♦ Introduction ♦

This is the four-part guide that will help you become biologically younger. There’s nothing you can do to change your chronological age, but there’s a whole lot you can do to rejuvenate your mind and body.

Begin by first reading:

The Four Pillars of a Long and Strong Life.

This article will prepare you for the material on this page. I recommend that you read it before continuing.  Of course, since you’re here, feel free to scroll down the rest of the page and get a sense for the content, but once you’re ready to dig in, go read The Four Pillars of a Long and Strong Life .

Once you’ve read it, move on to Habit Making, Part 1 of the Series.  As you begin, remember this:

• Remember #1: Progression, step by step is the way to climb the mountain.
• Remember #2: Recruit friends to join you.

Taking one of those actions will be helpful. Doing both will make this new journey of yours not only more enjoyable, but successful.

Part 1: How To Establish New Habits

Whatever is going on in your life is probably due to habits, good or bad. Bringing something new and good into your life requires ratcheting down the unwanted habits and ratcheting up the potential to acquire those desired habits.

Making new habits stick is one of the fundamental parts of the “Mindset Pillar” you’ll be learning about in the future.

For Part 1, I want to share three articles with you that offer practical advice on how to make new habits:

 

1. How To Make Tiny Habits Big is based on Stanford University professor BJ Fogg’s research. The concept is that you begin by making a habit out of something simple to do that then becomes a stepping stone to a larger, more significant habit that you believe will culminate in the achievement you want.

Wanting is not the same as actually planning what you want, and then working the plan.  It’s the “doing” that makes something happen, not the wanting.

The difference could be tiny habits.

Tiny habits tied to already established routines are easy to do and can grow to become substantial, beneficial changes in your life. Read more about this technique and process here.

 

2. How To Build A Better Life With Morning Habits argues that beginning your day with conscious intent is an excellent way to help ensure that you shape your day’s experience the way you want it to be.

Yes, you may wake up groggy and basically sleep-walk your way to work, but this is not a useful way to take control and get what you want out of your life.

Stringing together small simple morning habits can set you on the right track to reach the destination you desire.

As the Chinese proverb wisely advises, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” Your first step begins when you first wake up. Continue with this here.

 

3. The Genius Of Doing — How To Change When Change Is Hard is based on a wonderfully insightful book called Switch by brothers Chip and Dan Heath.

When it comes to making changes in one’s life, the central idea here is to break the desired change into small, doable steps. And then shape the path so you don’t stumble as you begin your journey

Make it like gravity, inevitable, as described right here.

Once you’ve finished with the three articles in Part 1, you’ll be ready to make some good habits out of the material that is next presented in Part 2.

Part 2: How To Detox and Harmonize Hormones

Oh, you didn’t agree to do a detox cleanse?

Well, obviously I can’t force you to, but I can demystify it a bit and give you some good reasons to do it.

(We’ll get into hormones in a minute…)

Right now in America, and probably in every industrialized nation, every baby born begins life with almost 300 chemicals in his/her body.

And, I suggest, they’re in your body too.

The non-partisan research organization, Environmental Working Group, made that conclusion public after a study of umbilical cord blood of American babies. (1)

Some of the chemicals found are present in plastic objects such as Bisphenol A (BPA), flame retardants, lead, and PCBs. Such chemicals, and others in our bodies, are increasingly linked to serious long-term health effects, such as, cancer, autism, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disorders, infertility, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

The good news is that you can slowly get rid of many of these chemicals, not to mention parasites.

Yep, you undoubtedly have them as well. Ugly creatures.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 60 million Americans carry at least one potentially harmful parasite, a protozoan parasite, called Toxoplasma gondii. (2)

Parasites, along with various harmful bacteria in our gut, can make us sick, prone to chronic disease and even alter our behavior. It’s a mighty fine idea to give them the boot.

And so Detox Cleansing is an important biohack. The idea here is once you’ve learned how to cultivate new habits, a real good place to direct this newly minted mind controlling ability is on pushing the reset button with a Detox Cleanse.

Among the many I’ve written on the subject, I’ll direct your attention to three. But know that none are complete programs for expunging all the heavy metals, chemicals and parasites from your body.

That is an undertaking that I plan on address sometime in the future. (Update: here’s the first installment.) For now, just get yourself oriented to the idea that detox cleaning is an idea worthy of your consideration.

Go wade into these three articles:

 

1. Choose Your Detox Cleanse: One Of These Three Will Work For You! introduces three general detox cleanses. The first is brain-dead simple, the second just simple, and the third requires you to dip a bit deeper.

In line with our “shape the path” approach, if you resist cleansing, try the first one — you just pop some herbal “pills” in your mouth. Then progress to the other two.

 

2. Dr. Oz: How to Prepare for Your Cleanse explores some suggestions America’s most famous doctor offers about how to decrease the so-called “Detox Effect” (it’s when you feel lousy) and how to prepare for a cleanse.

How you prepare for a cleanse is as important as the cleanse itself. It’s a really good idea to begin reducing your consumption of meat, sugar, grains and caffeine before you begin. Go read about it here.

 

3. The Ultimate Heavy Metal Detox is a look at the “Niacin Detox Protocol” extolled by Doctors Mercola and Yu. It’s a proven, effective way to detox the chemicals from your body, they say, and I’m inclined to agree, although this is one detox cleanse that I’ve yet to experience.

You may note that various sources claim widely different numbers when it comes to how many toxic chemicals are in our bodies; this article mentions various mind-boggling numbers.

So, go grab your bottle of niacin, your rebounder, run the hot water and jump over to The Ultimate Heavy Metal Detox.

And now to Hormones…

From Wikipedia:

A Hormone is a class of regulatory biochemical that is produced in all multicellular organisms by glands, and transported by the circulatory system to a distant target organ to coordinate its physiology and behavior.

Hormones serve as a major form of communication between different organs and tissues. Hormones regulate a variety of physiological and behavioral activities, including digestion, metabolism, respiration, tissue function, sensory perception, sleep, excretion, lactation, stress, growth and development, movement, reproduction, and mood.

Generally, only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. The brain is often a target organ for many of the hormones, and the brain, in turn, regulates the secretion of these hormones.

(Source)

From the above description, note the following:

• Hormones regulate nearly everything, from behavior to body functions.
• Hormones are very powerful — it doesn’t take much of them to make a big difference, good or bad.

When we’re young and healthy, our hormones are usually functioning well. But as we age, the hormones change, and not for the better.

By the time we’re in our late twenties, Human Growth Hormone is already in precipitous decline:

After our thirties, testosterone in men begins to decline, and both genders lose lean muscle tissue.

After menopause, women have decreased levels of estradiol and other estrogen hormones.

The thyroid also begins to become nodular (lumpy) causing a slow down of metabolism.

For each year after 50, the average fasting glucose level rises 6 to 14 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter), because the cells become less sensitive to the effects of insulin.  De-sensitized insulin is a primary cause of obesity.

So you can see that proper hormone function is critical for health, and for youthful aging.  Trying to improve your health by diet, supplements and exercise is like swimming against the tide if your hormones are not working well.

Ergo, hormone optimization is a critical part of living a long, strong and vital life.

To get your feet wet on this hormone topic, read:

• The Poorly Performing Hormone That May Cause Your Chronic Health Problems, Part 1, and
• Boost Your Testosterone Numbers Naturally.

You’ll be notified about the next part of “The Poorly Performing Hormone” once it’s written via Sunday’s Newsletter, and I’ll also put the link on this page.  (Update: here it is, Part 2)

Once you’re done with the material presented above, you will have learned the art of Habit Making and will have applied it to some Cleansing.  Next is the build-the-body-up part, starting with “Fuel”.

Part 3: Fuel Your Body

Diesel, gas or water — which do you put into your vehicle’s gas tank?

If you expect it to work properly, you fill it with the fuel for which it was designed.

Your body’s no different.

Our bodies are vehicles too. They need specific fuels to move, leap, squat, run, lift and to just be human.

The difference is that our bodies are a lot smarter than our other vehicles, and thereby can deal with whatever junk you fuel them with… for a while.

Eventually, though, things get messy. Without out the right fuel, our bodies get sluggish, diseased, over-sized and dead before they need to.

“Fuel” is the third Pillar. It’s third because once you’ve developed the ability to form new habits, which include doing detox cleansing and hormone optimization to Reset your body, the next step is to fuel it properly.

Get into these five articles:

 

1. Your Very Best Diet, Verified by Science, Naturally is a summary of a scientific inquiry two scientists made into evaluating what is the very best diet for we humans. It winds up being pretty basic. But if you’ve every played an organized sport, you’ll remember that it’s the fundamentals, repeated ad infinitum, that wins the game. Read it here.

 

2. What the Heck is ApoE and Why Does It Reveal Your Perfect Diet? is a deep dive into what is unexplored territory for most of us, the genetic basis for diet. This article is actually an email thread between me and Alex, the daughter of my college friends.

She is attending medical school, and had some questions for me. [Update: She graduated!] Our exchange examines the debate about vegetarianism, coffee, cholesterol and fat, and I check the evidence that the perfect diet for you may be genetically determined. Go here.

 

3. Diet 101 is my primer on diet taken from my personal experience and study. I begin it thus:

The food and drink you consume must be managed like every other important thing in your life. Eat more small meals, less big ones. Hydrate with pure water rather than drinks dolled up with color, sugar and chemicals. Plan your snacks. Supplement. Move!!

Go over to Diet 101, and bring a notepad with you.

 

4. The Baby Boomers Guide to Trimming Body Fat goes deep into my daily heath habits, primarily centered around food and exercise.

Not a Boomer?  Hardly matters.  This information is gold for anyone.  And there’s lots of it — information, not the gold part — so be patient, take your time and apply what you learn. The article is right here.

 

5. Three Things You Do Everyday That Lower Your Testosterone examines diet and that very vital hormone, testosterone.

Yes, testosterone is vital for both men and women, but the testosterone part of this article is more apropos for men, although the rest of it — the simple carb blood sugar connection, the low-fat diet myth, too little protein and muscle making — is equally applicable to both genders.

“Three Things” is right here.

(Update: Here’s one for women: Bio-identical Hormone Therapy Is Simple — Just Follow Mother Nature’s Recipe.)

OK, the drum roll continues… if you’ve read and put into practice at least some of what’s been presented above, you’re now ready to get strong, Part 4.

Part 4: Improve Your Mobility, Aerobic/Anaerobic Capacity and Strength

That title pretty much encapsulates what will be in the fourth Pillar, “Move”. And to get you started on this front I have a video-packed “how to” six-part series called:

> The Functionally Fit Fast Workout <

I’ve curated really good exercises from some of the best practitioners that present their techniques on the Web. Along with my incessant commentary, naturally.

 

BONUS

12 Ageproof Biohacks’ Advance Copy

I’m writing a book. The provisional title is: The Ageproof Method: 12 Biohacks for A Long and Strong Life. Six of the 12 biohacks are in their final drafts and are of sufficient quality (I hope) to share with you.

Dig right in:

Biohack #1: Create Your Day in 5 Minutes

Biohack #3: Meditate Like A Monk In 20 Minutes

Biohack #4: Detox What Ages You

Biohack #6: How to Boost Your Testosterone Naturally and Fast

Biohack #7:  Tweak Your Paleo Diet To Increase Longevity and Bend the Age Curve

Biohack #8: Get More Sex and A Longer Life by Supercharging Your Blood, Part 1 and Part 2.

I’m am busily writing the rest of the chapters, and you’ll be the first to know once it’s finished.  In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, take a minute and select the one of 12 biohacks most important to you:

Make Your Choice >

Your input will help show me where to place the proper focus, not only on the articles I write, but with the book as well.

Final Words

The four-part series on “how to build a strong and youthful body” began with developing the right habits (Pillar 1, “Mindset”) so that we could then make habits from the information and techniques presented in detox/hormones (Pillar 2, “Reset”), fuel your body (Pillar 3, “Fuel”) and mobility/strength (Pillar 4, “Move”).

It took time to age and develop whatever attributes you may be experiencing.

It will take time to slow this down, or reverse whatever attributes are unwanted.

Becoming biologically younger is not only possible, but probable if you apply yourself to what you will be learning here.

These positive changes start with getting your mind set ready for the age-proof journey, then some detox cleansing and hormone optimization, followed by diet and supplements and strength/mobility conditioning.  Remember, nothing happens until your mindset shifts enough to make the new habits that gets it all rolling.

The “Biohacks” above presented will give you a good idea about how much your aging process rests in your hands.  May you find some inspiration in those pages.

I’ll leave you with one last thought:

Breathe!

(If you need help with that, read this!)

Yes, calm down, relax, don’t get all flummoxed about how much there is to know or do.

One step at a time. Just set your intention, lift a leg and set that foot down.

Then another.

Ciao for now.

– Joe

 

 

 

P.S. If you see the light and want to recruit a buddy or two to join you on this journey, just copy and email them this link:

https://garmaonhealth.com/live-a-younger-stronger-life/