Ready to adopt a healthy diet-style? - 14 Tips and myth-busters to remember

There are many reasons why you might be ready to adopt a healthier diet-style. It could be a serious illness in family which modern medicine is not helping much with or a sports/athletic goal you want to achieve or a recommendation from a friend who dearly cares about you or your doctor. Congratulations on taking the first step. There is plenty of free content online for you to absorb and learn from including these 7 mindful steps that walk you through a baseline of what an ideal food day could look like for you. You probably have habits that have been there for years, decades or maybe even generations and have sort of become a part of your DNA. Adapting your lifestyle to cultivate new healthier habits and slowly migrate away from destructive habits is easier said than done. Here are some tips and myth-busters for you to keep in mind so you can get ready for the life changing journey you have embarked upon. Just because you find yourself alone in your quest right this moment does not mean you are not right. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people all over the world who have come to a similar realization like you and have made the connection between food and health. Something we probably did not have to think about a few hundred years ago, but have to pay deliberate attention to in the current industrialized world.

Tips below are in no order of priority. They are a running stream of consciousness to prepare you with some of the objections you will most likely run into with your own mind that has been conditioned by society and from others who are still deep rooted in those habits. It is important to believe in what you are doing or every step of the way needs superhuman will power that works for 4 days while you are on the high and then gives up. Convince yourself why you are doing what you are doing and your mind and hence the brain creates the right neuro-pathways to make it happen. Let me explain - Most of my Hindu friends do not eat beef, most of my Muslim friends do not eat Pork, most of my Christian friends who live in America do not eat fried grasshoppers and most of my Buddhist friends don't eat any of these so called foods. Now if you were ask a practicing Buddhist how they are able to resist eating chicken or a practicing Hindu how they are able to resist eating beef, they will question the validity of your question and potentially your intelligence. It is a part of their belief structure, they do not have to use will power to resist. Key word here is belief. Tips and myth-busters below will help you create the right belief structure as you head into your own unique mindfully healthy journey.

1. Mindfulness 

Be mindful as you start your journey towards optimal health and remember that all accomplishments of any relevance to individual, family or society at large start with a small step in the right direction. Take yours and see if you can get a buddy to take it with you as well - your friend, colleague, life partner, parent and/or kid - company makes it fun and the chances of burnout are greatly reduced. Observe what you are going through as you start adopting a healthier food lifestyle. You will find a billion reasons to criticize everything around you - the system, current state of our healthcare facilities, potential dearth of holistic health care options, contradictory claims from health care experts and so on. See if you can resist the mental critique just focus on what you need to accomplish. Be the change and drive the change as minuscule as it sounds vs. waiting for everything around you to change. Your own mind will be the biggest detractor and will constantly keep finding reasons to not put in the hard work. Remember, our brains primarily want to make us comfortable, hence anything in-convenient will be met with resistance. Mind is like money, either you respect it, love it and control it by conviction or be controlled by it. Choice is yours. 

2. Pills vs. Optimal Health

Just because you do not take a pill for a medical condition today does not equate to optimal health. Do you want your immune system to continue purging dead cells that multiply and eventually cause cancer and dozens of other diseases? If yes, take small steps to better your and family's health. Human body has over 37 trillion cells. between 6 - 200 Billion cells die everyday. Any guesses how many are born everyday? ... the same number that die everyday. That's right - there's constant recycling and it's meant to be a perfect ecosystem where # of cells that die should be equal to number of cells that are created. When one of those cells does not die because it is inflamed, that's the start of one type of auto-immune system dysfunctions and eventually leads to complex and fatal conditions like cancer. There are plenty more scary dysfunctions, but let's focus on what we can do about it because the prevention and in many cases cure for most conditions is exactly the same. More importantly equating not taking any pills to being healthy is a fallacy and misleads you to believe that you are healthy while you might be sitting on a ticking time-bomb. by the way, approaching any program from a place of fear is the wrong way of looking at anything so the goal of this myth-buster is not to scare you but to give a slightly different perspective on pill based health care approach which clearly falls short on all our expectations.

3. Genes vs. lifestyle

It is very important to get a good grasp on this one. Genetics predispose us to certain conditions like Diabetes, Arthritis, Cancer and more. Our continued lifestyle choices are usually the cause. We all have a disease called mortality. No one is exempt. What we do before it hits is what is relevant. By the time we are 50 our immune systems have successfully fought life threatening conditions like Cancer at least half a dozen to dozen times - we just don't know about it as it happens automatically. You don't need to tell it to go fight infections and disease. it just does it - all the time. Unless the condition was present at birth (even though in many cases they can be reversed too), being genetically predisposed to a certain health condition only implies that "given the same lifestyle" as the parent who had the condition chances are higher for the child to run into the same issues. A coal mine worker who was exposed to fatal fumes has the same respiratory issues as his father who was working in the same coal mine performing the same exact duties. It sounds genetic, it's really circumstantial. What's more important is to realize that we do not control the genes we were born with, we do control the DNA we are building and adapting every moment based on lifestyle choices we make.The quality of our life depends on the decisions we make vs. the conditions and circumstances that surround us. We create our circumstances intentionally - every single day. Just do these 4 steps for the next 7 days
a. Just do it - Get up at 4 AM tomorrow morning, go for a hike, bike, run, walk, just find a way to move till 5 AM 
b. Create something good - cook something healthy for the entire family or for your own body by 6 AM. could be a veggie smoothie  , a cup of herbal tea or just some warm water loaded with probiotics and alkalizing foods
c. Spend a few moments in silence and gratitude for what you have and enjoy a hearty breakfast
d. Get ready for your day and set your intentions for the day
and see how you feel on 8th day. We create our conditions and circumstances. You either feel like a victim of circumstance or the creator - whatever your thought process is you are right. Choose to create the circumstances that support the lifestyle you truly want. 
I know, i know and I get it - 'i am not a morning person neither was my father or mother. i am not into professional  sports. 4 AM is ridiculous, i go to bed at 12 everyday...'. There is nothing special about 4 AM. get up at 5/6/7/8, whenever you want - point is to create the right conditions around you so you can create good health. These decisions are not genetic, they are intentional lifestyle choices we make every single moment. Let's stop hiding behind the theory of genetic predisposition to hang onto vices we know we need to get rid of.

4. The happiness myth

Here's what we hear people say all the time: 'Eat anything that makes you happy. We will all die so why bother'. We truly don't know or control how long we will live in our current physical body. We do control the quality of our life which in turn impacts the Quality of life of our family, community and world. If we have the choice of making a positive impact on all of them, why not?

5. "God blessed it" myth

Here's another one which helps people hide their temptations under the guise of being people of faith - 'Pray and eat your food, it will be blessed by God (Universal energy / your deity, idol energy form  of choice) and it will nourish your body.'. Seriously, do you really believe that a bread made of bleached, GMO white wheat flour along with antibiotics loaded cheese deep fried in oils that are not supposed to be boiled beyond their smoke point with a can of your favorite soda full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup can be nourishing for you because you offered prayers before consuming it? . It is absolutely a great thing to say grace before eating, but it does not absolve us from the responsibility of making the right decisions. Both actions are mutually exclusive. If you are person of faith, think of what food you will offer if your deity, messenger, guru of choice blessed you with a visit to you home. Consume that yourself as your body is either a part or a creation of that you believe in.

6. "My parents ate the same" myth

But my parents had the same eating habits and they lived till 93. why change now? ... Well, for starters they were probably born at a time when they were breast fed till they were at least 1 or 1.5 years of age (or maybe more) which helped with a rock solid immune system vs. formula milk derived from a animal source fortified with proteins, vitamins and chemicals which a baby just doesn't need. They probably walked, ran and biked 10 times more than what we do today and did not need phone apps to tell them how many steps they have taken in a day. They were more connected to nature even if they didn't realize it as Air conditioning, refrigeration etc. were a rarity vs. a norm. Making pickles at home every year like the annual Kimchi day in Korea and the vegetables our mothers pickled every year  for year round consumption was how the families prepared to fight seasonal illnesses vs. getting hooked to dozens of vitamin pills and constantly looking out for the next big nutritional wonder sold at an exorbitant price in the form of a pill. We can go on an on - the point is that we cannot isolate only one or two elements of a society from past and assume they are still good for us. They could be if we bring all elements surrounding the consumption of those in it's entirety which is practically impossible.

7. The moderation myth

Here's another good one - 'You know what, i really believe in moderation. a little bit of indulgence every now and then is not going to kill you'. This one has merit to it. Here's the reality check - go to your bathroom or wherever you have a full sized or a large mirror. take your clothes off and inspect your body carefully. much like you critique movie stars, how they look on red carpet events etc. Judge with integrity and honesty. Do you like what you see? Irrespective of how you rate/rank yourself, there is nothing wrong in loving yourself and it is absolutely essential. But ask yourself - is this is optimal me? If not, what are you going to do about it? What standards are you willing to set for yourself? If you don't like your current standards, make a conscious choice and raise them. You have the right to define your own beliefs and standards for your own good. Don't wait for a annual physical exam to tell you what you should know all along. Also, here's a newsflash for you - majority of people who are diagnosed with final stages of cancer have had perfectly healthy bio-makers for decades. physical exams do not cover thousands of conditions that exist in our bodies today, take control of your own health. Start .... not when the weekend hits. Start today. The other related aspect is this - what if you really have six pack abs, are enviously young and seem to burn anything you put in your body? Surprise - Just because your body looks great on the outside does not mean it is healthy inside as well. Can you see and feel your kidneys, your adrenals, thyroid, how about your lymph nodes - are they in great shape? and your nervous system, pituitary gland and brain stem - they must be working properly right /... Again - the point is there's a lot more than will ever meet the eye but it's up to us to get connected with everything we see and everything we don't. Moderation is a good strategy. Most alcoholics who believe they are moderates when observed turn out to be consuming alcohol about 10 times more than what anyone in this world would consider to be moderate. Hiding behind Moderation as a strategy to deflect making hard but healthy choices is a form of un-identified benign hypocrisy and gets in the way of holistic health. Practice moderation but practice it in moderation. Sometimes radical ideas are a good habit releasers and allow us to break our mental wiring quickly.

8. Producer vs. Consumer mentality

Do you know someone with the following mindset? - "I love food. I love traveling and experiencing different cuisines and cultures. I will eat anything that it served to me and i am very open. I do not want to and do not cook though. After all life is a lot more spending all your time in kitchen right.." .

I do not know when this happened but over time we have devalued Cooking as something which is considered to be a extremely low value time investment. Kids are sent to school, then to 10's of sport and activities and enrichment avenues, they go to college and start their jobs, businesses of choice, get married or find a way to kick start similar social bonds. Humans on an average have 200+ thoughts per day about food ... all along this journey, every single person makes those decisions and choices. Here's the kicker though - what did they learn about food? here's some possible options

a. live close to a place where there are great food establishments

b. find a way to make enough money so you can afford to eat out and/or get a butler to cook for you

c. investing time in food preparation, sourcing, harvesting etc. is a thing of past - that's what poor people did in India, Africa and pre-modernized America. We don't need to do that now as there's frozen food and vitamin pills

d. (a young woman's potential perspective) that's what my mother did and she had a horrible life. I do not imagine a life like that for me

e. (a young man's potential perspective) that's what women do. I am here to eat, not cook

we can go on and on and on .. there's a pattern here - all these potential perspectives are those of a consumer and consumer only. Someone who is there to get stuff not create and give even if it is to your own body and family. There are many more complex cultural and social elements intertwined with a hint of rebelling against gender based oppression and continued slivers of chauvinism and/or feminism and a innate desire to spend life on high value activities and let the perceived low value activities like food be carried out people who are either literally subservient to us or from food establishments who theoretically can do a better job at taking care of a us vs. working with nature as a producer of soulful, nourishing food. I am not suggesting that we all need to leave what we are doing an become farmers and go back to stone ages. I am suggesting that we become aware of what we put in our bodies and take a conscious step towards making a positive change.  In other words become a producer and creator of our own best destiny vs. playing the victim to circumstances, gender, traditions and genes.
if you are still reading, you will like the statistics presented in this article which shows that Americans spend more money on bars and restaurants vs. grocery

9. Healthy foods cost more. I don't have the money 
This is the best one to bust. Look at your last 6 months of total eating spend that includes all eat-outs, fast foods, drive through's, order-ins, take-outs and grocery. I don't know what your number is but average American family spends $7023 / year on food (Source). That's $19.12 / day. Can you figure out a way to spend equal or lesser money than what you have spend on an average in buying good healthy organic, non-gmo groceries and investing in your and your families health? I hope you can. Here's a simple breakdown and comparison what fast food costs vs. healthier alternatives 
Fast food 
- A burger from a chain - $2.50 
- A soda ~ $1.50
- Chips ~ $1.00
That's $5 for a meal that has processed meat that has been sitting in trucks, freezers for months if not year+, bleached GMO flour, Pesticide laden veggies (if any), High fructose corn syrup laden sauces (ketchup, mayo..), Carcinogenic (meaning cancer causing) plastic/paper wraps, Soda that contains sugar that will spike your insulin levels up a 1000 times more than pancreas can handle and Chips made of GMO potatoes that have been deep fried in synthetic oils which have been over-boiled way beyond their smoke point for hours and hours and are a great replacement for grease in your doors vs. WD40. 
vs. 
A conscious, intentional sourcing that looks like this 
- 2 slices of whole grain organic bread. Each loaf costs ~ $4 so cost/slice is ~ 25 cents = 50 cents
- half an avocado scooped ~ $1 @ $2/organic avocado
- a lettuce leaf ~ 10 cents 
- a slice of tomato ~ 10 cents 
This is not a fun comparison. We are adding the most expensive ingredients and we are still only at $1.70 and there's still $3.30 to go. What more can you add for $3.30 in the sandwich while leaving a dollar aside for free water with lemon or even use $2 for a bottle of coconut water and spend another $1.30 on filling up the sandwich more. 

You see it's not about the money, it's about leaving the couch, the car seat, the office seat and our hundreds of smartphone apps - standing tall and making a decision to make a positive change in our lives. 

10. But I don't do this for a living, my doctor does. S(he) knows better
You bet they do. After all your doctor has spent her/his career learning about health care and medicine. Here are some facts which should raise an alarm for you and are indicators that you need to get vested in your own health and growth

a. You are down with cold, cough or some other condition and see the doctor for a prescription. You get exactly what you thought your body needed, doctor gives you exactly what you asked for - potentially a cold/cough suppressant; maybe and antibiotic if the situation is severe, insurance company gets billed for the $250 visit, Pharmacy gets the $20 from insurance or you, Pharma company who made the medicine make their shareholders happy. Here's the overlooked scenario though - what if your condition could be cured by following 2 very simple steps related to your diet and lifestyle. Eat right and find a way to move and get good oxygen. Sounds too good to be true but it works, does not destroy the microbiome in your gut and builds up your immunity to fight with the next toxins coming your way. And by the way, other than spending the $5 - $10 on food and finding 10 minutes in your day to walk in fresh air, all other are free fringe benefits. If it's so damn straight fwd. why didn't your doctor recommend it to you? That is really a million dollar question. As a doctor what is my responsibility - to heal the patient and help her/him build good health or respond to the question my patient has - 'what medicine do i need to fix my condition?'. I know what I would do if I was my own doctor, what do you want your doctor to do? Will you wait to find the right doctor or take charge in your own hands along with an UN-shakeable faith in God/Universal energy/Chi/.. while leveraging the expertise doctors bring to the table when needed. 

b. You ask your doctor - are there any dietary restrictions or changes i need to make while i recover and the answer you get is something on the lines of - 'not really. practice moderation. Eat whatever you want'. They are not intentionally misleading you, but here are some gross oversights which you cannot afford 

- our bodies are what we eat. Go on a 100% meat diet for the next 30 days and see what you get. Go on a 100% raw diet for the same duration and see what you get. Juice fast for 7 days and see what results you get. Truth will be un-deniable and staring at you - our bodies are what we eat. Don't be fooled. I bet you know a doctor who is hooked on anti-depressants or immune-suppressants or sleep medications and considers it to be normal. Needless to say then why would they have any trouble prescribing you the same?

- there's a reason ancient ayurvedic and chinese medicine practices treat ~ 100% of diseases with foods and herbs. Food truly is medicine. You can choose to ignore the truth, but that does not alter the truth.
 
11. But I do not have any allergies to Dairy, Meat, Gluten, Soy and Sugar. Why should i reduce and/or leave them? 

This is a good one. 99% of humans are not allergic to Cocaine, 80% Proof alcohol and Tobacco. Most likely you are not as well. So have cocaine for the next 100 days everyday and see where that leads you. here's the deal - just because you are not allergic to a food does not imply that the food is good for you. Remember the definition of food - 'any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth' . Is cocaine, Tobacco, processed Sugar and Alcohol nutritious and needed to maintain life and grow? 

There are items we perceive as foods based on what society labels them as. They are not healthy for us. Most humans can eat cardboard and digest it without any apparent issues as well. Actually, now that I think about it, cardboard might have less toxic impact on us vs. some of the other fast foods we consume. If there are items labelled as foods which cause widespread health problems because of genetic modification, over processing with chemicals etc. , eliminate them for at least a few months, see how your body responds and then re-introduce each if at all in very small amounts to see how your body responds to them. There's a distinct possibility that you will love the shape you will be in after a few months / weeks of being off of many of these culprits foods, that you will not want to go back to them at all. There's only one way to find out - Give it a shot.

12.A healthy, wholesome life needs meat as well as veggies
There is zero debate on whether we need meat or not. This is a much debated topic for centuries and will be forever. How much, if you choose to eat any form of meat is completely up-to you. All we know is that a major portion of our daily food nutrition should come from vegetables. That's it really. Again, go on a veggie smoothie/juice fast for 7 days and note how your own body responds. Then do the same with Meat only diet. or fast food only diet etc. It is important to get started on the right path to health vs. allowing your mind to find very rational and legitimate excuses while continuing on a known path that you can see for yourself is not working. Bottom-line is - a healing diet consists of 80-90%+ of our daily nutrition derived from fresh vegetables. Historically, there have been roles people play in society that demands different food and diet-style considerations. Warriors, Sports people, Farmers vs. Teachers, Priests, Shop keepers have drastically different physical and dietary needs. What you end up consuming will most likely be derived/adapted from your own cultural, traditional and personal preferences. Just find a way to have a ton of fresh veggies (80-90%+) and you will be making great strides towards building great health. 

13. I feel the best when I eat my favorite sugary snacks along with samosas and 2-3 single malts. Everyone is different. What if my body type is built to thrive on these things? 

Growing up, we had a moped - TVS50 - in family which was used by us kids as well as a couple people on farm to run errands. One day, Jameel, who had been with us for his entire life since he was a small kid had to go to local market to buy a couple of things. He tried to start the moped, it would not start. Turns out it was out of petrol. Jameel looked around and he found a bottle of petrol in the garage so he poured it into the gas tank and off he went. Moped went just fine for about 3-4 kilometers and then it suddenly stopped with loud noises of gears and shafts clanking. He took it to a local mechanic only to find out that the bottle he had poured in was Kerosene oil. It is a petroleum crude oil product and if you are not careful you can be mistaken very easily as Jameel was. Petrol, kerosene and diesel are all crude oil products with different boiling points. You can pour it in to your petrol driven vehicle, it will run - but at some point it will give up. Our bodies are the same way, they are of course way more resilient than TVS50 engine and they can go for decades before they give up usually. But don't take their resiliency and ability to regenerate healthy cells for granted because beyond a certain boiling point, the engine will give up. Your mind will play tricks on you all day long with ridiculous intellectual theories like this, just take a pause and see if you are consuming will actually make you healthy or is it just holding on to a bad habit, personal or cultural and mind is there to help like a Devil's advocate. 
There is no human body type which is built to thrive on processed junk foods (white flour, deep fried, practically anything in a can/bottle which was cooked a few weeks or months ago really), simple sugars, extreme nervous system stimulants like alcohol. But don't spend unlimited time reading up on the internet including this abstract, experience it for yourself. Cut out all processed, deep fried foods from your diet and try 90%+ vegetarian diet for the next 3 weeks and see what your own personal experience is. 

14. But why now and why me?

So you are 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years young or more and have this  eternal question - why now and why me? i have been a good person, never really hurt anyone and have been a moderately indulgent individual. this is just not fair ..

Sorry to break the news but expecting fairness in life as the doctrine of happiness will surely make you miserable. I don't know if anyone knows the real answers to why now and why me but what's important is that ir-respective of why got where we are, the strategy required to create a great quality of health/life is that of making healthier decisions that can help you get out of and prevent disease. Yes, it's uphill, it's a grind. Football and life after all is truly a game of inches. Every inch matters. (one of my personal favorite Al Pacino inch by inch speech is this one - Heads-up for profanity and adult language)

Why you ask? It's our decisions not the circumstances that determine the quality of our life. Dwell on what is happening to you or take charge and see what you can do about it. It's not the comfortable actions that fall in your comfort zone where you can eat what you want, splurge all you want, drink what you want and expect to be in tri-atheletic shape over the next 3 months. It's your ability to set a vision for yourself, identify goals that align with the vision and take massive action on the behaviors that will help you achieve the goals. Now the behaviors that will help you achieve your goals and eventually your vision might fall outside your comfort zone, actually in most cases they usually would. Know this - whatever state you are in right now, you are less than one decision away from starting on a journey that will help you achieve your own vision. 

At some point in the journey you will also find the true reason and answers for Why now and Why me too. For now, see if you can take the bold decisions you need to take to turn your health and life around.

further reading - because Food is medicine

All the best in your own unique journey. God bless