I turn 42 next month (that would be 16th of August if you are wondering when to send your birthday wishes) which I tell myself is not even at the halfway mark in life. But it is no good living to 100 if you are not in great health or lack the vitality to fully enjoy the experience. So read on to find out all I have learnt in the last year or so as I have studied health, vitality and longevity at a deeper level.
Here are some of the greatest insights I have found:
- Your brain can continue to evolve until you take your last breath. If you continue to learn new skills, read often, use your mind with curiosity you will become more intelligent and wise as you age. At twice your age now, you could not only be twice as intelligent and wise, but 5 or 10 or even 50 times wiser! There is a compounding effect. So imagine right now if you were twice as smart - what would that mean to your business, or work, or relationships or bank balance? Your mind and intelligence is not fixed but grows with exercise - just like your body.
- Stress is as big a risk to your heart (and the possibility of heart disease) as smoking cigarettes. If you 'stress out' on a regular basis, this has a huge negative impact on your heart health. To be overly general, you will find that most stress is the result of 'wishing that things where actually different from what they are'. When we accept that things are what they are, we can then actually do something about fixing them.
- Cholesterol has a HUGE impact on blocking the blood vessels that deliver blood to the heart, which leads to chest pain or at its extreme a heart attack. Our liver produces all the cholesterol that our body needs. We do not need to add any more. Especially a lot more. Fruit and vegetables contain no cholesterol. Cholesterol only comes from animal products such as: meat, dairy, eggs, whey protein, and fish.
- Fat, like cholesterol, has a significant negative impact on your heart. And when it comes to fat, there are two main types - saturated and unsaturated. And as I am sure you are aware, saturated fats are much worse than unsaturated fats. The majority of saturated fats come from animal sources. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Current publicly communicated literature suggests we have a fat intake of no more than 30% (of total calories), but there is a growing amount of research on health and longevity that suggests that a level closer to 10% will actually reverse blockages or restricted blood flow in our bodies - which most of us already have if we have been eating a typical western diet throughout our lives.
- As a result of the study I have been doing into nutrition and health, I have come to the belief that the amount of animal protein consumed for optimum health is best when it is low as possible. As low as 5% of the overall daily calorie intake. So for 2000 calories a day, that is 100 calories of animal protein for the entire day. The equivalent of one roasted chicken leg, or 30g of Swiss cheese, or 1 fried egg, or a steamed cod fillet. There is also a lot of research to suggest that the longest-lived and healthiest populations on the planet eat a 'whole foods plant-based diet'. Alternatively, most of the modern diseases (heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, dementia, etc.) are a result of diets high in animal protein.
- Loneliness - defined by me as a disconnection from people, the planet, the universe and ones self - has a significant impact on heart health and quality of life in general. Now this is not a surprise, I am sure. But it is also a lot more prevalent than you would imagine; especially in the world we live in today. The typical western lifestyle does not have close community or family support. People are more disconnected or isolated from their families and community, so the sense of loneliness is much more common among a lot of people. So the more love, connection, openness, conscious awareness and meaningful relationships you maintain in your life, the better your physical and mental health will be.
- Living a life aligned with your deeper values is essential for fulfilment and happiness in your life. Especially the value of integrity, which I believe is at the top of the hierarchical list when it comes to values. When I talk about integrity, I mean in addition to what we normally associate with integrity (honesty and truthfulness); there is a realisation that we are being true to who we are at our core - our authentic self. If we are out of alignment with integrity in our lives, I believe it is hard to love and respect ourselves, and therefore we will not take care of our physical, mental or emotional health. So integrity to others and ourselves is key to living a fulfilling, successful and happy life.
In summary, here are the things I recommend you DO:
- Keep exercising the mind by reading 1(+) non-fiction books per month or learn a new skill every 6-12 months, study something you actually really enjoy, or get curious and deeply think about the "why" when you see something new. Here's a great book to start with: The China Study .
- Practice acceptance of what is; and then work on your solution.
- Lean towards a 'whole foods plant-based diet' and away from an animal-based diet. And no you will not have protein or calcium deficiencies if you eat less meat and consume less dairy products.
- Work on deepening your relationships, spending more time with other people, and finding those people that you are able to openly express your dreams, fears, failings, and desires to; without fear of rejection.
- Be honest. To yourself and others. You and others will like you a whole lot more! ;-)
If you are a calf (that's a baby COW as opposed to a baby antelope) and need to gain 1000-pounds in less than a year, then cow's milk is definitely the best thing for you. If you are not a fast growing calf, then cow's milk may not be the answer. And in fact, it may even be bad for you...that is, if you are not a calf.
Now I am going to apologise in advance here. I may do a tiny bit of ranting over the course of the next few minutes, as I 'discuss' one of my favourite topics. Something I have read about and researched on and off for about a decade now; because it just didn't make sense to me. And I am going to tell you why it did not make sense. In case you haven't figured it out yet, we will be discussing that little ($$$$$$$$) subject called MILK.
I will tell you up front that my belief and studies has lead me to realise that milk should be nothing more than a condiment and is definitely not a 'food group'; unless of course you are on the payroll of the dairy industry. Apparently they have deep pockets and long line up of lobbyists. Ok. That is the last of the ranting. Now I am just going to list a number of pertinent points and then you can decide for yourself.
Every other animal on the planet weans itself off mothers milk. That's approximately 100%.
The countries with the highest consumption of dairy foods have the highest rate of osteoporosis (which is not so much the result of a lack of calcium but more an excess of protein - which leeches calcium out of the bones - and a lack of physical exercise).
- Dr John McDougall (author of The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart), has scoured the medical literature and is yet to find one case of dietary calcium deficiency in humans - providing they were consuming adequate calories. Apparently we are not at risk...as someone would have you believe.
- The biggest (boned) animals on the planet are herbivores (and part of the 100% that don't drink mothers milk all their life).
- Cows also have big strong bones and eat grass (aka: greens).
- The protein needs for the body as recommended by the World Health Organisation (and others) ranges from 2.5 - 6%. The typical western diet includes 20% plus of their calories coming from protein. Protein causes excess acid in the body which leads to the leeching of calcium from the body. Does that mean that milk actually makes your bones become weaker??? Interesting.
- Cows milk has 3 times more protein that (human) mothers milk. That means that during the greatest growth spurt we will ever experience in our lives (from birth to about two years of age) we only need about 5% protein.
I believe that is enough for now to get you thinking. I am going to finish up with a passage out of one of the best books that I have ever read about nutrition. Written by a biochemical medical researcher, who has studied protein for about 40+ years and conducted the largest nutrition, lifestyle and disease study ever undertaken over 20 years with 650,000 people. His name is Colin Campbell and his AMAZING book is 'The China Study'. He also grew up on a dairy farm and wondered why his father died young with coronary heart disease. So here is reference to a series of laboratory experiments his team was conducting:
"In one group, they administered the cancer-causing aflatoxin, then fed a diet that was composed of 20% protein, a level near what many of us consume in the West. In the other group, they administered the same amount of aflatoxin, but then fed a diet that was only composed of 5% protein. Incredibly, every single animal that consumed the 20% protein diet had evidence of liver cancer, and every single animal that consumed a 5% protein diet avoided liver cancer. It was a 100 to 0 score, leaving no doubt that nutrition trumped chemical carcinogens, even very potent carcinogens, in controlling cancer."
"In fact, dietary protein proved to be so powerful in its effect that we could turn on and turn off cancer growth simply by changing the level consumed."
And a last wee point on MILK...
"We found that not all proteins had this effect. What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow's milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy."
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I am in the process of developing a very cool Goal Setting program (ELITE Goal Setting), because as I work with people on the 30-Day Challenge; one of the biggest things to come out of it is that most people don't have goals, or don't think they deserve what they want, or don't think they can achieve what they want, or are too overwhelmed with all the other sh#t going on in their lives to take the time to stop, check the map and see if they are actually heading in the right direction (or if they even have a map).
As a result of doing this, I have been doing more research than usual on Goal Setting and here are a couple of gems that I wanted to share with you, right now, so you can use moving forward:
- Research has shown that if you believe that you can achieve your goal you are more likely to do so. Obviously! But here is the surprising one. If you actually think that achieving your goal is going to be 'easy' you are actually less likely to succeed. Not so obvious! Imagining that the goal is going to be hard to achieve actually makes your body and mind rise to the occasion. Good to know.
- Also when you select goals you want to choose something that is difficult, but possible. You don't want it to be too easy, nor do you want it to be so hard that it snaps you along the way. I call that "a goal that is not worth what it takes to achieve".
- Research has shown that planning increases the likelihood of success by at least 200%. Again you might say "tell me something I don't know dumby". The studies showed that just deciding when and where you would do the tasks - without even writing down your plan - caused this 200% increase in probability.
- And finally, if you adopt an attitude of a growth mind-set, versus a fixed mind-set, you will deal with the inevitable hiccups, falls, stumbles and failures along the way, much easier and be more likely to succeed overall. A fixed mind-set is where you believe that your intelligence level is set, so you figure if you can't do something then it is because you are the type of person who can't do that sort of thing. Whereas the growth mind-set realises that our intelligence and skills are not set, but get better with practice. Meaning they enjoy the process more and are likely to keep going when there are setbacks.
So in summary:
• Imagine your goals are possible but will be challenging to achieve
• Choose difficult, but possible goals
• Plan (even if it is just where and when)
• Know that your brain can grow until the day you take your last breath
My last point:
Studies conclusively show that if you want more Happiness ensure that your goals are more focused on relationships, personal growth and contribution; rather than overly focused on wealth, fame and beauty.
Here's to Happy Goal Setting!!
Brian Tracy - a renowned personal development and sales expert - says that if you read about a book a week (about 50 books a year) on your chosen subject, you would be an international expert in your field within 7 years. Imagine if you were in sales and you read 50 books related to sales in a year. Do you think there is a pretty good chance that your sales would increase? Absolutely!
My recommendation is to form a habit of reading a book a week. It will stimulate your mind and enhance your creativity significantly. Plus you will be much cooler at social gatherings. Rather than the guy that reads bugger all, watches loads of television and pretty much has nothing new to talk about but himself (this guy is definitely not getting invited back).
I am also very aware of how little time people may actually have to actually commit to this so I have found for you the BEST WAY I know to get your wisdom on, in the shortest possible time. Enter to a drum roll...PhilosophersNotes!!
This is without exception one of the best things I have invested in over the last couple of years. And recommended to every client I have ever dealt with. Brian Johnson of PhilosophersNotes has digested and presented in PDF format or a 20-minute MP3 (this is my favourite) the 10 biggest ideas from a vast array of modern and classic books (150 and counting). The subjects range from philosophy to nutrition, motivation, relationships; meditation, fitness, health, why your life might suck and a whole lot more.
It really is THE BEST THING that I recommend to people. I daily listen to an MP3 as I ride my bicycle past the ricefields and coconut trees. I also can decide whether I want to read the full book - which saves me spending $20-$30 on a book that might not be my style.
Brian is also a super decent guy. Non-pretentious, very grounded, humble, big on serving others and has a no-bullshit attitude. A really easy guy to like. So if you want to be a lot wiser, be more interesting at parties ;-), stimulate your creative powers and understand more about why you do what you do, then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND checking out PhilosophersNotes.
Click on the link to get three FREE copies of PhilosophersNotes
He even lets you choose what price you want to pay, if money is tight. Very Coolio!
