In 1998, after allowing disease to devastate my life for what seemed an eternity, I decided to give up on the treatments of my doctors and fired them all! Their diagnoses were grim, so I chose to go in a different direction and take my life back. I learned that 50% of the doctors in this world finished in the bottom half of their class and I learned that only I had the power to heal myself. Food became my pharmacy. All I needed to do was unlock the power that would soon be in my Pantry.

I first began by reading – devouring everything I could find on Systemic Candida, Epstein Bar, Celiac, Crone’s and the Digestive System. I quickly realized that I was poisoning myself every time I opened my mouth to eat. Indeed, I was furthering my own fate, like adding wood to a fire! Healing with whole foods seemed a viable option.

On this day, I began to believe in me and realized that there just might be hope. I didn’t have to believe the conventional wisdom of my doctors after all, I now felt empowered and was in control of my destiny. Life was too precious to give up so I decided to fight back.

I then began reading and understanding every label on the foods in my frig and pantry. This resulted in me eliminating almost everything! Anything that contained an artificial ingredient, synthetic sweetener or hidden sugar found its way into my trash. I quickly realized that all that was left were empty shelves, everything that used to be on my shelves was processed!

Recipes that I found in my library of reference books contained ingredients that I never heard of, like Quinoa, Adzuki Beans and Tempeh, but I bought them and then learned how to prepare them. Suddenly, a whole new world was open to me and slowly I began restocking my pantry with real food, minimally processed and free of any man made junk.

Slowly but surely, my body began to respond in a positive way, each day yielding better results and more hope. Patience was my best friend. One day many months later I was free of all disease. Today, over a decade later, I have never had a reoccurrence. I am cured and I am whole. I have my life back and now I want to give back to those who have no hope.

Shortly after this, I started Performance Food Centers (PFC) to help businesses offer whole food, nutrient dense products, free of any and all artificial and synthetic ingredients while implementing a new approach to educate their members on an ongoing basis understand the value of nutrition from a whole food perspective to aid in recovery and achieve their performance and wellness goals.

Over the years that followed, I gave countless nutritional seminars across this great land and always had folks ask me, “Can’t you just follow me around and tell me what to eat?” or, “I wish I knew what to put in my pantry to make eating easy.” So, I decided to begin assembling the best foods for very specific goals to “Make it Easy,” for people everywhere.

Today, over 12 years later, Dan’s Essentials is born to help you and your family find the right foods to stock your pantry no matter what your goals or dietary needs may be. Remember, it all starts in your pantry and you are what your food eats. Find your Pantry here.

Fact
Our society today wants results quickly; it’s our culture. But, when you’re rebuilding your body cell by cell, patience is your biggest virtue. My problem was caused by years of eating the wrong foods and it was going to take time to reverse the damage that I created. It takes approximately a year to replace each and every one of the 60-75 trillion cells in your body. Only when your cells are strong can your body fight back disease.

Each and every day of your life, your body is replacing billions of cells. They are replaced simply by what we eat. Eat the wrong things and your body finds the nutrients it needs from inside your body, further weakening your structure and immune system.

It takes 9-12 months to renew virtually every one of your 60 – 70 trillion cells. Eat the wrong things day in and day out, they become part of your cell structure, conversely, eat the right things day in and day out, eventually, if you are disciplined and patient, you can reverse disease. You and you alone can rebuild your body to be a disease fighting machine. You can change the genetic predisposition that your ancestors may have bestowed upon you giving your children and children’s children a better chance at a disease resistant life.

The funny thing about disease; it forces us to eat the way we should have been eating in the first place. Often I think, my diseases were the best thing that ever happened to me.

From my disease, I learned the words, “I can’t” should never be apart of anyone’s vernacular. Through this self-inflicted education I experienced a new start, a renaissance.

I adapted philosophies and eating principals from many cultures around the world, but the underlying principal founded by Ancient Chinese Medicine, “Eat 32 different foods each day of your life”, became my foundation. I also added the twist “and each day being different from the day before.”

You see, it is only through a variety of many foods each and every day, replete with a broad spectrum of phyto-nutrients, micro-nutrients and macro-nutrients that we can deliver what we need to build superior cells. Renewing new cells takes time. Eat the wrong foods everyday and those foods become part of you.

Achieving wellness through a healthy balance of exercise and nutrition is easier than you think. Treat your body well by giving it a colorful blend of whole food products throughout the day, combined with your favorite exercise (spinning, yoga, mountain climbing, walking, etc.) and a great attitude and I think what you will find is the true meaning of wellness within your life.

“You are what your food eats… and healthy living begins in your pantry.” This is now my mantra.

Eat Well!

-Dan Young