How to not age, use creatine, and should you eat organic
Jul 11, 2025
Welcome to 1-3-1 Fridays, my weekly newsletter, where I reveal evidence-based strategies to get lean, strong, and create optimal health.
You'll receive one personal health insight, three actionable tips, and one concrete action step. Let's dive in.
What's in store for today:
- The best exercise to slow down aging even if you have a busy schedule and a time-restricted life.
- Does creatine give you an extra benefits for muscle and strength building?
- Is eating organic worth the extra money and effort or just another health scam?
The result should never be the goal.
It should be the process.
Here's what I mean.
Most of my life, I've chased goal achievement and hitting targets.
Nothing wrong with that.
But the pursuit of goals for the sake of hitting goals can leave an important thing in the dust:
True mastery.
In his book 'Mastery', George Leonard shares how mastery comes from falling in love with the process over results.
The reason this is key is that inevitable plateaus will emerge.
Some of these plateaus will be short.
Others will be longer.
Let's use the example of exercise and nutrition.
If you want to lose body fat and gain muscle, such as 20 pounds, achieving your goals is likely your primary focus.
It is for 99% of clients we help.
They have a goal and want to hit it as soon as possible.
I can relate.
Especially if you are a driven person who wants to reach goals quickly and easily.
However, there lies the problem.
Once you reach your goal (if you do and avoid perfectionism), what's next?
You've hit your goal weight and body composition levels.
This is where 98% of people fall off.
Goals in themselves are milestones.
But they aren't the ultimate objectives.
Look at any master of their craft.
Bruce Lee. Lionel Messi. Picasso.
They all practiced their craft.
Practice is the defining word here.
When you practice, things become permanent.
As you improve your practice, mastery slowly starts to emerge (sometimes painfully).
But it emerges year after year as you develop your craft.
In this example, the key practices are exercise and nutrition.
Eating well and lifting.
You can define sub-skill sets, such as cooking, shopping, lifting technique, and more.
But the main practices would be exercise and nutrition.
In our pleasure vs pain-driven society (which is mainly driven by our lower self), hacks and quick results are the norm.
But our higher self, which is neutral, calm, and observant, can focus on mastery.
The monotony of lifting quietly in the gym each week.
The stillness of cutting your vegetables and preparing your frying dish.
Day after day. Week after week.
Slowly, mastery begins to reveal itself to the true seeker of health.
It isn't easy. Nor will it be a straightforward path.
It's a path I've fallen many times and nearly off the fitness mountain.
But it can lead to the greatest adventure of your life.
Mastering the domains of your mind and body isn't easy because it requires something extra that most of us aren't willing to do...
It requires facing yourself.
Seeing yourself for who you are right now.
Not who you want to be or fantasize yourself to be.
Who you are right now.
When you can answer that question, you have the basis of reality (what is real now), and you can start to move forward.
Mastery is available to everyone.
Most will choose the hacks and short-term results.
A few will choose mastery.
Trust yourself and be the example that guides others.
Lesson: When you hear the call to adventure, answer it. It might change your life.
Here's Your 1-3-1 Friday:
1.) How to not age
In the East, the practice of internal cultivation is much more common than here in the West.
At least it was for 1000's of years.
With the whole world becoming more 'Western' and modernized, this may be changing.
However, the ancients discovered and developed practices to support our health and longevity throughout life.
One of these practices is Qi Gong.
Qi Gong is a practice of cultivating your life energy, or what the Chinese call 'Qi'.
Qi means energy (closer to life force as a more direct translation).
Gong means skilled effort.
So Qi Gong is the skilled effort of working with your life force.
Interestingly, this is one of the most underdiscussed topics in the West (life force).
The second would be consciousness.
Both of these topics are 2 of the most important subjects we could learn about.
But they aren't taught.
So, back to Qi Gong.
There has been a growing body of research showing the efficacy of what Taoist and Buddhist practitioners intuitively learned over the course of millennia.
Here's what the research tells us so far:
- Qi Gong can help build bone health (even though it involves little to no resistance, unlike resistance training). They found that bone rebuilding was even higher in postmenopausal women than in men. This is likely due to women experiencing greater bone loss at first.
- Qi Gong supports reduced blood pressure and reduces anxiety and depression. All of these combined will support living a longer, healthier life.
- Qi Gong can also boost your balance and overall well-being. In a neurotic world driven by habits that destroy our health, Qi Gong can help you relearn how to slow down and rebalance yourself.
The studies I found are fascinating. I'll include a link to them in the references at the end of this letter.
But I also wanted to share my practice of Qi Gong.
Over the past two years, I've practiced Qi Gong consistently every morning.
Some mornings it's been 30 seconds. For others, it's been 10+ minutes.
I've evolved from general 'health' Qi Gong to deeper, more nuanced layers of Qi Gong.
I've been practicing silent seated meditation every day for over eight years.
With Qi Gong, I feel a deeper connection to my body. My breathing has improved in ways I never found while lifting or running.
It has also supported my meditation practice. It helps stabilize my mind and reconnect with my current state.
I'm just scratching the surface of what I'm learning with my Qi Gong practice.
These are my personal experiences. Based on research and what hundreds of thousands of practitioners say, Qi Gong can change your life.
Sure, it can help lengthen it - but it also does an important thing that many of us miss:
Improve your QOL (quality of life).
This alone is worth the effort. Try it out sometime.
2.) Use creatine to build muscle
Creatine is a crucial asset for building muscle.
Many supplements are useless and provide no real benefits. However, creatine is different.
It has been shown to enhance muscle and strength growth greatly.
Creatine has been shown to increase muscle mass and strength by 10-20%.
Taking a small 5g scoop of creatine daily is worth the benefits.
But are there negative side effects?
Research shows that creatine is safe to use. It also boosts muscle and strength gains.
You may notice improved performance if you're vegan, plant-based, or avoid meat. This happens because creatine comes mostly from meat sources.
This means you benefit EVEN more than those who consume meat.
If you're thinking about using creatine in your fitness routine, here's what I'd suggest:
- Buy the single-ingredient version; it should say creatine monohydrate and be dirt cheap. If you see multiple ingredients or they jack the price up, it's probably not creatine (or they added things to it).
- Take 5g of creatine per day and aim to take it consistently. You’ll likely see a boost in performance and strength in 2 weeks or less. Just stick to taking the supplements and lifting weights weekly.
This is the easiest way to build muscle faster without doing an extra workout.
3.) Should you eat organic
Eating organic is often considered the best way to consume your produce.
But is this actually true?
Studies show that conventional produce is safe to eat if you wash it well.
But on a deeper level, there's more to this story.
Eating conventional produce is infinitely better than eating ultra processed foods.
And yes there's validity to the claim that you can wash your produce throughouly.
Watching the money is important for anyone who has seen how modern society has changed over the years.
Big Food. Big Pharma. Big 'Medicine'. They're also closely interconnected.
These are verifiable facts when you do a bit of digging.
Many of the chemicals that are allowed on our produce are banned in Europe and other countries.
It's even more alarming that companies like Apeel are now using pesticides on organic produce in the States.
Apeel is still banned in the UK because it violates regulations.
So this isn't a topic I share lightly, especially since plant-based produce is the focal point of our health.
But it needs to be shared, especially with many of you reading who also care about health.
Our family chooses organic for all thin-skinned fruits, such as apples, peaches, and pears.
For thick-skinned produce (oranges, bananas, and melon), we're a bit more liberal.
Unfortunately, with the rise of Apeel (funded by the globalist Bill Gates), you'll need to be more careful.
Certain stores like Costco, Trader Joe's, and a few others have rejected Apeel produce (for now).
Walmart, Target, and many big brands now accept Apeel produce.
Whole Foods and Aldi's are still ambivalent and haven't cast their votes yet.
So conventional produce has its place. It's 1000% better than eating processed foods or animal products.
Wash it well. Be cautious with potatoes, as they absorb pesticides deeply. I love potatoes and eat them frequently, so I opt for organic options.
The more you know about your food and its journey to your plate, the better choices you can make.
Remember, always follow the money.
1 Action Step
Choose 1 new fruit or vegetable to add to your shopping cart. Try it out this week.
One Quote To Finish Your Week Strong
“Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity. Real calmness should be found in activity itself. We say, "It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.” ― Shunryu Suzuki
Got back from NY few days ago.
Saw family. Spent meaningful time together.
Now, I miss them.
Life is too short to waste.
Family time together :)
As promised, get leaner on plants in under 5 minutes.
Till next week,
Whenever you're ready, there's 3 ways I can help you:
- Connect with me on ​Facebook ​and ​Instagram ​and let's be friends.
- ​Join our free Facebook Group​. Get free trainings on how to get lean and strong with plants.
- Want to drop body fat and build lean muscle in a fraction of the time with ease? ​Apply for Accelerator 1:1 coaching.​
References