When I was a child back in the 1970s a typical lunch consisted of baloney and mayo on squishy white bread, a bag of corn chips or cheese puffs and a dessert preferably from the now bankrupt Hostess company. If you did not buy chocolate milk at school, then perhaps your mother would pack some fruity punch of the variety that included no fruit or fruit by products whatsoever.
My parents were chemists. They insisted that I take a “weird” lunch made of natural three ingredient peanut butter on whole wheat bread, a piece of fruit, orange juice or milk to drink and a donut for dessert. When I protested that I was the weirdo who ate this strange lunch every day the response was always the same.
“Trust me, someday you will thank me for this.” And of course they were right.
Although I am sure that there were some health benefits that came out of my real food lunch, an even bigger benefit was the fact that I learned at an early age that it is more important to stand up for your own health than to fit in. I could wear what the other kids wore (within reason) and see the same movies and play the same games. But when it came to food the law was laid down. Eating badly was not an acceptable trade-off. Better to be weird than to be sick.
And so I would like to share with you a TEDx video from a very weird 93 year old man, who I generally agree with. He believes in never retiring, lifting weights, and eating real food that humans were designed to eat. And he is proof that like the turtles, if we eat actual food (plants and a few animals, mostly unprocessed) exercise, and keep ourselves connected and active it is extremely possible that an awful lot of what we think of as aging is completely optional.
Why Bodybuilding at 93 is a Great Idea – Charles Eugster at Tedx
Stay weird my friends..
