Thanksgiving is tomorrow and that can mean a myriad of things. For moms, it can mean being together with the family regardless of the logistical imperfections. For newlyweds it can mean the stress of balancing too many family obligations. For football fans: Thanksgiving Football. For ultra-consumers: Black Friday campouts. For students and many others crammed into the airports: journeying home to be with loved ones. Or perhaps, it means just a day off to eat some food with some people…..
These traditions are beautifully celebrated by media and advertisers, often to create an association with their product, but celebrated nonetheless.
It’s also a time to stuff your face, sit on the couch, and do nothing. The hibernating season is upon us. The motivation to do nothing is reaching a high. I mean, a day filled with eating and merriment is no where near one of cardio and kale.
I always found it curious how much (or little) I did between Thanksgiving and the New Years. The weather, the holidays, the lack of light, the end of a semester/quarter/year, the festivities. It’s a great time, but to live optimally, is there something more we could do to both celebrate AND perform?
How many get sick during this time of year? Consider for a second, that your exercise and eating habits may be a culprit. Lack of sun (low vitamin D), lack of exercise, etc.
How many gain a few extra pounds? Consider for a second the momentum of candy-filled Halloween, stuffing filled Thanksgiving, countless holiday parties, and champagne New Year’s.
How many sleep in more than before? Sure it’s cold, it’s dark but consider the impact of how lack of diet and exercise might contribute to this.
From Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Diet, I offer just some quick things that have worked on me with my eating, preparing, and working out (and by no way am I recommending them to you nor am a doctor or nutritionist)
But with that said…
Shopping: what you eat you become, sometimes you can and should indulge (I often indulge far more in dark chocolate than I should…but hey, it’s my guilty pleasure—and has some great benefits as long as it’s made right). But just know that when you’re ready to eat healthy, you have the tools to do so.
What you have in your house, you will eat, so don’t fill it with junk food/things you know you shouldn’t/don’t want to eat. I buy junk food and then eat it all or give it away immediately after that day of indulging so it’s no longer in my apartment.
Here’s my shopping list (all things organic if can be):
- From the Bulletproof store: Whey Concentrate, Collagen Protein, Brain octane, bulletproof coffee
- Fat: grass-fed butter, full-fat coconut milk/oil
- Fruit: lime, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries
- Meat: cold smoked wild sockeye salmon, free range eggs, grass fed organic fatty ground beef,
- Nut: raw cashews, raw almonds
- Spice: sea salt, oregano, almonds, ginger, apple cider vinegar, cayenne powder, oregano, cinnamon, turmeric
- Starch: sweet potatoes, basmati white rice
- Sweetener: raw honey, xylitol, vanilla powder, cocoa powder
- Vegetables: avocado, cucumber, spinach, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
- Maximize your Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio (anti-inflammatory)
- Supplements: vitamin C, D, K2, A (fermented cod liver oil), krill oil, magnesium
Food Preparation: Consider both how it is sourced (organic/not) and how it is prepared as both affect the nutrient absorption in the body
- Vegetables: lightly boil in water (to remove things like phytates and oxalates), drain and sauté with a little butter
- Meat: slow cooking and medium rare side vs. BBQ/Smoking/High Heats
- Butter from Grass Fed Cows: it’s legit
Exercise: It’s a stress on your body, optimize the stress (with mTor suppression from intermittent fasting) 1 time a week and maximize the recovery. It’s all about the recovery.
- Exercise is brief, infrequent, intense, safe and purposeful
- Being “fit” doesn’t mean healthy, excess damage to heart and body (Ironman)
- Walking (mild exercise) improves mitochondrial function but not effect body that much, not exercise
- You can’t isolate 1 aspect of fitness, so “cardio” is silly: high intensity interval training for 10 minutes releases HGH
- Workout between 1 and 2 pm right after fasting, protein within 15 minutes after and then eat
- Do the power 5 lift (bent over row, standing overhead press, squat, bench, deadlift) slowly taking 10 seconds each direction until failure at 1.5-2 minutes, rest minimally
- Eat carbs after workout, use lifting day as a day to eat lots of carbs and get more sleep that night
- 3 days after lifting you can do high intensity, but lift only 1x a week if restricting your sleep
Sleep: it’s about the most important thing you can do to learn, grow muscle, reduce stress and be healthy
- It’s about quality not duration: how fast fall asleep and how much time in REM and delta (deep sleep)
- What you eat directly affects how well you sleep which improves brain function, longevity and performance
- 6 – 7.5 hours (do it in phases of 1.5 hours)
- Sleep helps long term potentiation and consolidates thoughts
- Glymphatic system: uses cell mitochondria to remove cellular waste from the brain is particularly active during sleep
- DHA: protects from negative impact of fructose on the brain, better mood, less anxiety
- Avoid flax seed or hemp because high in omega 6
- Protein: use for muscle repair and immune function which happens at night during deep sleep
- Most forms aren’t easily digestible before bed, and too much protein increases orexin an alertness chemical
It’s a scale. We are not robots, and life should be lived not sacrificed. But in between one holiday turkey and another, you will have ample time to make a healthier choice without sacrificing. It is in those times that being knowledgeable about and making a healthier choice is going to amplify your energy, mental capability, and health during this season. That is what will optimize you and whatever derivative product comes from you.
After all, the easiest time to stand out is when others are slowing down. You can also slow down, but I don’t want you to wait until New Years to realize that you probably should have maintained your intensity or even sped up to get where you want to go.
Hopefully these thoughts will let you both celebrate the occasions and recover quickly to get back at it.
Happy Thanksgiving!