The concept of merely existing is about as out of fashion as the mullet or a pair of crocs. To live your best life now, it’s all about becoming a better, faster, stronger, 2.0 version of yourself.

Do you feel like shit all the time? Tired? Unhealthy? Moody? Lacking in energy and motivation? Unable to perform the way you want to?

Few years back I was desperately searching for a way to reinvent myself and optimise my energy, mood, focus, happiness, willpower, intelligence and of course upgrade overall health. I was waking up tired no matter how many hours I slept, I had severe brain fog, couldn’t focus, I was unmotivated, anxious and even suspected depression, and my moods and emotions controlled my life, my goals and my relationships. I was running at 40-50% of what I knew I was capable of.

The term ‘biohacking’ caught my attention. It embodies an entire spectrum of ways in which people modify, upgrade or enhance their bodies, from mood improvement and focus to physical and optimum health. It’s the art and science of changing your environment around you and inside you so that you have full control over your own biology, biochemistry, performance, health and longevity and can range from faecal transplants and injecting stem cells to diet, supplementation and nootropics.

After reading hundreds of books, interviews and personal blogs, listening to podcasts and self-testing, I noticed a set of underlying basics that all biohackers (who have spent $200k+ biohacking), have in common – and none of it costs a bomb, nor is it out of anyone’s reach.

What I learnt is that all that I wanted actually depended on transient mental states and they all depend (to an extent) on your biochemistry. You see, stress, a bad night’s sleep, anger, dehydration, a nutrient-bankrupt diet, lack of movement – all cause biochemical fluctuations which impact how you feel and operate daily.

So how do you manipulate aka ‘biohack’ your biochemistry to get control of your mental states with minimal investment and time? It’s easier than you think …

• Diet & Nutrition
• Emotional & Mental Health
• Movement
• Optimal Supplements
• Sleep Hygiene

DIET & NUTRITION
My tips:

• Quality over quantity. Eat grass fed meats, wild caught fish and organic veggies as much as possible. The cheaper the food the more toxic.
• Avoid sugar, grains, gluten, fried crap, bread, juice, cereal, pasta and noodles, most prepacked condiments – they ALL turn to sugar when ingested and spike your insulin and cause inflammation, making you fatter, sicker and more stupid every single day.
• Get 50% of your daily calories from fat, but be careful, fat calories add up quickly e.g. 15ml/1tbsp of oil has 120 calories.
• Run your brain on ketones but do practice metabolic flexibility – cyclical ketosis – so that your body is capable to efficiently burn glucose or ketones for energy. To do this have one higher carb day per week and no I don’t mean eat pizza and fries and wash it down with beer or soda!
• Avoid refined vegetable oils and reduce PUFAs (found in fish oil supplements, nuts, seeds, farmed seafood and non-organic protein), they are highly inflammatory and damage your DNA. And anything that increases inflammation, decreases brain function. PUFAs suppress the metabolism and thyroid hormone which will significantly contribute to weight gain. Best fats are; MCT oil (containing C8 and C12 only preferably), extra virgin olive oil (keep in fridge after opening), grass-fed butter, organic eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olives.
• Cycle a calorie restricted diet – fewer than 1200 calories – it extends lifespan by as much as 40%.
• Make 1 meal per day a liquid meal for greater nutrient uptake.
• Follow a biochemistry specific diet to keep lectins low. Get it from here: www.bodyiq.com.au.
• Don’t overeat protein, especially animal protein, excess protein causes inflammation, ageing and increases your risk of cancer, diabetes and reduces life span. It also places a lot of strain on your kidneys and liver and excess protein ferments in your gut producing ammonia and nitrogen. You only need 0.5 – 0.6 grams per pound of weight. You can supplement with collagen protein if you want another 20g of protein.
• Intermittent fast 3-5x per week – its incredibly useful in aiding fat loss, building muscle, its anti-ageing and prevents cancer and many chronic diseases by activating autophagy, your automatic cellular recycling program.
• Drink 2-3L of quality purified water.
• Occasional 3, 5 or 7 day water fasts (more on this soon!)

EMOTIONAL & MENTAL HEALTH
My tips:

• Meditate or breathe deliberately daily. No excuses! Don’t allow stress to build up. My favourites; Mindifi hypno-meditations, Waking Up Sam Harris and Wim Hoff’s breathing method.
• Get personalised hypnotherapy recordings. They will help to align with your goals, heal from addictions and help instantly to change attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and behaviours. You can also use it to lose weight, reduce anxiety and depression and sleep better.
• Heal from past traumas so that you are free to operate without the automatic programmes instilled by your parents, peers, education, society and past lives (if you believe in that). I’ve used many modalities and my favourites are NAET, NET, EFT and RTT … these modalities all get to the root cause of a problem. Email me directly for recommendations.
• Practice gratitude – the no1 biohack! I use the 5 Minute Journal. It’s the simplest thing you can do to start your day happier. Get yours here: www.intelligentchange.com.
• Get a HRV device (Heart Rate Variability) to dramatically improve emotional wellbeing and create psychological coherence for increased harmony in our mind, emotions and body. It’s also an important indicator of health and fitness and a marker of your biological aging and it literally sets your goals on fire! Get yours here: https://www.heartmath.com/science/ and see for yourself instantly what benefits positive emotions have on how you think, feel, perform and attract, versus what stress and negative emotions do, affecting cognitive function.
• Treat yourself with a ‘Me Day’ once a month and indulge in a tech-free spa day, massage or floatation therapy. Try this place https://koarecovery.com.au, they have infrared sauna which helps get rid of toxins on a cellular level, rejuvenates skin (its anti-ageing!), improves circulation, mobilises and burns fat and relieves sore muscles. You can also buy your own from www.joovv.com or www.redtherapy.com.
• Get a dog (preferably a chihuahua!). I accidently ended up with a 5-day-old puppy after a dear childhood friend passed away. And I thank her every day because Majik (originated from Magda+Magic) is pure heaven! She filled gaps in my life I didn’t even think I had, she soothes a bad day and makes me a nicer human.

MOVEMENT
My tips:

• Move daily! Walk, ride, swim, yoga, pilates or do a class.
• Build muscle 2-3x per week, it increases your metabolic rate, strengthens your bones, ligaments and tendons, prevents sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) and helps you live longer. But don’t over do it and push too hard too many days in a row without giving your body proper rest and recovery e.g. have a rest day every 3rd day, morning cold 60-90sec morning showers and regular ice baths (cold therapy boost energy and your immune system!)
• Do 1x ‘balls to the wall, life or death, all out’ HIIT session per week and go hard – until you feel like your lungs will explode!

OPTIMAL SUPPLEMENTS
My tips: fact is that the food we eat today no longer contain enough nutrients no matter how much we eat. If you want more from life than basic survival, add a few of these to optimise your wellbeing:

• Bioavailable multivitamin aka Green Powder (GutRight is my current fave!)
• Grass-fed collagen powder by Great Lakes
• GLOW beauty powder and Collagen by The Beauty Chef
• Vitamin D (I take 4000iu)
• Omega-3 (I take vegan version 3000mg)
• Magnesium night powder by Bioceuticals brand
• Activated Vitamin B by Eagle brand
• A-C by Eagle brand
• CoQ10
• Calcium
• Bulletproof Brain Octane and XCT oil
• Xtend BCAAs by Scivation
• Bone Broth powder by Bioglan
• Quality Protein Powder
• SLEEP by The Beauty Chef
• Occasional use: DHEA (prescription only), acacia probiotic fibre, silica, olive leaf, curcumin, polyphenomenal, methyl-max and glutathione

Get a lot of the above from https://www.optimoz.com.au

SLEEP HYGIENE
My tips:

• Get plenty of restorative deep and REM sleep regularly.
• Track your sleep. I found the best device to measure your sleep cycles is the Oura Ring. Get it from here https://ouraring.com or download the Sleep Cycle App.
• Wake up every day at exactly the same time – even on weekends.
• Get 7-8 hours of sleep.
• Make sure your bedroom is dark and cool. Wear an eye mask and ear plugs.
• Avoid social media and computer screens 3hrs before bedtime, they mess with REM and prevent full restoration.
• Get UVEX Blue Light Blocker glasses to block the LED light from your computer/iPhone/laptop. The yellow lenses are uniquely formulated to absorb select wavelengths of radiant energy into the lens reducing spectral hazard. Get yours from here https://www.optimoz.com.au/products/uvex-blue-light-blockers.
• Add a cup of SLEEP by The Beauty Chef and night Magnesium by Bioceuticals.

It may seem overwhelming, but all these areas feed into each other – you cannot sleep well while eating shit, not move daily and not manage stress and you cannot exercise, eat well and not stress if you are sleeping badly. There is not one thing that causes overall health, ageing, degeneration and cognitive decline, it’s caused by an accumulative damage caused by little insults stemming mostly from stress, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and crappy sleep. And by the time it all manifests into a dis-ease and you start getting symptoms, its too late, because a lot of different systems in your body have been exposed for decades.

Today, I’m a completely different human. I sleep better and deeper than I ever have before. When I exercise, I see my body respond immediately. My brain is ‘on’ and buzzing with excitement and I’m motived AF. My energy is crazy. My cravings are non-existent. My stress, anxiety and low moods are rare. And on a minute by minute basis, I’m able to mentally and physically function almost as though I was eating those magic pills from the movie Limitless.