I am a big fan of simplicity.
The other thing I am a big fan of is “ROI” – return on investment.
This applies to my work, my relationships and especially my health.
Because, let’s face it, if our health sucks, we have no energy to be great professionally, or in our relationships, or as role models in our families.
I don’t have children, but I am well aware of the need to have adequate (and hopefully abundant) energy to take care of your kids.
So let’s focus today on what are 3 high-ROI activities when it comes to creating energy to support your health and life goals.
This article is inspired by Dr Casey Means, who wrote the book ‘Good Energy‘.
She was in her final year of a 5-year surgical residency as a Ear Nose Throat (ENT) specialist and had a moral dilemma.
She realised in the modern medical (over) specialisation of the body, she was focused on a 3-inch square part of the body, without deeply understanding, what actually caused the ENT issues she was medicating for, or doing surgery on. As a result she resigned and moved sideways into more functional medicine practices.
In her new trajectory, she came up with a much deeper understanding about what created metabolic illnesses.
And how the food, medical, and insurance industries were set up to perpetuate the issue (for profit) and what the real causes are to address.
She also acknowledges very little of this was taught through her 9-years in the medical system. Doctors were rewarded (and promoted) for the volume of patients, the volume of prescriptions, and the volume of surgeries, which didn’t sit well for her as she was passionate about helping her patients get well.
She even said in training, doctors are told that nutrition is a soft subject that “isn’t evidence based”.
Really?!?!
Her focus became how to create “Good Energy” so the body could be in optimum health.
This is a pretty big topic, so today I am just going to share with you what her TOP 3 things are to institute in our lives to create good energy.
“Good Energy is also known as metabolic health. Metabolism refers to the set of cellular mechanisms that transform food into energy that can power every single cell in the body.” Dr Casey Means.
The principle causes of chronic disease
Dr Means, came up with a pretty succinct list of the primary causes of chronic illness, which is running rampant in modern western countries, and even causing life expectancy to reduce in places like the USA, where they spend over 4 Trillion dollars on healthcare.
The three principle causes are:
1. Oxidative stress. In basic terms this is when there are too many free radicals for the body to naturally neutralize with antioxidants and other mechanisms, causing disruption to the mitochondria and cellular functions.
2. Chronic inflammation. Inflammation is actually a natural healing mechanism of body, but if it does not get turned off, due to a highly toxic inner environment, it can become chronic and then disadvantageous for our health.
3. Mitochondrial dysfunction. When the mitochondria are functioning poorly, this means less energy.
I will leave this part of the equation here, as I want to get into the practical stuff, and you can go much deeper by reading this book.
The 3 biggest Energy-ROI choices we can make
Let’s jump right into the 3 Essential things Dr Means talks about as our first (biggest) steps and then look at how we can apply them at a practical level.
Number 1: Eliminate (or greatly reduce) refined added sugar
The main reason (in the simplest terms) is it creates insulin resistance, which causes a whole lot of downstream metabolic issues.
The Best way to apply this:
Trying to cut out sugar 100% is a lofty goal and not easy, so here is what I recommend as high-ROI choices:
1. Eat as much ‘real food‘ as possible, and eat as little highly-processed or ultra-processed foods, which will remove a ton of crap from your diet and body.
2. Reduce or eliminate flavoured drinks.
3. If you want sweets or treats, try and make your own where you can control what type of sweetener, and quantity you use (or buy from a trusted source who make all their stuff ‘in-house’ and with real ingredients).
4. Eat a full meal with lots of fibre, protein and healthy fats, so you are too full to cram in desert. 😉
Number 2: Eliminate industrial seed oils
The main reason is that they are toxic for our body as a result of the production process of superheating the seeds to extract the oil.
Did you know that canola oil was primarily a lubricant for vehicles in WWII, and post-war it took a lot of manipulating with the oil to (apparently) make it ‘safe’ for human consumption.
The best way to apply this is:
1. Only use the following oils: olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil (easy to do as they all taste great).
2. This means you will remove: soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, and any other oils that say ‘hydrogenated’.
Note that something like 70% of processed foods have these hydrogenated oils added, so again by getting rid of the processed stuff, you are adding good energy and avoiding chronic illnesses.
Yes, the best oils for your health may be more expensive, but they will earn their ROI over time as you continue to generate good energy.
Number 3: Eliminate refined grains
One of the main issues with refined grains (e.g. soy, corn, wheat) is they contribute to insulin resistance, plus they are generally high in calories, and low (or bereft) of nutrients.
They also often come hand-in-hand with ultra processing and refined sugar.
This one I find harder to implement, so I do the best I can, without getting so anal that I make myself miserable and bad company when dining out.
The best way to apply this is:
1. Skip highly-processed and ultra-processed foods.
2. Load your meals up with more veggies, protein and healthy fats, to reduce the amount of grains you might use.
3. If you are after bread for example, buy a good quality bakery-made sourdough loaf, and have a smaller serving size.
4. If you generally eat a breakfast cereal (usually a highly refined grain), experiment with more healthy option (e.g. eggs, avocado, tomato, a good quality meat, or a quality sugar-free yoghurt with nuts and seeds).
In Summary
Unlike what most doctors are taught these days in medical training institutions, what you put into your mouth has a HUGE impact on the level of energy and vitality you have, along with the absence of chronic illnesses and disease.
If you just greatly reduced or eliminated refined added sugars, industrial seed oils, and refined grains, it would have a significant positive impact on your metabolism, insulin resistance, and inflammation in your body.
Paying extra attention to your health – and what you put in your mouth – is one of those investments that has an enormous long-term ROI, which impacts all aspects of your life, and what you achieve along the way.
My Parting Words
I will actually keep this short.
There are some things that we can do – nutritionally – that make a big difference.
Regardless of what your general diet philosophy is (e.g. paleo, vegetarian, keto, etc.), if you limit added sugar, seed oils and refined grains, you are ticking some pretty big vitality boxes.
The most effective way is to eat more real food, and less processed food.
The end.
I do think that is all needs saying for now.
Have a wonderful day, and a week of conscious attention to what you feed your mitochondria.
Take care
Carl
Quotable QUOTE:
“The Unholy Trinity of Bad Energy foods is refined grains, refined sugars, and industrial seed oils.” Dr Casey Means
(Author of Good Energy)
PS: Have you read or listened to this book yet? 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be
