I Neglected My Health for 30 Years So You Don’t Have To – Here’s the Damage I’ve Encountered So Far
I Know You Don’t Care About Prevention. Neither Did I
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Let’s be real.
Nobody in their twenties (or thirties, for that matter) gives a damn about long-term health consequences.
Prevention is for old people, right? You think you’re invincible. I did too. Until reality hit me like the chemical-loaded train in the movie "Unstoppable"
Only, there was no Denzel Washington to save me...
Dear fearless reader, good to have you here!
Born with a Sugar Addiction (Thanks, Switzerland)
As a Swiss, I was practically born with a sugar addiction. We’re world champions in chocolate consumption, and in my family, we took it to the next level. My mother loves the sweets still today in industrial quantities. AND my father was a sales agent for a chocolate company!
Yeah, I know, you get the full cliché load today. :-)
But you know what all that really means?
Gateway to hell. At least that's how I see it today.
At that time chocolate wasn’t just an occasional treat. It was a highly respected food group.
Breakfast? Sugary cereals in milk bath with a side of bread.
Snacks? (you know what the perfect Swiss sandwich looks like? A slice of sourdough bread - an entire bar of chocolate - another slice of bread)
More sugar.
Dinner? Wait. Muesli, Crepes with Nutella... Better, let’s not even talk about it.
At the time, nobody questioned it. Everyone ate like this. And when something feels normal, you don’t stop to ask if it’s slowly wrecking your body.
Spoiler: It was.
The First Cracks (A.K.A. Clues I Ignored)
By my twenties, things started to feel off. Mentally, I hit a low. Was it the sugar crash? The financial stress? Who knows. But doctors handed me antidepressants, and I took them. Not long after, the weight gain started. Funny how that happens, right?
These bloody coincidences...
Then came the skin problems. Ever heard of Gürtelrose? It’s shingles. A lovely little condition where your nerves decide to torture you. My immune system had enough of my lifestyle.
Traditional Chinese Medicine saved me—acupuncture and the most vile teas you can imagine. But did I change my diet?
Of course not.
My Thirties: A Masterclass in Self-Destruction
Snacks, sweets, processed garbage—my diet was a disaster. If you could put it in a microwave or eat it straight from a bag, I was all in.
The result? More weight gain. More fatigue. But hey, I wasn’t alone! Society was right there with me, normalizing the convenience food lifestyle.
Then I hit my forties. BMI: 34.
At this point, things weren’t just bad. They were morbidly obese bad.
Daily tips for a healthier, more confident, and natural future? Just hit that nice little green button here:
The Battle With Weight: A Series of Bad Decisions
I knew I had to change. But I did it the way most people do—wrong. Crash diets, extreme plans, constant yo-yoing. Lose weight, gain it back. Repeat. Turns out, wrecking your metabolism is a great way to make weight loss even harder.
Doing it the sustainable way? Or the natural way?
In hindsight, I can't believe how stupid this was...
The Wake-Up Call: Homegrown Food & Real Nutrition
In my late 40s, after years of failed weight-loss attempts, I finally got serious. I switched to a Keto-based diet, focusing on homegrown food, meat (85% of my diet), and vegetables.
No more snacks. Almost no cereals. No more liquid sugar bombs disguised as drinks.
Chocolate? Sure, but now it’s a treat every two months, not a daily ritual. (Please: If you inform the authorities, I might lose my Swiss citizenship.)
:-)
And the results?
Sleep improved. (No more snoring. My wife thanks me.)
Digestion improved. (No more hemorrhoids. They just... vanished.)
Weight loss that stayed off. (Because it wasn’t a temporary "diet" anymore.)
But here’s the slap in the face: Some damage can’t be undone.
A Heart Attack at 50. Way Too Early.
Fifty is when you’re supposed to start thinking about retirement, not dying. But guess what? My body finally gave me the bill for decades of abuse. A full-blown heart attack.
The doctors said it was "too early" for something like this. No kidding.
But when you live on sugar and processed food, you age faster. Your body wears out. And suddenly, you’re lying in a hospital bed thinking, Well, that escalated quickly.
The Damage That Stuck
Turns out, sugar doesn’t just mess with your waistline—it screws with your eyes too. My latest fun diagnosis? A cataract in my right eye. My eye doctor even found sugar deposits behind my eye (yes, that’s a thing).
And guess what? It’s also tied to my heart attack. Fantastic.
Oh, and then there’s my latest adventure: Leistenbruch (inguinal hernia). When I told the surgeon I had lost a lot of weight, his response? "Yep, that’ll do it." Turns out, after years of stretching my body beyond its limits, my abdominal wall just... gave up.
Kind of like a Berlin Wall in 1989 feeling if you ask me...
Final Thoughts: The Damage Is Done, But It’s Never Too Late
Here’s the unpopular truth—everything got better once I reached my ideal weight. Energy, sleep, digestion, mood, even sex life. (Yeah, I said it.)
But the damage? That was already done.
The heart attack still came at 50. Years of abuse don’t disappear overnight. So while you're reading this thinking, I'll fix it later, just remember: Later might not wait for you...
Some things don’t fully heal. And once it does, you don’t get to undo decades of abuse.
To all the mentally sick journalists writing about "fat shaming" and "I'm happy in my oversized body" bullshit: Fuç% you! I hope being paid by big pharma & food lets you have a good sleep!
Oh, and one more thing: Swiss chocolate is better than Belgian chocolate. Sorry, not sorry, Belgians. :-)
Thanks for reading my story. If you like them, make sure you get them straight into your inbox when I hit “publish”.
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To your freedom and health,
Daniel
Yeah, sugar is bad, bad, bad. Having said that I've got a packet of chocolate biscuits on my desk. Must do better.
Thank you, Daniel, great personal story. I've a similar one:
“I Was a Vegetarian for 36 Years – Then This Happened”
(Experience is more important than 1000 books and training courses)
https://open.substack.com/pub/bernhardexplores/p/i-was-a-vegetarian-for-36-years-then?r=3oqs68&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true