Depending on how far you’ve been able to burrow into the world of natural health, you may or may not be aware of the whole juicing controversy going on. What is it? Essentially this: people are fighting over juicing versus blending.

Sure, it’s funny – but it’s also an important topic to take a closer look at and get to the bottom of. After all, if you have a juicer or blender in your home or plan on getting one soon, there are some key points you’ll want to take home today. No matter what your position, at least you’ll have an intelligent comment to contribute should you get caught in the controversy first-hand!

Advocates of juicing say that it’s the easiest way to get nutrients into the body; you simply “juice” any fruit or vegetable, and you’ve got a light, easy drink ready-to-go! Because it’s just the juice, it’s quick to drink and even quicker for the body to absorb. It’s getting the true value of the fruit or vegetable without having to deal with the trouble of eating it.

But here’s where proponents of blending come in. Although blending eliminates “the trouble of eating it”, it doesn’t eliminate the fiber. That’s the #1 most significant difference between juicing and blending – and the real source of any argument. When you take out the fiber in juicing, the body can absorb the juice incredibly efficiently – but when sugar is involved, it often ends on a sour note with an energy crash (and certainly mood as well). On the other hand, the fiber in blended foods remains a part of the final product, which allows it to be absorbed closer to its natural rate of absorption – which, again, is absolutely critical when sugar is involved.

Let’s consider a modern example that may hit home for you personally: orange juice. It’s easy to learn new information like this, but more challenging to apply or implement it in our lives. That’s why we turn to a household juice. The process doesn’t start with pouring a glass out of the container in the fridge; it starts with whole, ripe oranges. Traditional orange juice has no fiber (or “pulp”), while certain brands offer the juice with the pulp intact (think more along the lines of blended oranges). What’s the difference? It’s not just taste.

The traditional orange juice can cause a tremendous spike in blood sugar and an avoidable mid-day crash with overindulgence. It’s easy to throw back a glass or two of orange juice in the morning – after all, it’s sweet and it tastes great ;) The point here is to realize that it’s simply fruit juice, and that adding that fiber or pulp back in helps to control the release of those natural sugars for more even energy throughout the day. You can also think of it as eating a whole food, rather than pressing out the “sweet nectar”. It’s tempting, but follow your body. The next time you’re juicing or blending — or even just reaching for a glass of orange juice — pay attention to how you feel drinking different amounts and trying new options. You might just get rid of that mid-day crash and find an easy way to increase your daily energy!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

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Let’s face it: I’m sure you’ve heard people talk about the wonders of seaweed before. Whether it’s in the spa and therapeutic arena or just in your local health food store, seaweeds have been creating a buzz in the natural and alternative health realms for quite some time. Why all the buzz? What are people talking about here?

The most critical point you can pick up about seaweed is that it’s wild. It’s a group of completely natural plants that thrives in the oceanic environment – which, by the way, means that these plants are grown with ALL minerals in the “soil”. Besides some of the more common minerals we get here, we’re getting all of the trace minerals that are depleted in today’s modern agriculture. Think 30 minerals is healthy? Try getting all 92.

While this gives you some insight into why the plants may be so therapeutic in spa treatments and alternative therapies, what we’re going to focus on here and now is eating seaweed. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: “I don’t know if I really want to eat seaweed…” but the truth is, you don’t have to turn this into a meal at all…or even a chore. Two easy ways to get this powerful group of foods into your diet regularly are by sprinkling a powdered/flake form (think salt container and low-sodium salt alternative) over your salads and other meals, or by adding a bit to a healthy smoothie (so you don’t even notice the taste, but reap all of the health benefits).

Before we get too far into the how, I’d like to really get back into why again. We know that “sea veggies” are highly-mineralized, but let’s consider just how potent and concentrated they are as well. You can get some of the highest-quality nutrition out there just from a teaspoon full of the flaked form – easy! This is because dried seaweed is so much more compact than the original wet seaweed. This gives you an awesome advantage – not to mention a better texture than the original slimy leaves!

Another reason to consider taking a closer look at seaweed is their alkalinity. Seaweeds are generally extremely alkaline, which can help balance out the acidic imbalance of most common diets today. This allows your blood to move more smoothly and can dramatically enhance the amount of energy you have available to yourself in your daily life. Having a strong acid-alkaline balance (closer to 7.0) means more energy for you, but also vastly improved health. Improved health means a better body, mind and lifestyle – and, more often than not, longevity…being able to stick around and see the wonders of life for a few more years than you would’ve had you not taken care of yourself.

I’ll add in one more bit, too: the glyconutrient profile of seaweed is astounding. While commonly termed glyconutrients, these long-chain sugars are also referred to as polysaccharides – you may know them by any one of these descriptions. What’s important is that these long-chain sugars give us steady, long-term energy to run off, as well as boost our immunity and restore elasticity to our joints and tissues. By cycling in various common types of seaweeds (such as kelp, nori, dulse and sea lettuce), we’re able to get all 8 essential glyconutrients into our diet – and thrive as a result.

I’d like to thank you for sticking with me through one of the tougher topics for people to wrap their heads around; seaweed can be one of those “mental blocks” for some people, and they simply won’t allow in important information that could change their lives for the better. I personally enjoy small amounts of kelp, dulse, laver and sea lettuce on a regular basis and it couldn’t be any simpler! Take advantage of the mineralization, alkalinity and glyconutrient profiles of these wild, vital plants and let me know how it goes!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. If you’re one of the people wondering where they can find this stuff, it’s commonly right around the corner at your local health food store! If you’d rather not have to take the trip or can’t find one nearby, you can pick it up online for cheap anytime over at Sunfood.com.

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Something you may or may not be aware of is the fascinating field of oxygen therapy that has emerged over the last few decades. Why is it gaining momentum in the health world? While the therapies come in many forms, they all come back to one guiding principle: oxygen kills disease. How can they hold up this bold claim? We know for a fact that most of the harmful organisms in our bodies (many types of viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc) are anaerobic- that is, they don’t breathe oxygen. In fact, oxygen completely kills them off! On the other hand, we’ve found out that many of the beneficial organisms in our bodies actually thrive on oxygen…aerobic organisms. Through our conscious intake of oxygen, we’re actually able to help determine the internal environment of our own bodies, which is where all the action really takes place.

But where do we take this information from here? Do we breathe more deeply? Do we need to get ozone treatments? In fact, oxygen can be derived in a large number of ways, and we can also enhance our ability to absorb the oxygen already available to us. Dramatically improving our health through higher oxygenation doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult in the least if we can take the time to learn more about the process and its roles in the body. The first major point is the one mentioned above, being that oxygen kills off harmful organisms in the body, while allowing beneficial ones to thrive. This alone has huge implications, seeing as anaerobic organisms are responsible for a great deal of the disease and illness we’re seeing more and more of every day!

Another point that really doesn’t get the attention it deserves is the correlation between oxygen and energy levels. It has been said that up to 90% of our energy comes from oxygen! While many take energy for granted or assume it comes only from what we eat or drink, oxygen is in fact our main source of energy. The oxygen we take in allows our minds to function at peak performance, in turn benefiting every bodily process controlled by the powerhouse that is the human mind. In other words, when the brain has access to more oxygen, it can do its job better- and that means it’s better able to build and maintain a strong, healthy, vital body.

At A Glance: Reasons To Up Your Oxygen Intake

–> Increased Energy, Stamina & Endurance
–> Increased Nutrient Uptake (Getting In Vitamins, Minerals, Etc)
–> Better Sleep & Stronger Immune System
–> Enhanced Learning & Concentration
–> Improved Memory & Brain Function
–> Accelerated Healing & Recovery Of The Body
–> Stronger Heart Muscles & Lower Blood Pressure
–> Better Circulation
–> Internal Cleansing Of Toxins & Anaerobic Organisms

The list of benefits can be astounding for something so simple that we often take for granted! Unlike activites such as exercising and stretching, which we consciously choose to do, oxygen is an automatic part of the health equation; we’re always taking in oxygen through breathing and other means, but it’s up to us to take control of that process and get the results we’re after. So we’re back to the question posed earlier: how can we increase the level of oxygen in our bodies?

As it turns out, all exercise increases the flow of oxygen to the brain. That’s one of the main reasons to maintain a consistent, weekly exercise routine- even if it’s just minutes a day, the benefits can be enormous…it’s not all about building muscle! All forms of exercise including yoga, weight training, running, kayaking, and even playfully chasing after the family pet can provide the benefits of oxygenation at some level. Part of the reason for this is the deep breathing caused by exercise, which of course moves more oxygen through the system. This statement reveals yet another way to get more oxygen: deep breathing. By changing from the habit of short, shallow breaths to taking longer, deeper breaths we can completely change our oxygen intake in seconds. Note that both exercise and deep breathing are completely free and take very little time out of our days (we breathe anyway!). These are two great ways to realize the benefits of higher oxygenation.

Exercise and deep breathing aren’t the only ways, however; you may recall the oxygen therapy mentioned at the start of this page. Oxygen therapy is the process of using oxygen in a therapeutic way to help foster good health in the body. While many people have found success in turning to oxygen therapies for healing ailments and disease, even the healthiest of people can benefit as well. For those interested, there are many methods to be explored and certainly some will work for some people, while not for others- it all comes down to what you’re comfortable with and what makes sense to you. Either way, it’s a fascinating field to look into, and certainly for further investigation into this vital aspect of health.

One last thing to be aware of, relating to oxygen, is that not all air is created equal! It’s common sense that the more toxins and pollutants there are in the air, the more work our body has to do to process and eliminate those toxins. The easiest way to maintain radiant health and vitality is to breathe in the highest quality air possible as much as possible. Any wooded area is a great place to be in, even if just for a brief hike, walk or jog; this is mainly because the trees themselves give off more oxygen, but also because these areas are naturally less polluted than the surrounding communities and cities. Trips to the beach and the mountains are also great for getting some oxygen into the system, and it really is fascinating how we tend to do these things instinctively. In short: breathe the best quality air possible and increase the level of oxygen in your body to start seeing some real changes in your life!

Unleash Your Vitality,

– John Brackett

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Magnets? …And health?

I don’t have to tell you twice that diet and exercise play absolutely critical roles in your health and well-being. But here’s something most people DON”T know: that certain types of magnets have been proven – time and time again – to be incredibly effective at healing and revitalizing the body!

Actually, let’s take a look at a handful of the documented, proven benefits of magnetism that most people have absolutely no idea about:

=> Neural Regeneration
=> Quickened Healing of Fractures
=> Assistance With Joints and Rotator Cuffs
=> Nerve Vitality
=> Anti-Depressant
=> Enhanced Ability To Utilize Oxygen
=> Increased Production of Youth Hormones
=> Higher Blood Alkalinity

The story goes that in ancient times, there were masters who would find this rare, magnetic earth at certain key locations and do their life-enhancing practices there…for they knew the true benefits of magnetism. These were some of the “masters of old” who were known for their incredible longevity and depth of life. And magnetism was an important part of it?

Consider that today, many elite athletes have found that the proper use of magnets has been able to drastically increase strength while simultaneously reducing recovery time – a critical advantage in any peak performance athlete. But don’t gloss over this if you don’t consider yourself an athlete – the principles are the same. Don’t you think that if it improved strength and recovery time for elite athletes that it’d do something for you too?

Naturally, I’m fascinated by magnetism and the connection between us as humans – walking, biomagnetic beings – and the magnetism of the earth. What I discovered some time ago is that there is research suggesting the earth may have formerly been at a level of 4.0 gauss thousands of years ago (gauss being a measurement of magnetism).

The interesting part?

Most research puts us at a level of 0.3 to 0.6 gauss today. That’s it?!? Consider the difference between 4.0 gauss and 0.3-0.6 gauss. It’s significant. What’s even more significant is this insight I can’t stop wondering about: when we tie together the incredible health and longevity benefits that are being seen in the application of rare earth magnets WITH the fact that the magnetic field of the earth is declining, we come to the conclusion that we as a civilization may be missing out on what used to be an important piece of the health and vitality puzzle thousands of years ago.

But how does magnetism affect the human body?

It is well established that the human body naturally has its own bio-electric field, which is also associated with a magnetic field. We know that we’re bio-magnetic beings! Doesn’t it make sense, then, that we would be strongly affected by other magnetic fields (think the magnetic field of the earth)? Here’s something that may blow your mind: the positive magnetic field you experience during the day is associated with your serotonin production, and the negative magnetic field you experience at night is tied in with your melatonin production. Have you heard of problems with these two hormones? You can count on it!

But what’s interesting to me is what happens when you reconnect with the earth’s magnetic field again. Your body starts to get in-sync and produce the youthful hormones that keep you looking and feeling great…for years to come. As an added bonus, you’re able to feel alive and revitalized during the day and fall asleep at night…like we’re supposed to.

One last note for you here: the magnetic field also alkalizes your blood and allows red blood cells to better utilize oxygen. If you’ve ever studied the acid-alkaline balance and its implications on health and energy levels, you know that increasing your level of alkalinity is a significant benefit. Because disease thrives in an acidic environment, it’s so important to maintain a healthy pH balance in your body.

We’re continuing to learn more and more about magnetism as we move forward in natural health and alternative therapies, and I hope this post has done a great job on bringing you up to speed and has given you some new insights and ideas on what possibilities are waiting for you.

I’m posting a link below to someone who I consider to be an insightful teacher and an active problem-solver in the world – who’s also got some incredible innovations in the field of magnetism. He’s the one who has taken the rare earth magnets – the type used in healing and natural health as talked about above – and made them available to the public in the form of magnetic exercise balls, magnetic mattress pads, and much more. They’re fascinating, and if this is something that interests you I’d highly recommend checking out his website for more information – he’s got some incredible research and personal stories to share with you (click the picture below and then find “magnetic products” or “magnetic pads” on the left menu):

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

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Over the last two weeks together, we’ve explored two of the most critical aspects of longevity and anti-aging: having a reason to live (with your close relationships, purpose and passion in life) and eating a healthy, balanced diet full of bright, colorful fruits and vegetables (with all kinds of nutrients that help keep you and your skin looking young and vibrant). One of the most well-known success principles is the 80/20 principle – the principle being that 80% of your results stem from just 20% of your actions – clearly making those actions the most effective ones available to you. When you take this to heart and start looking for those 20% of activities that lead to 80%+ of your results, you start seeing results…period.

What single practice do you think could lead to massive results in health, fitness and energy levels – with very little time commitment?

…Exercise! Specifically, weight lifting and resistance training.

Here’s one of the key longevity tie-ins: bone mass and development. One of the key concerns that comes with aging is the breakdown of bone strength and durability, leading to potential fractures and injuries. Weight training is one of the most effective ways to keep your bone strength and development up in a healthy, active range – for life. Besides that, you’ll be working on muscle strength and development at the same time. The combination of muscle and bone strength and development is what allows us to remain active and youthful. It could be moving heavy rocks while gardening, taking a nature hike, or fueling a vigorous 7-day kayaking adventure. Whatever you’re up to in life, you want to focus on the small number of effective actions that can give you the results you’re looking for.

If  you’ve been reading for some time, you may remember our discussion on HGH and cortisol levels in the body. What this really came down to was that a vigorous, 20-something-minute workout was enough to dramatically increase the body’s production of Human Growth Hormone, often dubbed the “master hormone” of the human body – responsible for growth, maintenance and a host of other responsibilities. This means more muscle strength and development, less bodyfat, more balanced hormones, stronger libido and even a higher outlook on life (Landmark Study by L. Cass Terry, M.D., Ph.D. and Edmund Chein, M.D.).

Here’s one more key question: What story are you telling yourself about why you can’t be weight training every week?

For some, the story may be “I’m too overweight or out of shape”, “I’m too old”, “I don’t know how”, or even “I’d be too embarrassed going to the gym”. Others might claim the story of “I can’t afford it”. Truth be told, I’m not currently holding a gym membership myself. I workout with dumbbells and barbells in the exercise corner of the basement – or go old-school with pullups and pushups, tried-and-true classics. But you know what? It works. Whatever story you think is valid, really start to question what comes up in your mind. You’ll know if it’s a temporary, legitimate reason you shouldn’t be weight training or whether it’s an excuse – or chain of excuses. I’m just here to break that story apart for you and get you working out, so you can live the longevity lifestyle by my side; may we all be laughing about life together in our 120’s ;)

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

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Alright – we’ve had some time to get clear and specific on our reason to live (cherishing our close relationships and doing what we love). Now, it’s time to get even more specific about how to keep your body in a state of peak physical performance (read “younger” and vibrant).

One of the easiest-to-implement tips out there – that’ll actually make a dramatic difference worth taking action on – is to make bright, colorful fruits and vegetables a regular part of your diet. Again, it’s simple and many people have heard it mentioned at least several times in their lives…but are you actually doing it? Are you actively purchasing a healthy variety of colorful fruits and vegetables every week when you go grocery shopping, and working them into your meals religiously? If not, there’s a divide between the knowledge you have and the actions you’re taking. Get to it!

The reasons are far and many, but among the top that resonates with people is the ability of the flavonoids found in these foods to help keep your skin young, elastic and radiant – never a bad thing! In fact, the condition of your skin – a vitally important organ and line of biological defense – is paramount to your health and longevity. The nutrients found within these colorful fruits and vegetables not only keep your skin healthy and glowing on the outside, but work from the inside-out. This is the difference between trying to “save yourself” and cover up from the outside-in with lotions and oils, and taking the time to eat the right things that work from the inside-out to deliver incredible internal health that works its way all the way back to the skin!

These same foods are also loaded with carotenoids and antioxidants, which will help keep you healthier and more energetic for years to come – as well as far less likely to suffer from many types of diseases. These foods not only give you exactly what you want in terms of quality of life and longevity, but in fact help to keep at bay the things you don’t want in your life! Not everything in life is a win-win combination, but this is one of those things.

So this week, load up your cart with colorful, vibrant fruits and vegetables and start enjoying the kind of life you deserve to live…for years longer than you thought you could!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

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I couldn’t be more excited to be bringing you this special 3-part series on longevity and anti-aging! Longevity is one of the top, if not the top, interests and areas of research of mine that absolutely captivates me whenever I really start digging in.

We’re going to unearth several fascinating discoveries about longevity and living a long, healthy lifestyle – full of quality of life, just not years of aging. Parts 2 and 3 will come soon enough, so let’s take a look at Part 1 now:

What’s your reason to live?

That’s it. That huge piece of the longevity puzzle is now staring you right in the face. I see it over and over again when those vibrant, radiant 80 and 90 year olds get interviewed about how they’ve stayed so young. They’ll usually mention diet, but it’s never what they’re excited to share with everyone. What they’ll tell people, without hesitation, is that it’s all about having a reason to live – if you’ve got a powerful enough drive to stick around for awhile and make a difference, you’ll find a way to do it.

Interestingly enough, it’s this reason to live, this charge of the love of life, that actually keeps you healthy and vibrant now – as well as years down the road. It’s that huge factor that really determines your overall quality of life, affecting your body, mind, spirit, and emotional balance in every possible way. What is this reason to live? Can it be captured?

As I talk about in a chapter of my book “Why Is Weight Control So Difficult?” , intangible emotional comfort cannot be truly achieved through tangible means. You can’t take a yearning for love and connection to others and fill it with emotional comfort foods, no matter how much it seems to work in that moment. In the same way, your reason to live isn’t tangible – it’s an intangible feeling or experience.

For this reason, it comes down to relationships. It’s that relationship with your partner, with your family, with your friends…and with yourself. Your spiritual life, which many credit healthily to their longevity, really is about your relationship with yourself. From there, you’re able to truly enjoy your relationships with others.

But it’s also about doing what you love. Even with the best relationships, being stuck in a job you hate doing every day can take such a dramatic toll on your mind and body through unnecessary stress levels and so much more. It not only damages your own mind and body, but carries into all of your relationships. The best call for extreme longevity and anti-aging? Combining both for a driving, purposeful reason to live: cherishing your close relationships and doing what you love.

Check back next week for Part 2, where we’ll dive into more specifics on how to keep your mind and body in a state of peak performance…and stay years ahead of your peers!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

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I hope that you’ve had a chance to think over what this term “lifestyle freedom” really means – the core concepts of natural health, personal fitness and lifestyle freedom are all intertwined but clearly not the same thing. To me, lifestyle freedom encompasses the first two and so much more. Lifestyle freedom is about living the lifestyle that’s calling out to you – the life you desire at the deepest level. The problem is that most people shut down and dust away those deep-seated desires that would actually lead to the kind of lifestyle they’re yearning so deeply to live.

Lifestyle freedom, as I see it, has nothing to do with abdicating responsibility or being “free” of your personal challenges, obstacles and requirements. Rather, it’s simply being authentic and genuine enough to live the lifestyle that feels right to you. That lifestyle may seem to come across as something like the social norm, or it may be the calling that’s so far out and so out of your comfort zone that you might try to tune it out. What’s important to realize is this: everyone is driven by slightly different desires.

Studying entrepreneurship, it becomes apparent that there are 2 main groups of people: those motivated by the quality of their own lifestyle, and those motivated by the growth of the business/brand/identity. Some people absolutely thrive off building up businesses, and are willing to let their health and relationships slide to fulfill that desire. Others put their own individual lifestyle first, and have their work become a means to that end – always placing health and relationships before their committment to their workplace.

It’s eye-opening to see that everyone is driven by their own unique desires and aspirations. It’s so easy for others to compare and judge based on their own perceptions, perspectives and beliefs – and to get lost because of it. Achieving lifestyle freedom has everything to do with listening to where you want to go, and not where others think you should go. Finding the balance of a lifestyle that works perfectly for you is paramount, because it affects how you feel every single day – your enthusiasm for your career, your drive to eat a healthy, natural diet, and your spark for personal relationships and connecting with others. Just remember this today: lifestyle is the only real difference between any two people satisfied or frustrated with their lives. Live the lifestyle that’s calling out your name, and you’ll find that stress and anxiety fall away as easily as they came to be in the first place.

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. I’d like you to complete a single, quick exercise for me. Here it is: grab any piece of paper and a pen or pencil (8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper works best). On the top, write down the title, “My Perfect Day”. Now make sure you’re somewhere you can focus for just a few minutes here – write down all of the parts of your perfect day, from waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night. Don’t bring in the past here, but build on it. If you’re tired of going to bed at 1:00 am, write something like “I fall asleep easily and peacefully at 10:30″, or just “go to sleep at 10:30 pm”.

If you could have the perfect day (let’s say perfect weekday), what would it look like? Write down how you would wake up and spend your day, if you would work the same hours, if you’d change your routines and any meaningless habits and practices you may have picked up along the way. Write it all down and stop putting this off – give it 5 minutes and create your “perfect day”…you’ll be surprised at how much insight this gives you into your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you’re being called out to live.

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Fruit!

Without a doubt, you know by now that fruit is one of my favorite topics, and that I’m big on the importance of getting in fresh fruit to your diet. There’s so much that fruit has to offer, and so much value brought to the table. But here’s the big frustration that I hear from many people: “I don’t like to eat fruit because it upsets my stomach”.

Surprisingly, for such a natural food, this problem comes up all the time. I’d like to take a few minutes today to address this once and for all, and give you the insight and clarity that will allow you to never worry about eating fruit again!

With that said, let’s take a look at the real problem here: food combining. It’s all about the combination and timing of different foods – it’s not the fruit. When you combine sweets (whether that’s natural, fresh fruit or refined sugar) with fats and carbs, you get digestive disturbances on some level. The simple sugars are made to be digested and utilized quickly by the body, and when they’re trapped in with longer-burning fuels like complex carbs and fats, the sugars ferment and create gas.

Nobody wants stomach pains and excess gas in their lives! But that’s not a reason to avoid fruit at all. Rather, be aware of when you’re taking it in. Instead of having a peanut butter sandwich with a large bowl of sweet fruit (simple sugars, complex carbs and fats), opt for fruit as a snack or meal of its own. The way I commonly  do this is through the smoothies you’ll find me drinking down – it’s usually a green smoothie, but occasionally a tall fruit smoothie as well…especially in the summertime. The smoothie can give you the calories and volume you need for a full meal, while providing both optimal nutrition and ease of digestion.

Besides the meal option, I’ll give you one more idea: having it in the morning or at night. In the morning, you’ll have a “clean slate” with an empty stomach assuming you haven’t eaten before falling asleep! That allows you to take in fruit and digest it with ease, with some only taking roughly 30 minutes to digest. Then, you can tackle your larger breakfast or snack – already having the health benefits of fruit tackled first thing in the morning.

The other idea is having fruit as your last meal in the evening. This works well for an entirely different reason: how good you feel when you wake up. If you eat your last meal at 8:00 pm and go to sleep at 10:30, you’re giving yourself a 2 1/2 hour window to digest that last meal. If that last meal is a few pieces of fresh fruit, you’ll be fresh and feeling good by the time you fall asleep – and when you wake up the next morning. However, if you make that last meal a random mix of fats, complex carbs and all sorts of other things, you can bet that you won’t be able to digest it by the time you fall asleep (if you can fall asleep – eating at night can be extremely stimulating). Imagine waking up to a stomach full of half-digested foods churning around! No wonder so many people aren’t excited about waking up every morning!

The bottom line with fruit is that you should enjoy eating every bite, knowing that you’re contributing to your overall health and vitality, as well as personal energy throughout the day. You’re giving yourself the kind of nutrition you deserve, but you should also feel good throughout the day. Start to keep these food combining principles in the back of your mind and you’ll find that eating the same foods – just a bit differently – can lead to a dramatically better quality of life.

P.S. To anyone reading this via RSS feed, I’d like to ask you to join the mailing list by visiting the site! I give additional exclusive content only to my mailing list, and I don’t want you to miss out as readers! I’m actually planning an exciting video series and a few other events in the near future, so definitely don’t put this off!

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We left off with Part 1 on the importance of building your neural network – in effect, challenging yourself with stimulating habits and practices that lead to the development of new neurons and connections. We also saw how certain key brain regions can be the major players in developing intelligence, “g”. Now that we’re challenging ourselves to perform mentally and building these new neurons, it’s time to tackle step 2: enhancing the speed and ease of neural communication.

Neural communication is the same thing as neural transmission; it refers to our ability to allow interaction between neurons to take place, and reap the benefits of this neural communication in mental performance, clarity of mind, problem solving skills, new ideas, etc.

The best way to get the big picture here is to imagine a groggy college student rolling out of bed at 2 pm during frat rushing season. Ask them any question that day, and you’ll probably find that it’s hard for them to find the right answer quickly – or even at all. Why is that?

They might know many of the same things as their favorite classmate, but that other classmate may be able to answer questions several times faster and with much more clarity because they stayed in and took it easy the night before. With this example, it becomes amazingly clear: you can be learning new information and building new neural connections, but still have all kinds of trouble with mental performance due to the ease and speed of transmission.

It should be refreshing to hear that the age-old, tried-and-true methods of living a healthy lifestyle are also the habits that lead to increased neural communication. Sleep is without a doubt one of the most important, with nearly every study ever done on the subject showing increased mental performance, problem solving abilities, creativity and more. You need those 8 hours of sleep for rest and recovery – of body and mind. Keep in mind that some of the most critical sleep cycles happen between the 6-8 hour mark, and the more you take advantage of these cycles as a regular habit, the better your mental performance will be.

Being active is also essential – but this doesn’t mean just working out. It means living a healthy, active lifestyle. Keeping the blood flowing with regular movement and workouts does all kinds of things to enhance your brain’s performance. Getting active and working up a sweat is the #1 way to clear out the “haze” of mental fog and find mental clarity…in minutes. Being active throughout the day will help you to maintain that crystal clarity and speed of transmission you’re looking for.

Of course, we also know that our diet affects our mental clarity in spades. Try eating a 4-course turkey dinner and then sitting down to learn something new…it’s not going to happen! Each and every meal is an opportunity to fuel ourselves with the highest quality nutrition available, and the best recipes for peak performance. Find the meals that actually deliver the results you’re looking for, and you’ll start seeing that what and how you eat dramatically affects your productivity and mental clarity.

The 3 powerhouses of restful sleep, living an active lifestyle, and eating a healthy diet that provides the personal energy you’re looking for all work synergistically to enhance the speed and ease of neural communication; again, this translates to a “clear head”, clarity of thinking, better creativity and problem solving skills, and a number of other benefits (not the least of which is stress reduction from being unable to find peace of mind). Start taking these habits seriously and you’ll be rewarded by serious results in your life!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

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