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Lifestyle, which includes things like what you eat, how you eat, and many other things, will influence your life's projection. Getting stuck in the wrong lifestyle pattern can be devastating.
Over the past 3.6 million years, our species has undergone significant evolution, such as adapting to animal source foods (Mann, 2018; McPherron et al. 2010; Pobiner, 2013, 2016; Thompson et al. 2019). The implication: a reduction of their guts and an expansion of the brains – from the occipital lobe and forward (Aiello och Dunbar, 1993; Aiello och Wheeler, 1995). That expansion gave room for new mental faculties which are unique for our species: the executive functions, including prospective thinking, and social cognition (Ardila, 2008; Ardila et al. 2018; Adornetti, 2016; Barkley, 2001; Coolidge and Wynn, 2018; Elliott, 2003; Diamond, 2013; Diamond et al. 2011; Jurado och Rosselli, 2007); Coolidge and Wynn, 2018).
In order to develop and sustain physical and mental health, that is being able to use our executive functions, including prospective thinking, and social cognition, we need to consume a matrix of >30 micro nutrients, tryptophan (Lustig, 2017), choline (Smith, 2020), and omega 3 fatty acids (Ede, 2019) regularly (I would say on a daily basis). It's also beneficial for health to cook and eat with other people (Dunbar, 2017; Lustig, 2017). Spending time in nature is said to restore your attention (Hartig et al. 1991; Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989; Ohly et al. 2016), and when sun beams hit your body, it interacts with the cholesterol to produce vitamin D (Landvreugd et al. 2025; Wang and Chen, 2020. Salt is a systemic mineral which is crucial to consume if you want to avoid cardiovascular disease (Mente, 2018; Mente et al. 2021).
But since the 1980s, the dietary guidelines urge us to avoid things like meat, butter and salt.
The guidelines have, over time, deviated from science, and it has had implications for many people. Over the decades, I have met many people with lifestyle diseases. These people are typically assertive and sometimes aggressive. Some die prematurely. And its related to food.
For example, a few years ago during a coffee meeting, John, a former colleague at the university of Helsingfors, said that during a visit to his physician for an annual checkup, he was told that he had become obese. John said he was very surprised. Then, instantly, he told us about his breakfast habits for the past 30 years (which now >35 years): home-made muesli, that is, grains. John also said that his wife wasn't feeling well. Her physician had told her to lower the consumption of salt to lower the blood pressure. Another colleague's wife, who was trained as a veterinarian, was convinced that meat was bad for health. Suddenly she passed.
Since I moved to Finland (fall, 2018), I have also met 5-10 people who expressed irrational aggression. They tend to go ballistic over viewpoint diversity or heterodoxy – where multiple views are not just permitted, but encouraged and the foundation for reason – a social process of exchanging ideas though language (Pinker, 2011).
My conclusion from these cases, and many more which I have encountered, suggest that these people got stuck in bad habits based on convictions which they never questioned but defend. This can be described as confirmation bias, continued influence bias, Dysrationalia, or natural stupidity (Cacciatore, 2021; Kahneman och Tversky, 1972, 1977; Nickerson, 1998; Stanovich, 1993; Tversky och Kahneman, 1973; Wason, 1960, 1966; 1968; Wason och Shapiro, 1971).
Compare this famous quote:
“A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts and figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point” (Festinger, Riecken and Scacter, 1956, p . 3).If you don't take action, you will probably sustain the habits you learned at an early age for the rest of your life.
But taking action means that you have to be able to activate your executive functions, including prospective thinking.
Since my teens, I have changed my lifestyle several times. For example, working with my father in the family's business, which was a pastry shop, meant that I had free access to pastries which contained a lot of sugar. But because I started to socialize with people who had an interest in health and sports, I started to question my own sugar consumption. Paradoxically, my father, who had little to no interest in health and sports, supported my efforts for a healthy lifestyle.
Taking action at an early age, and being supported by my father, probably improved my cognitive flexibility forward in time.
But I kept following parts of the dietary guidelines. That means I avoided butter and salt, two food ingredients which are crucial for health.
Around 2007 – 2008, another change took place, when we reduced carbs and seed oils and increased animal fats to the diet. The effect was immediate – in a couple of months, I lost 11 kilograms, from 82 to 71. Being 180 centimeters tall, that meant I looked a bit skinny.
Over the years I have managed to increase my weight to 74 kilograms, and hold it steady. All through this time, my waistline has been, and still is, 79-80 centimeters.
In August 2019, I made another change. I decided to skip breakfast and lunch, relying only on the meal together with the family. A few months earlier, I had started to work as a research leader at the University of Helsingfors. And the lunch was subsidized, costing 5.6 euros. Including desert.
Skipping that treat meant I restricted eating for 17 – 24 hours every day. The implication: increased stem cell production (Tafton, 2018; See Dr Berg on youTube), and something called autophagy – the natural, conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism (Klionsky, 2008; Wikipedia).
Add to that. For the past four years, between April – October, I have replaced shoes with sandals. And for the past three years, I have been practicing grounding – walking barefoot to become a part of the earth's global Direct Currency circuit which is said to enhance our conductive health. This has far reaching implications to all our organ systems that utilize DC energy and conductivity to work, including but not limited to: our central and peripheral nervous system, our musculoskeletal system, and our cardiovascular system (Koniver, 2023).
Conclusion. I see and meet people every week with physical and mental health issues. They are assertive and aggressive, and some die prematurely. They typically follow government dietary guidelines. For them, sugar is no issue. Me, on the other hand, have managed to maintain some level of cognitive flexibility and thus physical and mental health. Join my health journey!
Ad observandum. I asked Chat Gtp the following question:
Since 2019, I have restricted my eating (TRE; intermittent fasting) >2000 days. Since 2022, I have applied grounding at least twice every week during May - September (>100 times). With the mounting research on TRE and grounding on health, is it possible to model some potential health benefits on my behalf?
ChatGPT replied:
Yes, it's possible to model potential health benefits from your sustained practices in time-restricted eating (TRE) and grounding, especially when paired with your background as a psychological and health researcher. While most existing data is based on population averages and animal studies, we can combine biological plausibility, epidemiological evidence, and mechanistic models to create a personalized, evidence-informed hypothesis.
📊 Overview of Your Practices
| Practice | Duration | Frequency / Intensity |
|---|---|---|
| Time-Restricted Eating | Since 2019 (≥2000 days) | Daily, consistent long-term TRE |
| Grounding (Earthing) | Since 2022 (≥100 sessions) | ≥2x/week, May–September, outdoors |
🧠 TRE: Modeled Health Benefits
Based on human and animal studies of long-term TRE (e.g. 16:8, 14:10), benefits may include:
| System/Marker | Evidence-Based TRE Effects |
|---|---|
| Metabolic health | Improved insulin sensitivity, reduced HbA1c, reduced fasting glucose |
| Weight regulation | Decreased fat mass, especially visceral fat (without calorie reduction) |
| Cardiovascular health | Reduced blood pressure, LDL, triglycerides |
| Circadian alignment | Enhanced sleep, mitochondrial efficiency, and hormonal balance |
| Cellular aging | Lower inflammation markers (e.g. CRP), increased autophagy (esp. with fasts ≥16 hrs) |
| Cognitive resilience | Improved memory and neuroplasticity markers in aging populations |
🧪 Notable Studies: Satchidananda Panda (Salk Institute), 2015–2023, multiple human trials; Wilkinson et al. (2020, Cell Metabolism).
🌍 Grounding: Modeled Health Benefits
While still under-studied, grounding (contact with Earth’s surface electrons) has shown in pilot and observational studies:
| System/Marker | Suggested Effects from Regular Grounding |
|---|---|
| Inflammation | Reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-6, TNF-α) |
| Autonomic balance | Lower cortisol levels, improved HRV (heart rate variability) |
| Sleep | Better sleep onset and quality (linked to cortisol + melatonin) |
| Pain | Decreased muscle soreness, faster recovery (e.g., DOMS studies) |
| Blood properties | Improved blood viscosity, RBC zeta potential |
🧪 Notable Studies: Chevalier et al. (2013–2020), Oschman (2007), pilot trials on HRV and inflammation.
🔧 Potential Combined Effects
| Domain | Potential Synergy from TRE + Grounding |
|---|---|
| Inflammation control | TRE activates autophagy; grounding lowers reactive cytokines |
| Mitochondrial function | TRE improves metabolic flexibility; grounding reduces oxidative stress |
| Stress recovery | TRE aligns cortisol; grounding dampens HPA-axis reactivity |
| Cardiometabolic profile | TRE reduces insulin load; grounding improves blood fluidity |
🧠 Suggestion: Model Options
You could model your potential gains in:
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Biological Age Reduction: Using Horvath clock approximations, lifestyle inputs.
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Cardiometabolic Risk Score: Pre-/post-TRE score projection based on Framingham + empirical TRE effect sizes.
-
Inflammation Load: Based on IL-6/CRP model reductions from grounding trials.
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Sleep Quality and HRV Trends: Modeled from published wearable data (Oura, WHOOP, etc.).
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More about my expertise:
Executive coaching for CEOs/managers and workshops to facilitate Organizational Performance, Learning, and Creativity for Problem Solving | Lectures: Nutrition for physical and mental health | Course/lecture: children's emotional and social adjustment and cognitive development | Language training - Swedish | Academy Competency | CV | Teaching skills and experience | Summary of research project | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube-channel | TikTok | Twitter
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