How To Live Like A Rockstar But Not Die Like One – Life Lessons From Bowie

Bowie is gone and as a girl who will take the Grammys over the Oscars any day, has a history of dating a few musicians (husband included!), and names all her house plants after classic 70’s rockers, I’m stopped in my tracks.

It’s teenage heartbreak brought to life – the death of someone who stands for everything wild and free is like the death of wild and free themselves.

In the ‘1960s, rock stars like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimmi Hendrix, died too young – in their 20’s – from drug overdoses.

Today, David Bowie, Maurice White of Earth Wind and Fire, and Glenn Frey of the Eagles, are dying too young in their 60’s and early 70’s from complications of chronic diseases like cancer and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

None of these are glorious ways to go, and of course not every chronic disease is preventable, but if you look at where you are now, and where you want to be at 69, take this message away from these stars gone too soon:

Party hard. Love harder. And watch the drugs. Just note that today the drugs are your diet, lifestyle, and stress.

50% of cancers are preventable according to the National Cancer Institute. The main cancer drivers are smoking, alcohol, obesity, and sugar.

Autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis, which are on the rise, are triggered by stressful life events and inflammatory foods.

So what can you do to keep your own wild side alive as long as possible? I recommend starting now.

Even if you’re in your 20’s, the body you’ll have at 69 is something you create starting today.

And if you want a big, wild and free life, you’ll need a body that can take you there.

1. Stop smoking cigarettes. If I need to explain this you’re reading the wrong blog.
2. Eat 70% organic whole plant-based diet . The phytonutrients vitamins fibers and minerals in plants are essential for cellular survival
3. Cut out foods that contain chemical preservatives and fake dyes, which interrupt your hormones and your metabolism
4. Sweat every day – if you’re sweating you’re active you’re strong and you’re detoxing
5. Figure out which out foods you’re allergic to. Gluten and dairy are the place to start. Even low-grade food allergies cause chronic inflammation and can trigger autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
6. Quit your addiction to sugar . Shoot for less than 10 grams of added sugar per day. Sugar is driving diabetes weight gain and metabolic syndrome, which lead to both cancer and immune dysfunction
7. Eat 30 grams or more of fiber a day, which has been shown to reduce heart disease and colon cancer.
8. Manage stress constructively with a daily 10-minute meditation . Stress is the number one autoimmune disease trigger: it increases cortisol , blood sugar and insulin, and inhibits the immune system whose job it is to control cancer and the infections that cause cancer. Don’t make wine /sugar/TV/Instagram your only stress outlets
9. Supplement key nutrients : our diets are low in essentials like B-vitamins, vitamin D , magnesium , iodine and CoQ10, which our basic systems need to function properly.
10. Reconnect with your body. If there’s a Ground Control To Major Tom level of distance between your head and your heart, find a way to reconnect. Your physical body is your vehicle for the pleasure, success, service and love – the things that make life exciting. If you’re living in your head, and destroying your body for the sake of short term goals, find a way to tune in – mine is yoga. Live the life you want to live – and do it through your body, not despite it.

I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it wont be boring – David Bowie.