In A Higher Branch, I show that health should be your number one priority, followed by love, family, work, friendship, learning, wealth and charity: all of which provide us with a complete life and when we live a complete life, we are happy. Recently, I’ve been researching the idea that being happy is more important than being just healthy. I did this research because of something that my 10 year old daughter said to me.
HAPPINESS WILL BOOST YOUR HEALTH
Recently we spent a whole day at Bondi Beach crashing against waves, eating, sunbathing and playing. As we drove home later that day, my wife and I looked at each other and said, “Early dinner, early night.” But Amelia had other ideas. She jumped right out of the car and ran straight to her bike and said, ‘Daddy, Daddy, I want to go for a bike ride!” I must confess with you, I was a little annoyed, and said to her, “Sweetie, aren’t you tired? Honestly, what are you running on?” And she looked at me as though the answer was as clear as day and said, “I’m running on Happiness, Daddy.”
And that got me thinking, we do run on happiness! If we eat unhealthy and fail to exercise it will eventually (sometimes over many years) lead to low energy and illness. But if you are unhappy for even just a week, it will impact your energy and vitality very quickly. So my advice is that if you can’t live a 100% healthy lifestyle, aim to at least live a happy one by surrounding yourself with family, positive friends, laughter and a rewarding job. My bigger advice is to aim to be healthy and happy!
Sugars are especially toxic to the human body. They clog up the body and have little nutritional value. There are four types of sugars: glucose, fructose, sucrose and lactose. Worst of them all is fructose. It is not produced by our body and can only be digested in small amounts, like the amounts found in fruits. Any fructose that is not digested gets stored as fat, blocks many bodily functions and causes a myriad of diseases. And it is highly addictive, as our bodies do not have an off switch for it.
I guarantee you if you eliminate the above four sugars (especially fructose) from your diet, in 7 days time, you will experience an energy explosion. I’ve witnessed this not just with myself, but also with all my work colleagues. And be aware that flour and sugar are found in many things, not just biscuits, cakes, ice cream and the usual sweet spots like confectionary and pastries. Sugars can be disguised on labels as agave nectar, brown sugar, cane crystals, corn sweetener, corn syrup, crystalline fructose, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit juice concentrates and many other. Sugars can also be found in many pre-made sauces, cereals, juices and snacks (especially anything that has ‘low-fat’ written on it). For anyone who is serious about removing sugar from his or her diet, I highly recommend investing in Sarah Wilson’s book, “I quit sugar” for inspiration.
“But what about fruit?” I hear you ask. High fructose fruits include all dried fruits, and the following fresh fruits: apples, pears, cherries, and grapes. My advice is that unless you are training to be a body builder, it is ok to eat all fruits providing you consume fruits 30 minutes before any protein meal or 2 hours after. I would also recommend you limit eating fruits twice a day for breakfast and mid-afternoon.
Salt is a vital nutrient for our body: it helps fight fungus, bacteria and viruses, it’s important in regulating blood pressure, proper functioning of the nervous system and brain cells, metabolism, digestion, and many other important functions. However, with the increased use of refined salts (table salts), our bodies are becoming depleted of the essential nutrients found in natural salt. This is because refined salts are dried at over 1,200 degrees, bleached and chemically cleaned leaving them void of any minerals and essential nutrients such as magnesium, copper, potassium, iron, zinc and calcium. As our body cannot use this salt, it builds up as deposits in our organs and tissues causing severe health issues, the most devastating being high blood pressure, the number one cause of heart disease and stroke; even greater than smoking! So take my advice and limit the use of salt considerably. Easy enough when you cook at home right? Be wary when eating out because restaurants use a lot of refined salt to make food taste great. I always ask the waiter to tell the chef ‘no added salt please’. When cooking at home, use herbs and spices in addition to a little healthy salt, to get flavour. Unrefined Celtic sea salt is the healthiest.
Vegetable oils – are highly refined and heated at very high temperatures which kills any semblance of minerals and nutrients that were once present in the oils. In the USA, the FDA has finally banned hydrogenated vegetable oils. 50 years too late! Vegetable oils cause inflammation in your body, which raises risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and arthritis. Aim to use Extra Virgin or Cold Pressed oils. ‘Virgin’ or ‘Extra Virgin’ means that the olive or grape seed or whatever it is, was squeezed only once to derive the oil extract. Cold pressed means that the oil wasn’t heated and so its natural essential minerals and nutrients are still alive. But remember that oils are still oils and high in fat. So use them sparingly, even on salads. Avoid deep fried food at all cost. But if you have to lightly shallow fry, best to use one table spoon of rice bran oil, grape seed oil or better yet, coconut oil which has a very high heating point so its structure doesn’t change when heated.
Gluten. For the past few years, there has been much debate and conversation on the subject of gluten and the more I research it, I am convinced that it is the contributing cause to many modern diseases. Gluten is the protein that plants build into their seeds (grains) to support the next generation of plants. While all grains contain gluten, our bodies cannot break down the gluten contained in wheat, rye and barley because their composition is too tight. Over time, because our digestive system cannot break down the bacteria from gluten, it builds up in our system, causes inflammation of the intestines and eventually erodes the lining of the stomach. This can lead to a loss of immune tolerance and trigger autoimmune diseases like celiac disease (where the stomach attacks itself). If gluten intolerance or sensitivity doesn’t affect the stomach or intestines, it can affect your skin, gallbladder, liver, or any other living tissue on the body. The reason gluten is affecting us more is because the wheat we are eating is hybridised to the point where all vitamins, minerals and fibre is taken out of it (especially in white flour and white bread). Because the wheat is so refined through the processing, the gluten in it is stickier, thicker, stretchier and more elastic. It is a good marketable product to use but the human digestive system simply cannot break it down. Effectively ‘gluten’ means ‘glue’ and unless you would eat glue, then I urge you to cut out gluten from your diet. Like any intolerance to food, pay special attention to your fatigue levels after eating bread, pasta or anything with wheat in it. If you feel tired, that’s the first sign that gluten is doing damage to your body. If you continue eating it, eventually you will start to cause permanent damage. It might not be in your stomach, it might be chronic fatigue or headaches or arthritis. If you’re interested in finding out more about gluten, I highly recommend visiting Dr Thomas O’Bryan’s website: www.thedr.com. He is a doctor who specialises in the topics of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.
With so many diets out there like the Atkins diet, food combining, south beach, low carb, high carb, which is the right one for you? The thing is you don’t know. The best diet for you, is the one you design for yourself! Write your own book. I have my own diet; it’s the Sam Makhoul diet!
So how do you design a diet? You hit the reset button: you eliminate all foods except raw fruits and veges for two weeks. Then you start adding foods like grains, fish, chicken, meat and condiments and you see how you feel after each one. If you feel bad, if you feel bloated or your energy plummets, put a cross next to that one. Introduce it slowly so you have a few days between each one to see how you feel. Bring your self-awareness to it and slowly you’ll design a diet.
But there are some universal principles that will help you maintain your energy levels once you do design your own diet. They are:
EAT LIVE FOODS. What do I mean by that? An apple is a live food. Apple pie is a dead food. When we eat, our body has to sift through the dead part of the food to find the living part with the most enzymes. It’s simple arithmetic. The more live food you eat the more energy you will earn. The more processed or ‘dead’ it is, the more energy you will burn.
EAT LESS – EAT OFTEN. We are corporate athletes. We don’t have time to nap throughout the day, under a tree in the savanna after we’ve hunted. So we need constant energy throughout the day. It’s about avoiding peaks and troughs. Eating less is important because there comes a tipping point where the energy you earn is cancelled out by the energy you have to burn to process the food. Eating less ensures you get enough energy without going over that tipping point where you start crashing again. Eating often is important because we tend to eat more if we don’t eat often enough. So by eating often you keep your energy levels sustainable. Lance Armstrong once said in an interview: “When you get hungry it’s too late. When you’re thirsty it’s too late. Your energy has already dipped. It’s about avoiding peaks and troughs and maintaining that steady flow of energy.” It doesn’t have to be much: bananas, nuts, or a packed sandwich. It’s all about preparedness.
DON’T EAT AFTER 8PM. I will not go into the science behind this tip only to say that our body needs to shut down at night for it to recharge and detox. Two things can either happen when you eat too late. One: your digestion will kick in and keep you up till late. OR Two: you will sleep – your digestion will shut down with a stomach full of food that literally sits there unprocessed. In both cases it is toxic for your body and you WILL wake up lethargic.
ENGAGE THE SENSES. Why is this important? Because I know people who get the whole process of nutrition right and fall over at the finish line. You can buy excellent quality food, you can prepare it very well, you can eat less of it but often of it but if the conditions in which you’re eating are not within a relaxed environment, your body, when you do induce this food, is not going to absorb its goodness. It’s an amazing phenomenon. Our body produces and releases the right enzymes when we engage with the food we eat by smelling, looking, feeling, tasting it. Why is this one of my big tips? Because a lot of people sit in front of the TV when they eat. Or worse still they may engage in a heated discussion. They’re not engaging with their food. And that last piece of the nutrition process falls over because you’re eating, but your body isn’t absorbing what it should be. So it’s like your sales process. You do everything right. You get the lead, it’s qualified, you get the application and it’s successful but then it falls over right at the end, at settlement. It’s the same thing. So don’t waste your money. Engage with your food.
In my personal coaching I often concentrate on sharing tips with clients that will have the most immediate and profound impact on their life. I do this because I find that most people have little patience for long-term goals. They want results quickly. So over the past 2 years I have kept a log of what works on everybody, quickly and surely.
Tip no. 3: Sleep More
Thats right. Sleep more. That is what I advise my business coaching clients. And it has a dramatic positive effect on their life. In just 7 days! They become more energetic, alert, creative and effective at work. And smarter! Albert Einstein himself needed 10 hours sleep everynight.
Most personal development guru’s suggest that we sleep less to get more done. But in a world where we are getting less and less sleep, our issue is not too much sleep. Our issue is not enough sleep. Most people underestimate how important sleep is to their health. They eat well, exercise but forget the third branch of relaxation. Sure, some people do yoga and meditation to relax BUT let me tell you, sleep is far more effective than both those practices. In fact, sleep is the best meditation!
Some benefits of sleep include:
Prevents cancer
Improves memory
Helps you live longer
Helps you lose more weight
Keeps your heart healthy
Reduces inflammation in your body
Lowers stress levels, anxiety and depression
Helps you recover after exercise
The best thing about sleep is that it’s free! It’s the best supplement that money can’t buy.
The best way to get the best sleep is to connect with nature before you go to sleep and after you wake up in the morning. In other words, go for a walk in parklands first thing and last thing. Another way is to get the most sun in the first two hours of the day. (I have some friends who also swear by melatonin supplements.)
And remember that one hour sleep before midnight is worth 2 hours sleep after midnight. Which means that the best time to sleep is between 10pm – 7am.
So whether your objective is improved health or improved work performance you cannot go past sleep as one of the most effective lifestyle changes you can make.
Yes you read it correctly. Work harder not just smarter. So many of us are obsessed with making a quick buck. It has become an international obsession. There are so many books written about it. But I believe that the Western World is suffering a global financial crisis because we want to create something out of nothing and we want something for nothing. We borrow and borrow and consume and consume and think that somehow it will all pay for itself without having to work hard. This negative mindset is having dire consequences not only for the economy but also on our health and happiness. So much so that work stress has become one of the leading causes of anxiety and depression. So obviously working smarter is not working for us. What is the answer? I put it to you that we must work harder to get healthier. This may sound odd but hear me out.
The most energetic, enthusiastic, and happiest people I know work really hard. They are always beaming with a smile. They have a healthy appetite for food and life yet they are chilled and comfortable to be with. Why is that? Well we spend many hours at work, so it goes without saying that if we approach work with a positive mindset, it will have a big impact on our happiness.
So how do you change your mindset? Before I answer that question, allow me to first clarify what I mean by ‘working harder’. It does NOT mean working long hours. It does NOT mean having blind ambition. It does NOT mean chasing the almighty dollar. Changing your mindset simply entails you making a decision to love what you do.
So how do you choose to love your job? Work harder. Here’s how:
Become really good at your job. Know it inside and out. Keep learning. The way human psychology works, we start liking what we are good at. Immerse yourself in your daily tasks whatever they may be. Laying bricks, reading a contract, writing a song, listening to a patient etc… Give yourself to that moment. Don’t watch the clock.
Serve people from the heart. Make a connection with how your work directly or indirectly makes a difference in people’s lives. My hairdresser is a perfect example of that. I notice that he gets great pleasure when he holds up that mirror to a customer. Their happiness is his happiness.
I have a saying in my business. I tell my staff, ‘Treat customers like you would your own mum and dad.’ I believe that is the only standard you ever need in your working life. It will get you to work harder and that will get you to love what you do.
