you have tried. Keep the best elements of these diets in mind as you make choices. For your overall approach to eating, avoid anything that is fried, consume fewer refined carbohydrates, and eat as little added sugar as possible.
Eating well does not need to be difficult or complicated. It is possible for healthy eating to be sustainable and even enjoyable. Set your sights on foods that are good for your near-term energy and long-term health. Making a commitment to eating the right foods every day is a lot easier than jumping from one diet to the next.
Once you start eating better, give it time — a lot of time. People often bounce from diet to diet because they grow impatient. The body takes a long time to react to these dietary changes, usually a year or more, according to experts. Instead of worrying about losing 10 pounds in the next month, focus on making better decisions the next time you eat. When you make better choices in the moment, it benefits your overall health and well-being.
Exercise alone is not enough. Working out three times a week is not enough. Being active throughout the day is what keeps you healthy.
For centuries, our ancestors spent a large portion of their time moving around on foot. From the days of hunting wild animals to more recent times working on farms, a typical workday used to be spent doing physical labor. Over the past century, this has changed dramatically.
On average, we now spend more time sitting down (9.3 hours) than sleeping in a given day. The human body is not built for this, and the obesity and diabetes it contributes to is a major public health problem. Watching your diet and exercising 30 minutes a day will not be enough to offset many hours of sitting.
When I was growing up, my days were filled with physical activity. I spent most of my time running around the neighborhood with friends, playing basketball in my driveway, and practicing for other sports. When I look back, it is no wonder I felt so good and had boundless energy. Most of my waking hours were spent in motion.
This is why it was a rude awakening when I started working full time. All of a sudden, the majority of my time was spent sitting. On my best days, I would spend an hour working out. Then I spent about an hour walking around my home and office. Add eight hours of sleep, and that left about 14 hours a day of sitting in a chair, car, or couch. Not exactly the active lifestyle I was used to before signing on to a desk job.
Reducing this chronic inactivity is even more essential than brief periods of vigorous exercise. When scientists from the National Institutes of Health followed 240,000 adults for a decade, they discovered that exercise alone is insufficient. Even seven hours a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity was not enough to keep people alive. Among the most active group studied, who exercised more than seven hours a week, those who spent the most time sitting had a 50 percent greater risk of death from any cause. They also doubled their odds of dying from heart disease. Exercise clearly helps, but it will not offset several hours of sitting.
Yet when you look at a typical day, it is easy to see how long periods of time when you are not in motion can add up. The challenge is to examine each of these situations. Figure out how to slowly add a little movement, or at least spend less time sitting each day. There are literally hundreds of moments in a day when you can embed extra activity into your routine.
One less hour of sleep does not equal an extra hour of achievement or enjoyment. The exact opposite occurs. When you lose an hour of sleep, it decreases your well-being, productivity, health, and ability to think. Yet people continue to sacrifice sleep before all else.
In some workplaces, it is a badge of honor to “pull an all-nighter” to get work done. Then comes boasting about having only four hours of sleep the night before a meeting to show your colleagues just how hard you are working. I fell into this trap for many years, until I realized just how flawed this logic is from every vantage point.
One of the most influential studies of human performance, conducted by professor K. Anders Ericsson, found that elite performers need 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” to reach levels of greatness. While this finding sparked a debate about the role of natural talent versus countless hours of practice, another element was all but missed. If you go back to Ericsson’s landmark 1993 study, there was another factor that significantly influenced peak performance: sleep. On average, the best performers slept 8 hours and 36 minutes. The average American, for comparison, gets just 6 hours and 51 minutes of sleep on weeknights.
The person you want to fly your airplane, operate on your body, teach your children, or lead your organization tomorrow is the one who sleeps soundly tonight. Yet in many cases, people in these vital occupations are the ones who think they need the least sleep. And more than 30 percent of workers sleep less than six hours per night.
This sleep-related productivity loss costs about $2,000 per person a year and leads to poorer performance and lower work quality. Getting fewer than six hours of sleep a night is also the top risk factor for burnout on the job. If you want to succeed in your job, make sure your work allows you to stay in bed long enough.
Professor Ericsson’s studies of elite performers — including musicians, athletes, actors, and chess players — also reveal how resting more can maximize achievement. He found that the top performers in each of these fields typically practice in focused sessions lasting no longer than 90 minutes. The best performers work in bursts. They take frequent breaks to avoid exhaustion and ensure they can recover completely. This allows them to keep going the next day.
Prevent sleeplessness from slowing you down. Working on a task too long can actually decrease your performance. To avoid this, work in bursts, take regular breaks, and make sure you get enough sleep to be productive. When you need an extra hour of energy, add an hour of sleep.
Big Changes Through Small Adjustments
Every Bite Is a Net Gain or Loss
Each bite you take is a small but important choice. Every sip requires another brief choice. If you make a decision that does more good than harm,
