away from refined white carbohydrates. Replace white breads with multi-grain versions, and eat whole wheat pasta instead of enriched. Eat brown rice instead of white.
Eat four or five smaller meals instead of three large ones. Start each day with some exercise, even if it’s just a walk around the block or ten pushups. And most importantly, supplement your diet with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fiber, and antioxidants. I can get away with my occasional pizza, cookie, or ice cream, because I take these kinds of supplements. And so can you.
You simply can’t be happy and prosperous if you’re not healthy. And once you truly experience optimum health, you’ll be amazed at how much more energy you have for life, the great and creative ideas you come up with, and the resolve you have to go out and live life out loud, in vibrant color!
Make a commitment now to take back control of your body. And then let’s explore how you handle your other challenges to stop being victimized and create your own abundant destiny…
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