A railroad employee was working late one night on the railroad tracks, and all of his co-workers had clocked out for the evening. This particular employee worked inside the refrigerator cart and didn’t realize that it was past 11 P.M., and as he was getting ready to clock out himself, he found himself stuck inside the refrigerator cart. He banged on the door and shouted out for help to no avail. Everyone had gone home.
He started feeling cold and shivering. He tried to warm himself up but noticed he kept getting colder each hour. He began writing on the wall inside the railroad car, documenting his thoughts throughout the night. He wrote, “I’m stuck inside this car. It’s freezing and all of my co-workers have gone home.” As the hours passed, he kept glancing at the temperature apparatus inside the car, watching it plummet minute by minute. The next words he wrote were, “I’m getting colder and colder. The temperature is dropping rapidly.” As more time passed, he started to think that he wasn’t going to make it until the next morning at 7 A.M., when the next shift of employees came in.
The last words he wrote were, “I’m freezing to death. I’m not going to make it.” When the next shift arrived in the morning, they opened up the car and found him dead. He had frozen to death. When they investigated the cause of death, it was from hypothermia. What was interesting was that during the investigation they determined that the temperature apparatus was broken. The temperature displayed was many degrees colder than the actual temperature in the car. The temperature never dropped below 55 degrees F, which is not low enough to cause hypothermia. This man’s thoughts created the fact that he was freezing, and it manifested into his own demise. This cautionary tale shows how powerful the mind is.
Our thoughts have a direct influence on our health and longevity. Psychiatrists estimate that the average person has 60,000 thoughts every day. They also determined that 90 percent of those thoughts are the same thoughts from the day before, and 85 percent of those thoughts are negative. Motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar called this stinkin’ thinkin’. I believe if your thinkin’ is stinkin’, your health is shrinking!
In the book Biology of Belief, cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton made the case that thoughts are a frequency, and this frequency has the ability to penetrate your cell membrane and communicate with your DNA nucleus. If the thought is negative, the protein produced by your DNA is inflammatory. This shortens your telomeres and damages your DNA, leading to a shortened lifespan. If the thought is positive, the communication signal sent to your DNA produces anti-inflammatory proteins, which lengthen your telomeres and protect your DNA, extending your lifespan.
In this chapter we’ll explore the placebo and nocebo effects and their influence on your health and wellness. You’ll also learn the extraordinary power of gratitude and purpose as well as the impact your environment can have on your thoughts. If you have 60,000 thoughts per day, then you have 60,000 opportunities to place your entire body in a healing state, every single day. This is the greatest health biohack you will ever learn.
Allow me to share an idea that every human being should learn. Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of Psycho-Cybernetics,1 said in the 1960s that this was the greatest physiological discovery of his generation: Self-image directly influences our success. Let’s say you have the self-image that you are an overweight person, and you make the decision to go on a diet and instantly move into action. You start to lose weight because you’re cutting calories and possibly exercising more, but something happens a few weeks or months in: You find the weight you’ve lost. If you go on a diet without altering your self-image, any weight loss will be temporary. Because self-image is a cybernetic instrument, it measures the deviation from the set goal and immediately corrects course.
The autopilot system in an airplane is a prime example of how a cybernetic instrument operates. Imagine a plane taking off from Chicago with the destination set for Paris, France. Once the autopilot is engaged, it continuously monitors and adjusts the plane’s course to ensure it stays on track to reach Paris. The pilot could, in theory, relax with the passengers, knowing the autopilot will correct any deviations from the intended path. Similarly, when someone has a self-image of being overweight, their internal cybernetic instrument—or subconscious mind—works to keep them aligned with that self-image. Even if they attempt to change their habits, they may find themselves gravitating back to unhealthy foods, like donuts and cookies, as their mind seeks to maintain the status quo of their overweight identity. Just as the autopilot course-corrects a plane, their self-image steers them back to behaviors that reinforce their existing beliefs about themselves. The weight that was lost is now found. To be successful, that person needs to change their self-image (paradigm) and release the weight. As Joel Barker says in Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, “To be able to shape your future, you have to be willing and able to change your paradigm.”2
America’s greatest prosperity teacher, Bob Proctor, explains that paradigms are a multitude of habits that guide every move you make. They affect the way you eat, the way you walk, even the way you talk. They govern your communication, your work habits, your successes, and your failures. There are only two ways to change the paradigm: an emotional impact or repetition.
Nine times out of ten an emotional impact will be a negative experience. For example, back in 2008 when I was going through a devastating breakup, feeling depressed and suicidal, it was enough of an emotional impact to change my paradigm. Eventually this resulted in me transforming my health. Another example of an emotional impact is a crisis like cancer or a serious car accident, when people are confronted with their mortality. Often this changes the way they think about themselves and their outlook on life. Again, it’s usually a negative experience and not the ideal route.
Since significant emotional impacts are unpredictable, I strongly recommend using repetition, the second way to change a paradigm. Repetition is exposing yourself to a new idea over and over again. The point of this is not to memorize information, but rather to impress the idea or image into your subconscious or emotional mind enough times that it replaces the old idea or paradigm that resides there.
Affirmations are a great way to reinforce the new self-image. Part of your 30-Day Metabolic Freedom Reset will be to read the following affirmation each morning and before bed, when the subconscious mind is most impressionable: “I am so happy and grateful now that I am at my perfect weight. I am looking good, and I am feeling great. The perfect health I seek is now seeking me. I remove any blockages between us.”
My client Claire is a powerful example of how mindset can shape our reality. In 2020, she was hospitalized with severe COVID-19, facing life-threatening complications, as her lungs failed and her oxygen levels plummeted. She endured several near-death experiences but eventually mustered the strength to pull through. After spending over a month in the hospital, Claire was released with a new lease on life. However, she was still over 40 pounds overweight and dealing with prediabetes, high blood pressure, and lingering long COVID symptoms that triggered multiple autoimmune conditions.
Claire often referred to herself as a “COVID survivor.” I encouraged her to shift her perspective by writing down an affirmation, declaring herself a “COVID thriver” instead of merely a survivor. With this new self-image, she began making significant progress. Though she occasionally struggled with self-sabotage—her internal cybernetic instrument trying to course-correct to her old self-image—she used her affirmation as an anchor to break the cycle.
Over time, Claire reversed her prediabetes and high blood pressure. After years of relying on an oxygen tank nightly and while traveling, she recently received the green light to stop using it, as her lungs had recovered to optimal function. Her new self-image is one of someone who is thriving, not just surviving, and she continues to work on her health, inspiring her friends and family along the way. This transformation shows just how powerful a positive self-image can be when you fully embrace it.
We’ve been told time after time that seeing is believing, but it actually works the opposite way. When we truly believe something, it will manifest to the point where we see it unfold before our eyes. Dr. Wayne Dyer emphasized the power of belief in shaping reality, encapsulated in his book You’ll See It When You Believe It.
What prevents most people from achieving true metabolic health is their belief system, and because your environment impacts your belief system, it’s important to protect your environment—from the people you spend time around to the commercials you watch and your social media feed. The placebo effect is a perfect example of this.
In his book Anatomy of an Illness, Dr. Norman Cousins explains how the placebo effect was discovered. It was during World War II, when an anesthesiologist named Dr. Henry Beecher ran out of morphine in the middle of a German bombardment.3 Desperate to ease a soldier’s pain, Beecher’s nurse injected a syringe of saltwater but told the wounded man he was receiving the powerful painkiller. The soldier believed he was getting morphine. To Beecher’s astonishment, the saline soothed the soldier’s agony and kept him from going into shock. After Beecher returned to Harvard Medical School after the war, he pioneered the use of “controlled” clinical studies for new medicines, where some of the test subjects would unknowingly receive a placebo. By subtracting the improvement in the placebo control group, researchers could determine whether a drug really worked or not.
The placebo effect can work against you as well. This is called the “nocebo effect,” and it’s a neurobiological phenomenon that can cause negative outcomes when a patient has negative expectations about a treatment. We started this chapter with an example of this with the story of the railroad employee, but allow me to share another powerful illustration.
During a football game in Los Angeles several years ago, a few people became ill with symptoms of food poisoning. The doctor who treated them ascertained that they’d all had Coca-Cola from one of the two dispensing machines by the stands. He naturally wondered if the soda’s syrup had been contaminated or the machines’ copper piping had corroded. But before they could pinpoint the cause, he didn’t want anyone else to be exposed, so he went on the public address system and described the symptoms of the sick people and warned everyone not to drink any more Coca-Cola.
Within minutes, the whole football stadium became full of vomiting people—including many who hadn’t gone to either soda machine. There were five ambulances shuttling back and forth to bring people to a nearby hospital. Later that day, it was determined that there was nothing poisonous in the Coca-Cola machines. As soon as they received the news, the people in the hospital stopped throwing up. There was nothing wrong with them. Dr. Cousins called this “a mass-induced hypnosis,” an acute physical reaction caused completely by people’s minds.4
There’s no question that fear can cause shortness of breath, our temperature to rise, and even make us vomit. Since we live in a world today where fear is the cultural standard, and we’re supposed to avoid risk at all costs, most people let it take over their lives. But here’s the reality: Life is risky. It’s so risky, in fact, that none of us are going to get out of it alive! So it’s critical that we learn to direct and control our own minds. Once we do this, we’ll make ourselves not only healthier but happier as well, transforming the absolute quality of our lives. Bob Proctor nailed it when he said the following in his books You Were Born Rich and The Art of Living, “Faith and fear both demand for you to believe in something you cannot see; you choose!” In other words, “faith is the ability to see the invisible, believe in the incredible, and receive what the masses think is impossible.”5
One of the best ways to put yourself in a healing state—and rewire the brain to believe in healing at all—is with a supplement called vitamin G. Dr. Joe Dispenza is a neuroscientist, author, and lecturer known for his work on the intersection of science and spirituality, particularly how the brain and body can be reprogrammed through meditation and mental practices to achieve personal transformation and healing. He conducted a fascinating experiment where he took 120 people and measured their levels of cortisol and a chemical called IgA at the start and conclusion of the vitamin G workshop. As cortisol rises, IgA, which is a protein, one of the strongest building blocks of life, falls. IgA is responsible for the healthy function of our body’s supreme internal defense system—the immune system. It’s constantly fighting a barrage of bacteria, viruses, and organisms that invade and/or are already living within the body’s internal environment. Bottom line: IgA is better than any flu shot or immune system booster we could possibly take—and it’s totally natural.
During this four-day workshop, Dispenza asked 120 study participants to take vitamin G for nine to ten minutes, three times a day, to determine the following: If they could elevate their emotional states, could they also raise their immunity and reduce stress hormones like cortisol? He discovered at the conclusion of the event that the cortisol levels of participants dropped by three standard deviations, and their IgA levels shot up on average from 52.5 to 86. These are significant, measurable changes. He also observed that when vitamin G is taken, 1,200 different chemical reactions occur that begin to repair and restore the body.6
Another study published by the University of California, Davis, revealed that “People who take vitamin G have 16 percent lower diastolic blood pressure and 10 percent lower systolic blood pressure compared to those who take less vitamin G.”7 According to the same study, “People who take vitamin G have between 9 and 13 percent lower levels of hemoglobin A1c, a key marker of glucose control that plays a significant role in the diagnosis of diabetes.”
Where can you purchase vitamin G? I don’t have an affiliate link or coupon code, because vitamin G is the practice of gratitude. Yes, the studies I referenced are real, done on people who practice gratitude. Now we know that gratitude not only makes us feel good mentally and emotionally but also has a positive impact on our physical health.
There’s a part of your brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). It’s the size of your pinky, located within the hypothalamus and brainstem. The job of the RAS is to regulate behavioral arousal, consciousness, and motivation. In simple terms, it was put inside your brain as a selective-seeking mechanism. There are millions of stimulations that the brain needs to filter out each day. The RAS is a software that we’ve trained to filter out what’s not important, so we only see what is important. If we didn’t have the RAS, the brain would short-circuit from too much stimulation.
Here’s how it works in practical terms. Let’s say you have a goal to purchase a new vehicle. You fall in love with a Tesla model Y, and your favorite color is red, so you begin researching red model Ys. You spend time online comparing new Teslas versus used Teslas, and leasing versus buying. After a few weeks of research, you decide to purchase a brand-new red Tesla. You purchase the car, drive it off the dealership lot, and notice something interesting. As you drive your new car, you begin to see the same exact car, a red Tesla, showing up all over your neighborhood. You notice red Teslas on the road, in parking lots, and at stoplights. Did everyone decide to buy a red Tesla because you purchased one? No, those red Teslas were always there, but now you’ve activated the RAS to see it!
In other words, if you feed energy into all of the problems you have in life—how unhealthy you are and the obstacles to getting well—you’ll see more of this to verify your belief system. When you begin to feed energy into gratitude and healing, however, those obstacles become opportunities. This is a universal law: What you feed energy into expands. In other words, what you appreciate, appreciates. It’s true that what you think about, and thank about, you bring about!
Martin Picard, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University, and Elissa S. Epel, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study on chronic stress and depleted mitochondrial function in caregivers.8 This study looked at the functional index of mitochondrial health (MHI) for human leukocytes (immune cells that help the body fight infections and diseases). The MHI outperformed individual mitochondrial function measures, meaning the MHI was a very accurate way for assessing mitochondrial health. Elevated positive mood at night was associated with higher MHI, and nightly positive mood was also a mediator of the association between caregiving and MHI. In other words, when caregivers practiced gratitude at night, they had healthier mitochondria the next day. Moreover, MHI was correlated to positive mood on the days preceding, but not following, the blood draw, suggesting for the first time that mitochondria in humans may respond to proximate emotional states within days. Correspondingly, the caregiver group, which had higher perceived stress and lower positive and greater negative daily affect, exhibited lower MHI. This suggests that daily fluctuations in mood, especially toward more negative emotions, can adversely affect mitochondrial function over the course of a single day.
Do people who feel more positive and grateful have healthier mitochondria than those who feel negative? Is mitochondrial health shaping how we feel, or is it the other way around? The study revealed that morning and evening mood strongly predicted mitochondrial health, but mitochondrial health did not predict mood.
Experiencing gratitude is linked to increased longevity in older women, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry.9 Researchers from Harvard analyzed data from 49,275 older female nurses and found that higher levels of gratitude correlated with a 9 percent reduction in all-cause mortality and a 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular deaths. The study suggests that intentionally fostering gratitude, such as through regular gratitude journaling, can be a valuable psychological resource for promoting healthy aging and enhancing longevity.
Robert Heinlein said, “In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”10 Daily trivia can include numbing yourself with processed food, consuming social media, playing video games, and even drug abuse. I remember being enslaved by daily trivia in the form of video game addiction, drug addiction, and food addiction. I was told I had an “addictive personality,” but I believe these bad behaviors were simply a result of not being clear on my highest values. Once I determined my purpose in life—which is to educate the world on metabolic health—and began to live on purpose with this purpose, I turned my addictions into a superpower.
Think about the amount of time and energy you spend on your own addictions. Once you become clear on your highest values, you can transfer this energy into a greater good, and it becomes a superpower. The word obsession typically has a negative connotation associated with it, but its definition is “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.” If you become obsessed with your health goals, this is actually positive. Your obsessions become your possessions.
There’s an area of study about your highest values called telos. This is a Greek term that refers to the ultimate aim, purpose, or goal of a person or thing. In philosophy, especially in Aristotle’s works, telos signifies the inherent end that an object or being naturally seeks. For instance, the telos of an acorn is to become an oak tree. This concept is central to Aristotle’s notion of causality and his ethical theory, where the telos of human life is to achieve eudaemonia, or flourishing and happiness. Understanding telos helps in comprehending why entities exist and behave in certain ways, emphasizing purpose-driven processes over random occurrences. Telos is also influential in ethical discussions, as it provides a framework for evaluating actions based on their contribution to achieving the highest good or ultimate purpose.
Lack of purpose is the leading cause of obesity and disease. In the groundbreaking book Recovering the Soul, Larry Dossey, M.D., shared a study that revealed that more heart attacks take place in the United States on Monday morning between 8 A.M. and 9 A.M. In other words, the majority of people have their first heart attack—85 percent of the American public, according to studies—going to jobs they hate. More recent studies support this.11, 12 I believe we have an obesity crisis not necessarily because of what people are eating, but because of what’s eating them.
When you’re clear on your highest values, and live congruently with them, you become unstoppable. Obstacles turn into opportunities. You manifest the energy, health, and vitality to achieve your wildest dreams.
Several studies have examined the relationship between retirement and increased mortality rates. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that male mortality rates increased by about 2 percent at age 62, coinciding with the eligibility for Social Security benefits, which often prompts a surge in retirements.13 This study suggests that the lifestyle changes associated with retirement, such as reduced physical activity and social engagement, could contribute to this increase in mortality.
In 1978, Ellen Langer, a Harvard psychologist, conducted an important study,14, 15 in which she gave houseplants to two groups of nursing-home residents. One group was told they were responsible for keeping their plant alive, and that they had autonomy in their daily schedule; the other group was told that staff would care for their plant, and they were not given choices regarding their daily schedule. After 18 months, twice as many people in the group that was given responsibility for their plant and schedule were still alive as in the other group. Langer took this as evidence that the current biomedical model, which views the mind and body as separate, was wrong. In response, she conducted another study to examine further the mind’s impact on the body.
In 1981, Langer and her graduate students transformed a building to mimic the year 1959, filling it with period-appropriate items like black-and-white TVs, old furniture, and magazines.16 Eight men over the age of 70 lived there for five days, instructed to act as if they were 22 years younger. They discussed 1950s events, watched old movies, and referred to themselves as they were in 1959. The men were treated as if they were in their 50s, not their 70s, and were not given any physical assistance, even when it was difficult. They were told to carry their belongings upstairs, one shirt at a time if necessary. This was to reinforce their younger self-image.
The goal was to see if mentally living in a younger era could trigger physical improvements. Remarkably, by the end of the study, the men showed improvements in hearing, eyesight, memory, dexterity, and appetite. Those who needed canes walked without them, and all participants displayed increased independence and vitality. Langer’s experiment highlighted how changing perceptions of age and ability can lead to significant biological changes, offering the men an opportunity to view themselves not as elderly but as vibrant and capable individuals. This mental shift had profound physical effects, demonstrating the powerful connection between mind and body. Participants who maintained a youthful self-image by having clear goals and a sense of purpose in their lives experienced increased energy and vitality. This positive mindset and drive translated into healthier and fitter bodies as they worked toward achieving their objectives.
Let’s return to Dr. Norman Cousins, who was renowned for his pioneering work on the healing power of laughter. Diagnosed with a severe and painful condition called ankylosing spondylitis in the 1960s, Cousins was given a grim prognosis with little chance of recovery. However, he developed a unique approach to his treatment, emphasizing the therapeutic benefits of laughter and a positive attitude. Cousins found that watching comedic films like the Marx Brothers’ movies and Candid Camera episodes significantly reduced his pain and improved his overall health. His regimen of “laugh therapy” included regular doses of humor, which he documented in his influential book Anatomy of an Illness.17
Cousins’s experiences and subsequent research demonstrated that laughter could trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and reduce stress hormones. This, in turn, enhanced immune function and promoted relaxation. His work has inspired further studies on the impact of humor and laughter on health, highlighting its potential to alleviate pain, improve cardiovascular health, and enhance emotional well-being. Overall, Norman Cousins’s contributions have significantly shaped our understanding of the mind-body connection and the role of positive emotions in healing, making laughter an essential component of holistic health practices.
Incorporating laughter into daily routines may offer surprising benefits for metabolic health. Research has shown that participating in a structured laughter program can lead to measurable improvements in body composition, including reductions in body weight, BMI, and abdominal circumference. These effects are likely due to laughter’s ability to reduce stress, a known contributor to metabolic dysfunction. Laughter has also been found to mimic the physiological benefits of moderate exercise by improving heart rate and muscle relaxation, further enhancing its potential to support metabolic health.18
Regular bouts of laughter can decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is often elevated in individuals with metabolic syndrome. By reducing cortisol and other stress-related biomarkers, laughter not only promotes a positive mental state but also contributes to a healthier metabolic profile. These findings suggest that incorporating more humor and laughter into your life could be a simple yet effective strategy to support metabolic health and overall well-being.19
Environment is more important than heredity because it impacts the thoughts you think, your self-image, and your belief system. This determines the actions you take (or don’t take), which then affect your results, and eventually your destiny.
I’ve noticed when I make changes in my life, my friends and family members are not always on board. This is because when someone changes, they become a threat to all those who don’t. The perfect example of this is the “crabs in a bucket” story, which is often used to describe a situation where individuals in a group hold each other back from achieving success. It’s similar to how crabs behave when trapped in a bucket: When one tries to escape, the others will pull it back down, ensuring that none of them escape. Similarly, some people may sabotage or discourage others’ efforts to improve their circumstances out of envy, competition, or a desire to maintain the status quo.
This is why part of your 30-Day Metabolic Freedom Reset will be to do an environmental audit and to make the necessary changes for you to achieve massive success. This simple exercise will empower you to take control of your environment, which is crucial for mastering your metabolism. By engaging in this practice, you’ll be able to clearly identify the people in your life who energize and support you versus those who drain your energy, often referred to as “crabs.” Recognizing these influences is key to creating a positive, supportive atmosphere that fosters better metabolic health.
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In my work with clients, I’ve come to see just how critical their thoughts and self-image are to their success. Even when someone is practicing keto and fasting and following the reset, if their mind still believes they’ll never get healthy or lose the weight, they’ll experience setbacks.
If you find yourself struggling at any point in the program, be sure to tune into your thoughts and make sure they are positive. In the next chapter I’ll share some of my favorite cutting-edge health biohacks to make the process even smoother and easier for you.