My Journey to Health

Latest Posts  •  May 28, 2020

The issue of health has probably never been as important and present in recent decades as during the current Corona pandemic. Therefore, it is more important to deal with this topic in greater detail. Personally, I have a long medical history and have dealt intensively with the topic of health. In the future, I would like to share my accumulated knowledge in the Health & Fitness section of my blog. With this, one or another may be spared the detour I have taken to lead a healthy life.

Bad Prospects

I am neither a doctor nor do I have any profound scientific knowledge. However, I know from experience that many medical histories can be avoided by following simple rules. Illness was my constant companion for the first 35 years of my life. As a child, I suffered from severe allergies which were accompanied by shortness of breath and emergency ambulances. No one knew what the cause was. I was given medication against the allergic reactions. But nobody bothered to find out how to prevent the allergic reactions and how to strengthen my health. Consequently, I was given antihistamines and cortisone at the age of ten. In addition to that, I suffered from migraines and my doctor also had a chemical mace to stop them. When I was 13 years old, I had liver damage and it was predicted, that when I took my medication later in life, I would not be allowed to drink alcohol under any circumstances, otherwise I would not reach my 30th birthday. Those were bad prospects but I accepted it. What else could I do as a child?

The First Small Step on a Long Road

When I was 18 years old, it was finally determined that my allergy was due to a celery intolerance. And I had to learn how creative the food industry is and how many products actually contain celery. However, in the 1980s, there were more and more alternative practitioners. And even in my home town, there was an alternative practitioner who had just finished his training. I went to see him. The alternative practitioner tested my body very carefully.

My energy level was very low. Not surprisingly. I was 23 and had not thought about my lifestyle or diet until that day. I ate just about everything that came on the table. The alternative practitioner showed me how my body reacts when I add refined sugar to it. With the help of an arm reflex test, he showed me that sugar reduces my energy drastically. From that day on, I decided not to drink any more soft drinks. Until then, coke and soda were my standard drinks. But this was only a very small first step on my way to a better health. 

A Life-Changing Reading

When I was 24, I went to the US to study drums. I had a constant fear of celery (Americans love celery because they think it is potency enhancing) and I still had no proper nutritional concept. Since I had no money, I ate a lot of junk food and my body weight went up. My only movement was the one on the drums. 

Back in Germany, I started to build up my business and also commuted more often to the US. My immune system was so weak that I already knew that when I got off the plane, I would have a sore throat and inflamed tonsils and I would have to take antibiotics. My immune system could never really recover, as I went from one cold to another. So the next few years dragged on. But one day, on a flight from Frankfurt to Los Angeles, I read the book ‘Listen to your body and feel good’ by Roland Sternfeld.

I got off the plane in Los Angeles and from that day on, I was never sick again. It has been 20 years since. 

The most important insight I gained from the book was the fact that we humans – like all living things on earth – take in food to gain energy. The fact that the digestion of a piece of meat requires more energy than we generate from it, and that we ultimately lose energy by eating meat, was the start of my life as a vegetarian.

Besides that, I was sick and tired of being sick all the time. And this was my motivation to make such a drastic decision and to implement it in the long term. I finally realized how easy it is to live without meat and which amazing dishes were already available for vegetarians back then. At least in Los Angeles, there was already a wide range of Thai food, Indian restaurants etc. for vegetarians. By the way, I still own my vegetarian cookbook I bought more than 20 years ago and let me tell you: I don’t miss meat for a second.

Step by step to health and fitness

But this was only the first step on the health ladder that I was about to climb step by step over the next 20 years. Not only because I dealt intensively with the topic of nutrition but also with sports, fitness and exercise. Today I feel vital and full of energy – fitter than I was at the age of 33.

In the next posts and in my soon to be published book on the subject of health, I will share my knowledge and experience with all interested readers and address other aspects that are necessary to stay fit and age more slowly.

2020-05-29T12:32:49+00:00May 28th, 2020|

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