Purpose

This is no commercial tale. No attempt to persuade you to go to any website. Or follow me on LinkedIn. I just hope this deeply personal story inspires you to do the things you want to. Or at least know a little more background about me. 

The problem

Lane four, on the starting block. My teammate already in the water. I was the third swimmer of our relay team. It was 1992, I was 16 and we were about to win a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle at the National Championship in The Netherlands. I am no Olympic athlete, but to me it was an amazing performance, as it was my first time at the Nationals. 

The championship was in the winter, in the north of the Netherlands. But I did not feel good. Not for a long while. Tired. Pain all over my body. Lymph nodes swollen and a doctor who said it would just pass with age. But I felt this way for the past 2 years. How could it be that all my team mates felt great and I didn’t? 

Just around this time I met my first girlfriend. She was special and her mom as well. Her mom was into “alternative” medicine and she knew somebody that could perhaps help. Coming from a family that was quite conservative when it came down to these types of things, I wasn’t too enthusiastic at first, but decided to give it a try. 

Diagnosis

It has been 27 years but I still remember her name and face like it was yesterday. She did some test and concluded I was suffering from Candida Albicans, a yeast that overtook my microbiome. She explained me that the 2-4 antibiotic treatments per year I was being prescribed by my doctor, to fight against forehead cavity infections, wiped out my microbiome. On top of that I ate enormous amount of vanilla custard, drank 10L of sugared drinks on a weekly basis and just started drinking coffee. My system was overloaded. At this time, me, my parents or anyone around did not know these types of things and she convinced me to take some homeopathic medicine and change my diet to completely take out sugar, dairy and yeast. 

Changes

On day two my lymph nodes starting hurting. On day four they totally decreased in size back to normal.

Eat that doctor it-will-pass-with-age.

If this was the placebo effect from the homeopathic medicine? Great – I want more placebo effect, I will take it over drugs anytime. My strict dietary changes lasted 6 months. In this time many things changed. I starting feeling good again, energetic. I did not suffer from infections, had no more pains in my body. My food started to taste differently and noticed sweetness in many vegetables for the first time. On top of this I felt confident and in control. 

Though I did not stay on this diet for the rest of my life and taught me a valuable lesson, food matters. And boy, was I curious to find out how. 

Finding my “why”

The school year was ending, it was now early summer and I now knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to understand my body, understand the impact of food upon it and help & inspire others to become a better version of themselves, with that know-how. Decisions become much easier when you know what you want in your life. Know what is your purpose. 

Our in the words of an author / speaker who I now admire to find “your why”.

To inspire people to live a healthier live, so that we can all be the best version of ourselves. 

I went on to study Biochemistry in The Netherlands. Did an full year internship on the replacement chemical antioxidants in food by natural components like flavonoids. I moved to California to study Food Chemistry and focused on the role of food and health. I took extra classes to better understand psychology & health. Yes.. I was hungry for knowledge! 

Finding my “how”

My Food Chemistry PhD at UC Davis was not easy. I don’t think a single person that has done a PhD will tell you it was a walk in the park. Here is my story. 

I had funding in year 1 from my professor and all fees were waived. A welcome situation, especially when you consider that in my home country you get paid to do a PhD. Late in the first schoolyear (I was doing research AND taking classes) my professor explained he was about to go on a sabbatical for at least a year, to go work for a Swiss Food Company. 

This meant a number of things; a) little support & coaching b) no more funding c) with him gone heading the group, my fees were no longer waived. In other words I was F**ked. I now had to pay 15k USD to stay in school per year, as a foreigner could not work off campus and my maximum payment on campus was to 50% of a normal wage. I simply did not know how to survive, how to pay for rent, food and THOSE FEES?

I had to get creative, something I now know is one of my main talents. 

I enrolled to teach classes. It scared the hell out of me at first, but teaching others about food (chemistry) got me excited. When you teach, you have to know your stuff and preparing for class is the best way to sharpen your knowledge. I loved it. It fitted my WHY, though it wasn’t about health per se.  

Another thing I did, was trying to “sell” the research I was doing. I was researching some particular components and their antioxidant effects. I started to search the web (no.. the web wasn’t like it is today!) for companies related to the components I was studying and starting making some phone calls. One agreed to sponsor me if I were to use their specific component, which for my research did not matter. 

-I had successfully landed my first commercial “deal”-

That and teaching made me survive year two. But much more important, it taught me lessons I still use today. I then knew that the commercial model, is a model that was fitting to bring my cause to live. There are many ways of doing it and being in a lab by yourself was not going to be my way. I quit my PhD after year two, wrote my thesis and received my Msc. As it turned out, my professor leaving on his sabbatical was the best that could happen to me. 

And there you have it. A simple story of a part of my life that I value highly. The lessons learned, and the experiences that shaped me in part. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and maybe it will make you think about when you found your purpose. 

And if you didn’t yet? It is never too late. I recommend reading the golden circle books – “Start with Why” and “Find your Why” they are great reads and will ignite you for sure.