Full article (combining Part I & Part II):
According to the British Medical Journal, BMJ: “Researchers examined data from 204 countries between 1990 and 2019. They found that there were more than 3.26 million early-onset cancer cases reported in those countries in 2019, up from 1.82 million in 1990, an increase of 79.1%.” It has concluded that: “Encouraging a healthy lifestyle could reduce early-onset cancer disease burden.” This warning sign can be more vivid. Let's begin by checking some interesting facts related to our understanding of lifestyle.
Is the yolk of an egg bad for your heart?
Is all sugary food bad for you health?
If you're normal weight within the range of normal BMI then you don't need to worry?
Is olive oil always a better choice than all other oils or lard (solid, typically from cow fat) including when used for frying food?
If you're answering "yes" to all the above questions, then you must read this article.
Answers to all of the above questions are - No. Surprised? Yes, I was surprised when I first discovered that too. Let's first address the egg question.
Most of you may answer to the egg question as, "egg yolks are good for health when we're young". Some of you may answer: "it depends". And a few of you may say: "it's bad, and eating them will give you a heart attack". Instead of giving a straightforward answer, let's take a quick tour of the fiasco caused by the American Heart Association (AHA). It's like something out of a thriller movie.
Back
in 1968, the AHA issued a grave warning to all Americans: eggs are the enemy of
your heart, so if you want to live longer, reduce your egg consumption! They
even set a limit on what was considered a safe amount of egg intake, advising
us not to consume more than 3-4 eggs per week [i].
Fast forward to 2015, and the AHA made a global announcement that the
recommendation, which had lasted for 47 years, was simply discarded. They
cleared the warning, and we were all free to add eggs back into our diets
without any restrictions. It's almost as if they had a change of heart about
eggs (pun intended).
The
AHA started to realize its debacle in 2002, but it took another 13 years for
them to publicly accept their mistake and announce that there's no need to
restrict egg consumption anymore. What changed in eggs that made them not
harmful anymore? Did the chickens start laying "healthier" eggs? Or
did our hearts become stronger to withstand the dreaded egg attack? Absolutely
not! It was the shortsightedness of the AHA that led them to incorrectly label
eggs as the enemy.
Now
researchers prove without any doubt that eggs bring enormous benefits to our
health. It is widely recognized that eggs are a highly nutritious food based on
their high-quality protein and complement of vitamins and minerals[ii].
Egg protein, especially egg yolk protein, has a significantly greater satiety
effect than other protein sources[iii].
Egg Xanthophylls: Lutein and Zeaxanthin: Eggs provide highly bioavailable forms
of the xanthophylls lutein and zeaxanthin which are related to lower risks for
age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. Eggs are an excellent source of
choline, an essential nutrient which has been shown to be inadequate in the
diets of 9 out of 10 adults in the U.S. Choline plays an important role in
fetal and neonatal brain development.[iv][v]
Let's
pause for a moment and consider the collective impact of the American Heart
Association's (AHA) erroneous research over the past 47 years. I bring this up
because I personally experienced a significant transformation during my
30-pound weight loss journey in 2020, precisely on February 23rd. I didn't
embark on this journey for fun; it was a necessary step to save myself from a
health crisis and regain a normal life, steering clear of a downward spiral. I
documented this journey, and you're welcome to check it out.[vi]
During
this weight loss journey, I made a change in my diet by consuming 2-3 whole
eggs every day, despite the previous advice from doctors and others to avoid
egg yolks due to concerns about hypertension and cardiovascular disease. It's
worth noting that I also eliminated all added sugars and limited my
carbohydrate intake, mostly deriving them from fruits and vegetables. Do you
know how my body reacted to those eggs?
The results of this dietary adjustment were clearly reflected in my lab
report.
I
also have the full lab reports on my phone from my primary care physician
before and after the experiment of living healthy. It’s a personal experiment
on eggs and proved myself. Yes, it was a little nerve wracking when I had
started but I was checking my blood pressure and did the Lipid profile
immediately after going through that journey. Also, this was done after the
warning on egg consumption was taken out by AHA. This experience proved the
“egg-fiasco” and highlights the importance of critically evaluating health
recommendations. While my personal journey saw positive outcomes with regular
egg consumption, it's crucial to remember that individual responses to dietary
changes may vary. What works for one person might not be suitable for another,
and it's essential to consult with healthcare professionals to make informed
decisions about our health and dietary choices. The journey taught me to be
vigilant about the information we receive and to prioritize evidence-based
practices when it comes to our well-being
Is
that all? Hell no! This is the history where general mass people were always
manipulated by powerful interest groups. The sugar disaster that the society is
suffering from is another example of such misinformation. This is actually
worse than the “egg fiasco”. The Sugar Association secretly paid two professors
and the chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public
Health. They published a review paper on the prestigious New England Journal of
Medicine and “...downplayed evidence that sucrose consumption was also a risk
factor[vii]”
and “...concluded there was “no doubt” that the only dietary intervention
required to prevent Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) was to reduce dietary
cholesterol and substitute polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat in the
American diet.”
“Industry
and non-industry funding of the review authors’ experimental research was
disclosed, but the SRF’s funding and participation in the review was not.
Evidence reported in the review was relevant to 2 questions: (1) Does the high
sucrose content of the American diet cause CHD? and (2) What is the comparative
effectiveness of interventions modifying the sucrose or saturated fat content
of the diet for the prevention of CHD? The review concluded there was “no
doubt” that the only dietary intervention required to prevent CHD was to reduce
dietary cholesterol and substitute polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat in the
American diet. (p246)”[viii]
Call
it dishonesty or ignorance of the top researchers of the top most university in
the world, but the world has paid the price for the last half century by
increased metabolic dysfunction related diseases, such as, obesity, type 2
diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases, cancer, and dementia. The biggest
industry and corporations are behind that. The American Sugar Associations,
Coca Cola, McDonalds, and other large corporations placed their thumbs in the
scale and directly or indirectly influenced people to continue their
profiteering. Remember Coca Cola’s campaign “Calorie is a calorie, from
wherever it comes from '' and McDonald’s Happy Meal toys for kids? They let
society crumble to continue their profiteering. The horrifying stats of the
crumbling society are crying out loud.
·
Around 124
million out of 330 million Americans are now suffering from these diseases
(i.e., obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases, cancer, and
dementia) known as “Metabolic Syndrome” which will continue to rise.[ix]
If
you take a look at the above carefully, you will find that 80% of obese people
are sick with metabolic dysfunction but surprisingly 40% of normal weight
people are sick with the same metabolic dysfunction, such as Type 2 diabetes,
Hypertension, Cardio-vascular disease, dementia, etc. They are called: TOFI -
Thin Outside and Fat Inside. This should be the “aha” moment for us, like the
Dr. Robert Lustig mentioned in his presentations, how our lifestyle is eating
us alive from within. How do you know if a normal weight person is victim of
metabolic syndrome? An indication of normal weight metabolic dysfunction while
being normal weight is fatty liver. Also, insulin resistance is another
diagnosis that you can check if you fall in that category.
·
Around the
world, 537 million people are suffering from diabetes. It’s projected that 634
million people will be diabetic in 2030.[x]
·
These statistics
of Hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease, Cancer, Dementia, etc.
o
Hypertension:
1.28 billion people suffer from hypertension.[xi]
o
Coronary Heart
Diseases: 610 thousand deaths in the USA and 19.1 million deaths worldwide. 244
million people are living with CHD.[xii],
[xiii]
o
Cancer: 18.1
million people in the world are suffering from cancer.[xiv]
It’s
a global pandemic and we are all ignoring it.
The
aftermath of this pandemic is causing the health care cost in this country to
skyrocket year over year. This is now so unaffordable that even Obama’s
“Affordable Care Act” couldn’t make it affordable for the middle-class
population. In 2021, Americans spent $4.3 trillion (18.3% of total GDP) or
$12,914 individually on average for health care and yet America is spiraling
into a health care disaster with Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease,
and Cancer.[xv]
Let’s
see what other developed countries are per capita spending on health care? Way
above all other developed countries.[xvi]
And
yet, U.S. life expectancy is much lower than other developed countries and in
sharp decline.
If
it continues at this pace and we don’t reverse the direction, America and
whatever countries are blindly following this diet and lifestyle wouldn't be
able to sustain for long. The civilization that brought so much good to the
world in terms of science, technology, and medicine (I am leaving the dark side
of it, such as, colonialism, transatlantic slave trade, wiping of indigenous
population, segregation, etc. for another episode), is collapsing in front of
our own eyes, if not for anything else but only due to crumbling and ailing
citizens. Never in history a nation with so much sick and weak population was
able to maintain their civilization, let alone leading a civilization. If we
let this great civilization to crumble, it will be a disservice and a great
loss to humanity. We have a choice: either we steer the civilization to the
good or let it crumble and wait for another to come in another few hundred
years.
Dr.
Robert Lustig and others have done a wonderful job to create awareness about
this impending disaster (read his book Metabolical if you haven’t - this is a
gem https://robertlustig.com/metabolical/).
He has explained very nicely how the sugar and processed food. Yes, he hits
over the head to create awareness of the sugar disaster and processed food
apocalypse. He said it nicely: it’s not what food you eat but what you do on
the food i.e., what did you do to it. A quick example is: oranges are full of
fructose but it’s good and healthy for us. However, when you process it to make
it juice, you drastically reduce it by taking out the fibers (soluble fibers
and insoluble fibers) that causes the lever to process it into VLDL (the worst
part of LDL), uric acid, etc.
Take
a quick tour of the biochemistry of Glucose vs. Fructose metabolism:
·
80% of Glucose
is metabolized by the body cells - any cells can metabolize glucose. Only 20%
of Glucose is metabolized by the Liver.
·
Even that 20% of
glucose, most of it can be stored as glycogen which is the storage format.
·
If we don't use
it immediately, a small portion of that glucose is turned into VLDL i.e., the
bad protein which causes clot in the artery and causes heart diseases.
·
Insulin is
increased in the blood to metabolize the glucose which triggers as we get more
food. Two hormones play a vital role: Ghrelin and Leptin. It suppresses Ghrelin
so that we don't feel hungry after eating and it releases Leptin to trigger the
brain that we got enough food for now and stop eating further.
·
100% of the
fructose has to be processed by Liver. No other body parts can process it.
Here’re
the diagrams that shows in detail the complete metabolism of Glucose and
Fructose. If you want to learn from Dr. Robert Lustig, watch it from his
presentation.[xvii]
Diagram
for Metabolism of Glucose[xviii]
Diagram
for Metabolism of Fructose
By
the way, we’re talking about a regular diet and not for patients who need such
fibreless juices. It’s just one simple example but processing goes to almost
all our food. The more you process it the less beneficial and more harmful it
becomes. Rice or wheat are real food and naturally good for us but the more we
refine it the more harmful it becomes.
However,
I would like to take it further from their warnings of imminent disaster. If
you read Dr. Lustig’s books and watch his interviews, he clearly is raising the
much-warranted awareness on added sugar and eating minimally processed i.e.,
“real food” which is definitely a big issue and doing rightly so. However, he’s
missing it again by not focusing on the holistic environment and the Western
lifestyle (which is copied by the world as a de facto “modern lifestyle”)
outside of the food that caused this food style. He had touched briefly on one
of that (the profiteering by the food and pharma industry) but he didn’t go
further on it. Maybe he doesn’t want to dilute his effort rather concentrate on
the single biggest cause to save the Americans. I respect his approach.
However, if we embark into fixing the lifestyle without even asking the
question why the West ended up into this lifestyle then we will just chase the
shadow and not the true problem. The culprits of this health care pandemics
will change the direction of the lights on the “object”, the true problem, and
present the problem differently through a new shadow. We will then chase that
shadow for another 50 years. We may feel complacent by doing something but the
root cause would be cured. What’s the root cause? It’s not actually one but
many causes. The root to the root causes is the mindless materialistic rat-race
and profiteering without any bound where we are taught to stop asking questions
but to believe from the authority - in the form of government, corporations,
cultural influence or scientific short-sighted research. Whatever we are told
by the “experts” from the corporations, TV, newspaper, journals, etc., we take
them by their face value. You have seen the research and publications by the
biggest names such as Coca Cola, Harvard University and New England Journal of
Medicine, and how that shaped our lifestyle. How can we be certain that
we won't encounter a similar situation of partial truth with our current
"aha" moment based on the latest findings?
I
would like to add a disclaimer before I go further. Modern medicine has brought
tremendous good to human society. I consider medicine a blessing. Think about
the success of the modern medicine:
·
Smallpox has
been eradicated from the face of the earth.
·
Antibiotics are
miracle medicines that save millions of people’s lives.
· Modern surgeries
are so advanced that people’s lives have been saved from complicated heart, or
brain diseases almost every day.
·
The maternal and
infant mortalities have drastically reduced
·
Many
vaccinations helped children from devastating diseases like polios,
Tuberculosis, mumps, etc. are now preventable
·
Antiviral drugs
are saving lives everyday
·
Organ
transplants are saving critical lives
·
Life expectancy
has steadily risen except for a few exceptions.
That
list can go on. So, I am no way saying that modern medicine is the culprit but
it's how we started to use it as “the solution” for everything. If I ask, are
combustion engines and fossil fuels inherently evil? Of Course not. If we
didn’t have engines to run our trains and cars and airplanes then our lives
would have remained at the speed of horse. Is industrial production inherently
evil? Of Course not! Otherwise, we wouldn’t have basic standards of living that
we take as granted. The problem is when we started excessive consumption of
every material surrounding us and pushed everything to the brink of collapse.
Our air, water and land are being polluted by excessive consumption. Our use of
plastics, chemicals, clothing are wreaking havoc on the world’s natural
climates and polluting beyond repair in the short run. While some parts of the
world are not only deprived of basic necessities but also getting the impact of
pollution and climate impacts due to our excessive consumption. So, we have to
think holistically to find the solution.
If
you lived through the 1960s to 1980s, you likely remember how sugary soft
drinks and fast foods became a part of our daily lives. I have vivid memories
of my first taste of a soft drink in the early eighties – it was 7-Up, that I
first drank and I was fascinated by the carbonated water. However, because I
couldn’t afford to buy it frequently, I used to drink it on special occasions
like marriage ceremonies, large gatherings of guests or marriage ceremonies.
When I was in 6th grade, my father had started a side business of a convenient
store. Coca-Cola was sold in that store. I used to get a “token” from my mother
and when I showed that I got one Coca-Cola - that was maybe once in a week. How
about sugary food? Yes, we used to have sugary food cooked at home and
sometimes bought snacks from the store. It was not a problem at all in my
childhood because those sugary foods were sporadically consumed and then almost
everything else was home cooked “real food” - fish from the nearby ponds, fresh
vegetables and fresh foods - because we didn’t have refrigerators so we had to
do daily shopping of fresh foods. Things started to go in the wrong direction
when we started to get fast food often - like few times in a week. The
metabolic syndrome started slowly. The older we grow the weaker the metabolism
becomes and the “ultra-processed food” lifestyle ruins the whole metabolism.
Inevitably, I started to see the metabolic syndromes. I am not going into much
detail but I had no option but to get into drastic measures. I kept searching
for the root cause of the problems since 2010 but couldn’t really pinpoint the
root cause. Like many of you, I embarked on two prong plans: eat less and
exercise more. I continue eating less for a month and exercise for a few months
and then lapse into old habits. I wasn’t able to identify why I couldn’t
continue to eat less or not feeling energetic to get up for exercise every day
to burn off my extra body fat. I always felt hungry so ended up eating snacks
(mostly ultra-processed and sugary) in between my regular meals. I talked to my
doctors, read many articles but couldn’t solve the problem for good. Among
others, the most beneficial was a month of daily fasting in the month of
Ramadan when I usually lose 10 pounds of weight but immediately after that I
gained that lost weight back. So, it was a see-saw of loss and gaining fat.
Through that journey I kind of intuitively realized that food was one of the
key causes of my overweight and metabolic syndromes but I didn’t know that it
was the ultra-processed low in fiber and high in sugar foods were the primary
causes of me not being able to be in a sustainable state. Other issues were
stressful life, bad sleep habits, etc. were also in present. Long story short,
in 2020, I came across Dr. Jahangir Kabir who had extensive educational
resources on healthy lifestyle. That was accidental. I had heard about him for
years but as soon as I heard he had Keto as part of lifestyle change, I didn’t
feel comfortable. My reasoning was very simple: we grew up on a diet where carb
was the key ingredient. We were never overweight and were never sick with such
metabolic syndromes. As a matter of fact, I was never sick even for my entire
childhood. It’s not me alone but people around me were also all “normal” at that
time. If carbs are bad then why we didn't have all these overweight, obesity,
type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obtrusive sleep apnea, cancer, dementia,
etc.? So, a carb diet alone can’t be the cause. Long story short, my elder
sister called me on a Saturday morning and she almost begged me to try the
approach from that doctor. With no other solution in my hand, I decided to give
it a shot. I started learning extensively from his educational videos and I
read other resources. Officially I had started the journey from February 23rd
and in 8 weeks I was able to lose 30 pounds. I did 5 weeks of Keto and then
stopped that. I still believe Keto diet isn’t the solution but it is like
getting into ICU to recover as I had messed up my health. I methodically recorded
and put the details on a blog (and live on Facebook) in June 2020. Anyway, a
lot has been said about my personal story, let’s get back to the point: what we
collectively can do to live a healthy life.
For that we have to look back at least 50 years ago. If you can afford traveling the world, you can even find that answer today in other parts of the world that didn’t get “modernized” through Western lifestyle yet. Yes, I am talking about the so-called “backward” countries. The Corona pandemic had run a vivid and costly lab experiment for 2 years to expose the underlying health conditions of the nations that adopted the western lifestyle. This was captured on July 22nd 2023 from Worldometer.com.[xix]
It’s
the lifestyle that triggered our health care disaster. Thus, to come out of
this, the ultimate answer lies in: living a natural life, stopping excessive
consumption and living for a purpose by avoiding materialism. And if we don’t
then the “profiteering machine” of the food and pharma industry will find other
ways to fool us again and again with their “fancy” new research. I am sure you
would agree that we can’t afford another 50 years to survive in this rate of
decline.
From
where we are in the West, we can’t resolve it at once. We need to get there in
a staggering fashion. This can be formulated into five stages of lifestyle
transformation. The first two stages are absolutely critical and pre-requisite
to reach towards the higher stages. However, even if we get the first two
stages achieved, life's quality will be fundamentally changed, inshaAllah. And
it doesn’t take much time to see the result. Depending on the current level of
physiological and psychological states, within 3-6 months the preliminary
benefits could be visible in life, inshaAllah.
Stage
1: Change your food habit: Eat real food
Stage
2: Live a normal active life
Stage
3: Limit exposures to chemicals and plastics
Stage
4: Break the chain of excessive consumption and reject materialistic rat
race
Stage
5: Limit artificial lifestyle
Final
Stage: Live for a purpose
Let’s dive
deep to each of the stages to cover: why
to get there, what it entails, how it would benefit us, and finally how
to achieve it.
Stage 1: Change food habit: eat real
food
You may ask, why
do we have to go for real food? Is it founded in our religion? Yes, it is. We
have long ignored it because we didn’t have to worry until the modern processed
food industry invaded our life. We always focused on “halal” food because Allah
has ordered for that in the Quran and Hadith. However, we skipped the
“adjective” added next to the word halal when Allah talked about eating. That’s
tayyiban (good). What we used to take as granted i.e., halal food was
good food until we, humans, have started contaminating (in Dr. Robert Lustig’s
word “what do you do to the food”) the food through ultra processing and turned
them into bad if not toxic. Want to see an example? We all know that olive oil
is good for health. We can turn this good oil into a toxic oil. How? Just cook
it at a high temperature. From the book Metabolical: “Trans-fats are
very low in Real Food, but you can make them right on your stove from any
unsaturated fat. In fact, you can turn one of the healthiest fats in your
kitchen (olive oil) into the deadliest (trans-fat) with just extra heat. The
reason? Unsaturated fats have cis-double bonds. If you heat an unsaturated fat
past its smoking point, that cis-double bond can isomerize (flip) into a
trans-double bond, and voila - a trans-fat… The lower the oil’s smoking point,
the easier it is to turn it into a trans-fat. Extra virgin olive oil has the
lowest smoking point of all the fats, at 160 C (320 F).” A halal & good fat
became halal & toxic trans-fat that will now cause all sorts of health
problem rather than helping us. Interestingly Dr. Robert Lustig is suggesting
that we instead eat lard as that’s healthier than high-temperature cooking in
oils: “The exception to this smoking point rule: saturated fat – because
there are no double bonds and therefore nothing to isomerize. Even though lard
got a bad name as a saturated fat, it’s way safer to fry in than any other
oil.”
An interesting
anecdote: in our childhood, we used to get huge amount of lard (cow fat) during
Eid-al-Adha from the slaughtered cow and stored separately for longer use. That
lard was used to replace the soybean or mustard oil for next few months to deep
fry food. That was the norm as refrigerator wasn’t a thing for us. But we never
heard about Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressures, heart attacks, dementia or
cancer in our entire town. But then doctors used to advise us to throw away all
those fats because of coronary heart disease epidemic. By the way, that
practice is there in many parts of the world. Now knowing this food science, it
blows my mind on how we made our life difficult through our own ignorance.
For Muslims, look at the Quran. Subahan Allah, Quran
is so universal and so eternal that it was mentioned in 1400 hundred years ago
to not indiscriminately eat what is halal but only eat when it’s good
for your body. On top of that, sometime what’s good for one person may not be
good for another person. So knowing what we eat is in our religion.
كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ
“Eat
from the good things with which We have provided you.”
Al-Baqarah,
Chapter #2,
Verse #57
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي
الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا
“O
mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good…”
Al-Baqarah,
Chapter #2,
Verse #168
كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ
“Eat
from the good things with which We have provided you.”
Al-Baqarah,
Chapter #2,
Verse #172
قُلْ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ
“Say,
‘Lawful for you are [all] good foods…”
Al-Maaida,
Chapter #5,
Verse #4
وَكُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ حَلَالًا
طَيِّبًا
“And
eat of what Allah has provided for you [which is] lawful and good.”
Al-Maaida,
Chapter #5,
Verse #88
كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ
“Eat
from the good things with which We have provided you.”
Al-A'raaf,
Chapter #7,
Verse #160
فَكُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ حَلَالًا
طَيِّبًا
“That
eat of what Allah has provided for you [which is] lawful and good.”
An-Nahl,
Chapter #16,
Verse #114
كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ
“Eat
from the good things with which We have provided you.”
Taa-Haa,
Chapter #20,
Verse #81
يَا أَيُّهَا الرُّسُلُ كُلُوا مِنَ
الطَّيِّبَاتِ
“[Allah
said], ‘O messengers, eat from the good foods…”
Al-Muminoon,
Chapter #23,
Verse #51
Same thing is for sugar. Honey is a medicine for the human body. Fruits and many other foods have sugar with essential nutrients. However, when we extract the sugar from it then it becomes unhealthy for us. Why? Because we remove the most essential part of it for our digestion of a healthy metabolism: Fiber. That creates a “volume” issue for our digestive system. The analogy of that would be: when we have a normal rate of rain, earth can absorb that gradually. However, in heavy rain with the same amount of water poured on the earth in a very short period of time, you see flash floods that destroy properties and lives. As we had seen earlier, sugar (fructose, to be exact) floods the liver and destroys it and other organs.
Strict moderation in added sugar and avoid ultra
processed food and amount you eat.
Disclaimer: Stage
1 and Stage 2 are kind of intertwined and should go in parallel for most of the
time. However, as few things in Stage 1 needs to be done to effectively get
into the Stage 2 in sustainable manner, that’s why I put this at the top. For
example, eating sugar and ultra-processed food creates a vicious cycle where we
may not even start living an active life because those foods make our life
lethargic and inactive.
You may ask, when
we were young, we often used to eat sugary foods like candies, ice creams,
deserts, etc. and we were perfectly fine. Even people who eat some sugary foods
are doing just fine. Yes, that’s true. I had the same life. I drank coca cola
and indulged in ice creams when I was kid. But think about how many we used to
eat? Once in a week? Or a few in a month? We always eat sugary food during Eid.
And I had no problem with health whatsoever for a long time till my
mid-twenties. Eating in moderation certainly isn't a problem. In fact, daily
intake of 12 grams of sugar is generally regarded as safe. However, we get much
of that from our fruit if we eat regularly. So, our body can handle once in a
while going high on sugar but that should be truly “once in a while.” The
second factor is: as we grow older our metabolism gets weaker so we have to be
even more careful. Apart from that our life is a complete system so what we do
overall is important on how my intake of sugary food will impact e.g., active lifestyle,
stress level, pollution, social life, faith and worship, etc. that are covered
in the next stages. At this stage let’s start with:
·
Stop
regular intake of all food that has explicitly or implicitly added sugar to it.
You will be surprised that almost every food is contaminated with added sugar.
Fruit juice to coconut water - they add sugar to it. Soft drink beverage,
juice, cereal, biscuit, chocolate, cake, baklava, bread, ketchup, etc.
·
Foods
that are ultra processed normally lack fibers to increase shelf life. Fiber is
essential for a normal metabolic function (read the book Metabolical by
Dr. Robert Lustig for more detail) so avoid anything that is packaged for
longer shelf life.
o
Eat
fresh fruit instead of juice is bad for the same reason of consuming refined sugars.
Also, they add sugar to natural juice to make it sweeter.
·
Processed
foods usually have preservatives which preserve food so it doesn’t need to be a
genius to think what happens when that food gets into our digestive system.
It’s a tug of war between the digestive system and the preservatives.
·
Take
gaps between eating food (according to Dr. Robert Lustig: wait for 20 minutes
for another serving). This will allow the food metabolism to trigger
suppressing ghrelin and generating leptin to send signal to the brain that the
body is metabolizing the last meal and don’t need another meal soon.
·
Eat
in moderation. Fulfilling the stomach at all the time is like we’re raving the
car engine at all the time. For Muslims, we are advised in Ahadith to
keep one-third of our stomach empty. "Nothing is worse than a person who
fills his stomach. It should be enough for the son of Adam to have a few bites
to satisfy his hunger. If he wishes more, it should be: One-third for his food,
one-third for his liquids, and one-third for his breath." - Al Tirmidhi
·
Fasting
twice in a week: Monday and Thursdays. "The Prophet (peace be upon him)
was keen to fast on Mondays and Thursdays" - Al Tirmidhi. Not
surprisingly, this is now evident by medical science. Fasting triggers the
miracle in our body, Autophagy - discovered by Japanese scientist Yoshinori
Ohsumi in 2016. Here’s some scientific facts behind autophagy: Autophagy can
rapidly provide fuel for energy and building blocks for renewal of cellular
components, and is therefore essential for the cellular response to starvation
and other types of stress. After infection, autophagy can eliminate invading
intracellular bacteria and viruses. Autophagy contributes to embryo development
and cell differentiation. Cells also use autophagy to eliminate damaged
proteins and organelles, a quality control mechanism that is critical for
counteracting the negative consequences of aging. Disrupted autophagy has been
linked to Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes and other disorders that appear
in the elderly. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause genetic disease.
Disturbances in the autophagic machinery have also been linked to cancer.
Intense research is now ongoing to develop drugs that can target autophagy in
various diseases.”[xx]
Stage 2: live a normal active life
This stage is a
vital companion to the previous one, as it plays a crucial role in making
sustainability achievable. Our bodies are designed for regular physical
activity, and our metabolic system, brain function, and hormone secretion all
work in harmony when we are active. For instance, engaging in activities such
as walking can lower stress levels and enhance the overall performance of our
metabolic system and body.
So, how can we accomplish this?
If your profession needs you to do physical work,
then you’re blessed. Then you don’t need this physical activity advises.
However, if you’re not lucky enough to be physically active at your work then do
physical work at home, walk to workplace or at least to a transportation
station, do gardening, add a physical activity-based work, etc. Bottom line is-
try to do things physically.
If you’re constrained to not to manage physical
activities, you must compensate through regular walking, cycling, jogging,
hiking etc. It’s always better to go outside. Nature is our friend. If you absolutely
can’t manage to go out, go to the gym as a last resort. Be active for at least
for an hour or more every day. One thing
we don’t realize that doing those exercise or vain physical activities are a very
recent construct that comes with a heavy cost: waste of time and money. Think
about an hour of walk, jog or run on treadmill. You’re not doing anything
productive in that hour, moreover you’re burning the calories from food that
you spend money for. Except the being active (which is needed for sure) you’re
not achieving anything productive. Here’s an analogy: you’ve a car that you
drive rarely. So, to save damage of your car battery, tire and breaks, you need
to drive it occasionally and you take a short tour around the neighborhood. Do
you achieve anything from that car? Car is supposed to take you form one place
to another place but you’re not achieving that goal. So, you burned fuel and
your time to keep it healthy for longevity. Instead, if you had used for, such
as, drop your kids, commute to work or visiting a place, you would have
achieved both function: transportation and longevity. So, to compensate that
waste, fill the time with some kind of productive action, such as, listen to a
podcast to gain knowledge, ponder about your life, or intentionally relaxing to
gain energy for the next activity.
Muslims have few mandatory physical activities
throughout the day. Five daily prayer is a combination of mental, physical and spiritual
acts. For five daily prayers, you’re doing at least 17 (and upwards of 31)
bending, sit-up, 34 (to 62) partial-pushups, 5 (to 11) neck-stretches, standing
straight for 20-40 minutes (depends on your time), etc. Moreover, the prayers
come with washing and cleansing of hands-face-mouth-feet before each prayer. It's
also recommended to brush (using natural chewing stick from Salvadora persica
known as miswak[xxi]) teeth before
the prayers. I’ve only touched upon the physical part alone but the greater
benefits come with meditation, devotion and spirituality that are also key for
our psychological wellbeing.
Additionally, it’s highly recommended to go to masjid
every day for the five daily prayers. If you can do that, then you’re not only
achieving all those above-mentioned benefits but you’re also getting social
interaction and meeting with fellow human beings. In the prayer at masjid,
you’re required to stand in a row next to each other shoulder-to-shoulder. This
is also scientifically proven that human touch creates flow of oxytocin that is
necessary for healthy living. According to NIH research: “Inter-individual
touch can be a desirable reward that can both relieve negative affect and evoke
strong feelings of pleasure”[xxii]
Stage 3: Limit exposures to chemicals and plastics
The
above two stages should solve majority our problem. However, our modern world
has been flooded by chemicals: plastic (and Styrofoam) containers, cups, bowls,
utensils, insect sprays, sunscreens, dishwasher detergents, cleaning chemicals,
paints and the list go on. Our modern life is surrounded by all those
chemicals. Read the warning signs of many plastic, rubber and chemical products
and you will read that many of them are known for cancer, birth defects or
other reproductive harms.[xxiii] Here’s the list
of chemicals that are being proposed to add the warnings in their labels.[xxiv]
I will add few specifics for your
awareness:
Avoid
any plastic items for warm and hot foods. Never put them into the microwave
Plastic or Styrofoam cups for hot coffee
or tea are bad but even the apparent paper cups mostly come with a thin plastic
layer that creates micro-plastic particles and gets into our metabolic system.[xxv]
PFAS is a chemical that has been used
indiscriminately in our products for decades. Here’s what NIH is now saying: “altered
immune and thyroid function, liver disease, lipid and insulin dysregulation,
kidney disease, adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes, and cancer.”[xxvi] What are the products that has PFAS chemical? You
would be horrified by seeing the list[xxvii]: Cleaning products; Water-resistant fabrics, such as
rain jackets, umbrellas and tents; Grease-resistant paper; Nonstick cookware; Personal
care products, like shampoo, dental floss, nail polish, and eye makeup; Stain-resistant
coatings used on carpets, upholstery, and other fabrics. Can you avoid them
all? I doubt. But I don’t think it’s worth it surrender to it and get those
diseases like kidney disease, cancer, lipid/insulin or liver diseases.
There are other chemicals that are hard
for us to avoid because those are in public sphere such as water contamination,
air pollution, pesticides or other chemicals used in farms, etc. More we can
limit those exposure the better support we would provide our body to recover,
whatever it can.
Stage 4:
Break the chain of excessive consumption and reject materialistic rat race
“Children of
Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and
drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters” (7:31)
You’ve seen the
devastation of materialistic rat race in the “Living for Materialistic Life –
Recipe for Disaster.” If you’ve skipped that, please go back to that section to
read and come back.
So, what can we do to break free from the
relentless pursuit of materialism? Here are a few thoughts:
Define Concrete Material Goals: Start by
setting clear and concrete goals for your materialistic pursuits. Ask yourself
questions such as: How much money do you want to earn, and why is it important?
How many degrees do you wish to attain, and what purpose will they serve? What
size of a
house do you need, and how does it align with your life objectives? Repeat this
process for all other materialistic desires. This might seem straightforward,
but failing to establish well-defined goals can lead you unknowingly into the
materialistic rat race. Often, once you achieve a career, social, or financial
milestone, you find yourself unsatisfied and immediately striving for the next
one. How many times have you thought, if you just get that promotion, a certain
salary increase, a particular position, or attain a specific social status, then
“I'll be all set"? Yet, shortly after reaching these goals, you set new,
even higher ones. The pursuit of material possessions never ends until our last
breath. Imam Al-Ghazzali likened our thirst for worldly materials to drinking
from a salty sea – the more you drink, the thirstier you become until you meet
your demise due to the saltiness. Therefore, write down your materialistic
goals and regularly evaluate your progress. Cultivate contentment with what
you've achieved.
Avoid External Influences: Be cautious not to
let external influences define your materialistic goals. It's easy to
underestimate how much we are influenced by our surroundings. In psychology,
this phenomenon is known as "social pressure," "social
conformity," or "peer pressure." It can create an illusion of
control over your goals when, in reality, you are merely reacting to societal
influences. Remember that you must set these goals for yourself. To prevent
others from shaping your aspirations, regularly assess whether your materialistic
goals align with your personal values and desires.
Distinguish Material Desires from Spiritual
Aspirations: It's crucial not to confuse your temporal materialistic desires
with your pursuit of eternal success in the hereafter, which is guided by your
life's purpose. The recommendations mentioned above primarily pertain to
material possessions that you will inevitably leave behind when you pass away. However,
for everything else that you will carry the outcome of those into the
afterlife, do not limit yourself to modest goals. Instead, aim for objectives
those are grandeur. Compete with others in acts of righteousness and in
contributing positively to humanity. This is the ultimate path to success.
In summary, by setting clear materialistic goals, guarding against external influences, and distinguishing between material desires and spiritual aspirations, you can navigate the materialistic world while staying true to your higher purpose in life.
Stage 5: Limit artificial lifestyle
If you find yourself at this stage, you may
already be doing well in your life. However, if you're seeking to truly elevate
your life to next level then consider embracing a more natural way of living by
reducing your reliance on artificial products and services. To be clear: not everyone
needs to reach at this stage because of the availability and exposure to the
artificial lifestyle. However, individuals who are exposed to excessive
artificial life and living at the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs
might find it necessary to reach this stage.
Artificial or synthetic products have
undeniably improved our lives significantly, including innovations like
electric lighting, televisions, computers, smartphones, and social media. These
inventions are remarkable, and our civilization should continue to develop new
products and technologies. However, unbridled and excessive use of these
artificial amenities can disrupt the balance in our lives. It's crucial to
remember that human evolution occurs at a gradual pace due to the inherent
nature of our biology. Attempting to defy this natural pace is unwise.
For instance, for thousands of years, we
satisfied our social needs by engaging with real people in person, allowing our
brains to process social interactions at a manageable rate. In contrast, social
media has completely altered this dynamic by providing a constant stream of
social interaction without genuine physical contact. This change has led to our
brains receiving dopamine from social media usage, potentially harming our
neurons and undermining our natural sources of happiness. By limiting our time
on social media, we can allocate more time to genuine, in-person human
interactions. [xxviii]
This is just one example. The closer we live
to nature, the better our biological systems tend to function. Therefore,
whenever feasible, consider reducing your reliance on artificial aspects of
modern life and embrace the therapeutic benefits of immersing yourself in
nature through every possible means at your disposal.
Final Stage: Live for a purpose
It's important to recognize that what follows
isn't an isolated stage but rather an overarching principle that should
permeate all stages of life. The preceding stages are aimed at promoting a
healthy body and mind during our time in this world. However, what value is
there in leading a profoundly healthy life here if we depart from this world
unprepared for the eternal one? Throughout human history, billions of
individuals, much like yourself, have come and gone from this world. So, it
behooves us to ask: Why are we brought into this world? What awaits us once we
depart from it? If you've already discovered the answers to these questions,
then kudos to you. The subsequent question is whether you are actively
preparing for that journey.
But if you haven't yet arrived at those
answers, then it's crucial to pause whatever you're doing now and seek those
answers. Our Earth has existed for approximately 4 billion years, humans have
inhabited it for thousands of years, and our lifespan here is limited to around
100 years at most. That's an infinitesimal fraction of the Earth's history. You
fall into one of two categories: either you're absolutely certain, with
substantial evidence, that there is no God (as an atheist), or you need to
explore the truth about the existence of God and adhere to His guidance for
your own salvation.
If you remain uncertain and continue to drift
through this fleeting life, you're ultimately deceiving no one but yourself.
Imagine this situation as akin to someone on a cruise ship approaching the
precipice of Niagara Falls. They know they will soon reach the edge but take no
action because they haven't deciphered the physics of what happens when they go
over the falls. Instead, they decide to enjoy their time on the cruise ship and
neglect to contemplate the imminent plunge. Just remember, that there’s no
return once you are at the edge.
Once you come to terms with this reality,
dedicate your life to pursue a career in the context of life's purpose. It
doesn't matter which field or industry you are involved in, as long as that’s
not immoral or harming others, whether it's science, technology, engineering,
construction, politics, business, food, entertainment, arts, or religion.
Devote your efforts to contribute to the greater purpose of your eternal life.
[i] Committee
on Nutrition. American Heart Association. Diet and Heart Disease. American
Heart Association; Dallas, TX, USA: 1968
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[iii]The
Fifty Year Rehabilitation of the Egg. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4632449/#B1-nutrients-07-05429
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[vii]Sugar
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[viii] “Dietary
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[xvii] https://robertlustig.com/sugar-the-bitter-truth/
[xxi] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4436748/
[xxii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4701942/
[xxiii] https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/about-proposition-65
[xxiv] https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list
[xxv] Disposable
paper cups release tiny plastic particles, harmful ions
https://www.nature.com/articles/nindia.2020.173
[xxvi] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7906952/#:~:text=Epidemiological%20studies%20have%20revealed%20associations,and%20developmental%20outcomes%2C%20and%20cancer.
[xxvii] https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/chemical/pfas.htm
[xxviii]https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-time/
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