Open Future Health Blog

Your habits when you are in your 40's and 50's are the foundation for your good health and fitness at 85. Improved diet is the low cost alternative to extensive medical intervention later in life. The body has the ability to heal itself, if we treat it with respect. ANYBODY who adopts a healthy diet, at ANY AGE, will benefit, and as the months go by, those benefits will multiply.

The Self-Discovered Diet

You all know the saying, "Diets never work." That's true only because your food choices are a reflection of you, and all your acquired past knowledge.

If I tell you how to eat in a healthier way, and I can do that in 3-5 minutes, it's a waste of time, because even if you understand what I'm saying, you still can't do it. What I've told you becomes absorbed into the knowledge of a lifetime, and is overwhelmed by all the acquired knowledge you have, much of it leading you in wrong directions. For instance, people commonly have a poor understanding of normal health, accepting quite poor health as normal. In the same way, we often expect poor health among older people when we should not.

In talking to people, I often tell people things they should do, that they agree to do, but they don't do it. Why?

Firstly, all the acquired knowledge of a lifetime, tells you that you already KNOW, how to eat in a healthy way. So what I might have to say must be nonsense, or impossible for you to do. Recall the surprising results of the Women's Health Initiative (2006), "That the recommended diet has no health benefits." Think about that as a stake in the ground. Both the SAD recommended by dietary experts, and the common sense knowledge of the public about a human healthy diet, is WRONG. Are you confused? If so that's a sensible starting point for a journey discovery.

Secondly, you trust your doctor or your dietitian, or the advice your mother gave you. You know that they wouldn't intentionally put you wrong. If Open Future Health really had a dietary solution everyone could use, lots of people would be doing it already, and your trusted adviser would tell you about it. In 2005, Doctor Annika Dahlqvist, found it's not quite that easy. Powerful forces prevent new knowledge becoming widely known.

Thirdly, most people seem to believe that good health is not something they have much control over, unless one likes to do a lot of exercise. I'm OK like I am. I'm not "very healthy" but I'm never sick either, so what's to worry about?

As I said what we think, and what we decide to do is a reflection of all our past knowledge. The three paragraphs above are a tiny fraction of the sort of thinking that keeps us trapped in our old knowledge and in our old ways of behaving. So there can be no progress unless you make it happen. You hold the key. It's between your left ear and your right ear. All you need to do is use it. Give yourself permission to use it. Then begin your search for what works.

Then you need to do a lot of reading, and talking and learning. As you learn you need to try some of the new things. Some of the things you've been told about all your life are not valid. Read, think, discuss, plan, act, and see what happens. Along the way, you'll discover some of the things you believe now, are not valid. Cut those ideas out of your knowledge tree. You can do it. Only you can do it.

As you go along, if you are getting good advice from somewhere, you should be able to make steady progress in discovering a diet that works much better for YOU. Your own personal "self-discovered diet." That's the point.

Your Self-Discovered Diet, will be a diet you can apply in your life, successfully. You will have done a great deal to remove from your acquired knowledge, those wrong ideas that prevent you from eating in a healthy way. Even if your "self-discovered diet" isn't yet the perfect diet in some ways, because it's your diet, you can fix it.

So where does Open Future Health, or The Real Meal Revolution, or the Keto Diet movement world wide come in? There is a lot to learn, a lot of science, a lot of practice experience, and lot of food tips, many new ways of cooking and baking and making real food for the whole family. There is help available. Many Books, web sites, videos, all the information you need. Too much really, overwhelming.

To make the best progress, in an easy way, I suggest you join an Open Future Health Forum. A place to ask for direction when you are not sure what to decide. Please join the Facebook Group for Open Future Health. This will help you keep up with changes in the Open Future Health Website. If you wish you can also engage in discussion here. Please use this link.

(Note: 2022) Alternatively, Join the Australian Group "Defeat Diabetes" led by Prof. Peter Brukner, and guided by Dr Paul Mason. This is a relatively new group, with clear objectives and tidy presentation. There is still a lot to learn, so don't mess about with the three month subscription, take the annual option.

The question now, is simple. Will you give yourself permission to do it?

John Stephen Veitch