Make the majority of your diet consist of minimally processed and nutrient-dense foods to support overall body function and ensure adequate nutrient intake.
Aim for 1.2 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily, structuring meals around 20-40 grams of protein to enhance satiety, reduce overeating, and maintain muscle mass, especially as you age.
Actively seek opportunities to sit less throughout your day, incorporating ‘movement snacks’ like quick walks or stair climbs hourly, or using a standing desk to improve overall health.
Add resistance training (e.g., bodyweight exercises, weights, yoga, Pilates) to your routine, progressively challenging yourself to build and maintain functional strength and muscle mass, which is crucial for metabolic health and preventing falls as you age.
Strive for at least 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, which can be broken up into any enjoyable and sustainable form of movement, to significantly improve cognitive function and overall health.
Routinely consider supplementing with 5-10 grams per day of creatine monohydrate for its broad benefits on cognitive performance, mood, strength, and bone health, with greater benefits observed as you get older.
Restrict alcohol intake to one or two drinks, one or two times a week, as anything above this may be detrimental to brain and overall health, while lower amounts are likely fine.
Time your caffeine intake carefully to avoid negative impacts on sleep; consider not consuming caffeine after midday if you are sensitive to its effects.
Decrease consumption of highly processed, packaged foods because they are nutrient-poor, calorie-dense, disrupt hunger/satiety signals, and are designed to be overconsumed.
To manage blood sugar spikes from carbohydrates, consider strategies like specific food timing or pairing carbohydrates with protein to help lower the blood sugar response.
Increase your daily walking, especially brisk walking, aiming for 8,000 to 14,000 steps per day for optimal benefits in reducing mortality and disease risk, with significant improvements seen even within the 0-10,000 range.
If concerned about brain or cardiovascular health, consider testing your homocysteine levels, as elevated levels can indicate a need for B vitamins like B12, folate, B6, and B2.
Consider supplementing with essential vitamins like Vitamin D and certain B vitamins (B12, folate, B6, B2), especially if you have deficiencies or are taking medications like proton pump inhibitors or metformin that can impact B12 levels.
Try a week without alcohol to observe its personal impact on your sleep and energy levels, as alcohol often disrupts sleep without people realizing it.
Replace alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic cocktails or beers to maintain social rituals and feelings of relaxation without the physiological downsides of alcohol.
Re-evaluate your relationship with caffeine if it causes negative symptoms like palpitations, anxiety, poor sleep, or moodiness, as these indicate it may be detrimental to your well-being.
When buying any supplement, look for third-party testing certifications (e.g., Informed Sport) to ensure purity, avoid unwanted impurities, and verify quality.
Be honest with yourself about justifying habits like alcohol consumption; if you find yourself bargaining, it might be a sign to consider alternatives or deeper reflection on your relationship with the habit.
Factor your overall stress load into your exercise choices; high-intensity workouts on top of a stressful life can be counterproductive, suggesting a need for balance with lower-intensity activities.
Recognize that exercise benefits are proportional to ‘intensity times time’; higher intensity allows for shorter workouts, while lower intensity requires longer durations to achieve similar health outcomes.
Do not start your fitness journey with very long, hard endurance exercise, as it can be overly taxing and may not provide the same broad benefits as other forms of movement, especially for beginners.
Prioritize developing functional strength proportional to your muscle mass, as this is more predictive of cognitive function and lower mortality risk than muscle size alone.
If you are calorie restricting or fasting, maintain regular physical activity to preferentially preserve muscle tissue and prevent its breakdown for energy.
If you choose to consume something potentially less healthy, fully lean into the enjoyment of the moment, as the stress of worrying about its health effects might be more detrimental than the consumption itself.
Consider wearing a continuous glucose monitor for a short period (e.g., two weeks) to gain personalized insights into how specific foods affect your blood sugar, which can be a powerful learning tool for dietary change.
Assess your personality and tendencies before using health trackers like CGMs or step counters; they can be motivating for some but lead to obsession and stress for others.