It’s Been a Year of Health!

 

Health Anniversary Special

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hi. My name’s Mike Hentrich.

Welcome to my bi-weekly video blog on health. This is my one year anniversary of writing and videotaping blogs on health, and so I thought I’d talk about some topics I don’t usually talk about this week.

First of all, THANK YOU for all of you who have been watching and reading my blogs this past year. I hope they’ve been useful or valuable or insightful to you and have led to some new hope or help in your health issues or in the health issues of your loved ones. That’s basically why I do this, so I hope that’s the case. I know for myself, I’ve gained a lot out of writing these blogs and doing the videos, because it has put me in a situation where I had to do more research than I probably would have otherwise, so I’m really glad I’m doing it.

Even a couple years ago, I would never think that I would do something like this. Honestly, the person I was back then, I looked down on people like me now. Health conscious people, people who were picky about what they ate or who worried about the quality of their food, I thought it was silly. I thought it was ridiculous, and I lived that way too. I was really indiscriminate about what kind of food I put in my mouth. My diet in those days… it’s a little bit embarrassing, but I ate a lot of fast food, food that you can buy at the gas station, taquitos, corn dogs, hot dogs, pizza, chicken wings. I drank a lot of soda and energy drinks… What else did I eat? Anyway, stuff like that, slim jims. And it’s not that any of those foods are bad for you in and of themselves, but my whole diet was like that.

The result of all this was that over the course of two or three years, I started to see a big shift in my weight and my health. [See photos in video] It didn’t happen all of a sudden, but over time I started to gain a lot of weight and I found myself getting more sick and having more allergies. When I was younger I didn’t have allergies, and especially at the peak when I gained the most weight, that year I had tonsillitis and a sinus infection both on the same month. I also had a lot of allergies that year, and I got sick often. Of course, I didn’t think it had anything to do with what I was eating, but that’s the way it is. You see those kinds of things when you look in hindsight.

The tipping point for me came at the end of this year when I had different infections and whatnot. The school that I was working with decided to go on a trip to Korea for three weeks, to Seoul. We decided to make it a family outing with our kids. Our twins were about a little over a year old at that time. We knew it would be a little bit stressful, but we thought that it would be a lot harder and more expensive if we did it in the future, so let’s give it a try.

If you know anything about Asian food or Korean food in general, it’s a lot of seafood, a lot of rice, grains in general, vegetables, at least traditional Korean food is like that. Of course, they have McDonald’s, ice cream shops, and Outback Steakhouse, but traditional food, which is all over the place, is a lot of greens, a lot of rice, mushrooms, fish, and also spicy food. They are really fans of hot, spicy food if you’ve ever had kimchi or gochujang.

So the whole time we were there, I ate a lot of Korean food, and also spent a lot of time walking. We didn’t have vehicles, so we took the public transportation. It’s just something that you do a lot in Asia is that you spend a lot of time walking or riding your bicycle. I still my Japanese grandmother. They never had a car. She just rode her bike everywhere. She went grocery shopping in her bike, and if she didn’t take her bike, she walked. That’s just the way it was.

Another thing was that while I was in Korean, I did not feel inclined to eat American food. I could get American food in America, and while I was in Korea, I wanted to eat more Korean food. So even though I still had access to McDonald’s, Dorito’s chips, and things like that, and soda, and there’s plenty of that stuff over there, but I wanted to experience living in Korea, eating Korean food.

When we came back to America, I was really surprised… I didn’t expect this… but when we came back to America we stopped by the Taco Bell and places I usually liked to get food before, and it just surprised me that I didn’t have any cravings or desire to eat that food anymore. Actually, not just that, but it kinda made me feel sick, kinda grossed me out. I couldn’t really explain it, because I ate that kind of food all the time before. It never bothered me, even though I’d always heard that it wasn’t good for you, it never bothered me. I’m sure many of you can relate to that. For some reason, at that point when I came back… it did. And I talked to my wife, who’d always been trying to encourage me (lovingly) to be more healthy. I said, “Well this is kinda weird, I feel like not eating this kind of food anymore.” I didn’t know how long it was going to last. I assumed that it would be a short-term thing, but I figured I’d just eat what I felt like eating and not eat what I didn’t feel like eating. From then on, I almost completely cut out fast food and the junk foods I was eating before like sodas and energy drinks with the thought that I would just do it for as long as it lasts for.

To my surprise it has continued to this day. I still don’t feel like eating those things. I don’t really know what happened. I have several theories to explain the transformation experience, but I don’t really know what happened. What I do know is that it is possible that a person can change their pallet I guess, or their cravings for food.  Honestly, when I eat food that I used to eat, it doesn’t make me feel good anymore. I can’t stand how salty or how sweet many food are, and if I do eat them, I get a headache or I don’t feel so good.

Also, one thing that has allowed me to continue to be a relatively healthier person these past few years is that even after having the experience of not craving the food that I used to like to eat, I decided that I wanted to educate myself. I started reading a lot of books, materials on health. Of course, at first everything was new to me, learning about carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and all these different things. Just starting off, it was like going to preschool and learning the alphabet. Over time, I started to really get a grasp on what is a healthy way of eating and what isn’t a healthy way of eating. Some foods that I had always heard weren’t good for me, like fast food, I started to learn about why they weren’t good for me, what they do in the body, and also how the economics works, the sustainability of those kinds of foods. Over time, after learning many of those things, then I had much more reason, and much more understanding and knowledge that really helped me to have more power over deciding what kind of food I wanted to eat and what kinds of food I didn’t want to eat. That was really helpful for me.

Looking back on the person I was then, even though that was just a few years ago, I can really see what a difference my diet has made in the quality of my life. Even though I am a relatively young person, it is amazing at how much of a difference it can make. I kinda feel like I had a rebirth experience in the area of health in my life, because I feel that I’ve been given a second chance to get a fresh start. That’s something that I want to be able to share with people. I know what it’s like the way I was before, and I know the difference that I feel in the way that I am now. Everyone can have that experience.

I think that many of us take for granted our health. It’s just something that we have, and we don’t really appreciate it until it is gone or it’s deteriorating. The unfortunate thing about your health is that it is very different from your car. If the car runs down or gets really old, you can just buy a new car. You can buy a new computer, or a new iPod, or whatever. Once things get old, even if you didn’t maintain it, you can buy a new one. It is just a matter of money. You can’t really do that with your body, unfortunately. I mean, you can get surgery, go to the hospital, you can do different things, but once it is gone, it is hard to fix and get it back to the way it was before. That’s why one of the things that I really stress is trying to take care of your body before it seems like there’s a need to. I know that before, I didn’t have that mentality, but I think that people are beginning to realize how important it is, and I want to be a part of sharing the importance of that. Also, it doesn’t matter what age you are or where you are at in life, you can always begin to work on that, and if you do, I think you will save yourself a lot of trouble in the future. It is just a wise thing to do to educate yourself and learn what it is. If you have a condition, absolutely you should talk to your doctors, get professional advice and help, but also it is your life and your body. In the end, you are accountable for your own health and well-being. There are so many great resources out there. I’m not just talking about the internet; I’m talking about books, reference materials, and studies in journals. There’s a lot available out there.

What my story really shows me is that people can change. When confronted with reality or truth, people will take things seriously. Sometimes we don’t always see how important it is, so other things become priority in our lives, but one thing that I’ve really seen from my experience and other people is you’re your health should be a major priority in your life. I’m not saying it should be number one necessarily but maybe top five J. Maybe top 3… I don’t know. Really, if you don’t have your health, your ability to experience your life in the way that you want to, especially as you get older, I think will diminish. Nobody wants that; nobody wants to have that experience. Especially in the age that we live in now, where your life can be longer because of science and medicine, we want to be able to live a life that is not only longer but also of a higher quality, enjoyable. Please take time to educate yourself. There are a lot of different diet fads out there, a lot of different viewpoints. If you take the time to study and learn and keep an open mind, I’m confident that you can find something that works for you, works for your family, that ultimately you will be left better off. It will be worth the time, it will be worth the investment.

Thank you.

 

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Author:Michael Hentrich

Michael Hentrich is an entrepreneur and natural health educator. He has a bachelor's in Business Management and is a Certified Natural Health Professional. Michael has four great loves in his life: spirituality, family, health, and money. He believes that ultimately, we need a balance of all four of these in order to lead a full life. In 2013, Michael created Foundations for Wellness, a for-profit organization, with the purpose of spreading in-depth and understandable seminars on health and wellness to the general public. Look for one to come to a community near you.

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