On Memorial Day 1978, I dropped dead.
Ten days later I would leave U.C.L.A. Medical Center with this prescription:
• don't walk up stairs,
• don't go anywhere without someone who knows CPR,
• give up your motocross career,
• take heart medication for the rest of your life,
• you have over a 50 percent chance of dying in the next 2years,
• and if you're lucky, you'll survive sex.
At 24 years old, an age when most of us feel invincible, I was taken completely off-guard. It's a no brainer that an incident like this would launch my personal quest for optimal health, and it did. But now, I'm especially grateful that it also evoked a passion to discover how we can all live healthier & happier lives, and here's why...
Everyone knows that America (and the western world at large) is in the death grips of an obesity epidemic. An epidemic of overweight and diet-related chronic disease that is now the #1 killer in the U.S. Yet thus far, I don't believe the media has grasped the real problem driving the obesity epidemic. It isn't the never-ending battle between protein, carbs and fats, or that we are simply eating too many calories and not exercising enough. No, the real cause of this crisis is that we're so slammed with contradictory messages and embattled belief systems about how to eat that we're inexorably mired in confusion, with no clear way out -- until now.
When I first set out to find the "Perfect Human Diet," I was not sure that I would uncover a definitive answer. But thanks to new scientific methods, I did. In fact, the search turned out to be a remarkable global treasure hunt, an adventure through medical and anthropological forensics (a sort of epic dietary C.S.I. episode) revealing many unexpected and fascinating discoveries; including scientific testing, so advanced, we can now define the authentic human diet. Hard science, not more unproven theories.
When I was a reporter, my training taught me to get to the bottom of every story and the making of this movie was no different. It was fun to make, and I hope audiences will find it fun to watch and deeply personally rewarding. And the journey itself? That turned out to be a compelling drama filled with fascinating people, exotic locations and inspiring stories of how real lives are being changed every day because of these discoveries.
Albert Einstein said, "We can't solve problems with the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." If the key to our best life and optimal health is an open mind and paying attention to unexpected signs along the way, then this journey should help point anyone who watches it towards a more positive, and healthy, future.
Author's Note: The Perfect Human Diet will be available on demand through cable systems, the internet and the new brand of so-called "smart" TV's throughout the United States and Canada on December 21. I hope you seek it out.