This past week, I met with the mother of one of my long-term clients.
My long-term client is ecstatic that her mother is finally working with me.
Her mother’s motto: “Give me 20 more years.”
Part of what we began to discuss was of course eating. This dear lady is in constant pain. She told me that this is the way she describes her feet: You take a bag, put some glass in it and then smash up the glass. The glass can’t get out because of the bag. That’s the way her feet feel all the time.
I recommended many dietary changes for her to reduce inflammation, since all pain comes from inflammation and all inflammation begins in the gut.
“One of the best eaters I know is your daughter,” I told her.
“Oh, but you should see her grocery bill,” the mother told me.
We talked about ways that she can eat well and save money. Personally, I make a giant run every week to Costco where I buy boxes of organic spinach, large bags of organic carrots and fresh berries, which are not organic. I look around and sometimes buy organic chicken or hamburger there, as well as large bags of frozen organic berries to put into smoothies.
But here is what I have to say about anybody’s grocery bill.
Either pay your grocer now or pay your doctor later on.
Over the years, I have tried this argument with various clients. “I have good health insurance,” I remember one man telling me.
He had clearly never suffered a heart attack. One of my clients who had a mild heart attack discovered after the fact that her bill for less than one day’s stay in the hospital amounted to $30,000. Sure, your insurance may pay for part of that, but is that really how you want to spend your money? Personally, I have health insurance but I also have a $10,000 deductible. That means that my health is pretty much on my dime unless I get hit by a truck, which hopefully isn’t going to happen any time soon.
I don’t even bother to count up how much money I spend at the grocery, but I can tell you I am rarely sick.
I will have clients who call me and say, “I am not sure if I should come over. I have (fill in the blank, pneumonia, the flu, a bad cold, whatever).” I tell them they won’t bother me because my immune system is excellent.
I just went to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods today, in that order. I thought I would take a photo of my refrigerator to make my point.
Top shelf: whole garlic cloves, yogurt, honey, butter, blackberries, chicken salad, gluten-free brownies, sprouts, goat cheese, dark chocolate.
Middle shelf: three boxes organic spinach, green beans, beef brisket, organic eggs.
Meat drawer: organic chicken, sliced turkey, cheese, organic salami.
Bottom shelf: kombucha, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, beets.
Left drawer: carrots, onions, ginger, potatoes.
Right drawer: oranges, lemons, apples.
I came home from shopping and juiced ginger, carrots and oranges while I was making vegetable soup with potatoes, carrots and onions, green beans, yellow squash, fresh peas, organic chicken broth, two cans of organic tomato sauce and one can chopped organic tomatoes. I sauteed the vegetables in coconut oil and then threw it all in my crock pot.
On my way home, I was talking to a friend who was telling me how she has been reading a book about how to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. By the age of 80, she told me, about 50 percent of Americans have Alzheimer’s. It starts 20 years earlier. Solution: Healthy food, regular exercise and lifelong learning.
Show me your refrigerator and I will tell you how healthy you are now. It will also be easy for you to make your own prediction, based on the contents of your refrigerator, of how healthy you will be 10, 20, 30 and 40 years from now.
