Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference - Robert Frost
Years ago, I too, came to a twist in the road.
You see, I wasn't exactly in the best of health. I was overweight, I still smoked, I had high cholesterol & high blood pressure, and I was approaching my 50's.
Time felt like it was running out.
Now I could have taken the well-beaten path like everyone else.
Do nothing and wait for the inevitable heart attack, or go see my doctor for my daily dose of Lipitor. After all, that's exactly the path that millions of American's will take this year.
They'll take the pills, and have the stents, and be laid up unable to work for weeks on end as their medical bills slowly dissolve their savings. And that's if they're lucky enough to have insurance or to have any savings at all.
And afterward, they'll continue to eat their fried chicken, and bacon, and BBQ, and triple cheeseburgers, and never think twice about their next hospital visit.
Until it comes.
But I learned something years ago, that changed my whole direction.
I see things totally differently now, and as the poem goes - that has made all the difference.
Food Is Way More Important Than We Thought
Think about it.
Just about every single major health condition we have today - whether it's heart disease, or diabetes, or obesity, or even cancer..... can be linked to what we put on the end of our forks.
And sadly, many of our doctors don't know this. No, not because they don't want to, but because nutritional training still isn't a priority in medical school, if it's even required at all.
What they DO know, is how to treat symptoms with one pill or another. And some even become specialists, trained in putting you to sleep, or cutting you open to remove that tumor or bypass that artery.
But food or nutrition?
What does that have to do with anything?
Well, I'm here to tell you - everything.
The research and clinical studies that prove a plant-based vegan diet is the best diet for your health have been out for years.
And to be fair, there are some doctors who DO know this. And slowly, ever so slowly, more and more doctors are getting onboard. There's not that many yet, but their numbers are growing.
- Doctors like Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish, who actually reversed heart disease in patients who were given up for dead, just by changing their diet.
- Doctors like Dr. John McDougall and Dr. Neil Barnard who have successfully reversed diabetes and a number of other conditions.
No, I learned years ago, that food DOES matter, and so right then and there - I chose the road less traveled.
I chose to...
Be Different
Because I AM different.
- I'm that round peg that doesn’t quite fit in the square hole.
- I’m the rebel, that ‘weird vegan guy’ who doesn’t eat meat.
- I’m that troublemaker who makes sure there's veggies at the BBQ
- I don’t work a traditional 9-5 job either
- Instead, I write a blog about the Vegan Recipes I cook.
- I don't do guns, or follow sports, or have a gym membership
- I prefer taking pictures, and cooking, and the Food Network
I get it. I’m not like everyone else.
But because I went down that road less traveled.....?
- My blood pressure is down
- My cholesterol is down
- My weight continues to drop
- I'm probably healthier now than I was in high school
- I've never had surgery
- In fact, I've never been in a hospital at all, other than to visit others.
Yep, just by changing the foods I eat.
So yeah, I CHOOSE to be different! And if that makes me a crazy one - then so be it.
My health matters.
No, I'm not out to change the world, but if I can help heal myself and my family, then that will have made all the difference in the world.
My world anyway.
You can do this too. Make a difference.
Be Different
Liz Dyer
I don't care what people think. Never have and never will. I have always been different or unique.
Sarah
I choose to be peculiar!
And you forgot to mention in your list of attributes that you have become an excellent world class cook.
MarthaLA
LOL ! Which bird is not like the others is just what I thought when I saw the photo. I like it!
Gira
Great post! Here's to the misfits! I've been a misfit and awkward my whole life it seems, but this diet seems to be the thing that makes other people REALLY uncomfortable. It doesn't matter if I am minding my own business. People can eat french fries and fried chicken and waffles all day long with no comment, but if I sit and eat a salad and a banana for lunch people say "WHOA! You need to eat some PROTEIN, girl!" Gimme a break. I will eat what I want!
Nadege
You are absolutely right but I have to say that I do not agree about doctors. So many people, from young to older are taking their health into their own hands and educating themselves. From Dr Greger to Jeff Novick, Dr McDougall to Neal Barnard… the information is there. Doctors don't want to educate their patients in purpose, pocketing money from the pharmaceutical industry to prescribe certain kinds of medicine (statins…), losing housands of dollars in surgeries that do not have to be performed… while there are solutions. "It's the food" slogan from John McDougall rings so true.
I am grateful for people like you, Michael Klunker, Susan Voisin, Terri of "Eat plant based" who are teaching us that food can not only be delicious but incredibly healthy and satisfying.
Chuck Underwood
I hope you're wrong - in that SOME doctors care - but just have no idea the power of nutrition. I know very few receive any training at all in med school. But you're right - there are also those greedy corporations that just want to make money off of us. Sad that they exist - but they do.