SID: Okay. Dr. Mike, you did not know you were addicted to food. In fact, you would have challenged anyone to the limit if they said you’re a food addict. How can someone know if they’re a food addict?
MICHAEL: There are a number of things you can look at. One is if you know that you’ll be healthier, more vibrant, live longer if you change your diet and yet you won’t, that shows you’re a food addict. If you have secret stashes where you hide food or you eat things when no one is watching you, the unhealthy things, that’s an indication. If you don’t have a certain food for several days or a week that you actually go through some kind of withdrawal, headaches or something like that, or just the thought if I say, hey, how about cutting this out of your diet, the thought of that makes you shake, I mean, those are signs that you’re addicted. And it’s a good place to start to say, God, I confess to you that I’m a food addict. And see, when I used to hear people say I’m a recovering drug addict, I thought, I don’t buy that. I’m free. I didn’t relate to it. I probably judged them. But I live as if I’m a recovering food addict because I know if I open the door, if I play with the thing it could just pull me back in. I was in Israel doing a tour recently and a woman told me that she had been completely free from chocolate for six years. That was an issue in her life and sugar in general. And someone persuaded her, it won’t hurt you to have one piece of dark chocolate. She did it and she’s been addicted ever since. So we start, God, I confess to you that I’m a food addict. We make it plain. And then we come up with a plan. It’s not just a matter of resolve and willpower. We ask God for his grace and then we come up with a plan. We’ve got to look at all the bad stuff we’re eating and cut it out of our diet. Some say, okay, just reduce it and reduce it until you get rid of it. For me, it was a matter of just get rid of it in one day. But either way, you’ve got get rid of the bad. Don’t cut it back, cut it out and then you eat super healthy foods. I have massive salads every day and they are great.
SID: I have seen your salad, and trust me, it looks so big, I don’t know how you get it down.
MICHAEL: Yes, it’s massive, it’s wonderful.
SID: Yes, but a salad. You don’t like that. You like pizza.
MICHAEL: Yeah, well it’s what I love, I thoroughly enjoy a massive salad every day.
SID: You’re not just saying that. I know you.
MICHAEL: I thoroughly enjoy it.
SID: I know you do, because I have the same
MICHAEL: It takes a half hour, 45 minutes to eat. You get to enjoy it.
SID: I haven’t mastered that. I still eat mine fast.
MICHAEL: All right, you’re getting it. You’re getting it. The thing is though you don’t feel stuffed afterwards. It’s amazing. I have good portions of fruit, especially berries, which I never ate before. Those are super healthy. I have a little grilled meat once a week, but I don’t even need it. Some weeks I completely forget about it. And then there are all kinds of healthy recipes. I’m the kind of person that can enjoy the same foods day after day. A lot of people aren’t like that. There is amazingly healthy soups you can make. There are amazingly healthy veggie burgers you can make. There is something called pasta made from beans, bean pasta and organic red sauce. I had that and it’s delicious to me. I used to pray, God, help me to love broccoli as much as the way I love chocolate. And as I ate the chocolate nothing happened. But when I got rid of the chocolate and started eating the broccoli things changed. It’s really amazing. And there are online recipes, there are websites, Youtube where folks show you how to cook in a healthy way. If folks will do it, they come up with a plan and they pray for grace they can be transformed.
SID: Well it’s wonderful that it transformed you physically. It’s wonderful that you’re going to be around longer, but how did this affect you spiritually?
MICHAEL: First, it’s amazing to be free. Every day it’s a revelation. And then, look, people come to me and attack me for being overweight. I was a big guy. I worked out. Maybe I got away with it, but I felt lousy about it. It bothered me all the time. It bothered me when I was praying. I just felt this is not right. It literally weighed me down. Now I have wings. You know what I’m saying? You just want to fly. You want to run. And that’s how you feel spiritually. And then with your mind sharper, with your energy more, it’s just you’re much more vibrant in God. And I feel like whatever I’m coming up against there’s nothing that stands in the way because of this new lifestyle, and I know I’m living the way God created us to live. So spiritually it’s energizing, and then again, I’m not bound. I’m not a slave. My stomach is not my God. It’s a wonderful way to live. It’s a wonderful way to feel.
SID: You and your wife firmly believe that 99 percent of diseases can be reversed on this type of a lifestyle. What are specifics you’re aware that have been reversed, and what would you call this, a plant-based?
MICHAEL: Yes, plant-based, right, so that you’re relying on nature plant, fruit-based and things like that, healthy nuts and seeds in moderation. So for sure, this is documented. Don’t listen to me on this. Listen to the nutritionists and the scientists on this. But heart disease can be reversed. Hardening of the arteries, that can be reversed.
SID: So you don’t have to have Alzheimer’s when you’re older.
MICHAEL: Okay. So something else. It’s been demonstrated that a healthy diet like this, a healthy plant-based diet and then exercise with it, that’s a great anecdote for mental diseases as you get older, as well. I’m just reading a whole book about that, just about the mind and the brain. I thought because I’m reading the book, what it can do to your brain, make it sharper and clearer as you’re getting older. I thought, I’m doing everything in the book for the first time in my life. Type 2 diabetes can be completely reversed. And look, let’s be frank, so much of our back pains, so much of our knee pain is from being overweight and God’s grace it may heal, but a lifestyle change can just alleviate so much.
SID: Our time is slipping away and people say when they hear you speak on this subject that there is a supernatural presence when you teach on this subject. Would you pray, not a natural prayer, a supernatural prayer against these strongholds that people have with food addiction.
MICHAEL: Amen. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray right now for a Holy Spirit of resolve to rise up in people, your people, to say I’m an overcomer. I’m not a slave to food. My stomach is not my God. I’m a child of God. I’m free. I’m liberated. Lord, I pray you’ll give them vision and hope that they can change. I pray you put long-term determination within them that they can live differently. I pray, O God, that all the grace you’ve given to me that has so transformed me in the resolve and determination that you would give to them, and we declare freedom, freedom from unhealthy living, freedom from unhealthy eating, freedom from food addiction, lasting life-long freedom in the name of Jesus.
SID: As Dr. Michael Brown would tell you, if he can do it, but I’m going to add to it, and if I can do it, you can do it, too.