It’s not about your chronological age, it’s about your mental age, i.e. how youthful you are in the mind and how much zest and spirit you have for life.
I met a young man on holiday and asked if he wanted to come ‘wake-boarding’ with me (this is like snowboarding but on water with a boat pulling you along). He seemed unsure, so I told him that if he had done any snowboarding or skateboarding it would be an advantage. His eyes lit up and he explained that skateboarding was his passion. When I asked if he still did it, he said, ‘Oh not now, I gave it up as I’m getting too old to do that sort of thing.’ I asked him how old he was, and he was 29! He thought it looked silly for a 29-year-old to be on a skateboard. Who gives a flying 360-degree jump?
You cannot possibly let your thoughts of what other people may think of you dictate how you live your life.
If I want to skateboard at 99 let alone 29 then I will! Stopping physical passions cause people to ‘age’ before their time.
When ex-veteran Ray Sheriff jumped from an aeroplane with the Red Devils on 18 September 2004 he was 84, and he was blind! He was just one of ten men aged between 79 and 85 that made the jump in order to commemorate the battle of Arnhem. He has made the jump in the same place, on the same date, every year since he was 70. Ray lost his sight in a German mortar attack in World War II, but being blind and 84 years of age isn’t enough to produce one ‘but’ from this amazing man.
Life begins at 40…or 50,60,70,80 or whenever you want it to. Life begins when you say, ‘That’s it. I’m no longer going to sit and be a spectator of life – I’m going to get off of my backside and live a little.’ It’s when you aren’t willing to settle for a mindset which falsely tells you ‘you’re too old’ or ‘you’ve had your time so it’s time to sit back now’. We are on this planet for a short enough time as it is; the last thing you want is to tell yourself you’re too old for anything.
Some people don’t think they’re too old; they think that they’re either too overweight or have battered their inner organs so much that it’s just not worth making the change as it’s too late. But the human body is one of the most rejuvenating survival machines on the planet and no matter how much we’ve battered it over the years, the second we give it the opportunity to heal, it will do everything within its power to make optimum health possible. No matter how ‘old’ you are, or what condition or conditions you have; if you supply the body with the right tools – ‘live’ foods, drinks and physical movement – it will do whatever it can to breed life and vitality to your body and mind.
‘But I’ve tried juicing and…it’s such a hassle!’
Before I get on to why this excuse doesn’t wash, I want to stress that THIS IS NOT A JUICING BOOK! Yes, juicing will play a part during the 14-day programme. The chances are, once you start to live, feel and see the difference juicing makes, you will continue well beyond that time. However, the main focus of this book is to show you how to drop the bullshit excuses.
The same people who say it takes too long to make a juice and clean the machine don’t seem to have the same misgivings when spending God knows how much time cooking bacon and eggs and cleaning the pan!
Once again, it’s all about priorities, and anyone can easily find the time to juice if they want
It’s hardly the most difficult process. All you need to do is pop a few fruits and veggies into the juicer and push down. How flipping tricky is that? Even cleaning the machine is hardly back-breaking work, is it? I mean, all you have to do is rinse a couple of parts and spend about one minute (if that) cleaning the filter part – so big deal. Most juicers will now even go into the dishwasher, making juicing life even easier.
Millions of people all over the world would kill for the opportunity to have the liquid fuel contained within fresh fruits and vegetables feeding every cell in their body. These are people who often walk 20 miles a day to find water. Somehow I don’t think they’d moan a great deal if they ‘had’ to juice the finest fruits and vegetables from around the world.
Juicing can be super fast – if you know what you are doing.
In reality, it shouldn’t take any longer than 10 minutes to make a juice and clean the machine. Like anything new, juicing takes a short while to get the hang of, so don’t throw in the towel after just one attempt. No matter what, you will be juicing for at least 14 days during the programme, so even if you ‘hate juicing’ you can easily do it for 14 days.
‘But it’s hard for me because…I’m on the road all the time!’
It is true that travelling makes it tricky, but don’t think for a millisecond that you can’t eat healthily or even do this programme when ‘on the road’. Again, if someone said they’d give you a million pounds if you could find a way to eat healthily while ‘on the road’ – you’d soon find a way. It’s not that you can’t eat healthily when on the road; it’s that you won’t. It hardly takes a great deal of preparation to eat an apple on the go or to throw together a decent wholemeal sandwich for the journey; and there isn’t a hotel or restaurant where you can’t find something healthy to eat. After all, you can get fish, veg and salad almost anywhere.
I was once in the company of a man who had just written a book on weight loss and how easy it can be. Someone asked him, as politely as possible, why, if it was all so easy, he was himself, well, fat. He went on to try to explain that it was harder for him because he lived in Spain! Now why on earth living in Spain prevents you from eating well is a mystery to one and all, but this just proves that if someone wants to try to justify their eating they will say anything, no matter how ludicrous it may sound.
If you are ‘on the road’, instead of instantly saying, ‘But I can’t because…’ ask yourself an empowering ‘but’ – ‘But what could I do to eat healthily while I’m away?’ You will find that by asking that question, you will instantly give yourself a good chance of finding an answer. Remember, there is always a way if you stop the BS excuses and ask the right questions.
‘But I can’t even start because…I don’t have the energy’
On the surface this may appear true for many people. You may have bought this book because you want more energy. However, a lack of energy is no excuse for not getting nutritionally and physically fit. After all, how much energy does it take to pick up a piece of fruit and eat it? How much energy do you need to put some fish and veggies in a steamer and turn the knob? Even going for a long walk hardly requires the raw energy of Linford Christie, now does it?
You may not have enough energy to do various things you want, but eating well is not one of them. Once again, it’s funny how the same people who don’t have enough energy to prepare good food seem to find enough energy to get off the sofa and hit McDonald’s or find their way to the pub!
The irony is that the lack of physical movement is a major cause of lethargy.
I will cover this point in greater depth later, but people who go to the gym will know that if they feel tired and hungry