For my entire life, I have been baffled by my poor sense of smell. I could walk right by a dumpster full of rotting seafood, and not smell it at all.

Back in 1990, I learned that the phytic acid in whole grains blocked the absorption of minerals such as zinc, which is critical to your senses of smell and taste, as well as a zillion other things such as acne. So, I stopped eating bran cereal for breakfast, and the terrible acne I had on my shoulders cleared right up. But my sense of smell remained sub-par.

Back then, there was not a lot of information on phytic acid, and it turns out that it is present in substantial quantities in many other foods. Here I thought that I was being healthy by eating my peas, almonds, cashews, etc. when in reality they are full of deadly phytic acid. Talk about dying of a misprint! But it really is true: the foods that have the healthiest reputation are not healthy at all.

Now I avoid phytic acid by eating mostly eggs, dairy, meat, and low-fiber plant foods like white rice and potatoes. Animal products contain zero phytic acid. Now my sense of smell works perfectly. Not only that, but now I know why some people like the taste of beer – it really does taste good when your senses are working properly.

How much phytic acid is there in different foods? Hard to say; amounts vary widely depending on the research methodology. The amount of phytic acid in foods can also be decreased by various forms of cooking and processing. So, we need to avoid phytic acid in order to absorb the minerals in the food that we eat. But that is only the first half of the story, because once we absorb the minerals, we need to hold onto them. And we do that by avoiding diuretics like caffeine and alcohol which flush out minerals.

Instead of following my advice, you might think you can just eat and drink whatever you want as long as you take extra mineral supplements. But I have tried that, and it doesn’t work. After years of trial and error, I have concluded that the only way to get your body to perform at a high level is to treat it like a high-performance machine.