Several years ago I was training under the watchful eye of my mentor in San Jose - California. Interestingly enough he was very knowledgeable about my life and my choices - both in the past and present - although our conversations were very brief and infrequent he had a way of saying exactly what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. On this one particular day as I was up on the roof of his Dojo working out he walked up onto the rooftop deck telling me to stop what I was doing waving me over to join him for a minute - I walked over and stood next to him alongside a small table - As I approached I noticed he was holding a piece of chalk and he had started writing something on the table - once he finished he tapped on the table as if to say - read it!

“Must be very careful! Food can be vitamin and mineral or food can be poison!”

I looked up at him and he continued by adding: “When you have control over your mind you can decide what to eat and what not to eat - when you lose control of your mind the body decides what you eat with cravings”

What I found to be totally ironic then - which I find absolutely normal now was the fact that I had been naively thinking that there was nothing wrong with consuming extremely large amounts of sugar at that time in my life and he knew it - This was when the term ‘Fat-Free’ had taken the country by storm reassuring consumers including me that devouring boxes of Snackwell cookies and quarts of ‘Fat-Free’ frozen yogurt among other sugary treats wouldn’t compromise my physique or my health - Man was I wrong - What I thankfully came to realize was I was a total sugar junky and I needed to break the habit - I call it a habit because I believe sugar to be an addictive substance and a powerful one at that - It took me quite a while to get my consumption down to a minimum which was no easy task. (To Learn more about the ill effects of sugar I highly recommend the book ‘Sugar Blues’ by William Dufty)

Sugar is only one of the many poisons my teacher was referring to - we all need to be very careful of the plethora of chemicals and other additives that many of the food companies are using in the growing/raising/manufacturing process of many of their products - binders, fillers, dyes, preservatives, hormones, pesticides, and nitrates to name a few. Isn’t it time we take control of our lives, learn how to prevent deadly diseases like heart disease and cancer before it’s too late? Food is one of the most precious gifts that Mother Nature blesses us with - let’s not take that for granted - I always try to eat as close to nature as nature intended - be careful if what your eating comes in a bag, box or a can - chances are you’ll find one or more of those additives that will eventually compromise your well being.

We truly are what we eat so, Think before you put it in your mouth - do your research and due diligence finding out where your food is coming from and what methods do they use in producing it - support your local farmers and try to eat organic - it’s well worth - Here’s to your Health.