5 health habits that are here to stay
Can you believe it? It’s been a year since we launched Our Health Habit, and we want to thank you for your support, encouragement, and engagement. It’s been an exciting year, from the planning and launch of the blog to the self-experiments and posts we’ve written. Its been a fun set of new challenges in the realm of health, fitness…and web design. Seriously—writing the posts is the easy part!
Hopefully this blog has helped you as much as its helped us over this past year. There’s an old adage that you retain only a fraction of what you read but 100% of what you teach; this has proven true in the world of blogging and health coaching. Being known as the couple who runs a health and wellness blog has forced us to practice what we preach, and that added accountability has deepened our existing health habits and sparked interest in many new ones. We’ve written about fasting, low-carb/high fat, keto, and the importance of cutting loose once in a while. Brendan has done interviews with several popular podcasts, and Rachel has launched a successful health coaching program. In this process we’ve experimented with some ideas and practices that we liked, and others we aren’t as crazy about. In this post, I (Brendan) want to share my experience with a few of our health habits that are here to stay.
Primal Blueprint
Here at OHH we’ve been doing a lot of talking about keto lately. And its hard not to. When we started this just one year ago, most folks had no clue what keto was; now its typical watercooler conversation and all over Facebook. Popularity and controversy aside, it does have some interesting benefits and holds promise for patients with cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disease, as I covered on my podcast interview over at LiveTheFuel. But let’s face the facts: its a fad diet. That’s right, I said it! I’m a pretty motivated individual and even I have trouble sticking to it for more than a few days at a time, and when I do, I have to compulsively track macros to ensure I stay in ketosis. No thanks! Keto is a fad diet, because all diets are fad diets. If you want to make a lasting change to your health and body composition, its got to be a lifestyle change. We discovered the primal blueprint “diet” 7 years ago and it still remains the foundation of our lifestyle, as it incorporates other equally important facets such as movement, exercise, sleep, and play into a dietary strategy. In the long term, I can vouch that nothing beats the effortless weight maintenance and energy derived from eating diverse, nourishing, and highly satiating foods found in the Primal Blueprint.
Intermittent fasting
As I discussed in “Into to Fasting,” I started with this experiment over 2 years ago more for religious reasons than health. Looking back, it’s been one of the most impactful health choices I’ve ever made. By now I’ve run the gamut of fasting programs, from 18-24 hour fasts to 100+ hour marathon sessions. Like anything else in life, its not easy at first, but the more you do it the easier it gets. And therein lies much of the benefit. Fasting is as much an exercise in improving self-control as it is improving metabolic health; this is probably why its been practiced by people much wiser than me for literally thousands of years. And because its become easier and I continue to see benefits, it will be part of my life going forward for the foreseeable future.
Eat Less meat
In The Paleo Diet is a Plant-based Diet I talked about how there is a widespread misconception that being Paleo/Primal means eating copious amounts of meat all the time. Anyone who’s done more than a cursory google search knows that’s not what was intended by Loren Cordain when he coined the term decades ago, nor is it consistent with the common understanding of ancestral dietary practice. But as I reflected on my own habits, I realized I was eating more meat (and protein in general) than was warranted, and I took it upon myself as a new challenge to eat meat no more than once per day (admittedly, this is only during the work week). Several months in, I can say that not only was it way easier than I thought, but its improved my overall health by eliminating the poor quality animal proteins I would routinely consume at breakfast/lunch in the hospital cafeteria or restaurants. Now I pretty much just eat meat at home, where I can be sure of the source—which is usually Pasture Prime in Ocala, FL. In short, I’m a big believer in quality over quantity when it comes to meat. I just need to translate that to red wine as well…
Less alcohol
Speaking of alcohol, the less is more phenomenon holds true here as well. I don’t know anybody who would argue that alcohol is good for you (its a toxin after all), but studies show that a little bit (especially of the right kinds) are not detrimental to good health. It’s probably from the hormetic effect and possibly resveratrol, among other factors. And, honestly, what could be better than grilled lamb, asparagus, and a full-bodied Napa Zinfandel? Nothing! But as I listened to a recent Tim Ferriss Podcast interview with the ultra-successful (and ultra-cool) Sir Richard Branson, they spoke about the importance of looking hard at the frequency of alcohol consumption. It got me thinking: did I drink too much? I’d already cut back on the occasional beer, but red wine and the occasional spirits has worked its way into my evening routine. So I took on a new challenge: no alcohol during the week. I’ve found this to be one of the more difficult challenges we’ve done (I suppose its not surprising when you consider that so many people are literally addicted to it). I’ve found drinking alcohol less frequently predominately helps with sleep quality, but may help with mood, energy, and weight maintenance in addition. Who can argue with that?
Find time to play outdoors
Maybe its the Vitamin D. Or maybe its the…shall we say “nutrients” that we get from all these mud runs. Whatever it is, do not underestimate the benefit of outdoor activity. We live in Florida, where it can be oppressively hot and humid, but getting outside is still vitally important. Even on the worst days at the office, I know a short workout in our garage gym, a few sprints outside followed by a swim with the kids will turn my day around. While outdoor play is optimal, a brief, high intensity indoor workout is the next best thing. I prefer a short set of 500m rows interspersed with 1 minute of max rep push ups or sit ups. The whole workout takes about 12 minutes and leaves me exhausted yet refreshed. When the weather is great nothing beats a set of sprints on the beach. At the end of the day, just getting outside, breaking a sweat, and cutting loose is all that matters!
Thanks again for reading, and here’s to the one year Blogoversary!
