Annemarie Postma: "My eating method is above all also a powerful anti aging method!"
A big, loyal emerginC fan from the very beginning is former model, writer, nutritionist and inspiration Annemarie Postma. In her latest book, "The Sitting Chef," she explains how she stays so healthy, slim and radiant despite being in a wheelchair for over 36 years and why she very consciously chooses emerginC's cosmetics products.
By: Silke van der Laan
Who is Annemarie Postma?
Annemarie Postma is a Dutch bestselling author, speaker, inspirer, nutritionist and "sedentary expert. Annemarie won the pre-final of the international modeling competition Elite's Look of the Year in 1991 and went on to become the first European photo model with a visible disability. Had herself photographed for Playboy in 1995. Had a weekly column in the Algemeen Dagblad for eight years. In 1996 she started writing books on spirituality and health, which became internationally successful. She also lectures on these topics. The Sitting Chef is her 16th book.
You are forced to lead an extremely sedentary life and yet you are super fit, perfectly weighted and radiate incredible energy. How is that possible?
"Yes, haha, so everyone asks me that. And that's why this book. It comes through way of eating. The basis of it was laid in my youth. When I got a spinal cord injury in the eighties and ended up in a wheelchair, there was no knowledge about the dangers of excessive sitting, let alone about the right diet for people like me. But I had a smart, independent-thinking mother. She immersed herself in really everything that a sedentary life would mean for my physical and mental health. She brought healthy food to the rehab center every day, where I stayed interned for five years. She understood even then that it didn't make sense for a sedentary person to keep eating the same way I did before. That has been my salvation".
So nutrition plays a very important role in your life?
Yes, a crucial one. My life depends on it! If you, like me, lead a sedentary life, your body works differently, and therefore you must also adapt your diet. The dangers for the body and mind of much sitting are enormous. People with physical disabilities suffer the effects of aging earlier and more severely. Living with a disability is top sport. As a result, the body of someone at 40 is often already worn out. Look, you can be overweight and still healthy, or thin and unhealthy. What is very unlikely, is that you lead a sedentary life and are healthy. Most people from my rehabilitation days are no longer alive, or are in a bad way. Our aging process just goes much, much faster. So my eating method is actually also a powerful anti-aging method.
What other symptoms can you get from sitting too much?
Sitting too much has been shown to increase the risk of really every deadly disease imaginable. For example, you have a hugely increased risk of diabetes 2 (as much as 110% higher), cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, thrombosis, osteoporosis, many cancers (especially colon and breast), kidney disease, fatty liver, allergies, depression, and Alzheimer's and dementia.
As a wheelchair user, Annemarie knows better than anyone how difficult it is to stay healthy with a "sedentary life. Her book contains keys to health not only for fellow sufferers, but for everyone!
"If I, in my situation, can stay healthy and slim and look good and (rather young, haha) anyone can do it. There are so many people who are tired, overweight and have diabetes 2 that are just walking around. When I look at them on the street I often think: if you would eat like I do, you would be rid of all your problems in a very short time. Because if a woman in a wheelchair can stay slim and healthy, then an 'ordinary walker' should certainly be able to.
Why do you choose emerginC products so consciously?
Cosmetics, which make their way into the body through the skin, are also food. And when you consider that every woman uses an average of twelve different cosmetic products every day(!) and men about seven, then it's by no means a luxury to know what's in them. Because no matter how well you watch what you eat, if you also carelessly smear products on the largest organ of your body, and daily pathogenic substances directly enter your bloodstream, this can also mess things up a lot. This is true for everyone, but ... - and few people know this-especially if you sit a lot. Because if you sit a lot, then your liver has a much harder time (sitting a lot also leads to fatty liver) and your body has a harder time breaking down and getting rid of toxins.
So if you take your health seriously, make sure you know very well what you are putting on your skin. Not tested on animals, all natural, paraben free and if possible vegan (so completely free of animal ingredients, because they just don't belong on your skin). That, is basically, what you need to look for in your skincare and cosmetics choices. That's how it came about that, after years of searching, I chose the amazing emerginC skin-care products. Because nutrition, cosmetics and disease really do have everything to do with each other!
Read more about Annemarie her book The Sitting Chef >>>
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