Final Sleep Insights, and Food Waste Fights Food Insecurity

Click here: OneSource Health, February 25, 2024

“My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts.”

Why We Sleep

Closing The Book on Sleep

I finally finished Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, Ph.D. The moral of the story, once you understand the power of sleep it is both terrifying and empowering. Terrifying because poor sleep quality or quantity is linked to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke, to loss of memory, dementia, and Alzheimer’s, to low testosterone, and low libido, to a decreased ability to learn and an increased chance of accidents such as car crashes. But it’s empowering because what sleep taketh sleep also giveth.

Every one of the conditions mentioned above also improves with better sleep. Making sleep the most powerful, accessible, and affordable supplement available. And the most underutilized. Surveys show that 25 percent of adults get less than 6 hours of sleep, the CDC’s recommended dose is 7 hours, each night, leading to chronic sleep deprivation. In 1942 that number was less than 8 percent.

One of the biggest side effects of sleep deprivation or “short sleep,” as he calls it, is the impact on the hormones leptin, which regulates satiety, and ghrelin, which controls hunger. Inadequate sleep decreases leptin and increases ghrelin, lowering your levels of satiety and keeping you hungry for more food. Studies have shown that sleep deprived individuals consume 300 calories more per day compared to their well-rested counterparts. Extrapolate that over the roughly 250-day work year and that’s an extra 78,000 calories (20 pounds).

In addition, poor sleep inhibits your body’s ability to regulate blood glucose by as much as 40 percent. Worse still, being sleep deprived increases cravings for carbohydrate and sugar rich foods by 30 to 40 percent. A decreased ability to regulate glucose is something that I experienced during my glucose monitor experiment. I was getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night at the time and foods like lentils and blueberries that should’ve had little to no affect were causing major spikes.

The combination of an increased appetite and an inability to regulate glucose is one of the reasons for the increased prevalence of obesity and diabetes in society. These two diseases, which could in part be prevented or managed through better sleep, have instead resulted in a new multi-billion-dollar industry for drugs that manage appetite in much of the same way as leptin and ghrelin do. The problem is that like nutrition, most physicians receive very little sleep training in medical school, making it easier for doctors to fill a prescription than advise on sleep.

A few weeks ago, I went to the doctor for my annual physical. I told my physician about symptoms of chest pain I was having, and how my family history of heart disease had me concerned. He asked several questions aimed at soothing my fears and ruling out cardiac disease. He also did an electrocardiography (EKG) and blood work to check my cholesterol levels. But he never asked about stress or sleep. In the end he told me with 99 percent certainty that the pain was not heart related and I didn’t have to worry.

The pain has since gone away, so perhaps he wasn’t wrong, but in retrospect I have no doubt that stress and even more so a lack of sleep was linked to the discomfort I was feeling. At the time I was spending 5 - 6 hours in bed, which equates to ~4 - 5 hours of actual sleep. In addition, my total cholesterol levels, although not in the danger zone, had increased substantially since my last blood test. A decreased ability to regulate cholesterol is another side effect of insufficient sleep.

My doctor is a young guy in the first few years of practicing who I really like. But it’s clear to me that the science of sleep has yet to make it into medical school curriculums.

But getting adequate amounts of sleep is about more than just warding off disease and weight gain. Sleep also plays a major role in our ability to perform mentally and physically. When participants in a study were tested on specific motor skills, those who got the proper dose of sleep performed 20 percent better in speed and 25 percent better in accuracy. A separate study showed that obtaining less than 6 hours of sleep per night decreased the time to physical exhaustion by 10 - 30 percent.

The good news is that for most people poor sleep is a result of poor sleep hygiene and can be improved. The National Institutes of Health suggests following these 12 steps to better sleep (page 22). And if you think you have a sleep disorder then Matthew Walker recommends seeking out help from the National Sleep Foundation.

For me, Why We Sleep has forced me to take a hard look at my sleep practices and to make a few big changes.

1. Keeping a steady bedtime. When I’m tired, I call it a night. I no longer fight my fatigue in favor of one more episode of The Great British Baking Show. I don’t care how good the pastries look!

2. Staying in bed longer. I’ve always been a proud early riser. But by jumping out of bed too early I’ve been missing the memory boosting benefits offered by those last two hours of sleep.

3. Reducing caffeine. From 3 cups of coffee (300 mg of caffeine) to 1 cup of green tea (50 mg of caffeine). Since making this change, I’ve been dreaming nonstop, fall asleep easier, and sleep deeper and longer.

4. Napping more. Day time naps as short as 20 minutes have shown improvement in memory consolidation and just as important, I always feel better after.

5. Drowning out noise. I’ve been wearing ear plugs most nights and putting on a sound machine to silence any unwanted noise.

I’m also continuing other practices I instituted years ago.

1. Turing down the lights after dinner to begin the wind down process. Artificial light (including screens) delays the release of melatonin.

2. Keeping the room cool. Your body temperature needs to drop by 1 - 2 degrees Fahrenheit to fall asleep and stay asleep.

3. Eating an early dinner. The system that helps you fall asleep is the same one that regulates digestion. You don’t want them competing.

4. Drinking 1 tsp of CALM 30 - 60 minutes before bed in 3 - 4 oz of water. Too much water will have me up peeing.

5. Stretching my legs for 5 minutes before bed. Quad stretch. Calf stretch. Hamstring stretch. Elevated pigeon on the bed.

6. Avoiding alcohol. Alcohol and caffeine are two of the most common sleep disruptors in society. Thankfully I gave up drinking in 2021.

The information provided here and in previous newsletters is just a snippet of the information offered throughout the book. I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in learning more to pick up the book or an audio version. It’ll be one of the best investments that you’ll ever make.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

Fill Stomachs Not Landfills

On Friday Jen and I volunteered with We Don’t Waste. They’re a Denver based non-profit that works with local restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores to recover food that would’ve otherwise gone to waste. Their motto is fill stomachs not landfills.

Every year an estimated 40 percent of food equal to 80 million tons or 149 billion meals in our country goes to waste. Food waste takes many forms and includes uneaten food at home, stores and restaurants, crops left in the field by farmers, surplus food ordered for schools, and food that’s rejected by retailers for not meeting certain standards of appearance, shape, or color.

The wasted food very often ends up in landfills where it decomposes and emits methane gas, a greenhouse gas that traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20 year period, and 28 times more over a 100 year period.

Instead of feeding climate change, that food could be going to feed the nearly 44 million people who suffered from food insecurity in 2023, and the far greater number of people who are suffering from nutrition insecurity. And that’s exactly what We Don’t Waste is doing.

By rescuing perfectly good food destined for landfills and distributing them to people in need at their 8 monthly food markets, they’re reducing methane gas emissions and the number of people going hungry.

In under 2 hours on Friday, we served over 350 families. Unlike other food programs, there are no eligibility qualifications to shop the market. All you must do is show up. We Don’t Waste designs their events similar to a farmer’s market, where people can walk through, shop (for free), and not feel stigmatized.

Shoppers pick out the items that they want, and leave what they don’t. On Friday the list of food included: chicken, bacon, ribs, yogurt, chocolate milk, onions, broccoli, micro greens, leeks, peanut butter, and more.

Of the 350 families who shopped the market I estimate that 90 percent of them were migrants of Latin American descent. Most of them spoke little or no English. It had me thinking about how different the environment they fled from was compared to the one they arrived in. Where in America we have enough wasted food to serve thousands of families each week.

The privilege we experience in this country to walk into a fully stocked supermarket every single day couldn’t be more foreign to them.

We’ve also been doing volunteer work with Food Bank of the Rockies. A slightly different program. While some of the food we distribute is rescued, a lot of it is donated or funded by the government. The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a federal program that helps supplement the diets of people with low income by providing them with food at no cost, is of particular importance as it typically makes up about half of the food we hand out.

In contrast to the people served at We Don’t Waste, the people who show up for the food bank are more typically struggling American citizens. There is no one demographic that dominates.

On average we distribute close to 100 boxes of food in just over an hour. But like We Don’t Waste, the food available varies by week. This past week included fresh pears, oranges, and broccoli, as well as frozen ground beef, wild caught sockeye salmon, and chicken sausage. Shelf stable items included walnuts, raisins, cereal, and ramen. There were even items such as coffee creamer, and cream top whole milk.

Regardless of the differences between where the food comes from and who’s showing up to receive it, one thing is clear. That more and more people in this country are struggling to put healthy, nutritious food on their tables. And that’s what makes organizations and programs such as these so valuable.

Food should be a basic human right. Especially in a country filled with such abundance. Being out on the streets viewing it firsthand always provides a fresh perspective of the issue. It’s one thing to hear the statistics or to observe people’s troubles as you walk or drive by, but it is quite another to stand in front of them and make a connection through food.

So many people are living just on the fringe. And without programs like TEFAP and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and organizations like local Food Banks and We Don’t Waste, these same people would be missing important meals. They need our help and government funding.

There’s a way to join in without leaving your screen. Click this link and Tell Congress to help end hunger in rural communities by strengthening TEFAP in the next farm bill! Our tax money should be spent on the all the people right here at home.

Cheers.

James.

An Ode To Dense Books

The first dense book I ever read was Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It probably took me 4 years to finish. During that time I read a lot of other books but I just couldn’t sustain Thinking, Fast and Slow for long and I’d always put it down in favor of something easier to read.

The reason I never gave up on it though was because it was gifted to me by a close colleague and mentor. And even though he’d never know if I finished it, I wanted to prove to him through way of the universe that I valued him and his recommendation. It turned out to be one of the most life changing books I’ve ever read.

While the majority of the book went over my simple minded and mildly intelligent brain, the main concept stuck, and still influences my life every day. That concept is that everyone has two systems. System 1 and System 2. System 1 is your innate gut reaction to a stimuli, the response to an action that you give without thinking about the consequences, most times regret, and is emotional. System 2 is your calculated response. It’s the more logical response you form after taking a breath, and counting to 3.

Working on emboldening my System 2 and bypassing my System 1 has changed my life.

But aside from that great lesson came the great accomplishment of reading such an influential book. I feel such pride whenever I hear intellects and scholars I look up to reference Daniel Kahneman’s book. I don’t know anyone in my personal life that has ever read it and it remains one of the most important works of psychology ever published.

Reading dense books are important. Because while they are difficult to get through, there are so many lessons they offer. I recently finished The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker. It took me 18 months to get through. It was far denser than I anticipated it would be.

The reason I picked up The Language Instinct was to see if it could help me learn a second language. Ever since middle school I’ve been trying to become fluent in Spanish. But aside from a couple of long stints in South America where I was able to practice, fluency has eluded me, and always regressed back to my rudimentary understanding of the language after returning home.

A few months before learning about The Language Instinct I started to think that maybe I needed to take a different approach. That perhaps there was something to language in general that I was missing, and if I knew it it would allow me to unlock my brains ability to become fluent or at least improve.

Sadly my Spanish is no better after reading it, however in the same way that Thinking, Fast and Slow changed how I choose to respond, The Language Instinct changed my approach to reading, writing, and communicating in ways that I never anticipated. In the end my understanding of English got an unexpected boost.

Here’s one such example from the book that changed the way I think about writing. 

“If a speaker is interrupted at a random point in a sentence, there are on average about ten different words that could be inserted at that point to continue the sentence in a grammatical and meaningful way.”

This was significant to me because so often when writing I’d hit a brick wall mid-sentence believing that there could only be one word that could continue the sentence, and more times than not I couldn’t think of it. But learning that there were in fact 10 different possibilities gave me permission to think outside of the box. Just knowing that more than one option existed was enough to make me rack my brain until I found the word that made sense.

The Language Instinct also improved my understanding of sentence structure and it’s importance. As Steven Pinker describes it, “Only a few items… can be held in the mind at once, and the items are immediately subject to fading or being overwritten.” He then provides a few examples to drive home the point. As the reader you can feel the sentence slipping away as you read.

“He gave the girl that he met in New York while visiting his parents for ten days around Christmas and New Year’s the candy,” and,

“She saw the matter that had caused her so much anxiety in former years when she was employed as an efficiency expert by the company through.”

He also provides the correct way to structure these sentences.

“He gave the candy to the girl that he met in New York while visiting his parents for ten days around Christmas and New Year’s,” and,

“She saw the matter through that had caused her so much anxiety in former years when she was employed as an efficiency expert by the company.”

An easier to follow example is as follows,

“Reverse the clamp that the stainless steel hex-head bolt extending upward from the seat post yoke holds in place,” which becomes,

“Reverse the clamp that is held in place by the stainless hex-head bolt extending upward from the seat post yoke.”

At times the book is also playful, like when he makes fun of so called “language mavens,” self described experts of language who have made a career of calling out “bad writing.” In this example he is speaking about a film and theater critic who has made a career of outlandish reviews such as this:

“The English language is being treated nowadays exactly as slave trader once handled the merchandise in their slave ships, or as the inmates of concentration camps were dealt with by their Nazi jailers.”

But my favorite were the examples of the contradictory nature of the English language that are at once entertaining and informative. They take the seriousness out of composing the perfect sentence, choosing the right words, and making it all grammatically correct. Such as: “How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?”

The Language Instinct is the type of dense book that I used to shy away from and never finish. I’ve often heard the advice “read what you like until you like to read.” While it’s hard to disagree with that advice, I think there’s also tremendous value to reading outside of your comfort zone.

Reading is like any skill. The more challenging the input, the better you’re going to become. In weight training we call this progress overload. In this case a dense book is like adding weights or reps to your sets. Rather than strengthening your muscles you’ll become a better read. Being a better reader will expand what you read, how often you read, and grow your knowledge as a result.

That’s what dense books have done for me. They’ve made me a better reader, thinker, writer, and communicator. They’ve also improved my ability to stay focused and complete a tough task. It’s an easy, effective, cheap, and accessible way to improve your mind.

The Language Instinct is another Thinking, Fast and Slow for me. While there were a lot of concepts I missed, and connections I couldn’t make, when things were clicking I was amazed at what I was learning. Merchants of Doubt is the latest tough read I’m working through. I suspect it’ll be another 12 - 18 months before I’m able to close it for good.

Dense books offer big rewards for those that choose to read and finish them.

Veggie Lentil Soup with Zucchini

Bring a pan to medium heat

• Chop 3 carrots and half a celery stalk

• Chop 4 cloves of garlic and 2 slices of onion

• Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 pinches of sea salt to the pan

• Then add the carrots, celery, garlic and onion

• Cook for 5 minutes, toss once halfway

After 5 minutes

• Add 2 cups of vegetable broth

• Add 2 cup of water

• Add 2 bay leaves

• Add 1 tsp of dry parsley

• Add a few cracks of black pepper

• Add 1/2 cup of green lentils

• Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes

After 20 minutes

• Add 1/2 of a zucchini chopped into 1/2 in pieces, and then add the zucchini to the pot.

Cook for an additional 25 minutes

Remove the bay leaves and enjoy.

Failure to Communicate, and New Sleep Insights

Click here: OneSource Health, February 18, 2024

"If you can't tell what you desperately need, it's probably sleep."

Kevin Kelly

Missed Opportunities

This year over 120 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl. That’s over 240 million captive eyeballs. The perfect opportunity to share a message if you have one. And a lot of people did. Unfortunately, those messages came from the same handful of industries that continue to erode society.

Companies that make their profits by selling processed food, soda, alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, and online gambling services (a disturbingly growing trend detailed in this 60 Minutes segment).

There were 36 ads in the first half of the Super Bowl. Half of them, 18, were for products and services in the categories mentioned above. They included: M&Ms, Popeyes, Pringles, Lindt Chocolates, Nerds, Oreos, Reese’s, Dunkin Donuts, Hellman’s Mayonnaise, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Starry, Poppi, Michelob Ultra, Coors Light, Bet MGM, Fanduel, and the pharmaceutical drug Veozah (to “treat” hot flashes)

Worse still, the ads featured people like Dan Marino, Chris Pratt, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady. An affluent list of people who surely didn’t need the extra paycheck but apparently had no problem cashing it even though I’m sure none of them use the products they were endorsing and telling the viewers to support.

The remaining 18 commercials were not any better. They were for cars, or car insurance, or telling would be consumers to “Shop Like A Billionaire” and buy things they don’t need. Perhaps the second half commercials proved better, but I doubt it and I didn’t stick around to find out.

The only positive and uplifting message was from Hegetsus.com. Formed by a coalition of Jesus followers of diverse background, they have been investing in spreading the story of Jesus that they believe in. One filled with love, compassion, and kindness to others. No, I’m not trying to get religious, but these ads were the only ones I saw that made me feel good and the message is one I can get behind.

Imagine if our elected leaders, politicians, and health experts had as much gumption as Hegetsus.com. Imagine if they took the opportunity during the most viewed event of the year to share information about how to improve your health. Or ways to reduce stress. Or decided it was the perfect time to announce a new initiative to tackle the growing health epidemic we face. Imagine a world where our leaders did something productive for the people. Yes, I can dream.

The Super Bowl ads and growing neglect from our government is especially disheartening when I look at the articles (a loose term for the stories journalists publish completely devoid of usefulness) and videos that were shared and recommended to me this week. Almost all of which were related to weight loss.

For over a year now the new class of “weight-loss” drugs, GLP1 agonists, have been all of the rage, and as profits from selling these drugs have continued to soar the media has been doing its job to support the growth with little concern for negative downstream effects. Until this week.

Three separate articles, one from The New York Times and two from The Atlantic, raised concerns about the drugs ineffectiveness in some patients, dangerous side effects, and the dramatic muscle loss caused by these drugs.

Loss of lean mass, which includes muscle, bone, and even ligaments, is a serious side effect of the new class of weight-loss drugs. Muscle loss specifically can account for up to 40 percent of the weight lost. It’s particularly worrying considering that seniors, aged >65 years, make up 26 percent of the patients taking weight-loss drugs. They’re experiencing frailty from muscle and bone loss at an accelerated rate, increasing their risk of falling and osteoporosis. Of note falls and hip fractures are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among seniors.

Not surprisingly a new market has emerged to combat the muscle loss caused by weight-loss drugs. Companies like Daily Harvest are marketing “companion meals” that are high in protein. Gyms are selling “companion workouts” that focus on strength training. Most egregious of all, drug makers like Eli Lilly, manufacturers of weight-loss drug Mounjaro, are looking to cash in on the problem they’ve helped to create. They’re developing a drug to stop the muscle loss caused by their weight-loss drug. It doesn’t really get more blatant than that.

There is also the large percent of people for whom the drugs don’t work on, and the patients who need to stop taking them because of the severe side effect. Seventeen percent of patients stop taking the drugs due “gnarly gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting... pancreatitis, severe gastrointestinal distress, low blood sugar, and even hair loss.” These are side effects that many people experience, for some it’s just so bad they need to discontinue the drug.

Another “…quarter to a third [of patients] are non-responders” according to Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine specialist at Harvard. That’s the same Dr. Stanford being quoted by The Atlantic as an “expert” who has received $75,000 from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the makers of two of the most popular weight-loss drugs.

The articles around Ozempic and other GLP1 agonists are enough to give you whiplash. Just a few months ago every news outlet couldn’t help but write about the revolutionary new class of drugs, downplaying any potential side effects. But now with millions of people experiencing them first-hand they’ve made an about face.

My mother sent me a clip this week for a new weight-loss “pill.” The patient swallows a deflated balloon and once it’s in the stomach they inflate it, making less room for food. It stays in the stomach for four months and then passes through the bowels. I wonder what the future side effects of having a foreign object lodged in your stomach for a few months might be. I don’t know, and I wish no one had to find out.

I just can’t help but wonder what would happen if all the time and money that went into developing these quick fix weight loss methods with a goal of making money, instead went into fixing the real issues people are facing every day. If we invested in free child-care to relieve people of some money concerns. If we invested in better distribution and access to nutritious foods. If we made life just a little bit easier and more enjoyable for people so that they could sleep better at night.

More Insights From Why We Sleep

I’m slowly making my way through Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep which continues to fascinate me. A few years ago, I learned about the importance of sleep, but reading about the benefits in detail and learning about the studies that identified the benefits has again changed my approach to sleep.

Part of that shift has included a huge reduction in caffeine intake. Mainly from coffee. There’s a chemical in your body called adenosine. Throughout the day more and more of it attaches to receptors in the brain building “sleep pressure” which causes you to feel tired and eventually fall asleep. Caffeine helps keep you awake by attaching itself to the adenosine receptors and effectively blocking adenosine from latching on.

Learning that piece of information I’ve gone from 2 - 4 coffees per day to 1 cup of tea, and the occasional small coffee (I’ve had 2 in the last week). We’ve been on a road trip all week, changing beds every few days, so it’s been difficult to tell what benefits I’ve been experiencing. But I can say for sure that I’ve been having more vivid dreams at night, and I feel less edgy during the day.

The other big change I’ve made is staying in bed longer. According to Matthew Walker’s research the last two hours of sleep, the hours many of us cut short to get the day started, prove to be the most important for memory and motor skill development.

I had been in a cycle of getting out of bed at close to 4 am every day, about 6 hours of being in bed. Now I try to give myself at least 8 hours in bed and get up at 6. The change has been enormous for me. I wake up with a clearer mind and I’ve had less mood swings throughout the day (another symptom of sleep deprivation).

I also found this quote from the book insightful. It’s the best description I’ve ever heard about developing habits. “Training and strengthening muscles can help you better execute a skilled memory routine. But the routine itself - the memory program - resides firmly and exclusively within the brain.” A habit is exactly that, “a skilled memory routine.” 

I found it interesting because it emphasizes the fact that any skill or habit you wish to acquire is nothing more than replaying a memorized choreography. Meaning to learn something new, you need to do it repeatedly. It’s something I learned in The Power of Habit and its akin to the 10,000 hour rule I first heard about in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. It reinforces the idea that if I just keep trying eventually, I’ll get better. It’s something I wrote about recently relating to skiing, and it was on display again this past week. 

We stayed a few nights in a small log cabin with a wood burning stove. Wood stoves are a love of mine, but building a fire is not something I get to do often. So, our first night it took me over an hour to get a fire going and I filled the house with enough noxious smoke to make Jen open the door in 20 degree weather.

But the next night it took only 30 minutes and generated minimal smoke in the house. On the third day we collected kindling during our walk along the river. That night I got the fire going on the first try and it burned seamlessly throughout the night. I was even able to get a fire going in the morning just using the remaining embers that were burning.

I was proud of myself and, never letting a moment go by without reflection, thought about how cool the progress I made in just 3 nights was. Note to self: keep going, don’t ever stop. Parrar e morrer. To stop is to die. 

Cheers.

James.

Who Are You Becoming?

Recently I finished reading How Will You Measure Your Life? and it made me recount my own journey to figure out the purpose of my life after leaving my job in 2018. In my decade of work, I had learned to equate success with money and status. Even if I didn’t believe it in my soul, it was all around me and hard to ignore.

At work I had become accustomed to “prioritizing” twenty different things. Everyone wore multiple hats, and I was no exception with a list of responsibilities that was as large as it was varied. And although short by most standards, my career was successful, and so when I left, I equated success with “doing a lot” and spreading myself thin. It’s taken years to unwind that mentality.

Throughout my journey I’ve had three significant moments of reflection that completely shifted my mindset.

My first breakthrough came about a year after I resigned in, no surprise, the form of a book. I read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, and it threw my beliefs on their head. Greg McKeown’s book not only gave me the permission to do less but it promised that in doing so I’d achieve more. And so, I began the process of eliminating the things that weren’t essential to my life, saying no more than I said yes, and limiting certain relationships while embracing others.

A year or so later, still stumbling to embrace the do less mentality, I drew inspiration from this quote I picked up on a podcast: “The question is not if you will survive or be successful, it’s how to be useful.” This got me to stop viewing success as a goal, and to start thinking about how my experience, knowledge, and interests could best serve the world, myself, and those around me. And in doing so I narrowed my focus a little bit more, and shed another layer of non-essential pursuits and responsibilities that I didn’t see supporting my “usefulness.”

The third and perhaps most influential thing I came across was again while listening to a podcast. It was an episode of the Tim Ferriss Show, the guest was Rich Roll. Rich Roll has struggled with addiction in his life and is now a successful and sober health influencer and endurance athlete. In describing one of the ways he stays grounded he shared a question he asks himself regularly. “Who are you becoming?”

We all have a vision of the person we want to be but just thinking about that very prospect can be overwhelming. Rich Roll’s approach is instead to look at his actions throughout the day and see if they align with the person he wants to be.

It was such a simple and pragmatic way of framing my pursuits and goals because it took the emphasis off of the end result and shifted it to the daily journey, with a focus on doing a little bit each day. It made success seem achievable. It also made me realize that to be outwardly useful, I first needed to embrace becoming the type of person that could be useful.

In How Will You Measure Your Life? the authors make this point in a slightly different manner. They ask the question: “In your life, there are going to be constant demands for your time and attention. How are you going to decide which of these demands gets your resources?” Later in the book they emphasize the point with this statement, “The type of person you want to become – what the purpose of your life is – is too important to leave to chance.”

Throughout my life I’ve been guilty of accepting my fate, of accepting my tendencies, habits, and personality as things that just are. I never thought to change them because I didn’t think I could. I think for a lot of us we’ve been led to believe this is true. But I’ve realized over the last few years that none of them are set in stone, they’re all malleable. Each day we truly have the opportunity to change, to be better.

Asking myself “Who are you becoming?” has been essential in guiding my actions. It’s also allowed me to ask myself simple questions to stay on track. Did my actions today support the person I’m striving to become? Did I spend my time, energy, money, and attention on what’s essential to me? When the answer is no, as it often is, I look to course correct the next day.

I’m not perfect, but I count days with more yes’ than nos as progress, and that’s the goal. There is no overnight success. There is no magic pill. There is only incremental change. If we know who we want to become, then we can invest our resources to developing that person. So, I only have one question for you: Who are you becoming? I’d love to hear in the comments.

Cheers.

James

Resources:

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown

How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon

The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast

Rich Roll — Reinventing Your Life at 30, 40, and Beyond (#561)

Try This Move: Iso Kettlebell Curls

Isometric Kettlebell Curls

• I didn't have matching weights so I used a 15 lbs for the hold and 26 lbs for the concentric movement. I also had my Ruck Pack on with a 30 lb plate in it.

• Tuck your tail bone, squeeze your glutes and engage your core as you curl the kettlebells towards you. When the isometric arm (15 lb in my case) reaches 90 degrees hold it there, continuing to curl with your other arm for 10 reps.

• Keep your gaze straight, at a neutral angle. Keep your chin tucked.

• Switch the weights and repeat on the opposite side.

• 3 sets x 10 reps per arm

Slow Cooker Beets

Beets and brussels are two of my favorite vegetables, and of course they’re very different. But the thing they share is their health benefits. Beets are extremely nutritious and have many health benefits, and have been shown to help reduce blood pressure.

I’m a simpleton when it comes to food and so my method of cooking beets has been to boil them. It works fine for me but my girlfriend doesn’t love them. A few weeks ago we had a braised beet salad at one of our favorite restaurants, Undici, that was insanely good. At dinner I told her I wanted to make them that way.

I couldn’t find a good recipe and she suggested instead I use the crock pot. Wow what a game changer that was! I made them again today. Here’s what I did.

I took five beets, cut the stems off and then peeled them and cut them in half (quarters if they’re larger).

I added them to the crock pot and then added 1/2 cup of water, salt, thyme, parsley, chopped garlic and red onion. Closed the lid and let them cook on slow for 4 hours.

🤌🏽 They came out delicious. Give it a try.

Reconnecting Through Forests and Food

Click here: OneSource Health, February 11, 2024

“The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine.”

William Osler

Miyawaki Pocket Forest

Reconnecting With Nature

I wanted to start this week by sharing something cool (no pun intended) pictured above. In Santiago, Chile, students partnered with nonprofit Sugi to plant a Miyawaki style pocket forest just off the road. After 12 months they compared the surface temperature of the forest to the tarmac road. The forest registered a temperature of 12ºC (53.6ºF) and the road 39ºC (102.2ºF), a 27ºC (80.6ºF) difference! 

The Miyawaki method, developed by Japanese botanist and plant ecology expert Professor Akira Miyawaki, is a method of afforestation that mimics the natural recolonization that would occur in nature. Only plant and tree species that are native to the region are used which has the dual benefit of creating a more climate resilient forest and a familiar habitat for birds, insects, and pollinators.

Sugi has been working with local communities throughout the world to plant pocket forests like this one that help the climate and help cities reconnect with nature. Pocket forests only require 25 square feet, grow 10x faster than a normal forest would, and are maintenance free in 2 - 3 years. They can be planted anywhere, even in lands as arid as Jordan, and have the potential, as evidenced above, to help cool the land. Check out their work and see where you can fit a pocket forest in your community.

Old Beliefs Die Hard

I used to believe that health was the direct consequence of choice. That people struggling with weight or metabolic health had consciously decided not to take care of themselves. It’s not a belief that I’m proud of, but it’s also one that was less judgment and more “observation.” I viewed it as an unfortunate choice, and I hoped that they would find ways to take control of their life and enjoy the benefits of health. But as I’ve learned and observed more in recent years, I’ve come to realize how wrong my assumption had been.

For most people in this country, and growing around the world, the moment they enter this world the odds are stacked against them. The environment most people are forced to live in, filled with fake foods and unfulfilling jobs, gives them little choice or chance to better their health. As we’ve learned in recent years health and weight gain are influenced by so many factors, and for a lot of people those factors remain out of their control. This week I learned about another one.

I’ve been reading Matthew Walker, PhD’s book Why We Sleep? which details sleeps impact on health. Sleep quantity and quality affects everything from the type and amount of food we crave, to how we regulate glucose we consume and our insulin sensitivity. Key components of metabolic health which has been linked to numerous chronic diseases. Sleep efficiency also impacts memory development, our ability to solve problems, and to be creative. And not everyone is operating an equal playing field.

Approximately 30 percent of the population intuitively prefers going to bed later and waking up later, referred to as “evening types.” For this sect of the population the standard 9 am - 5 pm work schedule forces them to wake up before their brain is warmed up. As a result, night owls are more chronically sleep deprived, and therefore suffer more chronic illness from their lack of sleep, including depression, anxiety, diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, and stroke.

I’m pointing out this example to highlight the fact that things aren’t always what they seem. The person we know who “doesn’t want to” wake up, is always tired, suffers from brain fog, and makes poor “choices” about their health (i.e. eating foods high in refined carbohydrates and sugar), might not be choosing at all. Rather they’re being forced to operate in a society that runs counter to their biological clock.

To quote Matthew Walker, “the practice of natural biphasic sleep [long sleep periods at night and an afternoon nap], and a healthy diet, appear to be the keys to a long-sustained life.” And for many people sleep and nutritious food remain out of reach.

[If you want to evaluate your sleep, check out this 5 question assessment: SATED]

Food Is Medicine

A conviction which grows stronger and stronger each day is that every sustainable health journey must start first with an appreciation for and access to nutritious food. Food, fuel for our bodies, is the thing that holds it all together, and without it falls apart.

In 2023 44 million Americans suffered from food insecurity. However, nutrition insecurity—the inability to have consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, affordable foods essential to optimal health and well-being—has become more prevalent than food insecurity.

In 2022 the Biden Administration held a National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Out of that meeting came the Food Is Medicine (FIM) initiative which granted states the ability to use Medicaid and Medicare funding to replace “healthcare” with nutritious foods. Companies such as FreshRX and FarmBoxRX are two examples of companies taking advantage of this program to help their community.

Several other organizations have been working on ways to support and expand this initiative. ThinkRegeneration is hosting a handful of programs this year around the country to advance this program. FoodTank gathered more than two dozen leaders last year to discuss potential approaches. Last week I read through their summit summary and a few things stood out to me.

The most interesting thing I read was something I’ve always heard but never bothered to look into. Physicians are not taught nearly enough nutrition in Medical School. The report noted that efforts to make nutrition courses mandatory, rather than elective, are making progress. To which I thought, “nutrition isn’t mandatory?”

In doing some research I found that only 25 percent of schools actually require their medical students to take a dedicated course. Currently 9 medical schools, 5 percent of medical schools in the U.S., require nutrition continuing medical education. On average medical students receive less than 20 hours of nutrition education, not dedicated courses, over the course of a 4 year degree.

Which is egregious when considering the positive impact on healthcare that nutrition offers, as evidenced by various FIM programs. Medically tailored meals (MTMs), prepared meals delivered to individuals living with severe illness, have been shown to decrease healthcare costs by 16 percent among critically and chronically ill populations. Through fresh produce boxes and nutrition counseling FreshRX has helped patients lose weight, lower their A1c levels, and manage their blood pressure. FarmBoxRX has been able to improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs through incentivizing patients to comply with screenings and doctor visits.

But without adequate nutrition education, a vital tool, physicians continue to turn to high cost and detrimental treatments such as pharmaceutical drugs and surgery. The report noted that “high-risk patients visit pharmacies ten times more than they do primary care doctor offices,” and that “In a diagnosis-centered health care system, medical institutions and insurance companies can structurally disincentivize the holistic approach FIM requires.”

Said another way, the health care system, made up of medical institutions, insurance companies, and middlemen, aka profit driven centers, are incentivized to keep patients sick and reaching for drugs and procedures. As Brigham Buehler said, “why would they cure your disease when they can monetize it?”

With that said, Food Is Medicine is a huge step in the right direction. Through programs such as this, and the work of companies like ThinkRegeneration, FoodTank, Sugi, and others, it feels like I keep finding more people and organizations focused on the same goal. Revitalizing the land and the people back to a healthy state of homeostasis. There is a lot of work to do, but I’m inspired every day by the actions of a few to shape the future.

Cheers.

James.

How to Make Your Life Harder to Live Longer

Reading The Comfort Crisis provided further clarity to something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. It’s the idea that contrary to common belief, mine included, we don’t have to work that hard to be “healthy.” Books like Ikigai and shows like Live To 100: Secrets of The Blue Zones are what have led me down this path. In societies where people live the longest no one is focused on hacks, routines, or supplements that we associate with longevity and lifespan in America. Yet they live long and beautiful lives.

Michael Easter drove this home for me in The Comfort Crisis by making something very clear. It’s the small actions, or inactions, throughout our day that are killing us. Whether you want to go back 100 or 1,000 years, the reality is that our ancestor’s way of life made it easy for humans to stay healthy because life was hard. Surviving required being active, self-reliant, aware, and resourceful. There wasn’t time to relax on the recliner, or wallow in regrets of the past or fears of the future. Compare that to the comforts of modern society where “it’s suddenly possible to survive without being challenged” and the reasons why we find ourselves amidst a growing health epidemic becomes clear.

The problem is that instead of getting back to a simpler way of life, which to many might be deemed a more challenging way of life, we’ve instead been sold a lie that vigorous exercise, extreme diets, and unregulated supplements and vitamins, and worst of all pharmaceutical grade medications will save us. So, for most of us, we’ve hitched our life raft to one or more of these items while letting most of our days and actions go by unchanged. The reality is that we don’t need special diets, or high-intensity workouts that leave us in a puddle of our own sweat, and we certainly don’t need pharmaceutical grade medications. We need instead to incorporate small actions into our day that will add up to big changes over the course of our lifetime.

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend joked and said I should publish a post titled “How to Make Your Life Harder to Live Longer.” She was making fun of all the shit I do throughout my day that from the outside appears to make my life harder, but in the long run makes my life easier (like wearing a 30 lb weighted vest as I stand typing this). We laughed, but she was on to something.

When you’re doing a little bit throughout each moment of the day it eliminates the need to play catch up and it eliminates the large swings up and down and it makes it easier to sustain a certain lifestyle. 

The point of The Comfort Crisis is to create discomfort to awaken your best life. Small incremental changes add up and have the power to revitalize your life. So, with that said, I thought I’d share some of the simple ways in which I add a little suck to my day to see if there’s anything that you might be able to incorporate into yours.

How to Make Your Life Harder to Live Longer

• Cook as many meals as you can. Not just for the obvious benefits like eating whole foods over processed or packaged foods, but because cooking will add extra time on your feet. If each meal requires 20 - 30 minutes to prepare and cook, that’s an additional 1 hour to 90 minutes of being active.

• After your meals skip the dishwasher and wash your dishes by hand. Studies have shown that even a 10-minute walk after a meal has the ability to improve your metabolic health. Since it can feel burdensome to get up from a meal and go for a stroll, substitute the walk for standing at your sink and cleaning up the kitchen before sitting back down. Or time your dogs walks for after meals.

• Skip the elevator or escalator and opt for the stairs. At the airport with luggage and running back into your apartment building to grab something you forgot, add some steps to your day.

• Skip the shopping cart, instead use a basket. We aren’t hunters and gatherers anymore, but we can do our best to pretend. Carry your groceries around with you and practice your farmers carry. Weight training doesn’t have to wait for the gym.

• Stand up instead of sitting down to put on your underwear, pants, socks, and shoes. It’s such an easy way to practice balancing on one leg. Maintaining balance as we get older is hugely important. According to the CDC falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among persons aged ≥65 years (older adults), and older adult patients with hip fractures are 3–4 times more likely to die within one-year after surgery than general population. Practice your balance every day.

• Hit your 10,000 steps. On average walking 1 mile burns 100 calories. 10,000 steps is about 5 miles or 500 calories per day. That’s 182,500 calories burned per year! There are so many ways to sneak steps in. Walk and talk. Park far away from the store or walk instead of driving. Cook and wash the dishes (see above). Go for a stroll through town. Clean up the garage. Pace around your house. All steps count.

• Make your walks harder by carrying a load. In The Comfort Crisis he shares our evolutionary development to be able to carry heavy loads. Whether that was a basket filled with fruit or the body of a dead animal, humans evolved to carry weight over long distances. Put on a weighted vest, throw a weight in a backpack, or buy a proper Rucksack with 10, 20, or 30 lbs. You’ll feel the benefits immediately without the intensity of a workout. You can even put it on while standing at your desk.

• Embrace the weather. On average Americans now spend 93 percent of our time inside in climate-controlled environments. If you live somewhere with cold winters, step outside for a few minutes each day with light layers to activate brown fat, a metabolically active tissue that burns white fat (fat we’re always trying to lose) in the cold. Conversely, get outside when it feels “too hot.” The stress of the heat will cause your body to work a little harder without much effort. 

The point is if it’s change you’re seeking start slow. It doesn’t have to be an extreme new workout. It doesn’t have to be going cold turkey on a new diet. Small changes will lead to bigger ones. Figure out ways to resist the comforts in your life and see how it might change you.

Try This Move: Hollow Body Superset

Hollow Body Skull Crushers + Close Grip Press

• I used a 30 lb Ruck Plate for this exercise.

• Lay on your back, bring your feet to the ground, heels to touch your fingertips. Tuck your tail bone, engage your core and straighten your legs.

• Push the weight up, lift your shoulders off the ground.

• Bring the weight slowly towards your head keeping your elbows tucked in.

• Slowly lower the weight towards the top of your head then squeeze through your hands and arms to bring the weight back up.

• Once you've completed the skull crushers, bring the weight back over your chest, squeeze the weight as you lower towards your body, elbows tucked.

• Push the weight away as you keep your body engaged.

• 3 sets x 10 reps each

Meals & Recipes: Healthy Fats, High Fiber

Spicy Salmon with lentils, roasted carrots, red onion and avocado. 

Spicy Salmon. Start with wild salmon. I’ve been enjoying frozen wild sockeye salmon from Whole Foods or Sprouts (grocers closest to me), or fresh wild Sockeye from Trader Joes. Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and a few pinches of salt. Place the salmon skin side down. In a bowl mix 1 tbsp of: honey dijon mustard, Primal buffalo sauce, Sweet Baby Rays Hot Sauce, and stone & ground mustard.

Sprinkle 1 pinch of: salt, black pepper, onion powder, and 1 garlic powder on the filet side. Spread mustard evenly throughout the filet. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes. 

Lentils. Add 3 cups of water or vegetable brother to a pot. Add 1 cup of green lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 45 minutes, covered. Taste for tenderness before removing from heat. Strain the lentils and return them to the pot.

Roasted Carrots. Buy a bag of organic baby carrots, to a bunch of regular sized carrots. Preheat the oven to 425. Chop them on a slant into 1 inch pieces (bite size). Toss in a bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil, 4 pinches of salt, 1 - 2 tsp of red pepper flakes, 2 tbsp of honey. Cook for 20 - 25 minutes.

Assemble. Add enough lentils to cover the bottom of the bowl. Cut 1 salmon filet in half and add it to the bowl. Add a handful of carrots, 1/4 sliced avocado and 1 slice of chopped red onion. Top with red wine vinegar and few pinches of sea salt.

Buon Appetito!

Finding Connections The Washington Post Missed

Click here: OneSource Health, February 4, 2024

“There’s a big difference between 20 years of experience and the same year lived 20 times”

Photo by Katie Smith on Unsplash

A Potential Link Between Gut Health and Colon Cancer

I wasn’t intending to but Colleen Cutcliffe, a scientist with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Microbiology, sent me down a rabbit hole this week. Ever since I’ve learned how corrupted the media has become, specifically as it relates to pharmaceutical drugs and healthcare, it seems like I keep running into more examples.

A couple of weeks ago I shared this article, Colon cancer is rising in young Americans. It’s not clear why. from The Washington Post as an example of their intention of sowing doubt in the media. The article offers no concrete reasons and instead contradicts itself the moment it makes an assertion about a possible cause, and uses the exception to prove the rule.

From the article, “Although some doctors have pointed to bad diet, alcohol use and lack of exercise as factors, [Whitney] Jones notes that the actor Chadwick Boseman, the star of ‘Black Panther’ and other movies who died of colon cancer at 43, ‘was hardly a smoking, drinking guy. He was a young, vigorous person.’”

Sentences like this one are intended to lead readers to believe that it’s all up to chance, and Group 1 carcinogens like alcohol, processed food, and being sedentary “might” play a role. Whitney Jones, who’s quoted throughout the article, is a gastroenterologist who consults for Grail, a company using liquid biopsies to detect cancers in the early stages. Grail is not invested in preventing cancer.

When I tuned in to listen to Colleen Cutcliffe discuss gut health with Peter Attia on The Drive, I wasn’t expecting to find answers that The Washington Post’s had ignored. But I did.

Gut health, or more specifically, gut microbiome, is a topic that’s grown in popularity in recent years as research continues to find links between poor gut health and metabolic disease which can cause chronic illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and yes cancer. Scientists have focused on gut microbiome in part because of how modifiable it is.

Dr. Cutcliffe points out that the two main ways to modify your gut microbiome are through nutrition, consuming a diversity of foods, and avoiding antibiotics, which she describes as “setting off a nuclear bomb in your gut.” One of the most important nutrients for your digestive tract, which runs mouth to anus, is fiber.

Fiber, insoluble fiber in particular from fruits and vegetables, acts as a prebiotic, food that feeds the organisms that make up your gut microbiome. When fiber is processed in your gut it produces a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate. Butyrate contains anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to act as a tumor suppressant in the colon. Consuming a low fiber diet, which generates low levels of butyrate in the intestinal tract and colon, leads to poor colon health and a higher incidence of colon cancer.

After hearing this I decided to go back and re-read the Washington Post article to see if there was any mention of butyrate or fiber and its connection to colon health. I thought surely if I could stumble upon the connection a journalist whose job it is to investigate the topic they’re covering would’ve found it also.

In the nearly 3,000 word article the word butyrate doesn’t appear at all. The words “fiber” and “microbiome” appear just once each, and the word “gut” appears twice. The closest they come to touching the science is in this sentence, “…systemic factors could be at work, such as changes in gut bacteria — the microbiome — according to medical experts.” [emphasis mine]

There is also no mention of the fact that 95 percent of Americans are consuming only half of the 25 – 30 grams of recommended fiber each day. Nor do they mention the fact that the average American now consumes 70 percent of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods that are stripped of fiber. Calling attention to these facts would mean calling to account the large food manufacturers that pay their bills.

It would also mean ruffling the feathers of the pharmaceutical and healthcare companies that sell drugs and treatments to cancer patients, and also sponsor their “journalism.” Without patients there is no profits.

To be sure, other factors could be, and likely are, impacting the rise in colon cancer diagnoses. But to avoid discussion of a very clear connection, one that can be improved through behavioral changes, is nothing short of criminal.

We’re living in one of the most unfortunate of times where the institutions we’re supposed to trust have been corrupted beyond recognition. Fortunately, we also live in an age where information and answers are available if we’re willing to invest the time to look for them, and question what we’re being told. Take everything you read or see with a grain of salt, because most of the time there’s an agenda you don’t yet know about.

Cheers.

James.

Resources:

More than a microbiome scientist, our pioneering CEO is a mom

CBS’s 60 Minutes News Segment Was an Unlawful Weight Loss Drug Ad, Physicians’ Complaint Alleges

Colon cancer is rising in young Americans. It’s not clear why.

Grail - In pursuit of innovation to solve healthcare’s most important challenges

The Drive with Colleen Cutcliffe, Ph.D. - Gut Health and the Microbiome

Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap

Butyrate: A Double-Edged Sword for Health?

GPR109A is a G-protein-coupled receptor for the bacterial fermentation product butyrate and functions as a tumor suppressor in colon

Increasing Fiber Intake

Trends in Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods Among US Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018

Meals & Recipes: Breakfast Veggie Scramble!

Activist Scramble: 2 eggs, white onion, tomato, Gouda, potato, broccoli, arugula, black pepper, crushed red pepper and salt

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat a pan to medium heat.

In a bowl combine 2 eggs, 1 slice of chopped white onion, 1 sliced Campari tomato, 1 chopped slice of Gouda cheese 🧀, 1 handful of sliced boiled potato, 1 handful of boiled broccoli, cracked black pepper, 1 pinch of crushed red pepper, and 1 pinch of sea salt.

Add 1 tbsp of olive or butter to the pan and add the mixture from the bowl. Allow to cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Then add a handful of arugula.

Continue to mix and scramble as the egg cooks!

Enjoy!

Sharing Some Thoughts

Doing Less

So much of life is about the things you don’t do as opposed to the things you do do. It’s a hard concept to grasp because a lot of times it’s things that are not visible to other people or visceral to you and often seem immaterial. Like denying the impulse to open my lap top when I sat down for lunch.

There wouldn’t be any real harm in searching for an AirBnb for an upcoming trip, or editing my newsletter one more time, while I’m eating. In fact, both of those things would be viewed as constructive to most people. Myself included. But opening my lap top during lunch has unintended consequences.

Like robbing myself of getting lost in thought for 30 minutes. Like not fully appreciating the taste, sight, and smell of my food. Or not being present when my girlfriend asks me a question, or asks me to come look at the birds.

Not doing has become a powerful tool in the modern age. Fighting your impulses to do can have positive consequences. Doing less actually has the power to make you more productive.

Awakening

I think the problem lies in the word itself. It implies an immediate rebirth. But really all it signifies is the beginning of a journey towards a higher understanding of what life is, or the beginning of a search for the meaning of life. But it by no means signifies reaching the end. And I think that’s where people get messed up.

Everyone is always looking for the magic pill or the immediate fix. We’re a species that feeds on instant gratification. To become awakened is no exception. The expectation is to find out the truth and understand it all in one session, leading people to seek out experiences that they think or have heard will finally provide it.

Psychedelic trips are the primary example of this. Tripping on a psychedelic for many people might provide a glimpse behind the curtain, but that’s all it is, a glimpse. The truth is only unveiled with practice.

I’ve seen and spoken to many people, friends and family, who have peaked into the other side, but the demands of their “life” constantly tug at them and keep them from ever fully exploring the reality they know to be true. The investment of time, energy, and effort, is too much for a result that is not guaranteed. And the public consensus is to not pursue it.

Instead, the status quo, the ways things always have been is the thinking that consistently prevails. Everyone is afraid of an unfamiliar way of life, that promises freedom and equality, but has no room for ego.

Workout Hack When You’re Short on Time

There’s two things you always want to avoid. Skipping a workout and skipping your warm up. The key to long term success in the gym is to be consistent. And one of the keys to staying injury free is to warm up before your workout. 

But the reality is sometimes we just don’t have the time to get in a full workout AND warm up. In those cases we usually end up sacrificing one or both. We either skip our warm up and rush through our workout. Or we scrap the whole workout knowing we won’t have time to do it all. 

When this happens I like to mesh the two together and warm up as part of my workout. Saving me time while also saving me from injury. 

I do this by using my first set of exercises as my warm up. Rather than getting right into heavy weights and high intensity movements I back everything off and use my first sets to prime my body for the remainder of the workout. 

Over the last two months I’ve been training using three circuit workouts. In this case my first circuit is my warm up and the last two are my working sets. 

It’s true I’m not going to get the same results as I normally would, but backing off one circuit is better than missing a whole workout. Using my first circuit as a warm up is better than getting injured and missing a handful of workouts. 

I read this advice recently about writing. It went like this, write down in one sentence the point you’re trying to make in the piece your writing. At the end come back to that sentence and keep what supports that point and cut out what doesn’t. 

If there was one line to write about the point of your workouts it would be, to stay consistent. Keep anything that supports that and cut out everything that doesn’t. 

Being Inexperienced Is Not The Same As Being Bad

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

— Aristotle

I went skiing last week and realized for the first time that I’m getting better. More importantly that I really enjoy it. It was only a few years ago that I told my friends I was done with the sport. I had become fed up with the whole process and my lack of ability, and decided it just wasn’t for me.

Getting to the mountain. Waiting for rentals. Getting fitted for rentals. Buying a lift ticket. Spending the day in the cold. All of it had worn on me and I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t see the fun that everyone else did, and I thought there were better ways I could spend my winters.

But at the end of October, I moved to Colorado and pressured by my girlfriend, bought an Ikon Pass for the season, and everything is different now.

I live 90 minutes away from world class mountains and each week we’ve made it a point to ski at least once. Five minutes away from my house is a ski shop where I pick my rentals up the night before and return them the morning after. I’ve got a gear bag with my ski pants, jacket, gloves, helmet, goggles, and energy bar that’s always standing ready to be simply thrown into the car.

I’ve figured out the perfect layers to wear that keeps me from getting cold, but also doesn’t let me get too hot. Incentivized by my season pass I’ve already been to the mountains seven times this season, which is close to the number of times I’ve skied in total in the last 10 years.

Getting to the mountain is a breeze. I know where to park. I know what shuttle to take. And I know what lift to take up and what runs to come down to get to the runs I want. And yes, my actual ability to ski has drastically improved.

What I realized is that this whole time it wasn’t that skiing wasn’t for me, or that I was bad at skiing, it was that growing up on Long Island, and living in Los Angeles for the last few years skiing just wasn’t that accessible and it prevented me from being consistent. And not being consistent meant I didn’t have the experience to get better.

The first time I ever skied was in high school, and for many years after that we only skied local hills, I can’t call them mountains. In college I skied in Aspen a handful of times, which changed my idea of what real skiing is, but up until now I still only skied less than once a year.

I just never had the opportunity to put in the required reps to improve. But now that I do, it’s changed everything. Stay consistent with the skills you want to get better at. It’s a guaranteed way to improve.

Meals & Recipes: Crispy Salmon, Lentils & Broccoli

This is a full bodied and nourishing meal. Great for dinner.

The Dish:

1 - 1.5 ladles of green lentils. 1 handful of boiled broccoli. 1 filet of wild salmon. Finish with olive oil and salt to taste.

Cooking Instructions:

Salmon. Start with wild salmon (click here to learn why). I’ve been enjoying frozen wild sockeye salmon from Whole Foods or Sprouts (grocers closest to me), or fresh wild Sockeye from Trader Joes. Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly coat both sides of the salmon filets with olive oil. Place the filet skin up on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Add a pinch of salt (or two) to each filet and black pepper. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes (depending on thickness of the fish). 

Turn off the oven and turn on the broiler. Place the baking sheet of salmon on the top row and allow the skin to crisp for 60 - 90 seconds (don’t take your eye off of it, it burns quick!)

Green Lentils. Add 3 cups of water or vegetable brother to a pot. Add 1 cup of green lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 45 minutes, covered. Taste for tenderness before removing from heat. Strain the lentils and return them to the pot.

Broccoli. Chop two broccoli crowns into bite size pieces. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add broccoli and let cook for 3 - 5 minutes. Once strained, add the broccoli back to the pot, add 2 pinches of salt and a tbsp of ghee, butter or olive oil and mix.

Try This Move: Supine Extensions

Supine Resistance Band Extension

• I used a 15 - 35 lb band. If you don't have a resistance band, just follow the move without it.

• Grab the band at shoulder width. Lie face down, gaze 10 inches out in front of you, and extend your arms out past your head. Pull your hands apart until you feel resistance (the wider the more resistance you'll feel).

• Retract your shoulder blades and arms, keep your elbows high, maintain the tension, and pull the band down towards your shoulders.

• Holding a tight grip, from your glutes to your hands, is essential to keep your wrists and hands from caving in.

• Keep your tail bone tucked, glutes tight, core engaged.

• 3 sets x 10 reps

Quick Marinated Salmon

I love to cook but I’m not good at pre-preparing foods, or doing things like marinating meat or fish overnight. But cooking with the same spices was getting a little dull. So I decided to do a “quick marinate” with my salmon. I’m using frozen wild sockeye salmon I bought at Whole Foods and defrosted in the refrigerator overnight. It’s not the greatest but I’m hoping it’s better than the farmed alternative I learned about reading The New Fish.

After the filets have defrosted, pat them really dry, even squeeze them, with a paper towel to get out and off all the excess moisture. Since they were frozen there is bound to bee a lot.

Once dry, add them to a bowl. Then add:

• 2 pinches of sea salt

• 1 tsp of garlic powder

• 1 tsp of onion powder

• 1 tsp of Cracked black pepper

• 1 tsp of chili powder

• 1 tbsp of olive oil

• 1 - 2 tbsp of soy sauce

Mix everything together in the bowl with your hands. Leave the filet meat side down to absorb the flavors for 5 - 10 minutes.

Heat the oven to 425. Place the filets on a cooking tray skin side up, and cook for 7 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and turn the broiler on. Once the broiler heats up (I wait 60 seconds) add the salmon back under the broiler and allow the skin to crisp for 60-90 seconds (watch it closely so it doesn’t burn).

Remove and enjoy!

The Next Generation, Following Intuition

Click here: OneSource Health, January 28, 2024

“A false sense of permanence can cause a person to put off the things they truly want to do”

I had two inspiring conversations this week that gave me hope for the future. On Monday Jen and I spoke to Ryan Slabaugh, founder of ThinkRegeneration, a non-profit that’s helping advance the regenerative agriculture movement forward. They’re doing this in a few different ways.

One way is by securing capital for farmers who want to transition away from conventional agriculture (i.e. growing methods that use harmful chemicals and inhumane animal practices), or who’ve already made the change and need funding to expand or upgrade their operations. Access to capital has been cited as one of the biggest challenges farmers face, so anything to help in this regard, like securing government grants, is welcomed.

Another key tactic is hosting regenerative agriculture programs that bring like-minded people together. In a recent newsletter they announced a program being held in Colorado later this year. Colorado is my new home, so I replied to the email with excitement about the prospect of attending. Ryan in turn extended an invitation to connect via zoom.

As my luck would have it, the program being offered will focus on expanding Food Is Medicine, a program launched in 2023 by the Biden administration that grants states permission to use Medicare and Medicaid funds to provide beneficiaries with nutritious food. The program recognizes the important relationship that exists between food and health. Two areas with the potential to heal a lot of what ails us.

According to Ryan there are ~20 states taking advantage of the program. FreshRX, based out of Tulsa, OK, is one company that’s leading the way. They provide food, cooking classes, and nutritional programs to beneficiaries with Type 2 Diabetes. Patients enroll for 12 months and on average have experienced a 2.2% reduction in A1c levels and a 13-point reduction in blood pressure. Pretty remarkable results.

The goal of the ThinkRegeneration event is to find ways to make a program like this available to everyone. It’s been reported that 50 percent of the adult population is diabetic or pre-diabetic making the success of programs like this extremely important. It’s so exciting to be a part of supporting this initiative.

The second conversation was on a ski lift with an eighteen-year-old college student from St. Louis. He’s majoring in business, and minoring in outdoor management. But his dream is to take over the 500 acres of pasture his family owns and turn it into a regenerative farm. He told me one of his school mates is in a similar position. His family owns over a thousand acres in Montana, and once he inherits it he also plans to flip off the conventional switch.

Hearing him talk about their future plans gave me so much hope and filled me with excitement. We’ve been led to believe that the generations coming up behind us are not interested in taking over and putting in the work, but this conversation gave me insight into what’s really happening.

Everyone is waking up and the movement is gaining steam. Things need to change, and doing what’s right is starting to take precedent over chasing money. It’s only a matter of time until the movement becomes the standard.

Cheers.

James

An easy way to get involved: Tell Congress: Prioritize TEFAP and SNAP in the next farm bill

This Week’s Posts

The Comfort Crisis Reveals the Importance of Intuition

They say that the key to life is being happy. But what exactly does that entail? Ask 1,000 people and you might get 1,000 different answers. It’s been my belief recently that happiness boils down to the ability to listen to and follow your intuition. But it’s occurred to me, and Michael Easter points out, that we now live in a society where our natural instincts are muted by all the “comforts” around us. Read more here…

Ruck Plate Series: Workout 4

The Ruck plate’s unique one foot rectangular shape lends itself to a lot of different movements. The morning after I got mine I put together this four workout progression series. This is workout 4, the most challenging of the series. Get the workout here. And check out the first three workouts: Workout 1, Workout 2, Workout 3.

Homemade Veggie Stock and Soup

I’ve been keeping all of my food scraps in a plastic bag in the freezer. I hate throwing away food so when I learned this technique of making vegetable stock out of scraps I went all in. This was my second time trying it which is always better than the first because I got to try things I missed the first time to make it better. Read more here…

The Comfort Crisis Reveals the Importance of Intuition

They say that the key to life is being happy. But what exactly does that entail? Ask 1,000 people and you might get 1,000 different answers. It’s been my belief recently that happiness boils down to the ability to listen to and follow your intuition. But it’s occurred to me, and Michael Easter points out, that we now live in a society where our natural instincts are muted by all the “comforts” around us.

These “comforts” exist in many forms, but the most prevalent and detrimental are by far ultra-processed foods, unlimited entertainment on our phones, TVs, and laptops, and climate-controlled homes, cars and office buildings which invoke a sedentary life. As he points out, these modern luxuries have only existed for “around .03 percent of the time we’ve walked the earth.” But regardless of the infinitesimal amount of time they’ve been around, their level of toxicity has been enough to wreak havoc on our lives and our health.

Seventy percent of the adult population is overweight or obese. Over 40 million Americans have mobility issues. Fourteen out of 15 adults have poor cardio-metabolic health. And, the one that kills me, 1 out of 4 children are obese and/or pre-diabetic, and are now suffering from diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and colon cancer.

And the problems aren’t just physical. In the last two decades overdose deaths have increased 300%. In the last few years alone drug overdoses amongst 10 - 19 years old have nearly doubled, dragging life expectancy down to its lowest levels in decades, and crippling what should be the next generation of thinkers and innovators. The problem, as I see it, is that modern comforts has evolved in a way that blunts our intuition, which in turn leads us to make poor choices that run counter to our needs.

Our lives are filled with fake products and devices that interfere with our innate ability to seek out what we need. Fake foods cloud our brain and stop it from signaling to our body what fuel we need, causing us instead to eat more calorically dense manufactured foods that are devoid of nutrition and filled with sugar and chemicals. Social media makes us crave attention and acceptance from fake relationships and in turn ignore real ones. Binging TV shows, movies, and videos rob us of our inclination to be creative and curious and impedes on our ability to discover our path and achieve fulfillment. The list goes on and on.

It’s no coincidence that the happiest and healthiest people around the world are the ones who live the simplest and sometimes most challenging lives. Whether it’s the people of Okinawa highlighted in Ikigai or all of the communities studied in Live to 100, “The Blue Zones,” there’s a common thread they share. Embracing a life that brings them back to their natural inclinations, and stripping themselves of the desires and toxins that modern society promotes under the guise of “better.”

Living life in this way lends itself to call on your intuition, to listen to your gut, to follow your heart. The modern comforts of life can be enthralling, and they can provide enhancement, but they’re robbing far too many of us of our ability to heed the call. The Comfort Crisis provides a great framework for anyone who is looking to reclaim their life.