https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/seedoils Andreas Wecker, my guest on today's podcast, is a former German gymnast who had a long and successful career. He was European, World and Olympic champion. His greatest achievement was the gold medal on high bar at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, he beat gymnasts of such quality as Vitaly Scherbo and Alexei Nemov. In 1989 Wecker was named the last East German Sportsman of the Year. He competed for the SC Dynamo Berlin / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo. Wecker qualified for the German team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Just days before his events, he suffered a serious shoulder injury where he tore a bicep muscle in his shoulder, ending his career. Injured and processing the revelation that his career was on indefinite hold, Andreas followed a rigid six-week recovery plan before pushing ahead to tour as a professional gymnastics exhibitionist. Like many other athletes, he found himself dependent on a combination of painkillers, aspirin, and coffee to cope with the lingering pain and get him through practices and performances. In what has become an all-too-familiar story of drug dependence, Andreas’ dependence on painkillers went on for 14 years—until he finally stepped away from his athletic pursuits in 2004. When he tried to stop taking the pills, he noted an immediate, rapid deterioration in his health and well-being. Over a six-week period in 2006, Andreas lost 45 pounds and 80 percent of his blood supply. Soon admitted to the hospital, doctors diagnosed Andreas with Crohn’s Disease (CD). In the following weeks, he received eight blood transfusions and immediately began a treatment plan, with hopes of reversing his body’s decline. After nearly two months in the hospital, Andreas realized that the 33 pills he was taking every single day were not improving his condition. Defeated, he acknowledged that the pills only temporarily alleviated some of the most severe symptoms. Despite struggling with feelings of defeat, Andreas knew this could not be the only cure. The treatment plan was causing his body to rapidly change and progressively weaken. Without some sort of miracle, the next step would be major surgery to remove large portions of his digestive tract. As Andreas saw it, he had three options: -Die from Crohn’s Disease-Die from the medications-Find another option entirely He confided in a friend whose family member was also suffering from Crohn’s, and this friend mentioned an alternative that involved using fresh-pressed flaxseed oil. Intrigued and desperate, Andreas decided to try it. He began supplementing his prescribed medications with fresh-pressed flaxseed oil. Within a short period of time, he was surprised to find the pain and inflammation notably relieved. He decided to take a chance. At the age of 36, Andreas made the brave choice to check himself out of the hospital and do something drastic to change his life. Armed with flax seeds, coriander, and five seed blend, Andreas began taking this combination of supplements daily. Over the next weeks, as he reduced the number of pharmaceutical pills he took every day and continued taking the flaxseed oils, the side effects from the medications wore off. After three months of supplementing, he stopped taking the prescribed medications for Crohn’s Disease entirely. Changes to his diet, combined with the fresh-pressed flaxseed oil, changed Andreas’ approach to managing his health problems. The improvements in his condition testified to the flaxseed oil’s successful repair work on his body. Today, Wecker is the chairman and founder of Andreas Seed Oils, headquartered in Bend, Oregon and distributed through his office in Germany. Andreas Seed Oils has now been pressing the world’s purest oils for over 11 years. Through his proprietary German Cold-Press technology, these oils are pressed at ultra-low temperatures to eliminate oxidation and maintain its molecular integrity. This technology is so delicate yet powerful that each s