Raise your hand if you have a car, ever drove a car, or were ever driven in one 🙂
I want you to think hard when I ask the next question:
Would you ever think of giving your car the wrong gasoline, or the wrong type of oil? Keep your hand up if you would answer “yes” to that question….
I guarantee that no one, not even those who don’t own a car, would ever think of giving a car the wrong oil or gasoline. We all expect our car to safely bring us places, without breaking down on the way….
Now, let’s ask ourselves another question: Why do we, as humans, choose to give our bodies the wrong fuel every single day?
The bodies that we expect to take us from one place to another safely without breaking down. Without aches and pains, and illnesses. The bodies that we expect to last A LOT longer than our own car…?
This question has bothered me for a Very. Long. Time. So much so that it became an obsession, which became a change in lifestyle, which became a business.
You see, my mentor, best friend, role model, and grandmother, the woman who always worried if everyone’s eating enough, staying fit and healthy… passed away weighing less than 40kg.
I practically grew up at grandma’s house. During the week and on weekends we would spend every waking hour there, often with my cousins as well. On Friday evening the whole family (somewhere between 20-30 people) would all meet around her dining table. There was hardly any room for the plates, as there was so much food there. Good, hearty, healthy homemade food. Grandma used to spend most of her Thursdays and Fridays cooking for us, every single week.
When you knocked on Grandma’s door, she wouldn’t open the door saying hello. She’d open the door saying “did you eat something?”. And no matter what the answer was, you’d still end up getting a plate full of food. There were always delicious smells of something cooking on the gas stove, filling up the house with scents I’ll never forget. Rice, soup, lentils, vegetables, meat, sauces and stews – you name it, she made it. But most importantly, she made it with love!
She would always let us help around in the kitchen, and shared her recipes (which were more like “put a bit of this” and “a handful of that” as measurements). We’d often end up on a shopping spree with her and grandpa, who always preferred going to a local farmers market, where the only marketing strategy, until today, is yelling out your price as loud as possible, offering taste testing and negotiating prices.
In grandma’s world, food was health. She was always up to date with the latest health hypes, and made sure her family only got what was considered REALLY healthy. Little did she know that her “schooling” was in fact big food company propaganda. Butter was soon replaced by margarine, avocado was said to have too much fat, and her own arthritis she “treated” by eating heaps of milk products.
Grandma battled for four years with lymphoma. When I was five months pregnant grandma passed away. The strongest woman I ever knew, could not walk alone to the toilet on her last months on earth. She could not taste the flavour of food from all of the chemo. She didn’t want to eat anymore anyway…
Losing grandma was a huge wake up moment for me. I started studying and investigating, following all the top experts in the field. I wanted to know why. Why is it that someone who cared so much about her health, died of a terrible disease, and suffered from many other chronic illnesses. I needed to know!
What I know now, after 8 years of dedication, thousands of hours of studying and investigating, is life-changing! It had changed MY life, it has changed my FAMILY’S life, and I have managed to help many families out there along the way. What I found out was:
1. food companies don’t care for your health, only for your constant consumption
2. only your body knows what’s actually good for it, so you better listen carefully
3. There’s no magic superfood or one special diet which is THE diet for all human kind
4. “cleaning up” your day to day menu is the cure for almost anything
5. ANYONE can do it, with the right guidance and support
But the biggest and most important thing I learned this whole time?
PEOPLE TREAT THEIR CARS BETTER THAN THEIR OWN BODIES.
Let’s start treating our bodies like they’re the only source of transportation we’ve got from today until the day we die. Because, well, they are, and replacement parts are scarce…