Health and fitness

This post is a summary about what works for me, what I have tried and what I have learned regarding health and fitness.

I intend to update this as I learn more and use it to increase my accountability. As the saying goes, "We know that half of what we know about health is wrong, we just don't know which half."

There are a few different aspects to health that one needs to monitor and optimise:

• Exercise and physical health
• Mental emotional health
• Nutrition
• Sleep
• Medications or supplements
• Habits or productivity

We need to make a distinction between normal and optimal. Often guidance will be given around normal ranges, but we don't want to aim to be normal. We should aim for optimal and target the top 5% for age and gender.

While I am not an athlete or health professional, I have absorbed significant amounts of health-related books and podcasts. The below points have stood out.

Nutrition

Diet and nutrition are frequently spoken about with a religious fervour. Ultimately, we don't know what the best diet is and never will. We can do things to maximise our probability of living a long life given the information we have access to today.

I have tried keto, paleo, and intermittent fasting. Of all three, I felt the best eating keto and had what felt like unlimited energy, but found it unsustainable.

In the end, I have tended towards a mixed diet, focussing on eating good quality grass fed meat, vegetables, and fruits. This combo ended up being the best mix for me, without being too strict about it. I probably eat too much chocolate and assorted delicious baked goods provided by my wife. Chocolate brownies are definitely a weakness. In general, aim to eat less, high quality food instead of copious amounts of low-quality junk.

Typically, I skip breakfast and have coffee with cream before eating a large meal around lunchtime.

I soak my vegetables in olive oil and generally try to avoid oils like sunflower, canola, or soybean. Recently, I have noticed many products bragging to be "palm oil free". These products are often significantly less healthy.

The fats I limit myself to are:

• olive oil
• butter
• coconut oil

Protein

The primary focus is on getting enough protein, averaged out over the week. The RDA of around 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight is too low, and the target should be around 2 grams per kilogram. This is especially important to maintain muscle mass as one ages.

It's difficult to get enough protein through whole foods, so I often supplement with whey and in Germany we have some delicious protein puddings which provide around 20 grams of protein per tub.

Glucose monitoring

Glucose monitoring for a short time can be incredibly useful to learn how your body reacts to food.

It was good to see how my body reacted to different foods after using a glucose monitor for a couple of weeks.

Blood glucose readings should have a low average of less than 90 mg/dL as well as a low standard deviation. Ideally your blood glucose should never exceed 140 mg/dL.

Alcohol

Alcohol is one of those things that one typically wants to drink less of. On the short term it affects sleep, reduces motivation, and interrupts your routines. Over the long term, the health effects are vast.

I use the app https://lessdrinks.com/ to track my alcohol consumption. It is surprisingly easy to forget how much alcohol one consumes, and this acts as a good reminder.

Exercise and physical health

I like exercise. Without it, life would be miserable.

Sometimes it is not easy, but one feels better after doing some. It builds the mental toughness required to take on other challenges throughout life.

One should be strong, be able to do things for a long time and

I'm not an athlete. I exercise so that I can do things in life without having to worry about whether I am capable of it. Exercise is training for life. It allows one to do fun things when the opportunity arises or get out of a tricky situation. If you have done it in training, you can do it when it matters.

The aspects to work on are endurance, strength, and flexibility. All need to be worked on simultaneously to optimise one's physical health. My choices are running and cycling for endurance, and callisthenics and weight training for strength. Occasionally I fit in some yoga for flexibility, however this is definitely a pillar I need to work on.

Barefoot shoes

Foot and leg health is taken for granted. Most people walk around never knowing what it's like to feel the ground.

I have used barefoot shoes since 2012. The transition took about a year before I could use them for all my activities. Honestly, there is no going back to regular shoes once you switch.

Once you go barefoot, there is no going back. - Me

Barefoot shoes have eliminated the knee pain (and other issues) I used to develop while running. After running a couple of marathons in them, I have only had pain in my muscles from being tired. Recovery is quick.

Other benefits that I have noticed include having naturally strong legs, improved balance and being able to w

One also develops a mental connection to the ground. You get so much more sensory input, that after a while you feel lost without this additional sense.

My favourite brand is Vivobarefoot, although I feel like their quality has started to deteriorate from their early days.

Here are three frequent questions I get about wearing barefoot shoes:

Q. Aren't you slower while running? Professional athletes don't use barefoot shoes.

A: I am slower, but I am not a professional athlete with naturally perfect running form. The benefits outweigh drawbacks. If I want to run a faster time, I should train harder. My running times can improve substantially before I need the minor speed increase of advanced running shoes. What is true for most people: It's not the shoes that stop you from running a 2:10 marathon. Maybe I'd look into racing in advanced running shoes while doing the majority of training in the barefoot shoes.

Q. Won't you injure yourself? You can't run on the road with no padding.

A. I have not injured myself once due to using barefoot shoes and running on the road. On the contrary, I used to injure myself all the time in normal shoes.

If you start slowly, and build up your muscle and tendon strength, your joints will be protected through better running form. Run for years without any injuries and recover faster from big events.

Q. Don't the shoes make you look ridiculous?

A. Another benefit is that you build the mental strength required to accept that you look ridiculous.