“Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognise and appreciate until they have been depleted.” – Denis Waitley
Let's face it, positive thinking can only take you so far. I've noticed two of the most dangerous mindsets people have about health are 'mass denial' and 'having anxiety that is too low.'
Mass denial prevents people from doing anything significant about the health problems they face. My mum truly believes she has a healthy diet even though her actual health tells a different story. And I've wondered why this is.
The most likely answer is down to human nature. We are creatures of habit, and often find comfort and security in the familiar patterns and routines of our daily lives. Habits and lifestyle choices become a part of our identity, and changing them can feel like a threat to who we think we are.
Whether that perception is good or bad, change is overwhelming. Most would rather stick with what's comfortable even if it has negative consequences. Breaking through the denial and facing the truth about our health is not always easy, but it's essential if we want to live a long and fulfilling life.
The Case For Anxiety
I know we live in a world where anxiety is evil and if you have it, you need to see a therapist. But it's actually really useful for staying alive. Low levels of anxiety are associated with underestimating risks, a lackadaisical attitude toward your health, and poor decision-making.
What do you think happened to warriors who were not vigilant, even when the enemy was nearby?
If you answered an ASAP bloody death to them and their entire tribe, you are correct. The same principle applies to your health. One of the reasons I'm writing this mastery series is because I want you to become more knowledgeable about your health, know the pitfalls and your enemies so you can protect yourself and your loved ones as much as possible from future illness.
If you get sick, you become a burden to your family.
Is that fair if you could've prevented it by taking better care of yourself?
Obviously, we don't want to dial our anxiety up to 100 all the time. But we also don't want it at a 10. People who suffer from too much anxiety have overactive bodyguards—they get freaked about every little thing that isn't actually a threat. That's not great. But neither is having too little anxiety. If you think it's fine to eat garbage in the form of biscuits, crisps etc. on a daily basis then your anxiety level is probably too low.
Unfortunately, there is no other way to approach this when over 60% of people are overweight or obese in the UK. I want you to know the truth about the health of your brain and body, and I want you to be able to do something about it if you are headed for trouble or are in trouble already.
When you break through your denial you will be much more serious about your health and more willing to live like a man of purpose. Or you won't, but at the very least, be honest with yourself and the state of your health.
You are in a war for your health.
The real weapons of mass destruction in our society are highly processed, pesticide sprayed, artificially coloured and sweetened, high glycemic, low fibre, food-like garbage, laden with hormones, and tainted with antibiotics.
Unhealthy food and lifestyle choices are so common and normalised that it truly takes something heroic within us to step back and see it, and then choose to win the battle against it. I was only able to make a change because i'm surrounded by illness in my family.
My dad died from strange health conditions.
My nan left this earth after suffering with dementia,
My grandad is currently suffering with diabetes and other illnesses.
I can go on, but when you see a lot of examples of people developing health conditions, it acts as a wake-up call. You can't take your health for granted because once your body gives up, it gives up, it can only take so much abuse.
THE FIGHT STARTS WITH NUTRITION
Have you ever considered how much you can actually trust nutritional science?
What if I told you that nutritional science, which only got started less than two hundred years ago, is today approximately where surgery was in the year 1650?
Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what happens in your body when you drink fizzy drinks, or what is going on deep in the soul of a carrot to make it so good for you, or why in the world you have so many neurons—brain cells!—in your stomach, of all places.
We're extremely complex beings, and someday the field may produce definitive answers to the nutritional questions that concern us, but—as nutritionists themselves will tell you—they're not there yet. Not even close.
However, in all the uncertainty, there are two facts that all experts agree on: our diet has a huge impact on our health, and there are certain foods that are undeniably good for us. These facts are like the foundation of a building, and we can use them to build a healthy diet that works for us.
Fact #1. Populations that eat a typical Western diet consisting of "lots of processed foods, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of refined grains, lots of everything except vegetables, fruits and whole grains" suffer from the typical Western diseases of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. (80% of heart disease and more than 33% of cancers can be linked to that diet.)
Fact #2. Populations that don't eat that stuff don't suffer from those chronic diseases. Their traditional diets vary TREMENDOUSLY—from the super high-fat diets of the Inuit in Greenland who eat mostly seal blubber, to the super high carbohydrate diets of Central American Indians who eat a ton of maise and beans, to the super high protein diets of the Masai in Africa who eat mostly cattle meat, blood and milk. But, even with that extreme variety, they DO NOT suffer from the chronic diseases we suffer from.
There is no single ideal human diet. Humans evolved to handle a variety of different diets. EXCEPT ONE: The Western diet that most of us now eat. It's the one diet that humans haven't evolved to handle yet. While nutritionists may argue about which component of the Western diet is the ultimate culprit, we can all agree that removing junk food is a step in the right direction.
Nutritionism vs Real Food
Nutritionism is the idea that we should judge food by the nutrients it's bringing to the table. It might seem like a sensible idea, but it's a very new way of seeing things. Before, we talked about food as food, like fish, berries, meat, and potatoes. When we start viewing food in terms of its nutrients, it creates a grey area. As a result, food scientists start thinking they can do a better job than nature at making food.
Using baby formula as an example, the entire history has been one overlooked nutrient after another: Some famous chemist called Justus von Liebig missed the vitamins and amino acids, and his successors missed the omega-3s, to this day babies fed on the most 'nutritionally complete' formula fail to do as well as babies fed human milk. In fact 100% of babies fed on formula grow up to be heroin addicts! Ok, I made the heroin point up, but someone should look into it, the percentage is probably higher than you think.
The overall point is, trying to judge food by its nutritional content alone is like a food scientist trying to create a better fruit than nature. It's like trying to improve on something that's already perfect. Just like how nature has already designed fruits to provide us with the perfect combination of nutrients and fibre, whole foods in their natural state also contain a variety of micronutrients and phytochemicals that work together in ways that we don't not fully understand yet. It's like trying to reinvent the wheel when it's already rolling perfectly well.
Conspiracy Corner
Are we slowly being fooled into thinking that processed foods are just as healthy as real foods?
The obsession with counting nutrients has blinded us to the difference between what's real and what's not. When nutrients are the main focus, it opens the door for processed garbage to be considered healthier than real foods. But who benefits from this deception?
Food scientists and the fake food factories that churn out these processed garbage foods in the first place, that's who. By "enriching" their products with certain nutrients, they can claim that their fakies are healthier than the real thing. But is there any evidence that artificially produced nutrients are better than natural ones?
I guess it's all about context. If your options are garbage foods vs garbage foods enriched with nutrients, go with the garbage food nutrients everytime. If natural nutrients are an option though, i'm yet to see any benefits to casting aside thousands of years of evolutionary history and adaption that makes a case for it. Some people might think that if they eat a vitamin granola bar, they're getting all the benefits of those nutrients, but it's just not that simple.
Imagine you're out at sea trying to catch a penguin with a giant net (as you do). The net is so big that it catches all sorts of things besides the penguin you were aiming for, like rocks, seaweed, and even some other fish that you didn't want. This is similar to how our bodies can have trouble absorbing nutrients from enriched processed foods. The nutrients are often packaged in a way that our bodies aren't used to, which makes it difficult for our bodies to extract and use them efficiently, and we end up "catching" a bunch of other unwanted ingredients along with them. Just like using a smaller, more precise fishing net would be more effective at catching the penguin you want, getting your nutrients from whole, unprocessed foods would be a more efficient way to fuel your body.
So, do these corporations actually care about our health or are they only interested in making a profit?
Before you answer that question, consider this: until 1973, laws required food manufacturers to label processed foods as "imitation food." Since that law went away, the processed garbage food industry has exploded, and now more than 50% of the average person's diet is made up of "imitiation foods" that didn't exist 100 years ago. Is it any wonder that we're facing a health epidemic?
The more research I did for this guide, the more this whole situation stunk. And the more I believe this is all one big conspiracy to make money off of people's ignorance and get them addicted rich tea biscuits. Seriously though, who is buying rich tea biscuits? I don't understand how they're still in business. It must be a front, there's no way they're making profits selling these bland biscuits, this is the real conspiracy.
More seriously though, this is a money game. I honestly don't think these companies have any malicious intent by selling us garbage products that make us sick. They just care way more about making money than making products that are genuinely good for us. It's a lot easier to sell addictive substances than it is to sell tenderstem broccoli snacks.
Sacrificing your health is simply a means to an end for them. And once they're done making you all good and sick, the pharmaceutical companies are ready to step in and make money off your illness on the back end. They've got a good racket going on, but it's up to you whether you want to be a part of it.
Don't let them pull the wool over your eyes with their slick marketing tactics and empty promises. Get curious, get informed, and take control of what you put in your body.
Look at the ingredient labels and do some detective work. Look out for sneaky additives, preservatives, and artificial junk that you can't pronounce. Learn about where their ingredients come from and how they're sourced. Are they truly committed to your well-being, or are they just out to make a quick buck?
By questioning the motives of these processed food giants, you empower yourself to make smarter, more informed diet choices. Choose whole, unprocessed foods that nourish your body with the nutrients it craves. Fuel yourself with real, wholesome ingredients that have stood the test of time, not some lab-created concoctions.
Remember, you're in the driver's seat of your health journey. Don't let those processed food companies dictate what goes into your body. Take a stand, my outlaws. Let your diet choices speak volumes. The battle for your health starts now. Are you ready to question, to challenge, and to make better choices? I know you are. Let's do this!
Always remember, you were born to be the hero of your story.
Free you outlaw.