Are my behaviors truly my own and free from manipulation?Under the Radar
How to Hack Your Emotions and Take Control of Your Energy and Your Life
WARNING: Please DO NOT STOP ANY MEDICATIONS without first consulting a physician since doing so could be hazardous to your health. You could suffer serious withdrawal symptoms.
When I was ten years old, I woke up gasping for air. My parents ran into the room at lightning speed and rushed me to the nearest hospital, ten minutes away. They knew exactly what was wrong; it had happened before.
It wasn’t from a bad dream but from a severe asthma attack. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced what it’s like to have your air supply cut off without warning in the middle of the night. It feels like someone is choking you, but when you grab for their hands, there’s nothing there. The thought of dying immediately pops into your head: What if I don’t make it this time?
When I was growing up on a cattle and cropping farm in southern Australia, asthma was a daily part of my life. It is a respiratory condition that triggers spasms in the lungs and difficulty breathing. You can be on top of the world one moment, and the next, you’re fighting for your life in full-blown Defender mode. Asthma short-circuits your entire system and can affect your learning, memory, processing speed, and attention.1
Worse yet, it’s sneaky. The physical symptoms can trick you into thinking you’re anxious when you’re not. It triggers a psychological response to a physical reaction. It often leaves people asking, “Am I anxious because I have asthma, or do I have asthma because I’m anxious?” It can be both: Sometimes it’s one and sometimes the other.
Why You Really Quit and What You Can Do About It
You’re likely wondering what asthma has to do with becoming a peak performer and reaching your goals. It’s simple: It’s the perfect example of a symptom that has two possible underlying causes. Asthma can create a psychological response to an allergen, or a biological response to a thought. Either trigger may ignite a significant shift in mood, behavior, and, most important, identity.
As you have seen with the identity gap method, the key to success is to manage our energy, emotions, thoughts, and behavior as part of a complete system, as well as protect our power supply. What’s the point of owning a Ferrari if there is no fuel in the tank?
This becomes extremely difficult when there are factors, like medication, food, and toxins, that deplete our battery and cut off this supply, resulting in an inability to think clearly, feel good, and provide enough fuel to light our vision.
Ingesting caffeine or sugar (say, by downing an energy drink) may give you a sudden burst of energy to power through a task and turn you into a Catalyst momentarily, but by no means is it a sustainable energy source. These are dirty fuel sources that can hijack our thoughts and mood, especially when we crash, or when we become reliant on these fuel sources to get going in the morning.
Our Thoughts Are Getting Hijacked
In March 2017, I had had enough of my asthma and went to the doctor in hopes of finding an answer. I was using Ventolin as a preventive medication multiple times a day, to no avail. Any suggestion of getting off the medication and finding a healthy alternative was quickly shot down as absurd. I felt like an idiot for asking. Instead, the doctor gave me a new preventive medication. That night, I woke at 2 A.M. on the verge of a full-blown anxiety attack. In the dim light, my eyes immediately went to the medication on the dresser. Could a side effect be causing this fearfulness and agitation?
I grabbed my laptop and spent the next two hours delving into the research and side effects of this commonly used medication. I became shocked when reading patient reviews for the Ventolin that had become so ingrained in my daily life. I didn’t even think to question it. Reports on Ask a Patient (www.askapatient.com) cited patient reactions such as anxiety attacks, manic behavior, nervousness, hyperactivity, impatience, and instant severe depression. One individual wrote that they were planning their own suicide until, thankfully, they realized it was their medication causing this effect.2
This started me thinking:
Are my behaviors truly my own and free from manipulation?
Could medication cut off or limit access to my willpower?
Could my depressive episodes throughout my life be attributed to an increase in using Ventolin due to seasonal allergies?
Had medications been triggering my anxiety all this time and limiting my ability to succeed?
Were side effects of the inhaler a contributing factor to brain fog and fatigue that almost cost me my career as a writer and professional speaker?
Was I set up for failure as a result of my understanding of asthma and the medications I was being prescribed?
If these inhalers were hijacking my emotions, then I was going to reclaim my emotions and take control of my health! However, I wasn’t going to stop there. I wanted to know what else I was missing, what was manipulating my behavior and potentially affecting the general population, limiting human potential.
It wasn’t just the pharmaceutical medications that are marketed as safe while altering our moods, depleting our batteries, and turning capable individuals into empty shells. It went much further than that. I wanted to uncover the real underlying issues behind my escalating behavior changes and explain why millions of people worldwide struggle to reach their goals and question their self-worth.
We have countless interactions on a daily basis with medication, food, and toxins that can mimic psychological disorders. These interactions influence our thoughts, behavior, mood, energy, and identity, and are far too often overlooked or dismissed with a, “It’s just in your head. Get over it!”
These interactions can either charge or deplete you. The problem is that when we become depleted and shift into Guardian or Defender mode, we’re not aware it is an external cause that we can gain control over. Instead, we simply believe we aren’t trying hard enough. In actuality, we’re having a real psychological response to a biochemical reaction.
Foods, medications, and toxins can mimic psychological disorders, cloud our thinking, and create self-sabotaging behavior without us realizing it.
A sudden shift in diet or symptoms can become so severe that medical attention is sought. Then this cycle of blame, either by ourselves or the medical community, continues to repeat unless it naturally corrects itself.
After speaking with Dave Asprey of Bulletproof; Daniel Schmachtenberger from the nootropic company Neurohacker Collective; Julia Cheek of EverlyWell, which provides at-home health tests; and Richard Lin, the CEO and cofounder of Thryve, a company that provides microbiome tests and probiotics based on extensive research, I found they all had one thing in common. They were all failed by the primary medical professionals from whom they had initially sought help. The experience increased their determination to not only heal themselves, but to also set up companies that help others perform at their best.
If the symptoms are mild, you blame yourself. If the symptoms are severe and the doctor can’t find a cause, they blame you and treat the symptom, not the cause.
These previously peak performers had the willpower, but not the biochemistry, to keep working at the levels to which they were accustomed. They uncovered formulas that gave them enough biochemical energy to research a solution, even if it was just for a few hours of clarity per day before they found a more permanent solution.
All of them fluctuated between Defender, Guardian, Synergist, and Catalyst modes when they were at their worst. In their cases, as in mine, their problem couldn’t simply be defined as a lack of willpower. Their physical system, which had previously fueled them to become peak performers, had become compromised. They were only running on one power source, creating an imbalance along with a myriad of symptoms.
My experience was no different. Not only did I have to assess my personal identity and question who I was, I also had to assess the doctors I was seeking help from and discover any biases they had that would prevent me being treated appropriately. The biases were many, and the arrogance was abundant. Instead of simply saying that they didn’t know what was wrong with me, they ran the same blood tests they always did, regardless of who I saw, which always came back as “You’re fine.” I was far from fine. I wanted to feel great and become unstoppable.
In a Skype call with Richard Lin, he shared the story of one of his doctors telling him, “I’m not in the business of curing people!” Richard and I were not the only ones to have experienced this when seeking medical advice.
We each must become advocates for our health if we want to live a life free from the shackles that hold us back. We need to look for answers where we would least expect them and not stop until we find them.
Less Than 90 Days to Find a Solution
I needed answers, and I needed them quickly. I had less than 90 days to not only heal my debilitating fatigue, brain fog, and lack of mental clarity, but also become unstoppable and write this book. At that point, I could barely write a coherent email, and it took me more than an hour. I knew I was making mistakes, which meant I had to triple check everything.
In discussions with my neighbor and research writer, Debbie Holmén, in Saint Petersburg, Florida, I was introduced to Dr. Carlos M. Garcia of Utopia Wellness in Oldsmar, Florida. Debbie shared her recent experience of biohacking her health, starting with Dr. Garcia’s wellness center.
After working in hospitals for years, Dr. Garcia realized, like many of us, that traditional medicine was being driven more by the profits of hospitals and pharmaceutical companies than by providing the best patient care. In 1996, he redirected his focus to natural alternatives, including holistic medicine, chelation therapy, IV vitamins, antioxidants, and integrative cancer treatment that has seen him featured in the controversial yet well-received documentary Cancer Can Be Killed.3
In the 30-minute Uber ride to his clinic, I became nervous, thinking this was just going to be a repeat of what I’d experienced over the past 26 years. I was wrong!
Before visiting Dr. Garcia, I completed an extensive questionnaire. In less than five minutes, he was able to diagnose my ailment and prescribe a treatment plan. I asked, “Why did the 20-plus doctors I had previously seen fail to identify the cause and gear each conversation toward antidepressants?” His reply, “They don’t ask enough questions!”
What Do These Great Biohackers and Minds Have in Common?
All the people you meet in this book understand that communication within the body is bilateral. The brain and body communicate with each other. Either can drive the changes we want to see in ourselves (or prevent them). Our physiology and our reactions to food, toxins, medications, and allergens can influence our psychology just as much as, if not more than, our psychology can influence our physiology. It’s a two-way street. Some days, there will be obstacles you need to swerve around, while other days you can put the pedal to the metal and hit all your targets. And on some days you will come to a complete standstill. The question is, why?
If one part of the system—in this case, biochemical energy—cannot meet your new goals’ demands, or if it’s simply overwhelmed with other bodily functions/toxins/medications/food sensitivities, the dominoes will begin to fall. This affects the entire system, including your ability to focus and ultimately succeed.
Think of the last time you attempted to make critical decisions when you were exhausted, your reaction time was impaired, and your resilience low. A physical symptom, labeled as harmless (if we’re even aware it’s occurring), can rapidly put us below the 50 percent threshold into a state of unconscious awareness and behavior, in which we can’t see or dissect the problem. We no longer have access to our cognitive capacity to troubleshoot. We become about as effective as a dog turd.
Once we understand what depletes our battery and hijacks our thoughts, we can shore up both our psychological and biochemical energy resources so they start supporting and charging each other. This will enable your battery to recharge faster and redirect all your energy to achieving your outcomes instead of dealing with toxins or inflammation within the body. This also makes it easier to juggle distractions, focus for extended periods of time, push through when times get tough, and light that vision powered by an enhanced frame of mind.
Regardless of whether you’re a Catalyst, Synergist, Guardian, or Defender, or if you suffer from asthma, low energy, lack of drive, or brain fog, all of us are susceptible to occasional lulls that take the life force out of us. At least this time, you’ll have some commonly overlooked areas that you can focus on with the help of a great doctor in the functional or integrative medicine field.
The Seven Triggers Blunting Your Brain
First, we need to examine the possible sources that could be causing our adverse symptoms and holding us back.
Throughout my 90-day mission to become unstoppable, regardless of whether I spoke to psychologists, doctors, microbiome experts, lab testing companies, or biohackers, my attention was repeatedly drawn back to seven critical areas that depleted my battery and impacted my mood:
1. Medication
2. Food sensitivities
3. Nutritional deficiencies
4. Digestion
5. Hormones
6. Allergies
7. Toxins
All these triggers have one thing in common; They can cause inflammation within the body and the brain.
In his bestselling book Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster—In Just Two Weeks, Dave Asprey calls this “the muffin top in your brain.” As he notes, the brain is the first part of the body to be affected, regardless of where the inflammation has occurred.
Inflammation releases chemicals called cytokines that can wreak havoc on cognitive processes and have been shown to alter behavior. Researchers have emphasized the role inflammation plays in a host of illnesses including depression and anxiety. This is not to say that inflammation is the sole cause of depression or anxiety.4 To date, there is still no definitive cause for depression or anxiety, due to the many variables influencing those conditions. Hence pharmaceuticals alone aren’t always effective, and a multipronged approach to treatment is often advised.
Short-lived inflammation is healthy and necessary to the healing process. The problem occurs when chronic inflammation takes over, and the immune system remains activated beyond the point of being helpful. Environmental factors, allergies, food sensitivities, diet, stress, and toxins may keep us in mild to severe states of inflammation on a daily basis, which may explain why some doctors find it hard to diagnose, due to there being more than one symptom and possible cause.
If an individual continues to interact with the trigger of the inflammation, causing it to become chronic, it can be serious, leading to the following side effects:
Extreme fatigue
Low mood
Anxiety
High fever
Hot flashes
Swelling/redness
Nausea5
Data has shown that cytokines activate the protein kinase. This can have a significant impact on the metabolism of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate. These neurotransmitters are key to ensuring you have the drive and motivation you need to succeed. Neurotransmitter imbalances can have mild to severe repercussions, including:
Fatigue
Brain fog
Addictions
ADD/ADHD
Mood disorders
Lack of attention and concentration
Hormonal imbalances, low testosterone, hypothyroidism, estrogen dominance
PMS6
The cytokines’ effects can lead to changes in motor activity, motivation, arousal, and alarm.7 At that point, your biochemistry is controlling your body’s reactions. You can attempt to will your way out of these responses, but unless the neurotransmitters are brought back into balance and the inflammation is reduced, you’ll continue to live in a state of fog and imbalance. This may also explain why some people benefit from therapy, while others return to their doctors year after year without improvement: The underlying physiological issues aren’t being addressed.
The cycle can begin with some untoward interaction with a food, toxin, nutritional deficiency, or medication or a problem with digestion, allergies, or even prolonged stress. The reaction could be mild to severe and may impair an individual’s ability to think clearly and stay focused on their goal. (See Figure 3.1 on page 49.)
If the symptoms are mild, typically the individual is criticized for being weak. If it’s severe, medical help is sought, and medication may be offered to treat a symptom without a cause ever being found. This can lead to the prescribed medication having long-term detrimental side effects in other areas of their lives. Some medication, even once use has been discontinued, may leave patients with worse symptoms than the ones the medication was meant to treat.
If your body’s resources are constantly fighting off inflammation, you will barely have enough energy to make it through the day, let alone progress toward your goals. Any energy you have left over is assigned to maintaining the status quo. Hence, many of us can occasionally get stuck, and wonder why our willpower isn’t enough to push through the haze.
Learning to control inflammation is vital to enhancing our mood, memory, and day-to-day performance. To do so, let’s delve further into the top seven triggers blunting our brains.
Medication
While you may not be one of the 25 million people in the U.S. who suffer from asthma,8 you may be in the reported 70 percent of people who are taking a prescription medication of some kind.9 Yes, 70 percent of the U.S. population are taking prescriptions!
The danger of that is that we don’t all respond to medication the same way. People can experience a broad range of side effects, ranging from mild to severe. We might not even relate the symptoms to the medication we’re taking, because our society believes that “doctor knows best.” We fail to ask enough questions of our medical practitioners. We may even go back to the doctor and get another medication to treat our side effects—all without seeking to work out the underlying cause of our problems.
A close friend of mine confided to me that after his daughter had been in an accident and was prescribed opioids to deal with the pain, she became severely addicted. He was expecting a phone call any day saying she had overdosed. Obviously this isn’t everyone’s experience with painkillers, but it does demonstrate how seriously we need to treat prescription medications, particularly in light of the opioid epidemic America is currently experiencing.
Regardless of the medication, there are potential mood-altering side effects that aren’t always clearly described by our doctors. Adverse reactions can be caused by allergies to the medication. Sometimes interactions can occur between two medications, creating severe symptoms that may be wrongly diagnosed as a new illness.
Below is a snapshot of some commonly used medications and their impact on our behavior and mental health. It is important to note that these medications can, of course, be life-saving for many people, and these side effects may not be experienced by everyone. However, they are serious enough to cause concern, particularly if they are only used to mask symptoms and not treat causes.
Ritalin. Used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy. Side effects may include decreased appetite, nausea, anxiety, hallucinations, loss of contact with reality, suicidal thoughts.
Prozac. Used to treat depression, OCD, bulimia nervosa, and panic disorders. Side effects may include nervousness, decreased sex drive, suicidal thoughts or actions, agitation, racing thoughts, reckless behavior, excessive happiness or irritability, or new or sudden changes in mood, behavior, actions, thoughts, or feelings.
Ambien. Used to treat insomnia. Side effects may include memory loss, inability to concentrate, disorientation, emotional blunting, depression and/or suicidal thoughts, anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, confusion, sedation, or aggression. Withdrawal from Ambien can be life-threatening.
Lisinopril. Used to treat high blood pressure. Side effects may include changes in mood, trouble sleeping, or general tiredness or weakness. Cases of suicidal thoughts have been reported online, although this isn’t listed as a warning in the drug’s pamphlet.
The Pill. Used for birth control. Side effects may include depression, mood swings, anger.10 A study published in the 2008 edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society found women were attracted to more genetically dissimilar men before going on the pill. Afterward, they were more attracted to men genetically like themselves. This could result in no longer being attracted to one’s partner once medication is discontinued.11
Requip. Used to treat Parkinson’s disease and restless legs syndrome. Side effects may include intense urges to gamble, increased sexual urges, intense urges to spend money, binge, or compulsive eating.12
New tests have been developed that analyze your DNA to gain a better understanding of what medication might work best for you based on your genetic makeup. One such test is the GeneSight® test (https://genesight.com/product/). This can help doctors personalize treatment plans, identify the right medication fast, and avoid medicines that may cause too many side effects. As with any health issue, a doctor must be willing to work with you to find the underlying cause.
Food Sensitivities
I took note of everything that had changed in my diet before my increase in fatigue, loss of drive and motivation, brain fog, and inability to think clearly. I’d just arrived back in Australia after three months of traveling around the U.S. and Canada, and I had done something out of the ordinary for me when I got back home. I started drinking one to two cups of coffee per day to deal with the jet lag. A couple of months later, I became suspicious it might be the cause of my fatigue and decided to remove it from my diet entirely for 30 days.
I made several key observations: My anxiety reduced, my energy improved, and I didn’t feel as depressed as I had before. I was still extremely tired, but it wasn’t as severe as it had been. It would later turn out that coffee wasn’t the full story, but it was one crucial piece of the puzzle that could not be overlooked.
Further, diving into my research, I uncovered the harrowing story of Ruth Whalen. In her book, Welcome to the Dance: Caffeine Allergy—A Masked Cerebral Allergy and Progressive Toxic Dementia, she recounts her physical and mental health deteriorating to the point that in 1999 she was diagnosed with both a personality disorder and bipolar disorder. Luckily for Ruth, a doctor finally realized it was extreme caffeine sensitivity triggering the episodes.13
Thankfully, stories like Ruth’s aren’t common, but in severe cases of food sensitivity, individuals can appear schizophrenic, experiencing paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.
In my case, I had become extremely sensitive to caffeine, to the point that one cup would leave me feeling depressed for a week before the effects wore off. In later discussions with biohacker Dave Asprey, I would discover it might not be the caffeine or the coffee (the two are very different), but it could be a sensitivity to mold on the coffee beans triggering the reaction. We’ll talk more about this in Chapter 6.
While these examples are extreme, they demonstrate that you might not always know what is holding you back from success. If you present with mild symptoms from the following list, a food sensitivity could be at fault:
Fatigue
Brain fog
Respiratory issues (e.g., asthma, sinusitis, rhinitis)
Headaches/migraines
Eczema/acne/psoriasis
Joint aches and pains
Depression
Anxiety
Sadness
The challenge with a food sensitivity is that even if you remove one problem food from your diet, there may be another causing constant underlying inflammation, so your health may not improve. Antacids may help make your stomach feel better, but that just allows you to keep eating foods that you shouldn’t be eating in the first place.
I knew I felt better when I didn’t eat anything containing gluten, but I didn’t know why. All the gluten sensitivity tests came back negative. I also suspected I had adrenal fatigue; I was constantly exhausted. But when I suggested this to my doctor, I was quickly dismissed. He said that was just a way for health practitioners to sell expensive supplements that we simply pee out in the toilet bowl. I decided I was going to find out for myself. During my 90-day mission, I came across a food sensitivity blood test by the company EverlyWell, which offers convenient at-home health testing kits. The tests are conducted by labs that have been around for decades, the same labs that doctors use in the U.S. to identify food sensitivities. EverlyWell is allowing individuals to run those same tests at a reasonable cost.
You may have seen them featured on ABC’s Shark Tank. Julia Cheek, the founder and CEO, won one of the largest investments ever made on the show for a solo female entrepreneur. Shark Lori Greiner extended a $1 million line of credit in exchange for a 5-percent stake.
EverlyWell mails you a small, convenient testing kit. A little pinprick to the finger, a few tiny samples of blood, and you will have your results back within one to two weeks. I was blown away by mine. I was mildly sensitive to coconut, almonds, coffee, mushrooms, and sunflower.
Thinking I was supremely healthy, I had introduced coconut oil, almond butter, and milk to my diet around the time I became ill. I had never made the connection. Not for one second did I think these healthy recommendations were causing me a whole host of issues. I was also surprised to discover I had a mild sensitivity to baker’s yeast, a common agent used in baking. Differing from gluten, which is a wheat protein, it is a strain of saccharomyces, a fungus. A positive result for baker’s yeast could indicate a yeast imbalance in the gut.
Because baker’s yeast is present in almost everything that contains gluten, I had immediately thought gluten was the problem. That’s where food sensitivities get complicated unless you get a professional test done that checks a whole host of foods. Guessing which foods you are sensitive to could take years. A test shortcuts this process and can alleviate brain fog, fatigue, and insufficient mental clarity once these foods have been removed from the diet. This test checked my body’s response to 96 foods.
These results drove me to reach out to Julia and EverlyWell’s Executive Medical Director, Dr. Francis, via a Skype interview to find out more. Surprisingly, Julia’s experience was very similar to mine. She started the company after suffering symptoms of chronic fatigue and unexplainable aches and pains.
“I had a lot of anxiety, and ultimately these were basic hormone imbalances and adrenal gland imbalances,” Julia said. “But I spent this period—this odyssey—of six months going to tons of different doctors to try to get testing done and complete the issues. The doctors themselves were all excellent, but the problem was that they ordered a bunch of tests, and I was never given access to the results. I didn’t even know what tests were run. I didn’t have explanations.
“Then I started getting these bills coming in from requested lab work every few months, because I was on a high-deductible plan. I started figuring out that the high-deductible, noncoverage situation for Americans was just growing dramatically. The majority of Americans are having to pay so much more for these basic services, and the services actually don’t always relate to them. So I really wanted to say, how can we use technology and digital health to disrupt the traditional experience for consumers and help them get access to this testing in an easier way? Access to tests consumers want, access to a more convenient process, or access to actually one price, a transparent price, is what was needed. You know exactly what you’re gonna pay, and we won’t charge you again. That message has resonated with thousands and thousands of people.”
Julia’s experience was shocking. I asked her how she felt being dismissed by doctors, specifically in relation to her adrenal fatigue. She said, “I was scheduled for a kidney stone removal that they stopped 12 hours before. The X-rays showed that I didn’t have one. I had CAT scans, MRIs, and I was told I just had pulled a back muscle, and that I just needed to relax. I’m always about what are people’s incentives and what are they trying to achieve, and so I wasn’t mad at the doctors themselves. I was mad at the institutions. I was mad at the pressure put on doctors, and how they have to operate, and how they’re incentivized. And they’re often doing the best that they can, but that is with their own constructs. But that is, at the end of the day, not achieving the goal.”
On her mission to biohack her way back to health, she took all her lab results to a functional medicine doctor and an acupuncturist. “They found all these areas, and it was certainly my cortisol that had completely gone just off-the-radar wacky,” she said. “But my vitamin D was dangerously low, my magnesium, my vitamin B6, my vitamin B12, my iron. I was low on all of those, but nobody had put the picture together. I was not low enough, but it was this comprehensive set of things. I almost had very, very bad treatment as a result of not pinpointing the right issues. In looking back, it seems so ridiculous that I almost underwent a procedure when what I really needed to do was just make some lifestyle changes. I think that perfectly reflects this drastic gap in care, and what’s really happening.” Just like Julia, my doctors had failed to identify a severe vitamin D deficiency; they had also overlooked food sensitivities.
When I asked Dr. Francis how the reference ranges are set for vitamins, minerals, hormones etc., that doctors use to tell us if our results are normal or abnormal, she replied, “It’s based on population studies. We have population studies for everything: for mineral levels, for vitamin levels, for what normal cholesterol should be. When you look at cholesterol, the population studies are based upon who developed heart disease vs. who didn’t. So at what ranges is that considered normal vs. elevated risk for heart disease? These normal ranges are really set by society and set by population studies. Within the lab, the reference ranges, those are set based upon biological variability within your body. How much can that marker vary from day to day, from hour to hour within your body, and still be considered normal?
The standard guinea pig in medicine has always been the 70-kilogram [154-pound] man, which was originally set by the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) in the early 1900s. Now, obviously, we are trying to look at different populations because we don’t all fit that mold. I will say that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has done a very good job at separating out pregnant and lactating women. Obviously, what their body needs and what is considered normal for them is vastly different than the standard 70-kilogram man. So we do have some population studies that have been separated out by gender, by race, and by pregnancy status.
When I asked Julia about their most popular test, she replied, “The food sensitivity test is not only one of the most popular, but we get more life-changing customer testimonials and physician testimonials around when they referred their customers to take the test. For women, hormone imbalances have actually improved, and they’ve continued their regular cycles again; even skin conditions have resolved. People with psoriatic arthritis that medication traditionally couldn’t help found foods that were causing what they considered to be inflammatory flares, and their psoriatic arthritis was all but cured.”
Dr. Francis added that other conditions cleared up as a result of the food sensitivity test are bloating, migraines, and sleep disturbances. They’ve even had people who lessened their anxiety and depression through dietary changes. She pointed out that she isn’t saying that food sensitivity causes depression, but “when someone is being evaluated for symptoms of depression, we fail to look at their diet traditionally as a medical doctor. Which sort of confuses me, and it sounds silly, but we have that old saying: ‘You are what you eat.’ Why don’t we look at diet as part of the puzzle when we’re trying to figure out why someone has the symptoms that they do? I think it really does a disservice to our patients. Between all of the additives and chemicals in our food system right now, I think food is probably one of the biggest causes of people being unhealthy.”
All I could think after doctors suggested antidepressants to me was: How many people are put on medication when the cause of their problem is really a food allergy? This research has yet to be done. EverlyWell will be undertaking an opt-in study of their customers that will be one of the biggest of its kind on food sensitivities.
This goes to show that sometimes it’s the simplest things depleting our batteries and influencing our mood and behavior. Validation is crucial at every stage, but so is finding the right practitioner who can interpret the data. I discovered that I should avoid coconut at all costs. After I stopped eating it for a month, I ate a coconut Thai curry without thinking and had brain fog, fatigue, and general malaise for three days afterward. I only realized this link after I looked at my food diary and uncovered the slip-up. It’s the small things that can make a big difference when you’re upgrading yourself for success.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Ninety-two percent of the U.S. population has a vitamin deficiency; could you be one of them?14 Why do deficiencies occur despite many of us eating healthy?
It comes down to farmland soil across the globe becoming deficient in micronutrients. In 2003, Canadian researchers compared the nutrient content of vegetables to data from 50 years ago. They discovered the mineral content of cabbage, lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes had depleted from 400 mg to less than 50 mg.15 As soil quality continues to decline due to changes in farming practices and widespread use of pesticides, we can no longer rely on a balanced diet to get all the nutrients we need to feel alert and sharp.
To my surprise, when my test results came back from Dr. Garcia’s office, they showed I was severely deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D is crucial for more than just lung function and cardiovascular health. It supports the immune system, brain, and nervous system.16 Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to inflammation. Plus, having spent two months at the start of 2017 in the dead of winter in New York City fighting for sunlight didn’t help.
To say vitamin D plays a vital role in mood, behavior, and cognition is an understatement. Despite its importance, vitamin D isn’t always tested by doctors unless we ask for it. Here are some more interesting stats on vitamin D:
One study found more than 40 percent of the U.S. population were vitamin D deficient. Some experts have referred to this as a pandemic.17
Research has discovered that vitamin D may play an integral role in regulating mood and warding off depression. Another study found that individuals receiving vitamin D supplementation showed an improvement in depressive symptoms.18
Cognitive impairment has also been seen in individuals with vitamin D deficiency. This can trigger forgetfulness, confusion, difficulty concentrating, and forgetfulness (see what I did there?).19
Vitamin D deficiency is also related to low testosterone levels in men.20 Testosterone is a powerful hormone that helps burn fat, increase sex drive, and make men happier.21
Having a moderate vitamin D deficiency has been associated with a 53 percent increased risk of developing dementia and a 122 percent increased risk for those who are “severely deficient.”22
It doesn’t begin or end with vitamin D, of course. In Chapter 5, I will break down other key nutritional deficiencies that can trigger inflammation and harm your health and your most precious resource, your brain.
Digestion
Prolonged stress can cause inflammation and chemical changes within your digestive system. This can lead to nausea, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and behavioral symptoms, like procrastination, talking or brooding about stressful situations, difficulty completing assignments, and increased desire to either be with or withdraw from others.23
The brain has a direct effect on the stomach, as the stomach has a direct effect on the brain. This bilateral communication can leave you wondering what is causing your lack of focus, anxiety, and stress: a biological response to a food allergen, highly processed foods, lactose intolerance, or medication, or a biological response to a psychological experience.
Many people find their digestive issues resolve themselves after a stressful experience comes to an end (e.g., a divorce is completed, or they move locations). At that point, they are exposed to new microbiomes that positively affect their digestive processes.
As you’ll discover in the next chapter, revolutionary research into the microbiome is showing it can have a positive effect on mental health, weight loss, tolerance for stress, inflammatory responses, the immune system, and more.24
It is estimated that 90 percent of our body’s serotonin is made in the digestive tract. Microbes help produce serotonin in the gut. Serotonin is a brain neurotransmitter, and many antidepressants focus on increasing serotonin uptake, as low levels of serotonin are associated with depression and suicidal thoughts. Thus, optimal digestion is essential for a positive mood and outlook on life.
Hormones
Controlling everything from emotions, mood, hunger, reproduction, and critical bodily functions, hormones play a vital role in everyday well-being. A hormonal imbalance can cause chronic inflammation, a loss of sex drive, and behavioral changes. A hormone deficiency can wreak havoc in all aspects of your life. Our hormones fluctuate due to aging and dietary changes. Understanding the hormones estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol may give you insight into your personal experiences. Let’s take a quick look at those:
Estrogen. The main sex hormone for women, estrogen causes puberty, prepares the body for pregnancy, and regulates the menstrual cycle. Changes in estrogen levels can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, headaches, mood swings, and decreased sex drive. As reported by Medical News Today, hormone replacement therapy could be the answer to protecting cognitive function from declines related to aging.25
Cortisol. Otherwise known as the “stress hormone,” cortisol kicks in when we’re at our worst and can cause mood swings, which can manifest as anxiety, depression, or irritability. If the cause of stress isn’t eliminated, chronic stress may occur, leading to inflammation within the body and a lack of focus.
Testosterone. The main sex hormone in men, testosterone causes puberty and increases bone density, facial hair growth, and muscle mass. Low testosterone can trigger excessive fatigue, loss of sex drive, anxiety, depression, and weight gain. Testosterone is known to protect against inflammation. Low testosterone has also been linked to asthma being more prevalent in boys than girls pre-puberty. Researchers believe that this may explain why women are more susceptible to asthma than men after puberty.26
According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of Fat for Fuel: A Revolutionary Diet to Combat Cancer, Boost Brain Power, and Increase Your Energy, to balance our hormones, we must start with our diet. That includes taking supplements such as magnesium to improve sex hormone levels and eating high-quality proteins, healthy fat, and fermented and cultured foods that promote healthy hormone levels.27
I have personally found that doctors in Australia are reluctant to check testosterone levels, potentially out of fear that it will lead to steroid abuse. However, research out of the New England Research Institute suggests one out of four men over 30 have low testosterone levels.28 In March 2016, after almost blacking out from getting out of the car, I walked despondently into the nearest vitamin store and came across a naturopath named Hetal Gohil. Close to tears, I asked for her help. After an initial consultation that lasted one hour, she requested my GP check my testosterone levels. My GP refused.
Finally, in February 2018, I sent a blood sample to EverlyWell. My results came back within the lower range of normal. The problem is that I will never know if my testosterone levels were low when I first requested the test. As I was vitamin D deficient, which is frequently linked with low testosterone levels in men, and I had been supplementing with vitamin D for 60 days at this point, my testosterone levels may have increased due to the supplementation.
If you suffer from hay fever, you know better than anyone it can knock you on your arse. The symptoms aren’t just limited to congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and redness. It can also trigger fatigue and headaches. Current evidence indicates that individuals with allergies appear at higher risk (to what degree is unknown) for developing anxiety and mood disorders.29
The matter gets more complicated when specific medications are introduced to help mitigate symptoms. A 2016 study indicated that hay fever drug use could correlate to an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s as well as reduced brain size. Other common side effects could affect cognitive functions negatively, including use of short-term memory, problem solving, and verbal reasoning.30 We may end shortterm suffering, but the potential consequences in later years could be detrimental to the quality of our lives.
This only propels sufferers to seek out alternative treatments without the serious long-term consequences. Thankfully, with the introduction of air filters such as the Molekule and research into the microbiome and probiotics, there are ways to reduce symptoms without taking mind-altering medication that has the potential to affect your daily performance.
Toxins
According to the University of Southern California, aggressive behavior in teenagers could have something to do with an uptick in air pollution. This finding highlights the need for responsible public policy regarding the toxins we breathe, eat, or apply to our skin, which may be impacting the way we behave.31
Furthermore, neurotoxins like heavy metal toxins have been linked to elevated levels of violent crime as well as behavioral dysfunctions.32
While we can’t always control our air quality, we can gain greater awareness of what we put in our bodies and on our skin. Below is a list of the top three toxins we most often overlook, which are linked to a variety of side effects and illnesses, such as headaches, anxiety, depression, brain fog, Alzheimer’s, and hormonal changes. These substances numb our ability to become conscious creators.
1. Aspartame. Popular artificial sweetener, a.k.a. Equal® or NutraSweet®. Found in processed foods labeled “sugar-free,” diet sodas, gum, yogurt, sugarless candy. Aspartame is harmful for your brain. Reported side effects include brain fog, migraines, dizziness, memory lapses, anxiety, depression, and amplified symptoms of ADHD.33
2. Sucralose. Another popular artificial sweetener. Sucralose, otherwise known as Splenda, is sugar bonded to chlorine, making it a toxic chlorocarbon. A surprising side effect of sucralose is that it prevents nutrient absorption and reduces good bacteria in your intestines by up to 50 percent.34 And, as you’ll find out in the next chapter, this could have a significant impact on your well-being. Stevia is a great replacement that won’t impact your blood glucose or insulin.
3. Phthalate. Used in grooming products and plastics. Phthalates are in countless products, including deodorants, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, shaving creams, vinyl flooring, some cosmetics, organic spices, and more. Writing for The Guardian in 2015, Amy Westervelt reported that, “Researchers have linked phthalates to asthma, ADHD, breast cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, low IQ, neurodevelopmental issues, behavioral issues, autism spectrum disorders, altered reproductive development, and male fertility issues.” They have also been shown to disrupt hormones.35 It’s hard to know which products have phthalates, but you can start by staying away from anything packaged in a plastic classified as “Recycle-Code 3.” Instead, stick with containers made from glass or recycled products, and avoid products that list “fragrance” as an ingredient.
Before you decide to cut yourself off from society and hide out in the mountains, there is no reason to panic. Small doses of toxins may even be good for you, as mild stress makes your cells work more efficiently. Air pollution, plastic packaging, and pesticides are a daily part of life. You can reduce your risk by going organic, using an air filter, and detoxing. I’ll step you through my top recommendations in the 13 Weeks to Unstoppable plan later in the book.
Collecting the Statistical Evidence to Back Up How I Felt
I hate guessing. I always have, which was why I didn’t want to assume the cause of my low drive and motivation. I wanted statistical data I could interpret and apply to energize my battery and reignite my spark. After all, a 13-week period to not only heal myself but bring myself to optimal performance didn’t allow much time for trial and error. The realizations had to come hard and fast, and they did.
The further I dove into the research, the more I started to uncover vital patterns that fly under the radar of the average Joe, especially if you’re not a doctor, or work in that particular field of expertise. I found that doctors had multiple blind spots with countless biases, causing them to miss the connections. How could they know how best to treat you if they spend less than five minutes with you and, even if they are well-meaning, would rather give you a prescription than find a cause?
The problem I had to overcome was that each of the experts I spoke with had one piece of the puzzle, but not the entire picture. I was looking at a patchwork quilt, trying to work out what goes where: diet, nutrition, microbiome, psychology … What would have the biggest impact on my health and mind?
As I began to validate my findings, I began feeling vindicated. My symptoms weren’t all in my head; the problem was with my entire system. Once I knew that, I could finally take action. But not before Dr. Garcia diagnosed me with something the experts claim is a silent epidemic most doctors ignore entirely, to the detriment of their patients.
Health Tag and Spire Stone: A wearable device that tracks the rate of your breathing.
It started vibrating in my pants!
As I waited for the train home from the Tony Robbins “Unleash the Power Within” event in West Palm Beach, Florida, my fight or flight response hit maximum overload. A 7-foot man had just stormed into the train station yelling profanities at a much meeker man, accusing him of murdering his sister by giving her bad drugs. We watched in horror as he threw the smaller man like a rag doll at a vending machine in the corner. He quickly picked up the man again and slammed him into the concrete wall. In a deep, loud voice, the tall man demanded he get his luggage and get into the car.
The air was tense. I made eye contact with the other men present. There was no way any of us could have stopped this guy. Both exits were blocked by the altercation, and we were stuck until it was resolved one way or another.
I thought I was about to witness a murder. An elderly lady next to me echoed my thought. And then my Spire, a wearable device clipped to the inside of my jeans, started vibrating. It’s designed to vibrate when it identifies tense breathing via rapid exhalation. This is an unregulated state associated with agitation, anxiety, and cognitive overload. This coincides with sympathetic activation, the “fight or flight” branch of the nervous system. While useful in times of real danger, repeated or frequent exposure is linked to adrenal fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, a compromised immune system, and high cortisol levels.36
It made me painfully aware of my physical response to a psychological stressor. I had worn it for four weeks by that point, so I immediately sucked in a deep breath and started breathing normally again. I felt calm within 60 seconds. The Spire had stopped my fight or flight response in its tracks, no doubt reducing any potential trauma related to the experience by shortcutting the negative emotions.
After the police had arrived and taken the attacker away in handcuffs, I thought that the number-one reason we are not aware of our behavior is because we lack the tools to drive that awareness.
This was just one of many wearables I was using to provide real data and insight into the unconscious behaviors shaping my personality and my experience of the world. I couldn’t just focus on mindset or biochemistry. I had to do both in tandem if I wanted to truly feel unstoppable.
