I absolutely love watching the summer Olympics, to see the best of the best compete. I can hardly wait four more years for the next one to begin in Rio. As I was watching Olympic men’s volleyball last week, I saw one of the Italian star players had a large tattoo that said, “MY LIFE, MY RULES”. It struck me and I couldn’t help but think, really? It does sound kind of catchy, confident, maybe even macho, but I saw several competitors penalized, disqualified, or even lose events because someone broke the rules.
It reminded me of the old Frank Sinatra song, “I Did It My Way.” I love the song, but the idea behind these types of phrases is flawed. “I Did It My Way” and “MY LIFE, MY RULES” and “Rules Are Made To Be Broken.” Really, how’s that working for us? I’m convinced that if you break the rules, the rules will break you. What are some of the penalties for breaking the rules? Well, how about crime, jail, addiction, injury, divorce, and all kinds of unnecessary conflict. In fact, prisons, hospitals, and even cemeteries are full of those who did it their way, followed their rules, or thought that rules simply didn’t apply to them.
“MY LIFE, MY RULES” really? Do the names Bernie Madoff, John Edwards, Amy Winehouse, Lyndsay Lohan, and Charlie Sheen mean anything to you? Let me say something about this approach. Some rules or laws are imposed by society, like speed limits, taxes, and not robbing banks. Others are manifest in nature, like gravity; humanity’s inability to breathe under water; the fact that if you stick your hand in fire, you will get burned; and with exercise you use it or lose it. Trying to break those rules never goes well.
There are also rules when it comes to nutrition. And the real ones are not manmade; they are as immutable as the law of gravity. Have you ever seen the movie “Supersize Me”? It documents a healthy 32 year-old man as he eats only fast food for 30 days. This has a drastic effect on his physical and mental well-being. What’s the penalty for breaking nature’s nutrition rules? How about obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and poor health for starters. Nature’s rules are simple and surprisingly few. They don’t take a PhD or special training to master.
1 – Eat real food—that’s food that is closest to the way it is in nature, preferably raw.
2 – Eat a variety of balanced foods in moderation with plenty of fiber and protein.
3 – Avoid any foods that are highly processed, have chemical additives, or anything artificial.
4 – Avoid tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.
5 – Drink plenty of clean, pure water.
Is this an over-simplification? Possibly, but it becomes obvious that the ideal diet is centered on plants and nature, vegan or at least flexitarian, and that the perfect mainstays for health are Sunwarrior Superfoods. So let’s restate the obvious more correctly: “MY LIFE, NATURE’S RULES,” “I Did It Nature’s Way,” and “Rules Are Made To Protect Us.”
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