I want to start this post by giving you an outline of my old diet, fitness level and overall lifestyle so that you can see how far I have come in the short amount of time that it has taken me to (finally) write about this journey. I never had any intention of writing but once I saw how curious other people where about it, I decided that it would be beneficial and helpful to others to do so.

For a brief history on me, please go to my About page and see that I didn’t start out fitness wise as a beginner at the start of this journey. I have always kept myself in fairly good shape but some of the things I enjoyed doing where very hard on my body.

My Physical Condition

The primary “hobby” I had for over 20 years was being a martial artist and instructor in the art of Kung Fu San Soo. The physical training (abuse) needed to excel to my current level of 5th degree black belt, left my body with severe trauma to my joints, organs and connective tissue. I want to make note here that THESE ARE CONDITIONS THAT ARE CONSIDERED PERMANENT AND DEGENERATIVE.

One of my last injuries that occurred during training was my right hip being dislocated from the socket. This was severe enough that I had to use a cane for hiking or walking for long periods of time. I semi-retired from physical martial arts training in July of 2011 when I moved to Humboldt County California …. my body had had enough! I did however continue my fitness training workouts in a local gym, using them as physical therapy to help repair the damage.

For reference, when I moved to Humboldt County, my body weight was around 218 lbs. and I had approximately 30 percent body fat.

My Old Diet

My old diet was a little better than the typical American diet. I had stopped eating “fast food” years earlier due to severe food allergies but I now know that my old diet consisted primarily of “dead food” with very little nutrition. Included in my old diet were all forms of meat, canned and processed foods, dairy products (mostly cheeses), pastas and grains, alcohol, and coffee. I was eating very little of fruits and vegetables and drinking very little water and the water I did drink was tap and/or bottled spring water (which I thought at the time was good for me). Little did I know that what I grew up eating was “empty food” and is the main reason that I had accumulated so many disease creating toxins in my body!

Like most people living on this type of diet, I was hungry soon after a meal and would continue to snack here and there between regular meals. Another thing that would happen that is typical of this way of eating is that I would become tired and sluggish after I ate. What I later discovered is that eating food with no nutritional value was responsible for these conditions and the true reason that people become obese while slowly starving themselves of the nutrition their bodies need.

My Lifestyle

My old lifestyle was fairly active. I had a full time job that kept me physically busy most of the day but not so active that it would be considered a hard labor position. I also started my mornings early with in home fitness training, so that I could keep myself in good physical condition and by the evenings I was pretty tired. I would come home and cook dinner and immediately feel so tired I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep. The reason I point this out is because with the new diet change I no longer feel tired or sluggish after I eat because my digestive process doesn’t require the amount of energy it used to need to process live foods (more on this later).

…… click here for the next post ….. what got me started …