Impact on the Environment

The way you eat has a huge impact on the environment and by reducing our consumption of meat and dairy products we reduce our carbon footprint on the environment and reduce the amount of resources used in the production of that meat which is enormous. Eating more vegetables and less meat makes life better for everyone on the planet.

Impact on Animals

By reducing our consumption of meat products we reduce the number of animals that must be slaughtered each year to provide for the voracious appetite that the world has for meat. Eating more vegetables and less meat means life for animals.

Do we need meat and dairy products to live and abundant life? Not at all, as a matter of fact, you will actually be healthier by removing those products from your diet, which means a better life for YOU!

Impact on our Health

One of the areas we just take for granted is our health.

When we are young, parents generally take care of you, provide food for you, make sure you go to the doctor and put a band-aid on your boo boos. You play with other kids on the block and just enjoy life. You don’t think much about what you eat, but are generally interested in when you will be eating again.

We learn about the four food groups in school and generally ignore them and eat what taste good to us. Even if you end up in the hospital with some illness you don’t generally link that illness to the food we eat. (unless of course you found some toxic substance under the kitchen sink.)

As long as you are generally healthy, it is just not a subject you give much thought. At least that is the way it was for me.

My Story

I have been generally healthy most of my life. I have had some colds, the occasional flu or sinus infection along with the normal aches and pains in life that I have just attributed to getting older. I have eaten whatever sounded good and gave me that comfortable feeling that comes along with eating things like chocolate or a nice cheesy pizza.

In January 2009 I went to get my annual physical because that is what you are supposed to do after you turn 50 and since my mother died at age 69 with colon/liver cancer, maybe this would be a good idea.

As I suspected, all was well. All that was left was to get back my lab results and I would be good for another year (or two or three).

The lab results came back and my cholesterol was high and they were considering putting me on some medicine to keep that under control and I had a very high PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen). I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but It at least meant I had to go back to the doctor for some more test. Of course with the wonderful world of Google and the internet, it didn’t take long for me to find out that a high PSA was a possible indicator of CANCER! That is all it took for me to go into a tailspin. There are several possible reasons for a high PSA, but all I could focus on was the possibility that I might have Prostate Cancer! If you have ever had this experience, you know what I mean. Your mind is totally preoccupied with the possibility. No matter what you do, it is on your mind until you get the additional tests to confirm one way or the other whether the initial indicator was true or false.

I’ll spare you the details, but in my case it was confirmed. I had cancer!

I scheduled a radical prostatectomy. In short, they wanted to remove my prostate. I scheduled it for later in the summer of 2009. After scheduling it, and thinking that was my only option, a young lady in the Sunday School I was teaching at the time, asked a very simple question. Have I given any thought to a more holistic approach? (If you didn't catch the connection, she was my shining light)

I wasn’t sure what she meant by a holistic approach, but I would at least check it out. For two months I began to talk to people and do some research on my own and read a number of books and discovered that the body could heal itself, even from cancer. The thought of this seemed strange, but I had seen my own body heal itself when cut, why could it not heal itself of disease?

Actually it can. If the body receives the proper nutrition, it can in fact heal itself. So I began to understand what the proper nutrition was and had to make the decision that I was going to turn this over to God and trust him to show me what I needed to do?

Was I willing to make the change that was required of me? This is ultimately the question everyone has to ask themselves.

Our bodies were wonderfully made by God and there was a design as to how they should be fueled for maximum performance. Eating Twinkies and all the McDonalds hamburgers you can stuff in your face is not it! If you continue to eat like the world eats, you will get the diseases that the world gets.

How am I doing you ask? I am doing fine. Will I die of cancer some day? Maybe. But it is just as likely that I will die of a car wreck or some natural disaster. It is true, we are all going to die, but God has led me down a path to help me understand that I was not living the way he had intended. I made the conscious decision that I was not only going to turn my spiritual side over to him, but the physical as well. Instead of living to eat, I choose to live and serve Him and eat for health.

One way I serve Him is to help others see the things you eat have a huge impact on the life you live. Not everyone will accept it unfortunately and they will die prematurely of heart disease, complications due to diabetes, cancer and a number of other diseases that we were never meant to have. But it is my goal to help those who prefer to serve Him and Eat For Life!

If you are interested, click here and check out a few resources I have compiled over time to improve your health, the life of others and yes, even the lives of animals.

Contact me at TheVadens@gmail.com