Even though I was stressed…
Anxious…
Depressed…
Losing my hair…
… and despite being told that I was going to have to take hormones for the rest of my life…
I started learning ways to help my body produce hormones…
I was first skeptical about some of the lifestyle changes I needed to make…
… or thought I couldn’t do some changes to my diet…
Like cutting back on sugar…
I used to crave sugar a lot…
Couldn’t picture a meal without some form of carb…
Don’t know about you but…
I love bread…
Especially in Pizza form… haha
… but I finally saw a way I could produce hormones for things like energy…
Hormones to sleep better…
Stop hair loss…
So I was willing to give it a try…
Figured if it didn’t work I could order a pizza and get back to the drawing board…
It all started by raising my Vitamin D levels…
It worked!
… but it was a temporary fix…
Although a needed step and pre-requisite for the following steps in hormone production…
I still had digestive issues…
I was lacking nutrients needed for proper digestion…
… but I wasn’t ready to give up…
I understood that Vitamin D by itself can only do so much…
It’s like the tool needed to build widgets…
… but I was missing the raw material…
Cholesterol…
… which is like sheet metal to a steel shop…
Your body is like a steel shop that can make just about anything you want if you give it the raw materials…
… give it cholesterol and it makes pretty much all hormones like testosterone and others needed for proper thyroid function…
Once I learned the lesson you’re about to learn in this installment…
My body started producing hormones again!
I felt like I was finally back in control of my health…
Here’s the first lesson…
(… by the way… I can’t wait to hear success stories from those who complete all missions for this e-course)…
Because I know that…
There’s no feeling like getting your energy back…
I remember when it happened for me…
I used to feel tired all day…
Never had energy…
… after a few days of following this lesson…
It happened…
I woke up around 5 am…
No alarm clock…
Just sprung out of bed…
Like a 6 year old…
So much energy I didn’t know what to do with myself…
I had to drop and do push ups just to expend some energy…
I wasn’t used to that much energy…
… and all of the sudden I realized I could go back to doing things I loved like…
Go hike…
Mountain bike…
Paddleboard…
Etc…
Friends and family noticed me living a more active lifestyle…
Going back to the gym…
Finally felt like I had another shot at life…
I was happy…
… but this didn’t come easy to me…
I used to drink beer…
Lot’s of it to be completely blunt and honest…
Eat pizza…
Burgers…
… and when eating out…
No matter how full I was after a meal, I’d find a third chamber in my belly somewhere to fit in dessert…
Yes…
Me…
I love sugar too…
I love carrot cake and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies… lol
At first…
I’d gain some weight here and there but…
I’d simply go to the gym and be fine for the most part…
Until I started having digestive issues…
Started to become allergic to food…
Couldn’t digest proteins as well…
Especially gluten…
Couldn’t eat bread no more…
Even a salad would tear up my stomach…
Started feeling depressed and anxious all the time…
Losing my hair…
Brain fog…
I didn’t think the food I was eating had anything to do with it…
I started doing research…
Tried different products…
Shakes…
Powders…
Greens…
… but nothing really lasted or got me to where I wanted to be…
I was spending a pretty penny buying supplements…
Consulting professionals…
Getting blood work and tests not covered by insurance…
Not knowing or understanding why I was going through all of this…
I was just another guy on the standard American diet…
Thinking I was just aging and this was part of it…
Then I started meeting people who had overcome their digestive issues…
People who used to have the same autoimmune issues I did, but could now digest food and enjoy good health…
One of the most transformational health mentors I came across was Dr Robert Cassar…
He helped me understand the role of sugar in the body, which I’ll go into detail next lesson
As you can see from his videos…
Dude has practically zero body fat!…
… and when he started to explain concepts like…
Drinking high quality water…
With minerals…
… and talked about pH…
… Probiotics…
… and other topics…
It came to me…
Health is like brewing beer…
I understood that if my body wasn’t producing the hormones I needed…
I just needed to apply the same concepts I would use when fermenting and brewing beer to my diet…
Which is why I’m calling my book “Beer Diet Project…”
I needed to seek out…
#1 The right foods to eat…
#2 And the probiotics that digest the nutrients in those foods…
Right food + right probiotics = hormones…
For Vitamin D I learned that foods like
Cod liver oil (and other fatty fishes)
Mushrooms
Raw milk
… and others…
… had the nutrients needed to make Vitamin D…
This is where I learned an important lesson I’m teaching in my book…
Eating probiotic fermented foods or drinking probiotic fermented beverages was the best way for me to get the probiotics I needed in my gut…
This was a breakthrough moment for me because I realized that I could be eating the right foods…
… but if my gut wasn’t able to digest food…
Break it down…
… then I was probably missing the probiotics that make hormones out of the nutrients of the food I was eating…
So even though I was eating the right foods…
… low vitamin D to me was like a little “check liver” light popping up on the dashboard of my body alerting me that my oil filter was not digesting fats properly…
I either didn’t have the right environment… (water, minerals, pH, temperature and…) or I could be lacking the probiotics that make Vitamin D…
While reading the book The 4-Hour Body I came across Fermented Cod Liver Oil…
My beer brewing brain all of the sudden gave me that gut feeling that the best way for me to get Vitamin D through food was to make sure I had the probiotics that make it…
It just made sense to me that eating probiotic fermented foods like Fermented Cod Liver Oil was the best way for me to get those probiotics…
I started by following the protocol given in Tim Ferriss book The 4-Hour Body…
2 capsules in the morning…
2 before bed…
… and other tips he gives you…
That was my starting point…
… and noticed after a few days of consistently increasing the population of those probiotics in my gut…
I could digest fats better…
… and my gut started to boost its hormone production…
Started sleeping better…
Waking up with more energy…
Growing back my hair…
I knew I was on the right track…
Raising my Vitamin D levels was the first step I took following The 4-Hour Body’s recommendation…
Then I moved on to step number two…
Cholesterol…
This was a tough topic to learn about…
Next lesson… I’ll start walking you through the basics of cholesterol then give you more advanced stuff later in the cholesterol e-course…
So that’s why I got started with Vitamin D…
To get the probiotics I needed to get Vitamin D from food sources…
Later on I’ll share more about how I transition between Vitamin D from food sources to Vitamin D from the sun…
It’s more advanced stuff, but worth to learn about it…
I’ll also be talking more in future lessons about other nutrients like Vitamins A, E & K which are needed so the body can better utilize Vitamin D…
Grow hair…
Etc…
Stay tuned…
Cheers!
Hip Hip Jorge
PS
Learn more about hormone production here
