I do not want to sound to dramatic because in reality I have few notable health concerns. Sure I have high blood pressure that I have been treating now for a few years. However, that is the family curse and I knew it was something I was going to have to deal with. I also have eczema. This as well is something that has dogged me for many years. However it was the realization that my energy was dropping, despite swimming a mile nearly everyday, and that I just could not sustain the kind of exuberant lifestyle anymore that I had been living. I really like to eat well and drink well. Sometimes I do this to excess, but don’t we all? Well over the last year or so I have had trouble keeping up. And my normal health concerns just seem to be getting worse.Suddenly I realized it was time to change.
But what was this change I needed. For starters I knew I needed to eat a whole lot less. Once upon a time I was able to feast until my eyes and mouth were content. My friends joke and say I should have been the guy who starred in Man vs Food. Then out of no where it hit. Eating too much was effecting my sleep, which in turn was effecting my over all mental health. If I was up for two to three hours a night with massive indigestion that was precious sleep I was loosing. Also it was getting harder to manage my weight, despite daily exercise. Around the same time my eczema took a turn for the worse. It was not as bad as it had been in the past but something new was beginning. I went to see a dermatologist and she agreed it was most likely due to my eczema and of course the only option was steroids. Treating the symptom not the cause. And lastly my normal medicine and dose for my high blood pressure was not cutting it anymore and a new agent was added. In short at forty I was changing, and not for the better.
I began to do some thinking at this point. I was getting tired of seeing this doctor for that problem and that doctor for this problem. I was wondering, is it all somehow related? That is when I turned to the internet for a little research. A blessing and hindrance as the internet is so full of information it is hard to sift through. One thing for sure though I was turning up a lot of information. As it turned out my eczema might be directly related to an allergic reaction, to food. And within this realm I discovered that it all had to do with internal inflammation and that is where I connected the dots to my high blood pressure. I began to realize that my poor diet habits of the past twenty years or so could be the root of my issues and I knew I had to try and change.
But what course of action should I take? Should I become a vegan. No way I love meat. I am talking about change not a complete abandonment of who I am. Should I give up drinking? That thought did not last to long. I love a good beer and red wine, but slowing it down could not hurt. Should I attempt to reduce internal inflammation? Probably, but what exactly does that mean? And lastly, do I have leaky gut syndrome? I read on and on and discovered an abundance of good information. In the end I decided on a balanced approach, because I do want to sustain these changes. I was not going to give up eating delicious, fatty, mouth watering things like bacon and country fried steak, but I was going to cut it way back. I also realized I needed to increase my intake of fruits and veggies. Sometimes even without meat and without cooking. Yes I do believe in live food from time to time. I also set out to eat less. A lot less and to stopped eating at 7PM. This is non negotiable. And lastly I wanted to see if I had that weird thing called leaky gutsy syndrome. So I am starting to take a pro-biotic supplement to see if it helps my eczema by reducing candida infection and repopulating good bacteria in my digestive track. (Do a google search for leaky gut. It is fascinating)
I am just beginning down my road. All told I believe I am on the right path and hope that I have it in me to keep going. I also believe that if I tried to do everything at once it would be a set-up for failure. By changing what I eat and including some nutrient’s that were not overly present before I hope to improve my health dramatically. Who knows, perhaps with a little encouragement I will see results and decide that with even more effort I could eliminate all my health concerns. If that is the case then now is the time because it will just be harder to do in ten or even twenty years, when I more than likely will have bigger health issues to contend with. In the mean time I will take these baby steps toward improving my health. I hope you to can and will do the same.
Michael Ashby