myPEAK Education : Wellness Practices of our Founders
In this educational series, we will explore the Wellness practices of our founders. There are many parts to this series. Keep checking this page regularly for the latest updates.
Without a healthy mind, there cannot be a healthy body and without a healthy body, it is hard to have a healthy mind. It is a paradox. The bottom line is that a healthy body and mind are necessary to produce the best results in life.
So much has been written about health by so many experts. For the past several decades, we have taken a deep interest in our health and wellness. Through a lot of research and experiments, we have come to conclusions on what worked and what did not for us. We will summarize these conclusions now to make your wellness journey easier.
Health, peace, prosperity, happiness, and success all begin within. What most people fail to realize (and conventional allopathic medicine failed to realize for a significant portion of its existence), is that the food, water, and nutrition that you put in your body affects everything from how you feel to what you think to how long you live. Over the last 25 years, significant medical research has been conducted on the effects of various foods, nutrients, and water on our health. And the discoveries have been amazing. With everything we put in our mouths, we are either amplifying our focus, joy, and lifespan or reducing it. In other words, we are either enhancing our lives or eroding them. Wellness begins with what you eat and drink, is amplified by the supplements you take, and is perfected with little habits that make a big difference. So, let us begin.
Any discussion on health must begin with the things that are wreaking havoc on our health. Simply by eliminating or reducing these things, we will notice a drastic difference in our lives. We will follow this up by including tips on what to eat to help our bodies and minds thrive and take our health to the next level. Lastly, we will cover some small habits that can make a big change in our lives.
What to Eliminate:
Tap water:
The water is meant to be healing and it is very healing if it has a high number of Totally Dissolved Solids (TDS) that are good for the body. The problem is, that most of the drinking water contains a high number of bad TDS. This is an unfortunate side effect of human evolution. As we evolved, we created harmful chemicals and carelessly released them into the environment. As a result, our water, air, and food are polluted.
In 2014, officials from Flint, Michigan switched the city's water supply to the Flint River as a cost-cutting measure for the struggling city. In doing so, they unwittingly introduced lead-poisoned water into homes, in what would become a massive public-health crisis. In August 2020, Michigan was fined to pay $600 million in the Flint water crisis settlement. The crisis in Flint, Michigan is a perfect example of how careless we are with our essential needs.
The water that comes from your tap contains tons of toxic chemicals from lead to arsenic to chlorine to fluoride. Each of these has various deleterious effects on your brain function and your health. Water is chlorinated to kill bacteria and pathogens, but when we drink that chlorinated water it wipes out the crucially beneficial bacteria in our intestines which play a vital role in our health and well-being. Fluoride is also a potent neurotoxin, and studies have shown associations between fluoride and lower IQs in children. Heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic truly do not have any “safe” levels and disrupt health even at the allowed amounts in our tap water.
How to eliminate:
When it comes to water, the experts do not always agree on the best solution. We use a reverse osmosis filtration system in our house (or buy filters that will remove fluoride in addition to the other chemicals. Keep in mind most conventional carbon filters do not remove fluoride). Alternatives include spring water, aquifer water, and glacier water. If you live near a pristine spring, aquifer, or glacier, and can utilize that water, then you are good to go. We are not suggesting buying bottled water labeled as spring, aquifer, or glacier water unless you have a way to verify those claims.
Our 6-stage RO system uses the first 5 stages to remove the bad TDS and then adds some of the good TDS back into the water. The conflict around RO water is that it takes out even the good TDS to clean the water. This is no longer true. Some of the good TDS are added back into the water by this system and the rest of the mineral needs for our bodies are fulfilled by our diet and our supplements.
There is value in investing in a good shower filter as well.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG):
This highly toxic chemical is used widely throughout mainstream products from chips to soups to restaurant food. What monosodium glutamate does is trick your taste buds into thinking what you are eating is tasty. This allows manufacturers to produce cheap, low-quality products that are addictive to your taste buds. It can disrupt your endocrine system, cause headaches, and damage neurons through its excitotoxicity (meaning it overstimulates the neurons to the point that they damage themselves).
How to eliminate:
Google “Hidden MSG ingredients” to first learn all the names for MSG. Read food labels to eliminate anything with MSG. MSG is nearly impossible to avoid if you buy a lot of packaged foods because it hides under too many names. Buying only organic is probably the best way to eliminate the risk of MSG-laden products.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS):
This ubiquitous sweetener is derived from genetically modified corn and is considered one of the major contributing factors to the obesity epidemic today. Because the sweetener is, as the name implies, high in fructose, your brain never gets the signal from your body that it is full, leading you to eat more and more. Also, fructose is a highly inflammatory form of sugar, and inflammation is linked to most chronic illnesses that exist today.
How to eliminate:
Google “different names for high fructose corn syrup” to first learn all the names for HFCS. Read food labels to eliminate anything with HFCS. Buying only organic also eliminates the risk of HFCS-laden products. Here are at least 10 names that it can hide behind. There are many more.
1. Maize syrup
2. Glucose syrup
3. Glucose-fructose syrup
4. Tapioca syrup
5. Fruit fructose
6. Crystalline fructose
7. HFCS (the same name, just the shortened version)
8. Isoglucose
9. Corn syrup
10. Dahlia syrup
Pesticides:
If someone sprayed an apple with roach killer and asked you to wash it and eat it, would you?
Yet most people make that decision every single day by eating conventionally grown produce that is sprayed with pesticides 10-100 times stronger than the bug killers you buy at the store. Pesticides have been exposed to a wealth of studies to be carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and more. They contribute to weight gain, obesity, depression, anxiety, chronic disease, and poor overall health. They also disturb the balance of your gut and kill your healthy gut bacteria leading to a variety of health challenges.
How to eliminate:
Buy only organic produce and products.
Chemicals:
As mankind advances, we have introduced more and more harmful chemicals to our environment. From our vehicles to houses to food, water, and air, we are surrounded by chemicals. Many of these chemicals have so many harmful side effects, have been linked to causing diseases, and wreak havoc on our health. Some of the worst chemicals we encounter are in our cleaning supplies. A recent study showed that people with high exposure to chemical cleansers had equivalent lung damage to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years.
It is no secret that our homes and vehicles are made with materials that are constantly off-gassing, especially when they are new.
Did you know that the so-called "new car smell" is made up of over 20 chemicals and according to one research some of them are known carcinogens such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde?
Until recently, virtually all furniture manufactured in the USA, including mattresses were sprayed with toxic fire retardant chemicals.
Remember when houses were built with asbestos in America? More than 100 million Americans have been exposed to asbestos, according to a report from the American Academy of Actuaries. Every year, 1.3 million American workers in construction and general industry alone are exposed to asbestos on the job, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to the Environmental Working Group Action Fund, asbestos kills 12,000 to 15,000 Americans every year.
Remember when they put lead in gasoline? According to one study, over 170 million Americans alive today were exposed to high lead levels in early childhood due to leased gasoline.
How to eliminate:
Use natural materials, products, and alternatives in your environment. Products made of glass, wood, ceramic, steel, silver, gold, copper, or clay WITHOUT LINING are best for food and water storage.
With some research, you can find tons of natural alternatives for everything. For example, hydrogen peroxide, high-pH water, baking soda, vinegar, and high-quality microfiber cloths are great alternatives for cleaning. Using laundry magnets in conjunction with baking soda is a great alternative for cleaning clothes. Educate yourself in your free time with such alternatives. If you live in a place where the outside air is clean, then let the outside air circulate through your home as much as possible to reduce the impact of off-gassing.
Artificial Sweeteners:
Aspartame is a highly toxic chemical sweetener that has been linked to a laundry list of detrimental effects. Studies have shown evidence of neurotoxicity, detrimental effects on mood, and cancer-promoting properties. Sucralose is almost equally as toxic, breaking down into highly toxic dioxins that have lasting damage to our health. The toxicity of these compounds is the reason they have both been linked to weight gain rather than weight loss despite being zero-calorie sweeteners. Avoid Saccharin as well.
How to eliminate:
Read your food and drink labels to avoid sweeteners. If you must use one, honey in its raw, unfiltered, unprocessed form is acceptable because it ensures it is not adulterated. It is acceptable to put honey in tea or coffee but it is not recommended for high heat cooking as it becomes toxic.
Aspartame is a highly toxic chemical sweetener that has been linked to a laundry list of detrimental effects. Studies have shown evidence of neurotoxicity, detrimental effects on mood, and cancer-promoting properties. Sucralose is almost equally as toxic, breaking down into highly toxic dioxins that have lasting damage to our health. The toxicity of these compounds is the reason they have both been linked to weight gain rather than weight loss despite being zero-calorie sweeteners. Avoid Saccharin as well.
How to eliminate:
Read your food and drink labels to avoid sweeteners. If you must use one, honey in its raw, unfiltered, unprocessed form is acceptable because it ensures it is not adulterated. It is acceptable to put honey in tea or coffee but it is not recommended for high heat cooking as it becomes toxic.
Gluten:
Gluten is the sticky protein found in wheat and rye. It has garnered significant attention over the last decade and has been popularized in the mainstream by well-known books such as The Grain Brain and Wheat Belly. Gluten is a highly inflammatory protein that irritates and inflames your gut, causing poor nutrient absorption, nerve damage, and more. Moreover, the wheat we eat today is far from the ancient wheat humans ate just 100 years ago. Our wheat has been hybridized to contain over 100 times the gluten content as natural wheat because gluten is addictive. There is a wealth of evidence about the damaging effects of gluten on both our digestion and our brains. Gluten is a neurotoxin that produces opioid-like effects in our brains both numbing out our nerves and creating an addictive attachment to our gluten-containing grains. It also leads to poor focus, irritability, mood disorders, and more.
How to eliminate:
Find gluten-free grain products and use healthier gluten-free options in your cooking such as millet, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, rice, coconut, flax, and more.
Dairy:
Gluten is the sticky protein found in wheat and rye. It has garnered significant attention over the last decade and has been popularized in the mainstream by well-known books such as The Grain Brain and Wheat Belly. Gluten is a highly inflammatory protein that irritates and inflames your gut, causing poor nutrient absorption, nerve damage, and more. Moreover, the wheat we eat today is far from the ancient wheat humans ate just 100 years ago. Our wheat has been hybridized to contain over 100 times the gluten content as natural wheat because gluten is addictive. There is a wealth of evidence about the damaging effects of gluten on both our digestion and our brains. Gluten is a neurotoxin that produces opioid-like effects in our brains both numbing out our nerves and creating an addictive attachment to our gluten-containing grains. It also leads to poor focus, irritability, mood disorders, and more.
How to eliminate:
Find gluten-free grain products and use healthier gluten-free options in your cooking such as millet, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, rice, coconut, flax, and more.
Dairy:
We tend to gloss over the fact that cow’s milk was never intended for humans to consume. Milk and other dairy products have several major problems.
First, most of the world’s population loses the ability to process lactose, the sugar in milk, right after weaning. That unprocessed lactose causes inflammation and bloating in our GI tract and disturbs our healthy gut bacteria leading to a host of health problems. This is nature’s way of telling us we were not meant to drink milk beyond the breast milk we had as an infant. There are also no other species of animals that drink milk after weaning.
Why is that?
Milk contains high levels of growth hormone and IGF-1, which are meant to make a baby grow rapidly so it is not eaten or attacked by predators. But continuing to drink milk and get exposed to high levels of IGF-1 promotes cancer, obesity, and premature aging/death. The third reason we should not consume dairy products is that they contain cow microRNAs, pieces of genetic material that are incompatible with our bodies that disrupt our hormonal balances, promote obesity, and early puberty. Lastly, the casein A1 protein found in most milk is immunogenic and has been theorized to be a contributing factor to type 1 diabetes. The list can continue, but you get the idea.
How to eliminate:
Replace dairy products, cheese, and even ice cream and replace them with plant-based products. Read ingredients because some companies promote plant-based products with shady ingredients. Avoid milk with gums, sugar, preservatives, or unnecessary ingredients. Nowadays, it is easy to find plant-based milk with just 2 ingredients.
Meat:
Meat:
If we look at the longest-lived cultures on the planet (located in the “blue zones”), not even one eats meat regularly. Beans, including fava, black, soy, and lentils, are the cornerstone of most Blue Zones diets. Meat is eaten an average of only five times per month and in a serving of three to four ounces, which is about the size of a deck of cards. Studies have shown again and again that vegetarians live longer than meat-eaters and have reduced chronic disease and health risks such as colon cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, and high cholesterol.
The atrocities of factory farming aside, there are not many reasons that humans today need meat in their diets. The conventional reasoning behind meat consumption is that it is a good source of protein. Yet, studies show that it is not and higher protein intake is correlated with higher rates of cancer and inflammation! That is one of the reasons vegetarians live longer and healthier lives on average than meat-eaters. Most people believe that meat is necessary for strength and growth and nothing could be further from the truth.
Please watch a myth-buster documentary called “The Game Changers” which shows that some of the best athletes on the planet achieved their record-breaking feats because they were on a plant-based diet. Another docuseries called "You Are What You Eat" further experiments and documents the effects of various diets. Both documentaries are available on Netflix and are worth watching.
Sometimes we hear people say that they tried a vegetarian/vegan diet and it didn't work for them. That is possible if done incorrectly!
Eating a pesticide-grown salad and putting a dressing on it (made from terrible ingredients), won't work. Eating mock meat all the time that is claimed to be vegan can't work because everything there is highly processed. Eating frozen, packaged plant-based meals all the time won't work. While both of those things are perfectly fine in moderation, moderation is key. True vegetarianism or veganism is a lifestyle rooted in knowledge and compassion and not some capitalist trend.
We understand that if one grew up in a predominantly meat-eating society, it is nearly impossible to switch to a clean vegetarian/vegan diet because one may not be aware of the plethora of Vegan food options. The good news is that the internet is loaded with vegan/vegetarian recipes. If desired, one can transition away from meat gradually over some time. And remember, eating Vegan doesn't mean you have to sacrifice taste at all. Some of the most delicious cuisines on the planet are plant-based.
If one does choose to continue eating meat, the best practice is to limit consumption to one or two times a week and select grass-fed, free-range, organic meat sources.
What to Add to Your Diet:
Fruits and Vegetables:
Fruits and vegetables are the most nutritionally beneficial foods that exist. They nourish your body with crucial vitamins and minerals, provide powerful antioxidants and anti-aging compounds, and are a rich source of gut nourishing fiber.
Since we have to put the water through Reverse Osmosis to eliminate bad TDS, we also end up eliminating the good TDS. Therefore, fruits and vegetables are more essential now than ever before. The more fruits and vegetables you can get in your diet, the better. Choose organic whenever possible to avoid highly toxic pesticides, waxing, irradiation, and other bad commercial practices.
Spices:
Spices are wonderful additions to food, both for our taste buds and our health. Almost all spices contain beneficial medicinal properties and can help your body and mind thrive.
In Indian Ayurveda, detailed descriptions of spices and their properties were outlined and have been made part of daily cooking around the globe in many cultures. Today, there are many resources on the internet where you can learn more about spices, their properties and benefits.
Again, choose organic spices whenever possible and you will taste the difference in freshness and potency.
To be continued in the next email...
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