Be Still. Then Begin Again.
On Wyatt’s 26th birthday, a little sage, some fresh desert air, and the start of Jorge 3.0.
There’s a moment, if you’re lucky, when you stop running long enough to notice you’ve arrived somewhere new.
I had that moment this weekend.
I lit a little sage. I sat in the quiet. I breathed in clean desert air and let myself feel — really feel — how far this road has come. No phone buzzing. No deadline. Just stillness, and the strange, grateful realization that I am, at 55, the happiest and most myself I have ever been.
I’m calling this chapter Jorge 3.0.
Chapter one was the building years — and it began with my mother.
In 1998, I lost her. It was the deepest loss I’d ever known. But my mom was the spark, and somehow that spark set everything in motion. Eight months later I met Oprah Winfrey and found myself on her show. In 2001, I published my first book, 8 Minutes in the Morning, with a foreword from my friend and then-client Tony Robbins. That launched a 39-book career, 13 of them New York Times bestsellers. I built a beautiful life. I was a new dad. I loved every bit of it.
Chapter two was the unraveling. About six years ago, the life I’d built came apart — I lost my dad, my grandmother, my marriage; the nest emptied. And the man who had spent his whole life building had to sit with a harder question: Who am I, when so much of it is gone?
But here’s the part I hold onto. It was inside that unraveling — during COVID, sitting down for my podcast with Dr. James DiNicolantonio, author of The Salt Fix — that Zero Hunger Water was born. I came up with it, I trademarked it five years ago, and it quietly waited for its moment. That moment is now. This summer. This September. And I could not be more excited.
That chapter broke me open. But it also handed back something I’d buried since boyhood — the right to simply be still, and calm, and me.
Because here’s the truth I don’t say often enough. I grew up a gay Latino kid in the 1970s, raised by a Catholic grandmother who did not want me to be — as she would say — a maricón. I carried that shame for decades. I tried to be perfect so I could feel safe. And that kind of stress doesn’t just steal your peace; it turns up the volume on every craving and every hunger you’ve got.
Chapter three is the homecoming. Me, finally arrived as my true self. And it’s no accident I’m stepping into it as my partner Wyatt celebrates turning 26.
Happy Birthday, Wyatt
I am so proud of this man.
As a designer, Wyatt put the final touches on the Zero Hunger Water packaging — the polish you’ll see when we launch. And he’s my right hand in the lab, too: today, on his birthday, he sat across from me and we ran our flavor taste tests.
So let me tell you what’s coming.
Two Flavors. Both Perfect for Summer.
Strawberry Lemonade tastes like old-fashioned lemonade — the kind that feels like someone spent hours making it on a hot afternoon — with a touch of strawberry that’s just yummy. Make it in 8 ounces, 12, or stretch it to 16 (that’s the max before you dilute the magic), and you get that bright, real lemonade taste every time.
Blood Orange is tangy, bright, and built for July. One sip and you’ll get it. On a hot summer day, drop in a few ice cubes — and if you like it fizzy, make it with carbonated water. It’s so good.
The Ritual Is Simpler Than You Think
Here’s where I want to slow down, because this is where most people overcomplicate things and scare themselves off.
You are not fasting for 16 hours straight. Forget that.
Your day has an 8-hour eating window — and the rest takes care of itself, because sleep is its own kind of fast. You’re already “fasting” while you sleep (wink). So when you add a simple 8-hour eating window on top of your 8 hours of sleep, the math quietly works in your favor — without you ever white-knuckling through a long, hungry day.
During your awake fasting hours, the rhythm is easy: one stick of Zero Hunger Water in 8–12 oz of water, every two hours. Across an 8-hour window, that’s just four sticks — not eight — because sleep covers the other half. Minerals up, false hunger down.
And you don’t even have to do it in one straight block. Most of my midlife clients — women and men — split it: two sticks in the morning, two at night. Four hours in the a.m., four in the p.m. Gentle. Doable. No drama.
That’s the whole point. Simple enough that you’ll actually keep doing it.
Why This Works — The Four Pillars
After 39 books and 25 years in this field, I’ve boiled a lifetime of research down to four pillars of hunger control. You can download the full framework free at ZeroHungerWater.com — but here’s the heart of it:
Longevity is the goal. Roughly 80% of premature death is tied to obesity and visceral belly fat. Shrinking your waist is the single most important move you can make.
Your waistline is your lifeline. It predicts your longevity better than BMI. Target: under 32” for women, under 37” for men.
Time-restricted eating works. An 8-hour eating window clears visceral fat better than any low-carb diet — and with sleep folded in, your cells get the time they need for autophagy, their natural self-cleaning. This is the same idea Dr. Mehmet Oz first opened my eyes to back in 2007.
Zero Hunger Water solves the hunger. Most “hunger” isn’t willpower — it’s a mineral deficiency. Dr. DiNicolantonio taught me how sodium, potassium, and magnesium quiet false hunger at its source. No sugar. No GLP-1. Just science in a stick pack.
And the one rule beneath all of it: belly goes first. Visceral fat — the deep, dangerous kind, far worse than the jiggly subcutaneous fat on top — is the first to burn. That’s the whole promise.
My Co-Founder Understands Family
None of this would be what it is without my co-founder, Stephan Peeler.
Stephan was born into beverage. His family created Cheerwine in Salisbury, North Carolina, back in 1917 — and 109 years later it’s still family-owned. Every May, 60,000 people gather for the Cheerwine festival. Not for a soft drink. For community. For chosen family.
That’s what we’re building. It won’t happen overnight — we’re starting on a shoestring. But we want something you don’t just buy. We want something you belong to.
Join the First 100
In about 80 days — this September — we launch to our first 100 Founders. I’d love for you to be one of them.
Go to ZeroHungerWater.com and take our Hunger Control Quiz (going live shortly). It’s essentially a one-on-one coaching session with me — you’ll get your results emailed straight to you, and you’ll get access to my brand-new VIP coaching program, free. That’s a $97/month value, yours totally free, ongoing, just for signing up and becoming one of our 100 Founders.
Being a Founder means that when we launch, you’re onboarded to try Zero Hunger Water before anyone else — and you get the best discount we offer, direct from us at ZeroHungerWater.com. It’s only for the first 100 people.
So check it out today.
If you’ve walked this road with me — since Oprah in ‘98, since 8 Minutes in the Morning in 2001, through all 39 books — then come walk this next stretch with me, too.
Be still. Breathe. And let’s begin again, together.
Peace and purpose,
Jorge