Please help me!

I have been struck recently by some people of my age who seem to give up on life.  They seem to think is is somehow normal that getting older means getting ill.  No-one wants to be ill.  Being ill is a horrible thing.  And yes, in today's modern society being ill is associated with being old.  Not only that the older you get the more ill people seem to expect to be.  These people want to avoid being ill and so their solution is to hope to die quickly when it happens.  They are hoping the die (dice) spins that way.

But they do not need to rely on the spin of a die.  From my experience over the last two years I am totally convinced that a most common illnesses (many life-threatening) of the older population can be  completely avoided with close attention to just two things: what you eat and what exercise you get.  Critically to be healthy is not just about exercise.  Exercise, however hard and regular, on its own will not stop stroke or cancer or a heart attack.  The answer begins with a very serious close look at personal dietary choices, and that's where I need help.

If people very seriously look at what they consume it is possible I will not be the only last men standing amongst my friends and family!  Do I really want them to have strokes (small or large), cancers, heart attacks and yes chronic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis?  No, I do not.  That's where I need help.


It is very difficult to talk about the very comprehensive health advantages of a whole-food plant based (low-oil) diet without coming across as preaching.  The UK culture does not like preaching. I do not like preaching.  So when my talking about this subject becomes a day to day habit then probably it falls largely upon increasingly deaf ears.  So what do I do?

Here I am wanting to wake people to the very serious health disadvantages of what people crave most. This includes the insatiable desire to have bacon (which has sugar and salt added before it gets to your plate).  The whole big English breakfast thing around having eggs, bacon, sausages and toast smothered in butter and jam just hits the mark.  It includes the huge array of totally fabulous cheeses, each one stuffed with unhealthy fats and crammed with salt to make that an unmissable item at the supermarket.  It includes extremely cheap chocolate bars with very attractive wrapping close to the checkout.  It includes lots of cream products such as ice-cream which are totally unmissable on a hot summer's day.

But what people crave is not just driven by the bodies desire for calories.  It is also about many years of insidious sales & marketing efforts to sell the so-called health benefits of meat, dairy and fish by corporations and governments.  Importantly it also demagogue TV-chefs who pile on the cream and sugar into beautiful creations that are salivating mains and deserts day after day.

I don't blame anyone.  I was one of those people for over 60 years of my life.  Before Rheumatoid Arthritis hit my body I was a happy man. I was convinced I had a relatively healthy diet, after all I have been vegetarian since 1980 or thereabouts.  How wrong was I!  So I cannot claim to be innocent.

But I have had an awakening.  Both a horrible and a beautiful awakening.  Horrible because the all-consuming pain of rheumatoid arthritis is just that - all-consuming.  It feels like you are being eaten alive. It is beautiful because I am out the other side with a very healthy body and even increasingly healthy body.  Not only that my RA has continually reducing signs of reduction, despite having steadily and intelligently reduced my medication.  One month to go and I will be free of my last drug.

(As an aside, this drug, methotrexate works by inhibiting my immune system, which is why everyone who takes methotrexate also takes folic acid, vitamin B9.  Yet despite my immune system being closed down by this drug I have had no problems such as colds or flu or anything else.)

I am aged 64 and want and expect (ignoring the proverbial bus knocking me down) another forty years of a great, healthy happy life until my body reaches its natural zenith.  I hope many of my friends and family will come with my on this journey.

It does not mean going vegan overnight.  Such drastic changes are bound for failure for most people. Migration is the best way.  For instance when I gave up cheese it took me three to six months to achieve this change.  First I dropped cows cheeses and limited myself to sheep and goats cheeses. Also I tried some vegan cheeses and also used cheese-like substitutes like nutritional yeast.

However it does mean starting today.  If they are going to be successful it starts today, not in ten years time when they have already had a stroke or two.

And that's my problem. I want my friends and family to come with me and be happy and healthy by design, not by luck.  But as soon as I talk about making choices then I start to preach (as I have done no doubt in this post).  And I hate that in anyone, and I hate it in myself.

But I don't want to be alone.  Some years ago I clearly remember my Dad (who died aged 91) saying all his friends had died and so he had no-one to visit.  He probably said this about two years before he died.  What he said hit me like a brick at the time but I had no answer for him.  This was because of my ignorance.  I am not ignorant anymore.