I was born to English parents in the beautiful Pacific island nation of New Zealand. My parents had migrated to New Zealand because my dad, who was serving in the British Royal Airforce, had received a transfer there. And from as far back as I can remember I'd dreamed of following in his footsteps by joining the military. But unlike my dad, who served in the airforce, I planned on becoming an officer in the army.

As a child everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. I was very physically active when I was young and loved sport. I was lucky enough in my schooldays to be selected to play representative rugby for my city. One year I also set a school record in the 200 meters sprint. So, as far as I was concerned, I was well prepared for a physically demanding career as a soldier.

But, as the old saying goes, the best laid plans often go astray.

Firstly, in 1984, I was in art class at school when I was called to the principal's office. I was greeted by my mother in tears who told me that my dad, who suffered from bouts of severe depression, had taken his own life.

Then, less than a year later—and while I was still grieving my dad's death—I was involved in a high-speed collision with a car while I was riding my motorcycle to a friend's house. My unprotected body slammed into the hard metal chassis with so much force that I broke most of the major bones on the left side my body, my left kneecap was shattered into several pieces, I sustained multiple lacerations, severely bruised my liver and kidneys, and I lost a great deal of blood.

After two months laid-up in hospital I was left with what my orthopedic surgeon described as "a permanent left-sided disability." And he told me that I may even need to use a walking stick for the rest of my life. He also told me flatly, but honestly, that I had "very little chance" of ever becoming a soldier.

These two horrible events, particularly coming so soon after each other, took a toll on me—both physically and emotionally. But I'd already learned from my dad's death that you couldn't dwell on a crisis. You somehow had to see a positive (no matter how small that positive may be) and move on, or else it will just eat you up.

I started to look for positives, and thought about how my surgeon had given me very little chance of becoming a soldier, but he hadn't said no chance at all. As far as I was concerned, if there was less than a one percent chance I was still willing to give it a go. I knew I had nothing to lose.

A search for answers

So I decided to look for ways to regain my health and become fit and strong again. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "There are two ways to move men—interest and fear," and I certainly had both! Unfortunately, what I didn't have was any idea how to regain my health once it had been lost. I came to the conclusion that I needed to learn all I could about diet, health and fitness if I was ever going to have a chance of reclaiming my future.

The first places I turned to for answers were bookstores and libraries. I was pleasantly surprised to find the shelves were virtually overflowing with books all promising a fast route to good health. However, on closer inspection, I noticed most of these books offered different solutions from one another. In a lot of cases, one expert would totally contradict what another equally well-qualified expert said. I was staggered by the amount of mixed messages I found.

In desperation I was forced to try a lot of different ways to regain my health. I found most of them were very restrictive and the results were mostly disappointing. But I persevered, because I realized that my entire future was on the line.

Eventually, after more than a year of hard work, I'd reached a point where I felt I could give the army a go. My knee was still causing me a lot of pain, and I knew I certainly wasn't back to 100 percent health, but I figured that army life would somehow "whip me into shape." In the end, I knew it was going to be a struggle but I was determined to grit my teeth and face the challenge.

However, although I was mentally prepared, physically, my body certainly wasn't. By the end of the first day of training my knee started to swell and became increasingly painful. By the end of the week my knee was the size of a small balloon, and the pain was almost unbearable. I begged the army physician to let me stay to see if it improved, but he realized there was just no chance. So, after only eight days, I was honorably discharged from the army.

I returned home feeling like a failure. I couldn't believe that more than a year of struggle and sacrifice had amounted to absolutely nothing. But I knew I'd come too far to quit. I was still positive that the answer to regaining my health was out there somewhere, and at this stage I was more determined than ever to find it.

Again, I went back to the books and tried a number of other "miracle breakthroughs." Eventually, after four months of resolute effort, I felt I could give the army another go. It took a great deal of work to convince the army physician that I was fit and strong enough to re-enlist, but after fervently pleading my case, he gave the go ahead. I was over the moon, I couldn't believe I'd been given a second chance.

But my happiness quickly turned to despair when, after only a day of training, the swelling and pain in my knee started to increase. I tried lots of ways of covering up the pain and inflammation, but when my pants wouldn't fit over my knee anymore, I knew I was fighting a losing battle. So, after a little over a week back in the army, I received my second honorable discharge.

I returned home in a worse state than ever—both physically and emotionally. My orthopedic surgeon's report from the time highlights the poor state of my physical health:

"The wrist is painful…his left leg is troublesome and in particular the knee. Strenuous activity causes pain, standing causes the knee to ache and swell, he can jog for a mile but then has considerable pain which is quite persistent. He cannot run, cannot kneel, has difficulty getting up and down stairs…and the knee causes quite severe episodic pain."

The report finished on a high note: "The situation is unlikely to change."

I was devastated. And at this point I was well and truly fed up with what life had thrown at me: my dad's suicide; my accident; going in and out of the army twice, and trying everything in my power to regain my health, yet being in a worse state of health and in more pain than ever. As far as I was concerned, I was just destined to be a shell of my former self—one of life's "unlucky" people.

As 1987 drew to a close, the outlook for my future looked very bleak indeed. However, just as I was hitting rock bottom, something unexpected happened. I discovered that an accident compensation claim I'd filed many months earlier had been settled, and I'd received a lump sum payment of $13,000.

Back in the '80s—and to a young, single guy down on his luck—$13,000 dollars seemed like a small fortune! But at first I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Like most young guys, thoughts of fast cars, new clothes and expanding my music collection all came to mind. But I knew there was a much deeper significance to getting this money. I knew it was the only ray of hope I had left for improving my future, and I was determined to use it very wisely.

One thing I knew for certain, I needed a break. A Big break. My stress levels were going through the roof, and the severe pain in my left knee was really getting me down. I was also out of shape because my knee prevented me from being very physically active. I knew a long holiday would help me recuperate.

It didn't take me long to decide on the south coast of England as my holiday destination. Not just because of the peacefulness of this area, but because my uncle, Tony, lived there. And in many ways, Tony was the last hope I had for regaining my health.

The holiday that changed my life

Tony, like my father, had served in the British Royal Airforce. But, instead of transferring to New Zealand, Tony had been stationed in the Middle East (where they traditionally eat a Mediterranean-style diet). It was there during the 1960s that Tony became a middleweight boxing champion for the airforce. When Tony returned to England he left the airforce and during the '70s and '80s he was a sports coach and ran his own gymnasium.

When I arrived in England in early 1988 Tony and his wife Muriel were living in a quiet country village near the sea where they were running their own health spa. At the time Tony was in his late forties, but I was taken aback when I first saw him—he was in extraordinary physical condition and didn't look a day over 35. Even more surprising was my Aunt Muriel, who was nearly 10 years older than Tony and approaching 60. I could only describe her as radiant, and I would have sworn she wouldn't be blowing out more than 40 candles on her next birthday. It was immediately clear that these people knew more than a few secrets about getting and staying fit and healthy, and I was determined to pick their brains!

One of the biggest surprises I got was when I discovered just how much good food Tony and Muriel ate. It turned out that the time Tony had spent stationed overseas had had a big influence on him, and there wasn't cottage cheese or carrot sticks anywhere in sight. Instead, delicious and hearty pasta, bean, vegetable and rice dishes, a wide range of breads and cheeses, eggs, nuts, olive oil, seasonal and tropical fruits, and wonderful desserts.

Tony also told me that he and Muriel hadn't eaten red meat for years. He said that small amounts of red meat were fine, but that I should preferably eat chicken, or better still, fish and shellfish—which he told me contained special health-giving oils. Tony also explained that eating the correct balance of these foods was just as important as the food itself.

At first it seemed almost too good to be true that by eating these sorts of delicious foods I could get healthy and in shape. But as soon as I started eating the correct balance of the foods Tony recommended, I could feel my body absorb the concentrated nourishment like a dry sponge soaking up water. Within days my energy level had increased substantially. Within weeks the pain and inflammation around my knee had started to noticeably improve. Even the excess weight I'd gained from my lack of movement started dropping off. And to my delight I discovered there was another positive side-effect. Since I was six years old I'd suffered from migraine headaches almost weekly. My parents had taken me to a number of medical specialists in search of a cure, without success. But these nausea-inducing headaches that had plagued me most of my life simply disappeared.

I'd heard that "you are what you eat," but I was amazed that something as simple as making the right food choices could have such a dramatic effect on my health. In fact, within six months my strength and energy had improved so much that I was even able to run for long distances, with only the minimum of discomfort.

After so much time fruitlessly struggling to regain my health, I could hardly believe the remarkable improvement in my health, fitness and energy in such a short amount of time. A few months earlier I could barely walk up a flight of stairs, and running for any distance caused almost unbearable pain. Yet here I was, running for miles at a time with virtually no pain, my energy levels were at an all time high, I was free of migraine headaches, and I was more than 20 pounds lighter. As far as I was concerned it was nothing short of a miracle!

Moving on

With such a positive outcome, my holiday to England, which I'd originally planned to last no longer than two months, ended up turning into a working holiday lasting more than a year. But eventually I realized that although I'd sorted out my health, I was still single and without a career. I knew it was time to move on.

But instead of immediately returning home to New Zealand, I decided to visit my mother, who had remarried and moved to Australia. As it turned out, this was one of the most fateful decisions I've ever made, because it was in Australia that I met and fell in love with the co-founder of this site, Trudy.

Perfect match

When I first met Trudy I couldn't believe how much we had in common. Like me, she was very interested in looking after her health (I found out this was because she was the daughter of two practicing medical doctors), she also loved traveling (so much so, that she was an international travel agent), and just like me she loved good food, good wine and good conversation. With such an incentive to stay in Australia, I decided to indefinitely postpone my return to New Zealand, and Trudy and I moved in together.

With our common passion for good food, it wasn't long before we found ourselves naturally gravitating towards the kitchen. I was particularly keen to introduce Trudy to all the wonderful and healthy Mediterranean-style dishes I'd learned to cook in England. And I discovered Trudy was equally keen to introduce me to her favorite style of food—Asian. It turned out that Trudy's sister-in-law was Chinese-Malaysian and had introduced her to authentic Asian cooking years earlier—Trudy had been hooked ever since. And as soon as I tasted my first mouthful of the authentic Asian seafood stir-fry that Trudy whipped up, I was well and truly hooked too!

But at first I was worried about deviating too much from the Mediterranean-style of eating I had been following. I thought that if I ate too much Asian-inspired food, the pain in my knee could flare up, and my migraine headaches might return. Yet the more I looked into it the more I realized that, apart from basic differences in herbs and flavorings, the diets of the Mediterranean and Asia were actually remarkably similar.

For example, the traditional focal point of a meal in both Mediterranean and Asian cultures is a grain food. In Asia it's rice and noodles, and in the Mediterranean it's pasta, rice, bread and other grain-foods like couscous and bulgur. And red meats don't feature prominently in either cuisine—instead fish, shellfish, poultry and plant foods such as beans and nuts form the main sources of protein. Asian and Mediterranean peoples also traditionally eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, and even the type of fat they use is similar, favoring healthy vegetable fats such as olive or peanut oil over animal fats. Finally, the consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol, particularly over a meal, has been practiced by Mediterranean and Asian cultures for centuries. So, although each type of cuisine was very unique, the nutrients found in both a Mediterranean and Asian-style diet were practically identical. This delighted me because it opened up a whole new world of tastes and textures without compromising my hard won good health. In fact, this way of eating made so much sense that it wasn't long before Trudy and I were living on an almost exclusive diet of what we called MediterrAsian food, literally meaning a fusion of Mediterranean and Asian cuisines.

Good food that's good for you

As we experimented more and more with a MediterrAsian style of eating we were delighted to discover that, in addition to all the health benefits, there were countless other bonuses too. For one, it never ceased to amaze us that foods this healthful were also the most delicious we'd ever tasted. And, as we began to experiment more with fresh Mediterranean and Asian ingredients we found that the healthiest way to cook them was often the simplest—which meant less work for the cook! Best of all, this way of eating offered us such an endless variety of unique tastes, intriguing textures, vibrant colors and tantalizing aromas that we were never bored. In fact, far from restricting our choice, we discovered a world of diverse foods and flavors.

To our delight we also discovered that most of our favorite restaurant and takeout food was based on the cuisines of the Mediterranean and Asia. Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, French Provençal, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, Spanish, Moroccan and Lebanese were just some of the ethnic delights we could choose from.

With our love for this type of food we also became enthusiastic collectors of Mediterranean and Asian recipes. Our search for new and interesting dishes was helped immeasurably by Trudy's job as a travel agent. One of the perks of her job was traveling the world inspecting the facilities of international hotels. She used these overseas trips to such places as Indonesia and Hong Kong as the perfect opportunity to add to our growing collection of recipes. She would always return home with a notebook full of hastily scribbled recipes she had picked up from street vendors or in traditional back street eateries—food that was so simple, yet so utterly glorious.

However, as appetizing and varied as all this Mediterranean and Asian food was, we found that occasionally we still got cravings for some of our old Western favorites like cheeseburgers and hot dogs. We knew that because the majority of food we ate was so naturally healthy, the occasional fast food binge was OK. But by experimenting and using the principles and techniques we'd learned through Mediterranean and Asian cooking we discovered that we could actually adapt these typically unhealthy foods and create far healthier versions, without sacrificing the taste. After a lot of experimentation we eventually developed, among other things, healthy and tasty versions of hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and subs.

To us this was like the best of all worlds, the rich culinary diversity of the Mediterranean and Asia plus healthy, tasty versions of our old favorites.

Discovering more than food

Over the years our love of Mediterranean and Asian food became a true passion. But it went a lot deeper than just food. We also became fascinated by the culture and rich history of these areas. And as we'd reaped so many positive rewards by simply adopting this style of eating, we started to wonder whether we could learn other lifestyle lessons from these cultures too.

Our first thoughts turned to our least favorite activity in life—exercising. At this stage, the main form of exercise in our lives was exercise sessions at our local fitness center. We both found this type of exercise extremely boring and a lot of hard work. Including the cost of yearly membership and parking it was also very expensive. But we were under the impression that it was a necessary evil we just had to put up with if we wanted to stay fit. Then it dawned on us: for the past few thousand years Mediterranean and Asian peoples had never worked out on Stairmasters or Butt-Blasters or jumped around in aerobics classes to stay in shape. They kept fit by simply moving naturally as part of their everyday lives, so why couldn't we do the same?

This thought encouraged us to start looking for ways we could move naturally as part of our everyday lives, instead of moving artificially at the fitness center. We soon discovered there were dozens of ways we could easily and effortlessly slip physical activity into our lives without formally exercising—and all of them were a lot more fun than sweating away on a Stairmaster. Before long we decided to give up the fitness center and artificial exercise all together.

Nourishing the body and the soul

Between the healthy foods we were eating and the natural movement we were incorporating into our lives, we couldn't have been physically healthier. But as important as our physical well-being was, we also knew from personal experience that our emotional well-being was just as important.

By adopting a MediterrAsian style of eating we had discovered how to enjoy lots of wonderful food while staying healthy and in shape, so this certainly went a long way towards providing us with a good sense of emotional well-being. But we knew that eating good food was only one of life's many pleasures. So we began to think of other ways we could achieve emotional well-being in our lives that didn't revolve around food. Through lots of fun experimentation we discovered there were plenty of ways we could relax, rejuvenate and achieve a sense emotional well-being in our lives, and none of them involved food (this was not only good for our emotional well-being, but the well-being of our waistlines too!).

We soon made it a rule that every day, no matter how busy we were, we each had to set aside time to do something relaxing and enjoyable. We found that one of the big benefits of setting aside relaxation time every day, apart from recharging our emotional and spiritual batteries, was that it also acted as a very effective stress-reliever.

Putting it all together

For us, incorporating relaxation time into our lives completed the foundations for achieving a healthy body and mind. And in many ways we had relied on the basic principles that Mediterranean and Asian peoples had instinctively been living to for the past few thousand years: we were eating lots of good wholesome food; we were physically active as part of our everyday lives; and by setting aside special time to relax every day we were mimicking the relaxed, less stressful lifestyles that characterize people from these regions. With this simple three-pronged approach towards our physical and emotional health, we not only felt empowered, we ultimately felt we had achieved that most elusive of all states—optimal health.

Solving the mystery

Adopting a MediterrAsian way of living had made a profound difference to our health and vitality. Yet, although we knew this lifestyle worked, we still didn't know exactly why it worked. This got us thinking: was there a scientific explanation for the way we were feeling? Luckily this question became a lot easier to answer in 1996 when we connected our home computer to the most powerful research tool in the world—the Internet.

Suddenly at our fingertips we had access to cutting-edge research from some of the world's most respected universities, hospitals and research centers—including Harvard, Cornell and Oxford. What we found amazed and enlightened us. Yes, there certainly was a scientific explanation for the way we were feeling. We discovered that for over half a century some of the Western world's leading scientists and doctors had been thoroughly investigating the health-giving benefits of Mediterranean and Asian dietary and lifestyle practices.

We uncovered hundreds of interviews, reports, articles and well-documented scientific studies confirming why this way of living was so beneficial. And as we investigated deeper we discovered dozens of remarkable stories of other Westerners, like us, who had adopted a similar lifestyle and were reaping incredible benefits. Among other things, we found that this type of lifestyle had been credited with the prevention of long-term crippling illnesses such as heart disease, many types of cancer and arthritis.

Sharing our knowledge

By 1997 it was hard to believe how dramatically my life had turned around in the years since my accident. From thinking of myself as one of life's unlucky people, I now felt like one of the luckiest people in the world. I was fitter and stronger both physically and emotionally than ever before; I was sharing my life with someone I adored; and to top it off I'd even found a career I loved—I'd combined a lifelong passion for art with a computer and had started my own graphic design business.

But as happy and complete as my life seemed, I couldn't help thinking about how differently things could have turned out. I realized that if it wasn't for an extraordinary set of circumstances I never would have fully regained my health at all. This was reinforced to me every time I saw a new book or infomercial claiming to have finally discovered the "real answer" to getting healthy and fit. I knew most of these so-called answers were simply the same gimmicky personal theories that were around when I was struggling to regain my health back in the 80s, only with slick new packaging and flashy new marketing.

This made me feel incredibly frustrated because I knew we'd found a real answer: we'd discovered how someone living a busy Western lifestyle could successfully adopt the traditional dietary and lifestyle practices of the healthiest peoples on earth. And this answer wasn't based on someone's personal theory, it was based on dietary and lifestyle practices that had been successfully tried and tested for more than 5000 years.

We were positive there were lots of other people out there, like me, who had lost their health—-either through accident, illness or obesity—who would really appreciate knowing about this way of living. I certainly knew that if this sort of information was available when I was fruitlessly searching for answers, it would have saved me a huge amount of frustration and emotional anxiety.

So, we decided to become proactive. We made up our minds that we were going to share what we knew about this way of living with as many people as we could. But we had one major stumbling block. We had no idea how to get this information out to anybody except our family and friends.

After a lot of deliberation, Trudy suggested that we record a phone message setting out the basic principles of a MediterrAsian way of living, and people could simply phone in and listen to it. This made a lot of sense to me because it seemed like the next best thing to actually speaking to people personally.

So we recorded our message, set up a special phone line that could handle multiple calls, and placed a small announcement in our local newspaper. At first there was just a trickle of calls. But as word-of-mouth spread our phone line started to receive more and more calls. Within a short time we were getting dozens, then hundreds of calls a week. In a little over five months our phone line had received more than 6000 calls. We were blown away by the response!

We even started to receive letters from people who were putting our simple guidelines into practice and they wrote of the positive results they were getting. This gave us both a warm glow of pride.

But we did notice one thing. Many of the letters would finish by asking for even more information—particularly written information. It soon became obvious to us that although our phone line was certainly helpful, it simply wasn't enough. People needed more. And most importantly they needed written information they could refer back to.

MediterrAsian.com

Since the late 1990s we've both been working hard in our spare time to achieve that goal. In fact, over the last few years we've written and compiled thousands of words about how to follow a MediterrAsian way of living. We've now condensed this information and are presenting it to you in a user-friendly format on the Internet.

We hope MediterrAsian.com gives you a good general understanding of the principles behind a MediterrAsian way of living. It's by following these principles that Trudy and I have profoundly changed our lives for the better. And we're confident that if you put these same simple principles into practice for yourself, your life will change for the better too.

ric@mediterrasian.com