Health and Wellness? Who Wants That!
Good Life Herbal Restaurant, Pai
The inner voice within us hates health, hates the whole idea of wellness, and tells us to stay well clear of such fun-destroying nonsense.
I know, it was in me once, and I've seen it in so many other people when I speak about such matters (the topic goes down like a lead balloon). Let me tell you my tale...
From 2002 until 2008 I took the three hour drive to Pai, up and over the mountains from Chiang Mai, about three or four times a year. It's one of my five favourite places in the world.
I frequently would walk past a place in the small square-shaped town called The Good Life Herbal Restaurant on my way to the strip of bars. I would look at it almost as if it shouldn't be there, with a sort of snort of derision, 'Why would I want to go in there, my fun is beer in the bars, and that's where the good life is, who needs herbs?'.
In 2008 everything changed for me in my life. I was 44, and my bullet-proof youth was emphatically over. It had been probably since I was 40, but it was only in 2008 that my longstanding lower back pain finally made me take action to try and fix it.
Mainstream options of 'healthcare' made no difference, but when an X-ray revealed there was nothing out of alignment, my cause-and-effect-trained-brain took over. I ended up going to an Ayurveda centre in town. I spoke to the smiling compassionate lady doctor for an hour, and this particular story is for another day (but the full tale is in my book! Take a look here). The upshot was that she asked me to make a few key changes to my diet, and to come back in two weeks.
I did ask her if I could continue to drink beer, and she said ‘yes’. This was a huge surprise, but perhaps she didn’t know the true relationship an Englishman has with his beers. However, I was determined to not have any for this two-week period.
Four mornings later I woke up at dawn from a full night's sleep with no back pain. What an almighty revelation this was to me, not to mention the joy of being pain-free! And so quickly. Just from a change in diet.
But... and this brings the tale to its natural conclusion... Friday nights were pool league nights, and at that time going into a pub or bar and not drinking beer for me was simply impossible, a ridiculous idea completely out of the question. I was determined to go the two weeks without beer, so I took myself off to Pai for the weekend, to avoid going into the pub. Pai has lots of good healthy food restaurants and is full of nature and plenty of great walks.
That Saturday it was Man Utd v Arsenal and ordinarily I would never have missed this for anything, enjoying several beers in the process, but I simply had to avoid watching it because I would have had beers. I managed it because in the morning I found myself walking past the anti-fun place I had always previously given short shrift to: The Good Life Herbal Restaurant.
I'd had my breakfast in town, and then as I came near to The Good Life, I saw the familiar sign, but this time I found myself drawn in there like a bear to a honeypot. I didn't emerge for a few hours, what a stunning place it was!!
There was a huge library of health and travel books and booklets, dozens of different teas, maca powder, kombucha, wheatgrass juice, kefir, jiaogulan tea, various other potions, herbs, teas, and so on, lots of vegetarian dishes in the menu, and a funky interior. It was a veritable Aladdin’s cave of healthy treats for body, mind and soul!
I got chatting to some happy, healthy-looking American people there, and they were very supportive and patient with me as I fired question after question at them about meat and dairy and all manner of health-related stuff. Suddenly I was open to all this kind of information, and my inner voice had no chance.
I didn't want to leave, I was diving into this and that book, reading bits here and there, making notes, drinking this, eating that, and time stood still for me.
I never did have a beer for two weeks, kept to my dietary changes (no pork products, no dairy foods, no processed foods was the main difference) and went back to see the Ayurveda doctor. I felt like a young spring chicken, full of vitality, energy and clarity of mind!!
By the way, she had diagnosed me as having overheated organs from my diet of excessive animal-based foods and my liking of crisps and beers. I think I went further two weeks without a beer, and when I did have one it was on big bottle and one small bottle. My body the next day felt very strange and depleted of my new vitality. By now I had dived into serious research into diet, nutrition, and natural healing modalities, as research is a key part of my job. So I knew that this not-good feeling was toxins suddenly arriving in my body.
There's no doubt about it, to pursue a wellness-oriented life requires a whole sea change to one's diet and lifestyle. I don't always succeed, but my default is sound, and I am on the wellness path and have been for nearly 15 years now.
I read once that we stupid humans spend the first half of our life attacking our health and wellbeing, and then the second half trying to overcome the consequences! It applied to me, but perhaps I was lucky in that I only had to deal with lower back pain. Others get far worse deals. Perhaps eating Thai food for 17 years by that time had protected me to some degree.
So, I would thoroughly recommend anybody to get on this health and wellness path, but you’ll have to handle the inner voice which will impel you to not do this! How to start? Simple, change your diet to this very very simple one: eat only whole foods, and avoid to the fullest extent possible eating or drinking anything made by food corporations. Give it two weeks, and I reckon you’ll be flying!
