Saturday, September 16, 2023

For God’s Sake, Let’s Change Our Lifestyle for Good!

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

[ii] Pelletier X., Thouvenot P., Belbraouet S., Chayvialle J.A., Hanesse B., Mayeux D., Debry G. Effect of egg consumption in healthy volunteers: Influence of yolk, white or whole-egg on gastric emptying and on glycemic and hormonal responses. Ann. Nutr. Metab. 1996;40:109–115. doi: 10.1159/000177903.

[iv] Villaume C., Beck B., Rohr R., Pointel J.P., Debry G. Effect of exchange of ham for boiled egg on plasma glucose and insulin responses to breakfast in normal subjects. Diabetes Care. 1986;9:46–49. doi: 10.2337/diacare.9.1.46. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[v] Song W.O., Kerver J.M. Nutritional contribution of eggs to American diets. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 2000;19:556S–562S. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2000.10718980

[vii]Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research: A Historical Analysis of Internal Industry Documents; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099084/

[viii] “Dietary Fats, Carbohydrates and Atherosclerotic Disease,” in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 1967.48,49

[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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