01 Feb The Fountain of Youth is Here
On October 24th 2018, I set out on a journey to go 2 months without eating any meat to see what I would learn. Fruit, vegetables, and water were the order of the day. I told myself I’d stop the self-inflected torture on December 24th 😂. As a guy from Georgia, The South, where we definitely like to eat everything from fried chicken to seafood gumbo, you can see why I’d call it torture in jest. Little did I know, however, that I would learn something interesting and vital about food and the body. At the month and a half marker, I took a moment on social media to share an important observation about what had become very apparent to me in light of my journey: “We’ve all heard about The Fountain of Youth. That it’s located somewhere in some distant land. That if we drink or bathe in its mystical waters, we’ll erase decades of age from our appearance and overall health. Well, I’m here to tell you that The Fountain of Youth was never a distant place. It has always been right under our noses in the produce 
section of our local grocery store, farmers market, or personal garden.” During those 2 months, it had become evident to me that the body is like a complex machine, and out of all the foods, fruits and vegetables was its main fuel and lubricant. I witnessed first-hand that upping our fruit and vegetable intake to healthy levels we’ve never tried before, can unlock something special about our bodies. And you’re going to be really hard pressed to find a doctor that tells you that you need to cut back on the fruit and veggies. (However, I do think it’s always good practice, when trying new diets, to let your doctor know) What was now crystal clear is that what we put in our bodies is directly connected to how we feel, how often we get sick, how much energy we have, how much clarity of thought we have, and even how much anxiety with which we approach a new day. All the positive benefits from “eating clean” left me with the realization that we eat for taste 95% percent of the time and not for nutrients. What if we did both! Food is art and if we choose, we can paint a beautiful life.
I’ll tell you a true story: Let’s go back in time a little more than 3 ½ years ago. I had just read about organic foods and was contemplating trying an organic diet for a month. To my surprise I’m proud to say I was able to do it for 6 months. At that time, I thought it was going to be difficult to eat a diet that consisted mainly of organic fruits and vegetables with seafood such as salmon, cod, shrimp, and crab being the only meat allowed. This diet consisted of some days with no meat at all. But after a month or so, I seemed to settle into it. Not only are habits solidified after a month they say, but I could see obvious positive changes in my body. My hair started to grow more. Imagine the smile on this near bald guy’s face after that 😀. My face brightened and skin cleared. The midday sluggishness that usually happens after lunch was gone. I didn’t experience even a hint of having a cold and this was during one of
the worst flu seasons the Northwest had ever seen. (Unfortunately, my son caught the flu that year and we had him admitted into the hospital for safety. I stayed overnight with him each night and still I caught nothing) Even up to a year and a half after I stopped the strict organic diet, I didn’t experience any sickness. Perhaps this was from incorporating some of the things that I had learned. The occasional tingling in my leg from poor circulation was gone. My nails grew bright and at twice the rate I was used to. When I went to my cardiologist for a checkup, all the numbers checked out to what they should be. He asked me, “what are you doing?” And I smiled and said, “I started an organic diet where I consume the amount of fruit and vegetables we’re really supposed to have each day”. “Well, whatever you’re doing keep it up!!”, he said.
So why am I sharing this with you? It’s because I genuinely want you to live a beautiful life. It’s to give you the courage to try some healthy practices with food that can help you reach some of your physical goals whether that is losing weight, toning up, slowing the aging process, and even fighting back against some ailment. It’s to tell you that I’ve done what some may call very difficult diets like going without meat for a while, and I’m still here and better for it. Granted everyone is different so going 2 months like me may not be best for you, but what if you tried a week? What if you tried 2 or 3 days? Many of us go days and weeks without having a proper portion of fruit and vegetables in our diets. What if you upped your vegetable intake to levels you’ve never tried before? Our bodies use the nutrients in fruit and vegetables to heal the body and carry out vital processes. When we don’t supply it with what it needs, it 
starts to break down faster than what is normal.
The Fountain of Youth is not in some distant land. It’s probably less than a 10-minute drive for you. How often are you visiting the produce section? You know I noticed years ago when I was on holiday in Europe, how often people would go to the market for fresh groceries. Instead of going weeks between visits to the grocery store, they would only go a few days. For some, it was every day. Take the time to get fresh fruit and vegetables often; find ways to eat them raw like blending and incorporate them in the diet for your family. If you do, you will have found The Fountain of Youth, and don’t be surprised if one day after waking up and before stepping in the shower, you look in the mirror and see the high-school you once again.
Organic Moringa (Amazon): https://amzn.to/2WKzFZu
