Happy New Year. The beginning of each year marks a new beginning for us all. A time to reflect on the past year, our successes and failures, what worked in life and what did not work, people in our lives who enriched it and people in our lives who disrupted it. The most important thing we can do is pivot and make changes, start anew, learning from our mistakes and making a new way forward to achieve all we wish to achieve in life.
Every year at this time, people all over the world make New Year’s Resolutions. Each year, the top New Year’s resolutions are to become healthier (exercise, eating better, losing weight, sleep), improve financial situation (saving money, getting out of debt), and personal growth (learning new skills, spending time with loved ones, stress reduction).
Despite our best intentions, studies show many people quit their resolutions within the first few weeks. The average resolution lasts under four months, with significant drop-offs by mid-January, and less than 10% of people actually achieving their goals by the end of the year.
Why We Struggle to Keep Resolutions
As a scientist for the past 30 years, I have always been interested in understanding how and why things work, specifically how the human body works so we can take steps to improving our health. Our most important asset is our health. In fact, it is almost always the top resolution. Without our health, our finances don’t matter, we cannot enjoy time with friends and family. People who are healthy have many goals and aspirations. Sick people have only one goal and that is to get well.
Some studies reveal that it takes two weeks to break habits and two weeks to start new habits. As revealed above, most people give up on their resolutions by mid-January. I have always found it helpful to understand why things work so we can trust in the process even when we may not see or feel the results. People are sufficiently motivated to continue something when they start to see or feel the results. People give up when they put in the effort but fail to see any positive results.
This new year, I want to reveal to you why certain diets and dietary patterns work, why exercise is beneficial, why learning how to properly breathe is healthy, why we need sunlight, proper sleep and to lose weight and have better mental clarity and relationships.
What if a single molecule accounted for the mechanism of action of all things that we know are health promoting? What if we did not focus on this molecule and its production, then our diets fail us, we are unable to maintain an exercise regimen, we have constant stress and cannot stay focused? What if we understood its mechanism of production, what caused its loss of production and then optimized its production to enhance the benefits of diet, exercise, sunlight, stress reduction, better discipline and focus to accomplish our goals?
In 2026, the What ifs go away. We know and understand how diet, exercise, deep breathing and sunlight lead to an increase in nitric oxide production/generation provided your systems are working properly and you are not doing things that disrupt its natural production.
Understanding Nitric Oxide: The Foundation of Health
We know the enzymology and biochemistry of the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS) found in many cells in the body. We have discovered and identified bacteria that live in and on our body that are responsible for the production of nitrite and nitric oxide. When the NOS enzyme is coupled and functional, things like exercise, movement, deep breathing can activate and stimulate nitric oxide production.
The nitric oxide produced in the cells then dilates blood vessels helping to improve circulation, oxygen and nutrient delivery to downstream organs, tissues and cells. Nitric oxide activates our mitochondria to more efficiently convert the oxygen into cellular energy, ATP. Nitric oxide mobilizes our own stem cells to help repair and replace dysfunctional or zombie cells leading to better and faster recovery from exercise. Nitric oxide normalizes blood pressure, leads to increased endurance, more energy production, better perfusion of all organs throughout the human body, activates an enzyme called telomerase that prevents our telomeres from getting shorter, extending our lifespan.
However, if the NOS enzyme is not working properly, then exercise, deep breathing, movement, etc, do not lead to any nitric oxide production. Exercise, breathing and doing all the things we are told is health promoting fail to provide any real benefit. People continue to feel fatigued, don’t lose weight, do not feel better and they quit and give up on their resolutions.
How Diet and Lifestyle Influence Nitric Oxide
Many of the cardiovascular benefits of certain diets are dependent upon nitric oxide production based on what we eat, the presence of specific bacteria that live in our oral cavity and gastrointestinal system and also bacteria that reside on our skin. The consumption of nitrate enriched foods can lead to increased nitric oxide production if we have the right oral bacteria, can make sufficient stomach acid and how normal salivary flow.
We know that a high carbohydrate, high sugar diet destroys the NOS enzyme, disrupts the oral microbiome and causes a complete loss of nitric oxide from both pathways. Data clearly show that use of antiseptic mouthwash, fluoride toothpaste, fluoride in our water supply kills all the bacteria in our oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract and on our body causing severe microbial dysbiosis and leading to rapid onset of disease.
Before You Begin Your New Year’s Resolutions
To make sure your New Year’s Resolutions are met this year, focus on this foundational molecule so your workouts work, your diet can work for you, your health improves and you can see and feel the results. Sometimes it is not enough to move, exercise, deep breath, eat right, etc. if the mechanisms responsible for the benefits are not working.
Before you start your New Years Resolutions, please focus on the following:
1. Stop using mouthwash and get rid of fluoride toothpaste
2. Stop eating sugar and simple carbohydrates that destroy the NOS enzyme and disrupts the oral microbiome. This includes eliminating chews and gummies as vitamins
3. Stop mouth breathing and focus on breathing through your nose during the day and especially at night during sleep
4. Stop using antacid
How To Restore Nitric Oxide and Transform Your Health
Once we stop doing these things that disrupt the natural production of nitric oxide you can do the following to improve your nitric oxide production and enhance your health, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
1. Do an 18 hour fast every day. Do not eat later than 6pm and do not eat again until noon the next day. Try to do a 24 hour fast once weekly
2. Start each day in prayer and gratitude with intentions for each day
3. Start each day with movement and exercise. You do not need a gym for movement. Follow @mikerholland on Instagram for simple yet effective movements. I have been doing this for a year and it has transformed how I feel.
4. Get 20-30 minutes of direct sunlight every day. Try to get an infrared sauna session at least 2-3 times per week. Sauna helps us detoxify and data clearly show it extends our life. The infrared light provides additional benefit.
5. Integrate my nitric oxide products into your daily routine. If your body is unable to produce nitric oxide, my products provide it for you and restore the body’s ability to naturally produce it. Visit our store to browse nitric oxide products.
As we begin a new year, start with the fundamentals and improve the probability that you will achieve your health and wealth goals for 2026. Make a commitment to follow these simple steps every day for at least 30 days. You will see and feel the results and now you have a clear understanding of how this works. Your body cannot and will not heal or perform optimally without sufficient nitric oxide.
You can find my nitric oxide products here. Use coupon code NSB10 for a discount.
