Memoirs of an organic man

I'm the primary author of the Beyond Organic website, and welcome to our blog! I'm sure you're all wondering, is this guy for real? Was he always living this healthy? Let me start with the latter. There was a point in my life when I was the quintessential fast food junkie. Microwave chef of TV dinners. A "save the vegetables" advocate. And coming from Seattle, savant of strong Starbucks coffee. I still looked good based on outwards appearances, and I liked to joke it's from all the preservatives I've been eating. But I had a little problem that amounted to chronic fatigue. After 14 years of living an unhealthy lifestyle, I grudgingly woke up 1 morning and thought to myself ... "I wonder how I'd feel if I just took care of myself for once. Some of my 40-something acquaintances are racking up another health problem, another prescription drug. That's going to be me soon".

So I had this brilliant idea of doing some online research to figure out what the ultimate multi-vitamin would be. Found some other great supplements along the way too. And then I can keep eating what I want, right? But the more I researched, the more I realized that there's a problem with the processed foods I'm eating. I need to start eating better too. I began looking for all-natural food items (which initially was very hard to do, by the way, in a normal supermarket). Your choices are fruits, vegetables, and meat. Almost everything in the other isles is tainted with chemicals, additives, and preservatives. Should I not be surprised? Luckily I found stores that cater more to what I'm looking for. The bigger problem though is I'm no cook. I got to thinking ... my ex-girlfriend could cook. Why couldn't I appreciate that more about her? What have I done? Well, I was willing to give it the old college try. I just hoped that there were no food ingredients that can cause reactions like in chemistry class. Laugh if you want. Hot oil and water is 1 of them, as I learned very quickly.

My research began to take me on different tangents. What do you mean sewer sludge is used in conventionally grown vegetables? What? Plastic is bad for us? No! Not Viagra and pain killers in tap water! So all this led me to start eating organic, then filtering my water, and even switching out my personal care products. It was a quick, but gradual progression.

I'm sure your next question is, "And how did all these changes make you feel"? You know, when you're used to feeling like &#&%! all the time, you never realize you felt bad to begin with. But at the onset, seems like every 3 months some aspect of my health noticeably improved. And seeing each improvement was encouraging. It made me want to get more serious about it, learn more, and just revel in my new healthy feeling. Sure, I still treat myself on rare occasions. Not much you can do when travelling. But now I find that I don't even want fast food anymore. It turns my stomach. So here I am ... the new me. I started the website, because I'm excited about sharing what I know. And if you have some health tips - I want to hear about it. Share it with everyone here at the Beyond Organic Blogspot. Until next week, Ciao.