Killing Me Softly

I was scanning through articles like I do every day and came across a very disturbing piece in the UK's Daily Mail today. A Manhattan-based artist named Sally Davies bought a Happy Meal from McDonald's on April 10th and photographed it on her shelf in her apartment. She proceeded to photograph the happy meal every day in order to capture the daily decay, a kind of 'art' project I guess. The only trouble was 6 months later the Happy Meal has barely decayed. It looks almost like it did on the day she bought it.

I don't know if this is a sham, but it got me thinking about the state of food in this country and around the world. You can read the article here if you like and see the pictures. It feels like a prank to me, but regardless you have to wonder what do they put in this stuff and what does it mean for our body? I wanted to share my own experience because people generally don't think about what they are putting in their bodies today.

In 2003 I woke up one day to find my pant size 44 too tight to fit and faced the fact that at age 30 I was obese. I had stopped playing semi-pro Football (American) in 2001 and focused all my efforts on my career. That meant no more workouts, lots of travel, and eating whatever whenever wherever. I made a conscience decision to change my lifestyle that day, and I knew it would be a long process. I consulted nutritionists, weight loss experts and even looked at surgical options. What I learnt was that I lacked the knowledge and education to solve my problem, but that it would be a process of learning and experimentation, very similar to the type of work we did for our clients.

My first step in the journey that continues today was to eliminate ALL fast food. That Saturday I went down to my favorite burger joint in Brussels and had my last feast. Scary thing is that I can still taste that meal today - the burger, the fries and the diet coke. My taste buds have memorized whatever is in that crap and I have just to think about it to call up the taste. It was a tough first step. No more McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell or anything that involved ordering from a drive thru or counter and costing less than $10.

In the years after that first step I have given up all soda (except the occasional ginger ale, especially when flying), reduced the portions I eat, gone from eating two BIG meals a day to 5 small ones, educated myself on the importance of enzymes, nutrition and minerals, learnt that the biggest enemy to my health today is the sodium content of everything we eat, changed the mix of my food to 50% protein, 50% carb, cook the majority of my meals, don't eat any carbs after 4pm on weekdays, and work out 4 to 5 times a week no matter what.

Read that last part again - I exercise 4 to 5 times a week no matter what. No client, project, deadline or personal relationship will ever be a good enough excuse to prevent me from taking care of myself. Its been an amazing journey of transformation and it continues today, especially as my buddy Taylor and I started a 3 month workout program at 6:45am this morning and my arms feel like they are about to fall off. But it feels great to be alive, which brings me back to the happy meal.

I meet so many people who either want to lose weight or need to, yet they refuse to take the first step towards that goal. What is the first step? Its not to 'diet'. Its not to cut your food or hit the gym. The first step in this process is to understand why obesity happens. The first step it to get educated, just like in anything else we do in life.

There is a basic reason why some people gain weight and others don't. You need to understand this. It has nothing to do with age, it has nothing to with genetics or the proverbial being big boned. It has everything to do with what you put in your body and how your body handles it. If you understand this one thing then you are half way to your goal of living a healthy and hopefully long life.

Our bodies are unique, yet they all function on the same basic principals - we eat to get the nutrients and minerals that our body needs to function. We process our food with enzymes in the intestinal track. We store the excess that we intake in our fat cells. That includes all toxins that we breath in, eat, drink or absorb through the skin. The trick is to have enough enzymes, nutrients and minerals in the body to process all the excess food and toxins so you don't store it. This is why some people have disproportionate body parts, the body stores the toxins and excess in that area.

If you think about how the human being has evolved we didn't have all these chemicals and additives to process back in the caveman days. They ate nuts and berries, the occasional meat or fish, and lots of greens. There were no happy meals, no fried chicken or canned foods. The body got all it needed from a combination of greens, protein and carbs that came straight from the ground, animals or the river.

Don't get me wrong, I am a foodie and I love what chefs do with the amazing ingredients out there. There is nothing better than truffles, garlic, basil, coriander, curry or hot peppers. But look at that list - they are all natural ingredients. When I went through my nutritional education in 2008 I understood why I had been overweight all my life. Potato chips, candy bars, frozen pizza and canned foods are not natural and the body doesn't know what to do with these things. It has only two options - process it or store it. That skinny girl who eats anything she wants and still looks good in a bikini has a body that processes all the crap she eats. The guy who's ass doesn't fit in the airplane chair anymore stores all that crap, primarily in his ass. This is why.

As I read this article today I was happy that I made the decision 7 years ago to stop putting that crap in my body. Sure, I have the occasional 'free day' where I order a pizza or a hot dog at the ball game, but my body has learnt to process the little rewards I give myself. And here is the thing, if you feed yourself or your family on the bad stuff you can change that too. It takes time, it takes discipline, and it takes a lot of education to help you make the right choice. The morning muffin has to go, two eggs fried with a drop of olive oil on wheat toast is the better option. The fried eggs at the diner are not the same because of the crap they use to fry it in. You can make these changes step by step and your body will respond.

I was 350lbs back in 2003, I'm hovering at 205lbs today. And it has been relatively painless. Take the time to educate yourselves on what you are putting in your body. Nothing is as it seems. The labels are all misleading. Take back your health and your lives from the advertisers, meal deals and poison peddlers with names like McDonalds, Popeyes or Primanti Brothers. Get educated. And if you want help give me a call. It would be an honor to share my experience.