Fat & Furious Introduction
When my seventh child Louie was born (yes I have seven, I know that’s a lot), I was obese, unhealthy and approaching my fiftieth birthday. Like all parents, I want the best for my children and just as important for me, I want to be around to see them grow up, and to be in their lives for as long as possible.
Five years ago, I was so frustrated and terrified by being very fat and what that could mean to my health (and ultimately when I would die), I decided to step back from my businesses and spend my days researching health. The more I studied, the more furious I became. Furious that for all of those years of bouncing between being fat and obese, I had been fed a big fat lie about what was causing my weight and ultimately how to get rid of it. It wasn’t that I hadn’t tried, I had always exercised regularly and had continuously eaten what I was told should help me shift my weight, but for 25 years I had always lost the bulge battle. None of the diets I went on worked. I tried really hard, I became a slave to them and yet no matter what I tried, I was imprisoned in my fat body.
Since I discovered the truth, my stubborn belly has gone, and so have all of the health issues associated with it. The infuriating thing is, pretty much everything I thought I knew about food before was wrong. My thinking, much like nearly everyone else in Britain, had been shaped by big food and pharmaceutical companies that, as it turns out, have no interest in my health at all. They regrettably only care about making a profit and then protecting it with their lies. To them, it’s simply about corporate wealth and not consumer health.
What I uncovered was that my previous food choices had been shaped by misinformation and brainwashing from corporate advertising. And, with the onslaught of fast and packaged food with their highly addictive ingredients, it wasn’t just me they had made fat, it was the nation too. So much so, that the average adult in Great Britain today is two and a half stone heavier than adults were in the year I was born! Or look at it another way. In the past 50 years, we have put on more weight than in the past 2.5 million years!
Today, we have an absolutely insane governmental guideline telling us what we should eat. The cold hard fact, however, is that it’s making Britain sick. According to researchers, the life expectancy of my children’s generation is expected to be ten years shorter than my generation, and that makes me furious! With seven wonderful children, I will not just accept this, and neither should you.
In search of the truth about both what makes us fat and what steps we need to take to help us live longer, I have met and interviewed many of the world’s most forward-thinking medical professionals, including doctors, authors, scientists, investigative journalists, and nutritionists. I have analysed hundreds of health books, even more white papers and what I have uncovered is going to be revealed throughout this book. But just in case you are only flicking through the introduction, while in a bookstore or waiting for a flight, with no intention of buying it, here is the infuriatingly simple answer in a nutshell...
The wave of obesity sweeping our country and the tsunami of chronic disease has primarily been caused by us not eating real wholesome foods. As a nation, we are starving our bodies of good nutrition, and poisoning ourselves with mass-produced, artificially modified, sugar-loaded nonsense. Also, we are using shampoos, antiperspirants and creams made with substances known to cause harm. Furthermore, we are stressed, don’t sleep enough, and are sedentary.
Our human body was not designed to live like this.
How do we live healthier, happier and for longer? We must first accept that we have little evolved since our primal ancestors and then optimise our lifestyle, environment and nutrition to the fundamental needs of the human body. I call this the LEON principle of primal living. They are the principles for living healthier for longer and they are yours to own. They are both beautiful in their simplicity and reassuringly easy to remember.
The LEON principle of living primally:
- Lifestyle
We need to optimise our happiness, sleep, exercise and more. That begins with ‘how’ we spend our days and ‘what’ we do to take care of this amazing body of ours.
- Environment
How do we optimise our environment? Well, it begins with avoiding toxins wherever we can, such as chemicals in beauty products, potions, lotions, and pesticides in food. It also means radically changing the relationship that we have with technology and, in particular, our mobile phones (sorry).
- Optimise
Throughout this book, you’ll hear me use the word ‘optimise’ because it is an important aspect of a primal lifestyle. Fat & Furious is packed to the brim with advice from some of the most respected health professionals in the world, and if you’re anything like me, the moment you understand the secret to living healthier and for longer, you will want to optimise each and every nugget of information.
- Nutrition
I believe in a low carbohydrate diet. One that focuses on eating organic and natural foods. I believe that natural fats are healthy and that eating meats from animals who have lived in their natural habitat is not only good for our health, but good for our planet’s health too. I believe only by consuming real food, together with quality supplements, can we optimise our nutrition and provide our body with what it needs to thrive.
Please use the LEON principles to look after yourself and those whom you love. It’s not complicated, the changes are reassuringly simple and once you understand the difference they make, you’ll never look back. Throughout Fat & Furious, we have the remarkable privilege of the advice and wisdom of 23 pioneers in the field of health all in one place. All you need to do is to take their guidance and optimise it in every possible aspect of your lifestyle, environment and nutrition.
By providing you with the truth about what we eat and by revealing what I believe is a secret agenda of governments, food and pharmaceutical giants, I am going to dislodge the effects of corporate indoctrination and conditioning. I will provide you with the knowledge and hopefully the motivation to control the destination of your health, happiness and longevity.
As George Orwell once said, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. This book sets out to pass on the proven truth behind weight loss and living a long healthy life.
And finally, here is the really good news. The conclusion I have come to from all of my research - and it’s so exciting - is that if we live more primally, we have so much more control over our health, happiness and both our longevity and that of our planet than you could ever imagine.
