11 Best time management tips

Don't have time to work out?  Cooking your own food just takes too much time?  These 11 time management tips will help you free up the time to both work out and eat right.

Best Time Management Tips

1. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier

   This may seem odd.  But going to bed earlier will help allow you to get more sleep.  Being well rested will help you be more productive.  Let's face it, you were just going to watch television that half hour that you can now apply to something much better for your help, sleep.

2. Time style of work

   Don't want to work out during your lunch hour because you'll be sweaty all afternoon? Then schedule your work for times where it makes more sense. I prefer a moderate pace walk during my lunch hour. I do my more sweat inducing work in the morning (I was going to shower anyway). This way, I maximize my workout time based on my existing schedule/activities.

3. Multitask

   Multitasking can allow you to get things done while you're doing something else.  For example, I'll often do my squats (Forever Fitness 30-Day Squat Challenge) while I'm brushing my teeth or cooking breakfast.  I'll go for a walk while I'm on a conference call.

4. Batch cooking

   I love batch cooking as a time saver.  Cooking large batch meals on the weekend and packaging them up in single servings frees up time during the week, when all that's left is to warm up the meal.

5. TV Exercises

   We all find ourselves in front of the television from time to time.  Consider doing some squats or better yet, burpees during commercial breaks.  Or set up a treadmill or stationary bike and walk/ride during your show.

6. Circuit training

   Circuit training is where you go through a series of exercise, one right after the other.  This can allow you to get a series of strength training exercises done in a short period of time.  And you get a metabolic boost.

7. Minimum effective dose

   Many people go much harder and longer than they need to get results.  To improve fitness you need challenge, feeding and recovery.  There is an upper limit to how fast you can improve.  More of a good thing isn't always a good thing.

8. Go faster

   Seems simple, just go faster and you get the work done in less time. This strategy works, but you have to be careful.  As you get more fit, you may be able to move faster, for example adding a jog to your daily walk.

9. Single focus/goal

   When I go into the gym, I have one thing on my mind, get the work done and get out.  Having a plan and focusing on the work will keep you working at pace and not wasting time.

10. Raw/quick prep food

    Choosing foods that require minimal preparation can save time. I'm not talking about microwave meals, but rather pre-washed salads, single serve nuts, etc.

11. Eliminate low value non-exercise activities

    If you sat and wrote down what you do in a day, I imagine you'd find many low value activities. Could you eliminate them?

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Fasting for weight loss with Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore

I will use ketosis to manage my body composition, which invariably leads to fasting for weight loss.  In the new book, The Complete Guide to Fasting, Dr. Jason Fung (77)and Jimmy Moore (18, 23, 28) explain how we can use fasting to improve our health and lose weight.  Fasting for weight loss can be done in a healthy and safe way.  Dr. Fung uses fasting in his clinic to address obesity and type II diabetes.  Jimmy Moore has been experimenting with fasting and shares his experiences in the first and only complete guide on fasting.

Fasting for weight loss

Virtually half of our medical conditions today are caused by obesity and type II diabetes.  Fasting for weight loss can be an effective protocol to manage obesity and type II diabetes.

Types of fasting

Intermittent Fast – By pushing your normal nighttime fast to 16 to 24 hours, you'll get many of the benefits of fasting in a very manageable way.

Alternate Day Fast – This style fasting is where you eat every other day, which leads to a 36 hour fast.

Extended Fast – An extended fast goes from 3 days, but most people find that the first three days are the hardest.  Jimmy is currently on day 11 of a 21 day fast.

Diets don't work

Most diets focus your attention on eating.  You're told to eat from the time you wake up until you go to bed.  If you're adding energy to your system as you need it, you won't lose weight.  Fasting is an approach that will allow you to lose weight.

Fasting is not a cause of eating disorders

Fasting is a normal part of the human condition.  Today it is mostly associated with religious rituals.  When it is brought up as a way to manage weight and health, some will complain that this will cause an eating disorder.  This logic would tell you that instructing your children to wash their hands before dinner will lead to OCD.  Eating disorders are associated with body image, not triggered by someone doing a fast.

Postscript on fasting

After I stopped recording the call, Dr. Fung, Jimmy and I kept talking and some wonderful gems came out that we wanted to make sure we captured it for you.

When you fast, you'll lose weight.  When you stop fasting, you'll gain some of that weight back.  This happens for two reasons:

1. Water – With the resumption of eating your body will store more water.
2. Homeostasis – Your body has a tendency to stick to a given state/body weight.  This is the cause of plateaus and the reason your body will work to get back to the previous set weight.

When you lose weight from intermittent fasting, it isn't due to calorie restriction but rather from hormone changes.  Insulin is reduced and eventually, you begin healing your insulin resistance.

Follow up on Jimmy's 21-Day Fast

We discussed that Jimmy was on a 21-day fast. Up through day 11, Jimmy had had only had one cup of bone broth. I asked Jimmy for an update on his fast and here is what he said:

I made it the full 21 days and had two meals (one at the end of Day 12 and one at the end of Day 18). I lost 27 pounds in the 21 days even with these meals, saw many of my skin tags shrivel up and fall off (a sign of insulin resistance healing), and became more abundantly aware that my need for eating as often is likely unnecessary. Will be continuing to implement lessons from this fast into my everyday lifestyle moving forward as I continue to pursue healing the insulin resistance. 🙂

Links

www.intensivedietarymanagement.com
dietdoctor.com
Fungsweigh Facebook Group
livinlavidalowcarb.com
Jimmy on Periscope

 

 

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Crack the obesity code

11 Things you should know about macros

I asked members of the 40+ Fitness Podcast Group what topics I could cover and one of them was about macros (macronutrients).  Having a good general understanding of macros is important for maintaining good health and fitness.

 

11 things you should know about macros

Protein

1) Building block – This macro is something you must have in order to rebuild.  But this is not a “more of a good thing” is good macro.  You need to get just enough protein to allow your body to rebuild.
2) Essential amino acids – Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.  There are some amino acids that our body cannot make.  We must eat them to have what we need.
3) Complete proteins – A complete protein is one that has all of the amino acids.  An egg is often referred to as the perfect protein because it is a complete protein.  Vegetarians should be very diligent in their food choices to ensure the way they mix and match their protein sources gives them all of the amino acids.

Fats

4) Mono/Poly/Saturated – Saturated fat has been demonized and recent science seems to show this to be unfair.
5) Omega 3 / Omega 6 – When animals are permitted to live their lives the way they choose, their meat tends to have a 1 to 1 ration of omega 3 to omega 6.  This is a healthy ratio.  When animals are feed grains, their omega 6 goes up, breaking this ratio.  As a result, we are not getting enough omega 3.  Eating fish or taking fish or kreel oil can help you rebalance if you're not able to get grass fed and finished beef.
6) MCT – This is a medium chain triglyceride.  Your body cannot use MCT for anything but energy.
7) Bad fats and oils – Fats and oils can go rancid.  Make sure you're properly storing fats and oils to avoid this.  You should also be sure you're avoiding partially hydrogenated oil.  This man-made oil is very bad for us.

Carbs

8) Simple carbs and sugar – These carbs are turned to blood sugar (glucose) very quickly.  Where there is more than you need, your body produces insulin to protect the brain from excess glucose.  It stores the glucose as body fat.
9) Soluble fiber – This fiber is digested very slowly.  It is also referred to as a slow carb.  These are good sources of energy and should be focus of your consumption of this macro.
10) Non-soluble fiber – This fiber cannot be used by your body so it just passes through you.  This can help you keep regular.
11) There are no essential carbs – While our body needs protein and oil, it does not need this macro.  Carbs can be part of a healthy diet, but they are not essential.

 

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Live to your chronotype with Dr. Michael Breus

Dr. Michael Brues introduces the chronotype in his new book, The Power of When.  In his practice as a sleep doctor, he realized there are more than just night owls and early birds.  He based the chronotypes on mammals.

His curiosity on this came about when he was working with a tough patient.  She told him she felt like she needed to go to bed at 1am and sleep until 8 – 9am.  In an effort to help this woman, he called her employer and asked if she could shift her work day back two hours.  The results were tremendous.

He took this further and found that based on chronotype and hormone cycles there were optimal times for certain activities.  By being true to your chronotype will help you sleep and perform better.   It is also valuable to know the chronotype of the people in your life so you can understand where they are in mood and performance during the day.  For example, if you know your boss is a wolf, you wouldn't want to schedule an early morning meeting with her.

The four chronotypes:

• Dolphins – The dolphin chronotype tends to struggle with sleep patterns.
• Bears – The bear chronotype is the most common (55% of people) and sleeps the traditional sleep pattern.  They tend to be outgoing.
• Wolfs – The wolf chronotype prefers to stay up late and sleep later.
• Lions – The lion chronotype prefers to go to bed early and get up early.

Find your chronotype:

You can determine your chronotype with the quiz at the Power of When Quiz.

Links

The Power of When Quiz

The power of When

The sleep doctor

 

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Birding for fitness and health

When the publisher sent me the book, Birding at the Bridge by Heather Wolf, I wasn't sure it would be a fit for you.  But the thought hit me, birding for fitness is a thing.  Getting outside, walking and potentially more make bird watching a great hobby for health and fitness.

In this episode, Heather and I go over some getting started tips for bird watching.

 

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Is wheat poison?

Cindi O'meara is a nutritionist who in her effort to heal herself and determine if wheat is poison, made the documentary “What's with Wheat.”  In this documentary, Cindy brings together some of the best experts on health and fitness to discuss what we've done to wheat over the last several decades and what it is doing to our bodies.

In a search for optimizing her own longevity, Cindi started an elimination diet.  Within days she had lost weight and was looking and feeling great.  As she reintroduced food, she recognized that wheat was a problem for her.  Shortly after her discovery, books began coming out on the dangers of wheat.

Is wheat poison today?

As hunter-gathers, we were nomads.  Once we could cultivate crops, we were able to settle in towns and cities.  This made civilization possible.

In the 1920s we began having the first shelf stable foods.  Finding we were developing vitamin deficiencies, food companies began fortifying foods with artificial vitamins.  Then in the 1970s we began developing hybrids and spraying the wheat with chemicals.

And one of the core differences, we are exposed to much more wheat through our food, cosmetics, etc.

Elimination Diets

Cindi used an elimination diet to get healthier, and she provides a guide for doing a four-week elimination-style diet.  Many people shy away from dropping wheat and grains from their diet.  While this is not the easiest of protocols, it is typically only temporary for most foods.  It is only the foods that make you sick that you'll have to avoid after the initial period.

 

changinghabits.com.au

What's With Wheat documentary

 

Elimination diets

Paleo for thyroid health with Elle Russ

 

 

11 best nutrition tips

In this episode, I share my best nutrition tips.  Most people approach weight loss from an exercise perspective.  Unfortunately, when you're over 40, it is nearly impossible to out-exercise a poor diet.

My best nutrition tips

Cut sugar

Sugar is the number one reason most of us are overweight.  When we eat more sugar that we need for current energy, our insulin spikes to take up the sugar and store it as fat.  Over time, this can lead to obesity and diabetes.

Water

Many people will question why I put water in my nutrition tips when water isn't a nutrient.  Water is essential for good health but is even more important when we're exercising and losing weight.

Simple carbs

Sugar is a simple carbohydrate, but there are more simple carbs that make up our daily intake. And these raise our insulin and are stored as fat when we take in more than our body needs at the point we eat them.

Protein

Protein is an essential building block for our body.  But in excess, our body breaks it down to glucose for energy use and/or storage as fat.

Whole foods

I'm a strong believer that we should primarily eat real, whole foods.  Processing strips the food of nutrients.  Foods that are “fortified” to make up for this don't necessarily serve us well.  Whole foods are things your great-grandmother would have recognized as food.

Read labels

If you find yourself eating something from a package, take the time to read the nutrition label.  You might be surprised at the chemicals that are used to keep that product shelf stable and the other additives to make it taste the way it does.

Portion size

We have been conditioned by restaurants and food companies to eat far more than a single portion at a meal.  Break this conditioning by requesting a takeaway box for the excess.

Logging

Take the time to log the food you're eating.  This can help you learn more about what's in the food (calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, etc.) and makes it easier to manage your food.

Slow down

Eat slower to eat less.  Your body needs time to process the hormone signaling to know your full.  Slowing down also helps you enjoy the food more.

Be prepared

Many times, we make poor choices because we haven't taken the time to plan and prepare.  If you know you're going to out, pack a healthy snack.  I will often pre-log my food for the day and make sure to carry that with me in an insulated container.

Try new foods

Most of us stick to foods we know and like.  This can lead to nutritional deficiencies in certain vitamins or minerals.  Varying your diet can help you get the nutrients you need.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post.  Do you have any nutrition tips I missed?  If so, please let me know in the comments below.

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