Even before the pain he had been an enigma. While he had loved to train and work out, he lived on food sold at the gas station convenience store, mostly packaged sandwiches, hot dogs, pastries and caffeinated energy drinks full of sugar. He had eaten this way ever since he was a kid and it only got worse as an adult. Garbage in, garbage out: He was a steady stream of negative talk about his condition, the players at the casino where he worked, the doctors, the pharmacy, his neighbors, and his family. He found the bad in everyone he came in contact with, seeing in them the reflection of everything negative in himself.
We had been friends since the third grade. I visited him often and tried my best to provide some motivation. I attempted to remind him of the importance of nutrition and food magnetism and of the need for him to meditate and exercise. My words seemed to go in one ear and out the other, and eventually I just gave up. I knew in my heart that if he changed what he was putting into his body, he would see a clear improvement in his health and well-being. I was worried that in addition to his physical health he was now losing his mental health. As I said, chronic pain can drive one insane.
It got so bad that he was unable to work. No longer able to pay his rent, he ended up moving back in with his parents. I didn’t see him again until his mother’s funeral, where he told me that the next time we talked he’d have some good news.
Several months later I got a voicemail from him saying he had important news and asking me to call him. When I did, he excitedly told me that he had discovered the source of his problem and that believe it or not it was definitely related to his diet. He had decided to try a mostly vegetarian diet and to eliminate all processed food and anything with refined sugars. As a result, he’d noticed a big difference in the way that he felt. Within days he felt better and was able to move more easily. And after a couple of weeks he was even exercising by paddling a kayak in the nearby lake. He also said that
fighting opponents in the ring, he now fought with doctors to get the pain medication prescriptions that he needed in order to cope.
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