Today I wanna focus more on my thoughts which I had when I first dove into the topic of healthy eating. As I told you before that was the first reason for me to look into it. My first wish was to gain muscles but I realized pretty soon that nutrition has an enormous impact on human's healthy!
I discovered that there are vegan bodybuilders out there so I assumed that it's no problem to eat a plant-based diet and still make gains. (it's really not!)
But what was way more shocking to me was that most chronic diseases are related to our nutrition. Cancer, diabetes, chronic heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure) and Alzheimer's disease to name just a few.
My beliefs where put to the test since I got taught for almost 20 years that milk is necessary for strong bones, eggs are a good source for high quality protein and meat is healthy and rich in iron.
I went to school for 12 years where they offered us the so called "daily school-milk" that you could order and drink during the break because "it's good for your bones" but never told me anybody that the countries with the highest milk consumption also have the highest osteoporosis rates. On the other hand in Asia where they used to not really consume cow's milk they didn't even know about this disease simply because no one had it. That's what the statistics show and so I began changing my opinions as I tried to educate myself further and further.
I started picturing myself in 10, 20 and even 30 years. Seeing all those sick people in documentaries and also in real life, I know I don't wanna end up like them.
A few years back I was like: "Who cares about getting old if you don't enjoy your life. It's better to die with 50-60 but live life to the edges!" However after learning more I thought about the possibility of becoming old while staying fit, healthy and clear minded.
That just didn't seem like a plausible possibility to me since I always thought that when you get old, you also become sicker and weaker.
Clearly that wasn't the case for all. I watched people in there 60s and 70s becoming healthy and clear minded just by changing their diet choices and habits. That impressed me to such an extend that I questioned my old beliefs and instead thought "What if it really is possible to stay fit and strong up until old age?".
I was really excited by that new possibility and my motivation drove me to try out new things, change my habits and become more healthy!
Out of curiosity the first thing I did was try out a plant-based milk. It's amazing how many different varieties there are: soy, rice, coconut, cashew, almond, hazelnut, rice-coconut, soy-coconut, coconut-cashew, etc. .. you get the point! It's nearly impossible that you don't find one that you like and that's one small and easy step to a better life.
Would love to hear if anyone else has / had similar thoughts than me or if that blog motivated you to try out an alternative? Let me know which flavor you like most.
V
BJ
PS: Great information from a great man: Dr. Michael Greger.
