Tuesday Tip: How to be healthy

Tuesday Tip: How to be healthy 🥗

The health and wellness industry loves to sell you the idea that to be healthy you need cold plunges,infrared light, expensive trackers, trendy supplements etc . But the truth? You only need to nail a few basics to cover most of your health and fitness needs.

# Reduce bodyfat and build muscle

Too much body fat raises health risks, but you don’t need to be shredded. Research shows the lowest mortality risk is around 20- 22% body fat for men and 25-30% for women, which is quite attainable. Also vital is building and keeping muscle as it supports metabolic health and helps prevent age-related weakness.

# Move more
Sitting for 10+ hours a day can raise your risk of death by up to 192%. Even light movement, walking, household chores etc adds up. Around 7–9000 steps a day is a great target but it depends what your baseline is – something beats nothing.

# Eat mostly well
Eat a balanced diet including protein, carbs, fruit/veg and plenty of whole foods. Include healthy fats and enough fibre too (around 14g per 1000 calories). It’s fine to have sugar/junk food – just have it in moderation.

# Don’t overdo the booze
The idea that a little alcohol is healthy is false. Health risks rise with ANY consumption of alcohol. It’s one of the few actual carcinogens (cancer causing) foodstuffs. The less, the better.

# Prioritise sleep—especially regular sleep
Short sleep is linked to higher health risks, but this is often also linked to high stress and poor diet it’s hard to tease apart the biggest risks. Regular exercise can offset some harm of short sleep. Sleep regularity (consistent wake/bed times) may be more important than total hours.

You don’t need a magic hack to be healthy. Move your body, lift some weights, eat sensibly, keep alcohol low, and get consistent sleep. Do that, and you can safely ignore 90% of the wellness info online.

Happy Tuesday 🤗
Xx