You’ve probably heard of the title before, that, “Your Body is your Temple”.
And it is.
People wonder why I’m so adamant about staying healthy with eating the foods that I eat, my Yoga practice and meditation.
It supports my cycling. And if you really must know, several years back, I had an accident where a car hit me from behind while I was training on a bicycle, knocking me unconscious for 5 to 10 minutes, putting me in a ditch. As a result, my helmet got smashed and I sustained a concussion. The months following, I experienced post concussion syndrome, and I had the following symptoms I tried to manage:
Short term memory loss;
Verbal memory loss;
Attention loss;
Slow processing speed;
Irritability;
Anxiety;
Periodic emotional instability/depression;
Word finding difficulties;
Impulsiveness;
Tinnitus;
Obsessive compulsive disorder;
Mental fatigue.
The months following the traumatic brain injury, I’ve had to make adjustments to my daily routine, my working habits and my social life. I wasn’t together.
I was broken.
Then, one day, about a year later, I had a headache so bad, I couldn’t take it anymore. I wasn’t able to function. It was debilitating. I had reached my limit.
Searching for solutions, I finally took the first step and attended my first Yoga class at a local studio. From then on, I was hooked. Not on Yoga per-se, but to taking care of my body – because no once else could. I started with a mission, a purpose to heal myself because doctors can only do so much.
“I started to participate in my own rescue.”
I took several more classes to find the right teacher. Eventually, I found one I liked and I’ve stuck with her ever since.
I searched the Internet for forums on advice and found a couple of resources to draw upon, reading about other people’s experiences and what they had done to heal themselves. Most of them resorted to medications instead of natural solutions. At some point, I found one website that gave me hope – NaturalNews.com. They talked about many topics, mostly about eating healthy, foods that heal instead of harm.
With time and education, I transformed myself by transforming my nutritional intake:
No red meat – I’ve read about how eating meat contributes to inflammation and how they include antibiotics and neurotoxins to preserve the meat. You will also revitalize your tastebuds by not eating red meat ;
Eliminate commercial cow’s milk – I’ve drank this ever since I was a little kid and swore by it. But the nature of the milk contributed to more mucus and made my bloodstream acidic, not to mention the antibiotics and growth hormones they inject into the cows. (No wonder I’m so tall!);
Eliminate Dairy altogether – Though I sometimes enjoy a good organic cheese pizza on occasion;
Eat more organic greens – I can’t eat non-organic vegetables – I can actually taste the chemicals sprayed on it and digesting it makes me sick;
Eat more fruits – Berries, avocados, bananas, mangoes, etc.;
Find alternative sources of protein – nuts (i.e. almonds, cashews, pecans), legumes (i.e. pinto beans, chick peas), seeds (i.e. flax, sunflower), greens (i.e. kale, spinach), etc.. Whoever said protein can only be found in carcasses, is misinformed.
These are just a few examples. I could give you a full breakdown of what I eat down to the cooking oil I use. If you’re interested, just let me know and I’ll do another blog post. By eating better, you feel better from the inside.
In being a cyclist, you also look for marginal gains. And in my case, that also meant doing what it took to rehabilitate myself in every aspect – mental, physical, and spiritual.
I also found out through reading NaturalNews.com that Ginger and Turmeric are also anti-inflammatory foods. That increased my healing dramatically in the past couple of years. I have fewer instances of the post concussion syndrome symptoms coming back – though I still do get the occasional migraine from having my head cracked open.
You must be asking, “Why all of a sudden are you writing about this instead of your races and your team?”
I have a few of reasons:
It’s time people, my social circles, understand where I’m coming from and my motivations in doing all that I do;
More and more, I come across people who have had brain injuries and they still have symptoms. So it is my purpose to help them where I can;
With Amazon having just bought Whole Foods, people need to be aware that Whole Foods is not all that they promise according to this article;
Rid the myth that NaturalNews.com is a fake news site. If NaturalNews were fake, then it wouldn’t have helped me and millions of others improve their health naturally. Would you talk about something bad that influenced so many people in a positive way?
There you have it. It’s something I’ve wanted to say for a long time and I hope you’ll take my message seriously.
Ride on!
Ben
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