MY JOURNEY
I'm obsessed with health, performance, and longevity. Everything about it. The science, the biology, the mechanics, the results. I love to geek out on it, I find it absolutely fascinating. How big a spectrum of performance there can be depending on how we treat this complex meat vessel, the human body. The experiments, the feeling, the performance effects, the mental clarity, the increased frequency of flow (which is one of the best feelings in the world). The end to a lifetime of being slave to carbohydrates and the energy lulls and brain fog that entails.
But anyway, it wasn't always like that. Once upon a time, I was living on microwave meals and vending machine sandwiches and took pride in having a reputation of being the "resident dustbin", always relied on to finish everyone else's leftovers, however big or small. I did a lot of sports. I participated in either football (soccer) or martial arts everyday. Sometimes both. This meant a lot of high-intensity exercise on a regular basis so despite the poor eating lifestyle, the only health gauge I knew and lived by was my waist line. So the destructive nature of my eating habits would be totally unnoticed.
Fast forward over the years and I've become increasingly interested in health, nutrition, and general wellbeing, always experimenting to see where it leads and researching to understand the results. This has included vegetarianism and intermittent fasting but eventually I discovered something that I felt was the perfect fit.
I discovered Mark Sisson talking about his Primal Blueprint on the Joe Rogan podcast and it sounded like the next thing I wanted to experiment with and see how it made me feel. No grains? The majority of the volume of what I ate were grains - rice, pasta, oats, bread. So I checked out the Primal Blueprint book from the library and so the journey began. I had no expectations as I already had what I considered as good energy levels, but in the usual spirit of experimentation I tried it anyway and within a few weeks, something magical happened...
I'll start off by first explaining that I didn't consider myself to have any particular health problems but in reality I'd been suffering with something I hadn't been completely able to diagnose for over 4 years. I had been suffering with this "inflamed nasal passage" and become what is known as a "mouth breather" (extremely detrimental to one's health). It had been occurring now daily without fail. It was getting me down and I'd pretty much given up on it. No matter what research I did I couldn't find a working solution. It was suggested that pollen was the cause. The doctor prescribed me a nasal decongestant, even some anti-inflammatory pills but not only did they not work, I felt long-term pharmaceuticals wasn't a good idea. I'd even tried gluten-free. I'd even gone so far as matching the symptoms to sinusitis whereby the final treatment to try and solve this was surgery. This was a dreadful thought.
Anyway, after applying these changes, namely eliminating grains and seed oils from my diet while increasing fat intake, I noticed changes after about a month.
I had more energy (I already thought I had plenty).
I was able to get up easier in the mornings.
Waking up with my mouth closed, gently breathing through my nose, ultra-relaxed, had me starting my day on a high.
I arrived at the office full of energy without needing a coffee (Now I just drink it because I love it, but I don't need it anymore).
I didn't get brain fog and start yawning after lunch.
My appetite reduced (in a good way). I didn't feel the need to snack as often.
I had been liberated from cravings.
I was able to skip meals without feeling hungry.
But most importantly for me, within a couple of months, I noticed my inflamed nasal passage problem was happening less and less.
I still get milder nasal flareups now but it's a lot less frequently and almost always follows being at a social event the evening before and I decide I want to eat bread or crackers or something else indulgent. I'm reminded for the next couple of days to leave those foods alone by the negative impact they have on how I feel and my general experience.
This single change has positively impacted my life. It has set the foundation for every other area of my life. It's helped with the usual blockers of energy, time, motivation, enthusiasm. I can breathe again. This single difference has been life changing.
MY MISSION
I want to pay it forward. I want to help as many people as possible, make simple, positive changes to the lifestyle and empower them to free themselves from being a slave to food cravings and energy slumps limiting them to living a lesser life. And this approach is in my opinion, without a doubt, the ultimate blueprint to living a longer, healthier, more enjoyable life. It is the gateway and foundation to physical and mental peak performance and near-limitless potential.
I've always enjoyed helping others with advice and guidance around things I've learned relating to health, nutrition and self-improvement in general, but now I have the necessary skills to support and help educate people who want to radically transform their lives for the better.
After using a couple of willing friends as case studies, and receiving positive feedback on their experiences since making changes to their lifestyle, the motivation to pursue this path was evermore heightened as I became aware of just how incredibly satisfying to help others. I knew I was on the right track to living a purposeful life. It is, as Abraham Maslow expressed, the merging of the selfish and unselfish.