Jason Shon Bennett is a walking advertisement for healthy living. He’s 43 but looks at least 10 years younger. He’s lean, bright-eyed and full of energy.
But this wasn’t always the case. Jason, who was born prematurely, was a sickly child. His asthma was so bad he was in and out of hospital during his childhood and ended up having 16 shots of ventolin a day as well as regular steroid injections.
He also suffered from hay fever and allergies, was constipated and always tired, and constantly had colds and other bugs that would leave him bedridden for weeks. As a teenager, he was plagued with skin problems.
Today, health researcher Jason never gets sick. He hasn’t had a cold for over 17 years nor has he used an asthma inhaler or prescription drugs. So what has had such a radical effect on his health? Simple – food.
Jason completely changed his diet and by the time he was in his mid-twenties he was no longer eating meat, dairy products, wheat, sugar, salt or processed foods.
It was the prospect of becoming a dad that triggered his decision at 20 to do something about his health. He was heavily reliant on medication for his asthma and his pregnant partner told him, “You’re going to be a really bad father if you don’t get off the drugs.”
Jason says he was using Ventolin every four to six hours. “I had to do something, so I started looking at what I was eating.”
Already vegetarian for moral reasons, the Aucklander began cutting other foods out of his diet, making it more and more plant-based. Within five years, his asthma had completely disappeared, and other problems – such as digestion difficulties and bad skin – also cleared up. He believes diet can cure, prevent or slow down a whole range of conditions.
Now a dad of four, Jason has also been inspired by his grandmother Amy Tombs, who is 104 and in great health. “She’s been vegetarian since she was 23 and grown her own vegetables all her life. She’s a living example of how you are what you eat.”
Jason says when he first started restricting food like bread and dairy products, he copped some flak. “People thought I was nuts, but it worked, and the irony is that a lot of those people now ask me for advice.”
His interest in healthy eating led to a job in a health food store, where he developed a fascination with spirulina that resulted in him working for Kiwi natural health products company Lifestream International.
Now Lifestream’s health and wellness expert, he’s been with the company for 17 years. As well as holding seminars on food and lifestyle choices and helping health professionals here and overseas, Jason’s writing a book on healthy eating, and he also mentors people who are serious about improving their health through diet.
He says his research, coupled with his own experiences, has shown our bodies aren’t designed to cope with many of the foods most of us consider a staple part of our diets – like highly-processed baked goods, dairy products and even meat – and we should be returning to the plant-based diets our ancestors existed on.
He accepts that most of us are too set in our ways to be prepared to cut out many foods. But he urges everyone to try making just a few simple changes – like eliminating as much salt as possible or having muesli for breakfast instead of toast or sugary cereals – and see if they notice any effects.
“You don’t have to be a hardcore vegan, but if you can eventually get to the stage where most of your diet is plant-based, you will see changes. If you are willing to do the work – and that can mean small things to start with – you can see massive changes.
“People say to me, ‘It must be so hard to eat what you eat,’ but it isn’t. What’s hard is having an asthma attack that leaves you unable to breathe and thinking you are going to die. Changing your diet is easy.”
Jason can be contacted on [email protected]
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
