Knowledge from biohacking experts.
A placebo is a fake treatment, a medical intervention that does not contain any physically or pharmacologically active substances with a direct ability to induce therapeutic effects. Yet, its effect is real. When you’re told that something is going to produce a specific effect on you, even though it does not really have the ability to do so, it is highly likely that you will feel it. And that is the reason why clinical trials use placebos as a control to accurately determine the efficacy of a drug.
With more people around the world turning to vegetarian and vegan diets, it’s important to understand both the health risks and benefits of following these diets (12). We appreciate the ethics. However, abstaining from meat and to a lesser extent, dairy, is a cause for concern because people may not be replacing vitamins and minerals that animal foods provide. Modern society have embraced animals as our primary source of vitamin D, vitamin B12, omega-3 essential fatty acids, protein and bioavailable iron, Research suggests vegans and vegetarians are at an increased risk for these deficiencies (1). Let’s take a look at each of these in detail to see if there’s a real risk and more importantly, solutions:
Vitamin D is important for immune function, muscle contractions, and bone health. Vitamin D is primarily found in fish oil with smaller amounts in egg yolk, beef liver and cheese (3). We also synthesise vitamin D from sun exposure, but this depends on the amount of skin exposed, the time of day, where you are living and skin tone. For example, it only takes 15 minutes of sun exposure for very fair to medium fair skin tones to get their recommended daily dose of vitamin D, whereas medium to dark skin tones may need up to 2 hours of sun exposure (14).
Many of us cannot achieve this daily recommendation from the sun alone and must consume dietary sources of vitamin D or supplements (2). Vegans are at a greater risk for deficiency and should try to consume mushrooms treated with ultraviolet light and fortified juice, almond, and rice milk (15). Vitamin D supplements come in D2 or D3 forms. D3 supplements are off limits for vegans because they are made from fish oil or from lanolin, which is made from sheep’s wool. D2 supplements are made from yeast or plants, and is the form found in most vegan and vegetarian supplements. However, research suggests D3 supplements may be more efficacious than D2 for increasing vitamin D levels (17). Luckily, scientists found a way to make a vitamin D3 supplement from a plant source called lichen, which is now available for purchase (16).
Hello to everyone in OptimOZ Bulletproof Land! Nurse Extraordinaire here! Long time no write. Nearly finished my Diploma in Bioresonance & Energy medicine which has blown my mind and made me realise how little I truly learned about the body in my nurse training all those years ago. You know learning is a life long thing. It never stops. And the more I learn, the more I realise I want to know. It’s all about energy people! We all are energy beings. It’s way below cellular level. And the very first place it must start is ultimately with how we treat our physical body. This affects us at a subatomic particle level.
In the last article, I explained what flow is and why it can be such a positive state. In this second part, I will summarise the best practical techniques to promote it, drawn from the works of psychology theory and research. These include a myriad of ways in which to structure the external environment as well as one’s inner world.
Our modern lifestyles are slowly killing us: by overeating and being excessively sedentary, we might have brought upon ourselves an epidemic in metabolic diseases. Our body is not optimized for these modern ways of life and we can’t change that overnight, nor even in the course of a few generations. Evolution is slow.
Throughout evolution, the survival of humans may have greatly depended on the constraints of needing to acquire food. Food deprivation was most likely one of the biggest energetic and evolutionary challenges to our bodies - it is likely that many of our ancestors could only acquire food during daytime, having to fast for long hours; it is also likely that long periods of food scarcity were common. So, those who were able to endure in these conditions ended up being favoured by evolution.
The fact that our bodies store fat as a backup long-term, high-energy source, and that we can survive relying solely on it for a fair amount of time, is an indication of how human evolution prepared us (and maybe even optimized us) to go through periods of fasting.
Vanilla & Berry Coconut Chia Pudding
Serves 2
Ingredients
Optional Add Ins: raw honey, pure maple syrup or liquid stevia to taste, other fruits, lemon or orange zest and juice, chopped pure organic dark chocolate, nuts or seeds or nut butter mixed through.
The ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat, adequate protein diet. This dietary pattern changes the way our body produces energy – its basic principle is to get your body into a metabolic state known as ketosis where carbohydrate stores are depleted and fat becomes the main energy source. The name ketosis comes from the molecules that the liver starts to produce from fat to be used as fuel - ketone bodies or ketones.
Ketone-fuelling has become a lifestyle approach of choice because it allows fast weight loss with no harm to physical or mental performance and resistance. In fact, an effective transition to ketosis may actually improve these outcomes.
On a regular or high-carbohydrate diet, our body is in a state optimized for the use of dietary carbohydrates. But in a continuous state of carbohydrate restriction, the body puts its plan B in motion, switching gears such as to become more efficient at using fat as the main energy source. Ketosis boosts the body's capacity to use fats as fuel.
More than forty years ago Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi posed a simple question: “How does it feel to master something?” To figure this out, he interviewed hundreds of people who had demonstrated excellence in their chosen field. They included rock climbers, painters, chess players, basketball players, athletes and surgeons.
The short answer to his question was: joy.
“A strong relaxation and calmness comes over me. I have no worries of failure. What a powerful and warm feeling it is! I want to expand, to hug the world. I feel enormous power to effect something of grace and beauty.” - professional dancer describing a sense of control experienced while dancing.
Prep time: 20mins
Cook time: 35mins
Yield: One loaf
Ingredients:
Ingredients
Serves 2
Optional Extras: 1 Tbsp of grass-fed gelatin (bloomed), for the hot chocolate version only.
Modern lifestyles, particularly in the “western world”, are clearly having an impact on human health. Chronic stress and anxiety are recurrent and have a highly deleterious effect, leading to the development of chronic diseases and to an earlier onset of many age-related conditions.
Our feeding habits have also changed rather significantly. Throughout evolution, humans were designed for feeding patterns that highly differ from those currently observed. Modern western diets rely heavily on high-energy, low-nutrient processed food, for which we are not optimised. These choices are not innocuous - nutrition is a fundamental element in our health and in our resistance to disease.
The steady rise in chronic conditions observed in the last decades is most likely a consequence of these lifestyle options. Today’s most prevalent chronic diseases have been found to share a common ground that can be attributed to modern environments and behaviours.
