The Perfect Human Diet

On Memorial Day 1978, I.

Dropped dead.

10 days later, I would leave.

Ucla medical center with this.

Prescription... Don't walk up.

Stairs, don't go anywhere.

Without someone who knows cpr.

Give up your motocross career.

Take heart medication for the.

Rest of your life.

You have over a 50% chance of.

Dying in the next two years, and.

If you're lucky, you'll survive.

Sex.

That turning point launched my.

Personal quest for optimal.

Health.

Without the ability to perform.

Even moderately strenuous.

Physical activities, my diet.

Became crucial to my personal.

Well-being and my survival.

First, I went with the u. S.

Government's conventional.

Advice, following the usda's.

Low-fat, high-carb food pyramid.

Recommendations.

I soon learned that following.

The food pyramid left me.

Constantly hungry, hypoglycemic,

And over-obsessing about.

Everything I ate.

I continued searching, reading.

Everything I could get my hands.

On about natural health.

I experimented with a wide.

Variety of eating methods,

Cleansing fasts, and dietary.

Philosophies to see if they.

Could help me be my healthiest,

Including macrobiotics, juicing,

Water fasts, the master cleanse,

Natural hygiene's food.

Combining, and vegetarianism.

I also explored spiritual.

Disciplines and their dietary.

Ideas and ultimately became a.

Raw-food vegan in an effort to.

Find both health and the same.

Inner peace I'd felt during my.

Near-death experience on the.

Running track.

For over five years, I ate only.

Uncooked fruits, vegetables,

Nuts, seeds, and sprouts, an.

Experience that inspired my.

First book,"the Christ diet...

Connect your cells to your.

Soul."

But as time passed and life.

Stresses tested my resilience, I.

Didn't feel as good physically.

Or emotionally as when I first.

Began a vegan diet.

The defining moment for me was.

My mother's death at the hands.

Of a drunk driver.

My dietary discipline, no matter.

How well-intentioned, wasn't.

Providing my body, mind, or.

Spirit with the materials I.

Needed to recover from the.

Physical and emotional impact of.

My loss.

In fact, it wasn't long before.

My inner voice began crying out.

For real protein.

During these same years as I.

Became a writer and broadcast.

Journalist, we've seen a new.

National crisis emerge... An.

Epidemic of overweight, obesity,

And diet-related chronic disease.

That is now the number-one.

Killer in the u. S., spreading.

Unchecked to developed countries.

Around the globe.

The confusion for most Americans.

Is that we see and hear so much.

Contradictory advice that we.

Don't really understand what to.

Eat for optimal health.

How can we deal with a national.

Obesity epidemic when most of us.

Aren't even sure how to lose our.

Own excess body fat?

In fact, 10 years ago, a.

National Harris poll said 80% of

Americans over 25 were.

Overweight.

And abc news declared that

Americans are fat and just too.

Confused to do anything about.

It.

The public is confused not.

Because what are known as facts.

Continue to change.

The public is confused because.

What the media and.

Special-interest groups and.

Large corporations selling.

Foods, et cetera, would like you.

To currently believe is a fact.

Keeps on being changed.

90% of the people that I see.

Have no clue, and they're just.

Jumping from one thing to the.

Next thing on a daily basis.

I think we just need to ditch.

The whole thing and.

Reconceptualize and reteach.

Nutrition from a very basic.

Point of view.

I think we complicate it too.

Much.

I have spent a fair amount of.

Time in hospital scenarios and.

It's tragic when you see some of.

The compounding factors of.

Obesity and how it shortens.

Lives, how it decreases quality.

Of life.

So it's a tragedy in that.

Regard, particularly when we're.

Seeing more and more children.

Affected by it.

People will not be able to.

Afford the cost of chronic.

Obesity and diabetes and all of.

The complications that come.

With that.

We're spending $147 billion a.

Year because of obesity-related.

Conditions.

And we've seen the rate increase.

Among kids in all communities.

In the African-American and.

Hispanic communities, the.

Numbers are even worse.

Add to the mix our new.

Personal media devices and.

Escaping our uncertainty is made.

Increasingly difficult because.

We are surrounded by a.

Never-ending cycle of.

Ever-changing diet.

Recommendations and emotionally.

Charged nutritional beliefs.

Everywhere we go, every day of.

Our lives.

There are three things in.

Life which are very visceral...

Religion, politics, and.

Nutrition.

They're all based on belief.

Systems, and none of them.

Respond well to challenge.

Essentially, you say,"don't.

Confuse me with the facts.

Because, in my heart, I know I'm.

Right."

A quick Google search on.

Healthy eating reveals literally.

Thousand of contradictory.

Messages, medical entertainment.

Shows, superficial news.

Coverage, inaccurate reporting,

And personal opinions delivered.

As fact, fueling even more.

Confusion.

Nobody's really interested in.

Delineating the distinctions,

Here, in educating people and.

Allowing them to make an.

Informed choice.

We look for sensationalism, and.

So they create a very false.

Dichotomy right out of the gate.

That... Usually, the person.

Presenting information like.

This... Gary taubes and some.

Other people have been kind of.

Waylaid by these setups,

Essentially.

Health is not simply the.

Absence of disease.

Health is being healthy.

And a lot of people have no.

Disease, but they never get.

Enough sleep, they can't get out.