Our world is busy.
The To Do list is perpetual. And it seems like the last thing on said list is to take care of your body and health—which is quite messed up for many reasons. But that’s what our society places value on!
Since we likely leave little time to give back to ourselves, I really like the notion of finding maximum return on investment with diet and lifestyle interventions.
So I like to think of it this way:
What are simple, actionable things we can do to live better and longer?
I believe that the following three things can make a HUGE difference in your life.
It’s nothing revolutionary, nothing that will take a ton of time and effort out of your day. Just a few tweaks that have big impact.
1. Eliminate Liquid Calories
Folks consume a jaw-dropping amount of calories and sugar in everything from coffee drinks to juices, sodas, and alcoholic beverages.
Liquid calories are particularly problematic as they do not really make us feel full and they are incredibly easy to over do. You’re satiated through the foods you eat, not the nutrient-devoid sugar calories.
It will do you good to eliminate all liquid calories (or as many as you can!).
2. Get Enough Protein.
Protein has become the macronutrient everyone from keto followers to vegans love to hate. There’s a lot of theorizing about how “excess protein can accelerate aging.”
It’s outside the scope of this article to go deeply into this topic, but if you want to learn more about this, check out this video.
If you don’t get adequate protein more days than not, the following happens:
Folks tend to overeat.
Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, and if one is eating a keto diet one will tend to overeat fat, while an under-proteined vegan will tend to overeat carbs.
As we age we need more protein, not less. Perhaps the most critical asset we have to stave off aging is our lean muscle mass, and few things accelerate age related sarcopenia (loss of muscle) like inadequate protein.
3. Do Some Strength Work.
Get in some good type of strength work ideally most days, but at minimum 3 days per week.
And it doesn’t have to be long. If you can get in a good 30-45 minutes of full body lifting circuit 3-5 times a week you’ll be keeping and building muscle mass.
That can be just 1.5 hours / week total!
As an extension of my point above related to protein intake and muscle mass, if one does even a brief, full body strength session a few times per week it can reverse what we call biological aging by decades.
Keep your muscle mass and resist aging!
So that’s it.
3 simple, straightforward things to easily incorporate into your daily life.
They won’t add extra hours of stress or even too much thought. But they will add a lot of value, whether you’re looking to lose weight, prevent aging, or just be a healthier you.
Do you have any easy tweaks that made a difference in your life? Share in comments below 👇
Love what you do sir.
Been fortunate enough to see you at PaleoFX several times. As a fitness director who works with a ton of clients who sit all day one thing I always try to focus on is simply more movement. Just get up every hour and do something. When everyday life involves more movement I find my clients tend to become more focused in the gym.
Article makes sense! Practically, for those of us who are strength-training challenged (like me), what do you mean by “*full body lifting circuit 3-5 times a week”? I have a gym membership, but all I do is Zumba(R) Fitness 4 – 5 times/week. It’s my happy place, and it’s exercise in disguise. Should I still add *this to my exercise regimen, and what does it actually mean: using the machine circuit or? Maybe you have a prior article/link you can provide for a newbie? P.S. I LOOOOVE LMNT. Just ordered the raspberry to try it. Use it daily! Thank you for all you do!
It could be using weights (dumbbells, machines, kettlebells, barbell, bodyweight, etc). Check this out https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/strength-training-101/
I’d add 1 other thing – get adequate sleep! The food and exercise are great, but if the sleep isn’t dialed-in, you won’t make much progress towards health.
Thanks for all you do, Robb. You’ve made a big difference in my life.
Following the 3 tips in this article rigorously could prevent at least half of the cases of type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, people don’t take action 🙁
I would like to add, drink the bone broth as well.
Bone broth is rich in nutrients. It provides a huge amount of collagen that is very important for the body. It also helps in reducing weight.
How I can check the required amount of protein for me daily.
https://www.ketogains.com/calculator/
Well written Robb. I am John Hooper co-owner and CEO of The Health Dare and have a passion for nutrition education! Would love to connect sometime. Here’s a snapshot of what we do with our 90 Day Challenge to help our nation get healthy. During the 90 days clients are raving about their results reversing the symptoms of high blood sugar, high blood pressure, obesity, sleep apnea and high cholesterol in just a few weeks. So exciting!!!
Its an excellent article and Ihave enjoyed reading it. Hereare My 9 simple and practical ways to live better
Start rising early.
Start exercising.
Planing my day.
Speak less, listen more… Think twice before u speak.
Drink lots of water.
Spend more time with family and less time on social media.
Eating healthy food.
Never try to go extreme in anything..
Reading books.
I love how you’ve written it in a concise manner. Lots of article advice out there are too much that I can’t focus on what to really do and how I’ll attack my fitness goals. This advice is just right, especially for beginners. Setting up small ones first before going on bigger ones. Thanks!