Take responsibility for your health

Liana and I started to watch “Down to earth” with Zac Efron and Darin Olien on Netflix. Once you watch that series, you will look at your health (amongst other things) very differently. Starting with the water you drink. Watch the series and you will understand. So I decide to pick Darin’s book titled “SuperLife: The 5 Simple Fixes That Will Make You Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome”. Awesome is the word.

You are what you eat

A “You are what you eat” book on steroids, with buckets of nuggets of wisdom. I am a fan. Your body knows. Our bodies are genetically programmed to be healthy and lively and strong. When we do become ill, it’s unnatural, not inevitable. We are not supposed to get sick at all. 

Six life forces

He identifies six life-forces:

  • Nutrition
  • Hydration
  • Oxygenation
  • Alkalisation
  • Detoxification
  • Emotions

Eat well, drink lots of water, breath better, watch your acidity levels and be aware of all the poison you are putting in you today.

Nutrition

Eating is the most intimate thing we will ever do. When we eat, we open our bodies wide and expose ourselves, every single cell, to whatever’s out there in our environment. Our organs, bones, muscles, nerves, skin, blood, and everything else are made from what we eat and drink—there’s nothing else to work with. When we look in the mirror, that’s what we see—all the things we’ve eaten. 

Eat fresh

Eat a wide variety of whole, fresh, clean foods—mostly vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, grains, sprouts, and healthy fats. Eat a lot of it raw. Eat apples. Eat broccoli. Eat to tomatoes. Eat blackberries. Eat yoghurt. Eat saurkraut. Eat turmeric. Eat omega 3. Eat locally grown food. Eat organic. Do not eat processed food. Do not eat sugar. Do not eat genetically modified food. We’re being manipulated by food engineers who have figured out how to tap into our brains. It is like social media. You are being manipulated.

The question 

Would we rather give your money to the farmer or the pharmacist, the grocer or the doctor? Organic blackberries cost double the normal kind. How does that compare to the price of chemotherapy? How does burning out your insides with toxic chemicals and destroying your immune system and puking out your guts and losing all your hair stack up against spending three dollars more on that organic produce? 

Microbiome

It is not only about the cells (around 70-plus trillion of them). It is about e our microbes, the bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeasts—that exist inside us and on the surface of our bodies. Our microbiome. They constitute 80% of our immune system. It is also our second brain. Always trust your gut.

Water

Imagine if we had one organ that took up two-thirds of our bodies. We are 70% water. Everything depends on the water you drink. Acknowledging that is the single easiest way to improve our lives. Our true watery nature can be hard to remember, but a 150-pound person is really twelve one-gallon milk jugs filled with water sitting next to a 50-pound bag of chemicals. 

We are a network of waterways

Inside, we are a vast network of waterways with many tributaries and channels and streams. Water is the vehicle for every nutrient, hormone, chemical messenger, enzyme, electrolyte, and brain pulse. From our gut, blood (plasma is 92% water) carries those nutrients to our cells. Those cells are miniature oceans of saltwater, containing all the chemicals that sustain us. Water operates our immune system. Our brains and nervous systems are nearly all water—85 and 98%, respectively. 

Water powers our body

Think about the electricity that powers our bodies. It’s what makes our hearts beat and our brains communicate. But there’s no wiring. Instead, water carries the current inside the nerve canals. Those cells are essentially little batteries. What happens when your car battery loses its water? Dead. No more power. We’re no different. 

Continues process

And, unlike fat, we don’t store water in our bodies. It constantly flows through us, in and out, in a way that’s almost tidal. We lose about three quarts of it a day. It makes sense that if water is so vital, our bodies would make replenishing the supply a continual priority, right? 

Watch your water

Whenever doctors and scientists discuss the health of any body part or organ—our livers, our joints, our brains—they focus on the solid matter, the tissues, the structures, without paying attention to the water, even though water is a major part of whatever it is they’re discussing. He believes water absorbs messages—positive, negative, life-affirming, soul-destroying, whatever we send, whatever touches us. Water absorbs emotion as it absorbs everything else that touches it. The author is in awe of water. He thinks it is one of the most mysteriously powerful forces on the planet. 

Start with water

The first meal of the day should be water, a litre is a healthy way to start the morning, and if we throw in a pinch of unrefined crystal salt, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a squirt of fresh lemon juice, we have a great jump-start that prepares our digestion, hydrates us, and opens up proper secretions for detoxing. 

Oxygen

According to several studies, people who engage in regular exercise live three to seven years longer than those who don’t. You need to develop your lung function. Before the Industrial Revolution, the air contained around 32% oxygen. Today, in the world’s major cities, it’s 15%—half as much. Rear “Breathe“.  Breathing is something you should be very aware of. It is not passive. It is active.

Alkalization 

 Too much acidity harms us. Because of the food we eat, we are constantly inflamed. Our blood becomes visibly sludgy when we eat animal fats. Do not eat bread. It’s not bread; it’s a sugar-delivery system. Same for pasta, sugar is a poison. The main principle to keep in mind is this: anything our bodies don’t recognize as food will be a source of stress on our systems. When it comes to eating, every choice counts. Want to lower the stress levels in your life, and add many positive side effects to boot? Eat mostly whole plant foods.

Detoxification 

Every exhalation, from birth until death, is the detox system at work. Our lungs are an important part of the process. The scientific term for any substance that is foreign to our bodies is xenobiotic. Virtually all food that has been packaged, bottled, or otherwise processed contains some xenobiotic substance. 

Cancer is environmental

Columbia University’s School of Public Health released a study estimating that 95% of cancers are a result of either diet, smoking, exposure to the sun, or environmental toxicity. According to the study, more than three thousand chemicals are added to the food we eat, and more than ten thousand chemical solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives are used to process foods. 

Toxins

Nobody pays attention to the constant drip of small doses of all the everyday forms of toxicity. At some point, the bucket becomes full and begins to spill over. Dioxin, for example, is perhaps the most toxic substance known to science. According to the World Health Organization, we’re getting 90% of our exposure to dioxins from food.  Another common industrial toxin our bodies deal with daily are phthalates, a group of chemicals used to make plastics more flexible and harder to break. They are used in hundreds of products, such as vinyl flooring, adhesives, detergents, lubricating oils, clothes, and personal-care products such as soap, shampoo, hair spray, and nail polish. 

GMO

Genetically modified organisms are a new breed of toxin—one of the most gnarly because they masquerade as plant-based foods. Even invisible pollutants—electromagnetic radiation, microwaves, Wi-Fi, cell phone radiation—take their toll. 

Manage your immune system

A strong, healthy, well-fed body is an unfriendly environment for disease. Nutrition is the single most important factor in the functioning of the immune. In addition to overall good nutrition, our immune systems specifically need zinc, iodine, the B vitamins (especially B6 and B12), vitamins A, C, and E, iron, copper, folic acid, and the antioxidant coenzyme Q10. Zinc supports the thymus, which creates the T-cells that fight infection. 

Emotions

Emotions and mood have a powerful influence on our physical beings. You should eat only the things you love. We should only value things that are good for us. Eating should be a thrill. Every meal should fill us with happiness. If you’re responding favourably to the scent of a ripe pineapple, or some asparagus, or the perfume of fresh basil on a tomato, it’s because your body is trying to tell you something: Eat this! Your body intuits what those foods contain, even if you do not. 

Colours

Same with colours, we’re visually attracted to the ripe red of cherries, beets, peppers, watermelon, and cranberries without thinking that the colour comes from flavonoids, which signal us that antioxidants are present. 

Lifeforce

As we eat, we need to remember that our food will soon be a part of us. It will be taken up by our flesh and blood and bone. Its beauty, its vibrancy, its life force will become ours. 

Lists 

Darin then gets into the details of vitamins, enzymes, probiotics, fatty acids, proteins, spices, natural salts, beans, eggs, olive oil, garlic, chilli and microwaves (throw it out). There is a whole list at the back of the book with all the superfoods.

Tips

And he finishes with a few rules or suggestions. And here it gets similar to “Mindlift“:

  • Drink at least half an ounce of water per pound of bodyweight but closer to your body weight in ounces 
  • Cut way down on meat, fish, eggs, and dairy, 
  • Eat raw leafy greens every day, the darker, the better.  
  • Seek out fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, miso, and tempeh.  
  • Chew more. 
  • Slow meals down.  
  • Eliminate processed foods.
  • Stop eating when you feel 80% full. 
  • Stop buying products from companies that don’t care whether they’re making us sick.
  • Breathe a lot, all the way in and all the way out. 
  • Breathing with your nose is one of the best stress reductions you can perform.  
  • Avoid daily coffee. 
  • Leave off the sunscreen so the sun can get in. 
  • Go barefoot—shoes weaken the muscles in your feet and keep you from feeling the earth.
  • Lift heavy things.
  • Allow yourself to feel chilly—turn on the cold water for the last thirty seconds of every shower, 
  • Avoid anything with artificial fragrances.
  • Sleep in total darkness—that means no phone, no clock, no iPad or TV, and no outside light coming in through the curtains.  
  • Just get outside every day and move, walk, work, work out, play, and breathe.  
  • Listen to yourself, your knowing, your inner environment. By doing this, you honour yourself. 
  • Meditate

You are responsible yourself

Ultimately it is about taking full responsibility for your health. This book will help you do that. Buy the book, watch the Netflix series. It will change you for the better.

sensemaking cover

WHY REINVENT THE WHEEL AND WHY NOT LEARN FROM THE BEST BUSINESS THINKERS? AND WHY NOT USE THAT AS A PLATFORM TO MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS? ALONE OR AS A TEAM.

Sense making; morality, humanity, leadership and slow flow. A book about the 14 books about the impact and implications of technology on business and humanity.

Ron Immink

I help companies by developing an inspiring and clear future perspective, which creates better business models, higher productivity, more profit and a higher valuation. Best-selling author, speaker, writer.

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