2824: The 8 Habits of Healthy Living by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on Personal Growth Opportunities

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Health Daily, The 8 Habits of Healthy Living by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net and I'm Dr. Neal, your host and narrator.

[00:00:09] Hello, very happy Monday to you. Welcome back to another week of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:00:14] This is where I read to you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web, kind of like an ongoing audiobook.

[00:00:20] So let's jump right in, get right to today's post as we optimize your life.

[00:00:25] The 8 Habits of Healthy Living by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net

[00:00:35] Quote,

[00:00:36] The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.

[00:00:40] Epicurus

[00:00:41] I don't have health insurance, so I have a big investment in staying healthy.

[00:00:45] And so I did a little research today.

[00:00:48] I found the top causes of death, then created a spreadsheet for the controllable risk factors for each.

[00:00:53] Some things can't be controlled, like your age, your family history of disease, gender, etc.

[00:00:59] But others can.

[00:01:01] And those things aren't a huge surprise.

[00:01:03] You already know not to smoke or drink too much or eat fully.

[00:01:07] It's interesting though, how all of the major diseases are caused by the same things.

[00:01:12] Smoking, diet, exercise, alcohol, and stress.

[00:01:16] So I'm going to list the top habits you can change and a simple method for changing them.

[00:01:22] The 8 Habits of Healthy Living

[00:01:25] Number 1.

[00:01:26] Stop Smoking

[00:01:27] This is by far the most important habit, as it affects almost every single one of the leading causes of death.

[00:01:33] It's also the hardest of these habits to change.

[00:01:36] It's not at all impossible.

[00:01:37] I quit 6 years ago next month.

[00:01:40] Tip number 2.

[00:01:41] Lose Weight if You're Overweight

[00:01:43] This is not exactly a habit.

[00:01:45] The best habit to form to lose weight is to eat less.

[00:01:48] Or eat more of the things that don't have a lot of calories, like fruits and veggies.

[00:01:53] Being overweight is just below smoking as the worst risk factor for many diseases.

[00:01:58] Tip number 3.

[00:02:00] Exercise

[00:02:01] You don't need me to tell you to exercise.

[00:02:03] But listen to this.

[00:02:04] Lack of exercise is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, colon and rectal cancers,

[00:02:10] diabetes, breast cancer, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

[00:02:15] If you don't exercise, you're just asking to get a major disease.

[00:02:19] It's almost a magic pill.

[00:02:21] Do a bit of exercise every day and you get healthy.

[00:02:24] You don't need much.

[00:02:25] Start with 5 minutes a day in the morning.

[00:02:28] Tip number 4.

[00:02:29] Drink Only in Moderation

[00:02:31] Heavy drinking is one of the worst risk factors for many diseases.

[00:02:35] That's more than two drinks of alcohol a day for men and more than one drink for women.

[00:02:40] A glass of red wine is a good thing, but too many and you're greatly increasing your risk

[00:02:44] for disease.

[00:02:46] Tip number 5.

[00:02:47] Cut Out Red and Processed Meats

[00:02:49] Eating red meats and processed meats like sausages, bacon, canned meats, and so on is a risk factor

[00:02:57] for colon and colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, and high cholesterol, which in turn is a leading

[00:03:03] risk factor for coronary artery disease and stroke.

[00:03:07] While this won't sit well with many people, the overwhelming mass of research supports this.

[00:03:12] Tip number 6.

[00:03:14] Eat Fruits and Veggies

[00:03:15] This is obvious, but it's amazing how few veggies most people eat.

[00:03:19] Eating fruits and veggies reduces your risk of several leading diseases, and it's one

[00:03:23] of the easiest habits to form.

[00:03:25] You can eat a salad without heavy dressings or bacon or other meats, croutons, or cheese

[00:03:30] if you can.

[00:03:31] Add veggies to soups or veggie chili, or cook up veggies as a healthy side dish with dinner

[00:03:36] or lunch.

[00:03:37] Eat fruits with breakfast and as snacks.

[00:03:40] Tip number 7.

[00:03:41] Reduce Salt and Saturated and Trans Fats

[00:03:44] Salt, saturated fat, and trans fat are in so many processed or prepared foods, and they

[00:03:52] increase risk for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which then increase risk

[00:03:56] for heart disease and stroke.

[00:03:58] Despite what the Westin Price Foundation and other people on the internet tell you, saturated

[00:04:02] fat isn't healthy.

[00:04:04] Read the sources.

[00:04:05] Note that this isn't a controversy in the medical community, but the quote-unquote harmlessness

[00:04:10] of saturated fats is perpetuated by the dairy and meat industries, and laywriters like Gary

[00:04:16] Taub.

[00:04:17] Cook your own healthy meals instead of dining out or eating prepared foods.

[00:04:22] Tip number 8.

[00:04:23] Reduce Stress

[00:04:24] Stress is a risk factor for heart disease and high blood pressure, which is itself a risk

[00:04:29] factor for stroke.

[00:04:30] Smoke

[00:04:31] Simplify your workday so that you're not overly stressed and exercise to relieve that stress.

[00:04:37] How to form the habits

[00:04:38] This may seem like a lot to change if you're not already doing these things, but let me share

[00:04:44] something with you.

[00:04:44] I changed all of these in the last 6 years.

[00:04:48] In 2005, I was incredibly unhealthy.

[00:04:51] Then, I learned to change my habits.

[00:04:53] And slowly, I quit smoking, started running, became vegan, lost 70 pounds, cleaned up, and

[00:05:00] got rid of unhealthy stuff, simplified my life and reduced stress, and cut drinking down

[00:05:06] to 1-2 glasses of red wine per day.

[00:05:09] I did it, and so can you.

[00:05:11] I changed one habit at a time, slowly, in tiny, tiny steps, and it wasn't hard.

[00:05:18] Don't try to change everything, and don't make it hard on yourself.

[00:05:21] It's actually very easy if you're patient and if you just start.

[00:05:25] So, here's how to change these habits.

[00:05:28] 1. Change only one habit at a time.

[00:05:32] It doesn't matter which habit you choose.

[00:05:34] Just choose one.

[00:05:35] You'll want to do more than one, but don't.

[00:05:38] 2. Create positive habits you enjoy.

[00:05:42] I'm going to read that last word again.

[00:05:44] Enjoy.

[00:05:45] If you enjoy it, the habit change will be easy.

[00:05:49] Replace smoking with positive habits you enjoy that fulfill the needs that smoking now fulfills,

[00:05:54] like stress reduction, social lubrication, boredom relief, etc.

[00:05:59] Replace red meats with healthy foods you enjoy.

[00:06:03] 3. Start as small as possible.

[00:06:06] Just do 5 minutes the first week, and try to be consistent as much as possible.

[00:06:11] Then do 10 minutes.

[00:06:13] Small change is by far the most effective method I've used for changing habits.

[00:06:17] 1. Slow change lasts.

[00:06:20] And 4. Make it social.

[00:06:22] Find a partner or group to change the habit with you, so you're more likely to stick with it.

[00:06:28] These work.

[00:06:29] I've done them many times, and every time I stick to these principles, I've changed a habit.

[00:06:34] Healthy living isn't impossible, or even especially difficult.

[00:06:37] It's just slower to come by than most people care for.

[00:06:44] You just listened to the post titled, The 8 Habits of Healthy Living, by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net,

[00:06:51] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:06:54] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:06:56] All right, so I'm going to go on a quick tangent about saturated fats.

[00:06:59] My stance on that right now is that we need more research to know whether saturated fat is good for us.

[00:07:07] Okay, so listen to that one more time.

[00:07:09] I feel like I need more research to know whether saturated fat might be okay to consume.

[00:07:16] Because right now what we do have are over 600 studies, I believe, that basically show,

[00:07:23] with pretty solid quality evidence, that saturated fat, when consumed above the 10% of your calorie range,

[00:07:31] can lead to increased risk for disease.

[00:07:33] Because the way I look at it is this.

[00:07:35] It has the potential to cause harm, and getting rid of it wouldn't cause a whole lot of harm most likely,

[00:07:42] so why not just get rid of it?

[00:07:45] Do you see what I mean?

[00:07:46] So for me, it's risk-reward.

[00:07:48] I'd rather lower my intakes of saturated fat than roll the dice and see what might happen

[00:07:53] if I consume a lot of saturated fat for a while.

[00:07:56] Now a quick tangent about processed meats.

[00:07:59] First, yes, red meat and processed meats, those include sausages, bacon, cold cuts.

[00:08:05] Those kinds of things have been shown through lots and lots of good research

[00:08:10] to increase risk for certain types of cancer.

[00:08:13] In fact, there was a study published, oh, let's see, two weeks ago,

[00:08:16] that just confirmed that bacon does increase risk for cancer.

[00:08:20] Oh, and red meat does include pork.

[00:08:22] Even though it's called the other white meat, don't believe it, that's not true.

[00:08:26] The reason pork is classified as a red meat, even though if you were to look at it, it looks white,

[00:08:31] it's because of the way the body responds to it.

[00:08:35] So when a person consumes pork, the body responds to it kind of in the same way as it would to other red meats,

[00:08:41] like beef.

[00:08:42] And for lots of folks, what we're finding is red meat consumption and processed meat consumption

[00:08:48] increases systemic inflammation, which means it puts the body under some stress.

[00:08:53] More stress for long periods of time, meaning if you consume these foods for years and years,

[00:08:59] leads to increased risk for disease.

[00:09:01] So right now, I wouldn't necessarily say butter is back or bacon is back.

[00:09:06] Although I don't know if you could really say bacon is back.

[00:09:08] I don't know if it was ever really considered healthy.

[00:09:10] But you get my drift.

[00:09:12] If you like those foods, again, no need to completely cut them out.

[00:09:15] But I would say reduce your intake and you might achieve some of the benefits

[00:09:20] as opposed to putting yourself potentially at risk for disease.

[00:09:23] All right, that'll do it for me and for the Monday episode.

[00:09:26] I hope you have a great start to your week.

[00:09:28] I'll be back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.