Key Messages
Unlocking A Healthy Life: Quality Eating, Moving And Sleeping For Long-Term Wellness
Tom Rath’s book, Eat, Move, Sleep, explains how to become healthy in the long run.
Kick your unhealthy habits out the door by focusing on eating right, moving right, and sleeping right.
When it comes to eating right, Rath emphasizes quality over quantity.
Additionally, exercising at the gym won’t do much good if you spend all day sitting.
Lastly, your body will suffer if you consume too much sugar and not get enough sleep.
Following these guidelines can help you change your life and make a lasting lifestyle change instead of falling back into old habits after a few weeks.
Put in the effort now and set yourself up for success by eliminating those poor health choices!
Start Living A Healthy Lifestyle Now To Enjoy Long-Term Benefits And Avoid Disappointing Doctor’s Visits
Many of us wait until our doctor tells us we’re unhealthy before taking action.
But with the right lifestyle choices, you can avoid that conversation altogether and significantly increase your chances of living a longer, healthier life.
The benefits of changing your lifestyle may not be immediately apparent, but research has shown that consistently exercising, eating right and getting enough rest really can make a difference.
A study performed by the University of Gothenburg found that up to 90 percent of people could reach their 90th birthday or beyond just by making some smart lifestyle choices.
This applies even if you have a genetic predisposition toward obesity or other illnesses – in fact, this holds especially true for illnesses that are caused by genes!
This was illustrated by the author of Eat, Move, Sleep – Tom Rath.
At just 16 years old, he was diagnosed with Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL), a rare genetic disorder causing tumors to form throughout his body.
Rather than give up hope, he focused on the lifestyle changes he could control and worked hard to maintain health through diet, exercise and sleep.
The result? He managed to live an exceptionally long life despite having VHL.
It’s time to take back control over your health and realize that even small changes like switching up your breakfast routine can have big impacts on your overall well being and chance at living a long life.
Learning To Make Healthy Eating A Long-Term Habit Rather Than A Short-Term Diet
When deciding what to eat, it’s important to not just look at the nutritional information on a food label, but also consider all of the ingredients that are included.
Ask yourself before every bite you take: is this a net gain or a net loss in terms of nutritional value?
In Eat, Move, Sleep, Tom Rath emphasizes the importance of eating more proteins and less empty carbs.
He realized his favorite dish was a net loss because of its sugar content and learned to appreciate salmon without sauce instead.
Protein intake is more important than how much you eat; try aiming for at least one gram of protein for every gram of carbohydrate.
Nevertheless, processed meats should still be consumed in moderation or avoided altogether as they usually contain high amounts of fat and sodium.
Potato chips should especially be avoided from your diet altogether as they contain an excessive 20 grams or more carbohydrates for each gram of protein.
Take The Stairs And Limit Your Inactivity To Counteract Chronically Sedentary Habits
When it comes to taking care of your health, limiting the time that you spend inactive is just as important as exercising regularly.
A recent study from the National Institutes of Health determined that adults who spend too much time sitting down have a much higher mortality rate than those who are more active.
In fact, their risk of death was 50 percent higher!
And if you sit for more than six hours a day, your risk increases to equal that of smoking or being overexposed to sunlight.
It makes sense then that reducing chronic inactivity should be given priority over irregular exercise sessions.
Even doing something like taking the stairs instead of using an elevator can make a big difference in terms of overall health and wellbeing.
Furthermore, you might want to look into incorporating some activities into your daily routine at home – getting something like a treadmill or an elliptical machine can be beneficial in reducing TV time and encouraging more activity throughout the day.
In conclusion, when looking after your health, don’t forget to limit how much time you are inactive.
It’s just as important as regular exercise sessions and can do far more for improving your overall health and well-being!
Sleep Is Not A Sign Of Laziness; It Is Essential For Peak Performance
Getting enough sleep is a crucial part of staying healthy and productive – something that’s often neglected in our fast-paced world.
Unfortunately, lack of sleep can be viewed as a sign of weakness, leading many of us to stay up late doing nothing when we really should have been sleeping.
The author learned this growing up and it took a toll on his academics.
However, numerous studies have shown that a good night’s rest is essential to being alert and performing well the next day.
Just 90 minutes’ less sleep, for example, decreases alertness by one-third!
It’s even seen in higher performers such as musicians or athletes who practice 10,000 hours – many of them get an average 8 hours 36 minutes per night compared to the average American’s 6 hours 51 minutes.
So if you want to reach your goals and maximize your performance, don’t write off enough sleep as lazy – make sure you get sufficient shut-eye!
The Deadly Consequences Of Eating Too Much Sugar: A Warning Against An Addictive Substance
Sugar is a serious health hazard and should be treated like a controlled substance.
It fuels diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer, contributing to 180,000 deaths per year.
On average, people consume more than their own body weight in added sugar every single year.
That same Harvard University study even goes so far as to call it “candy for cancer cells” – because it can accelerate aging, inflammation and ultimately tumor growth in the human body.
What’s worse is that sugar is also highly addictive.
Eating sugary foods triggers your brain to release dopamine – the same feeling you get when you smoke a cigarette – which creates an ever increasing craving for sugary snacks.
In the same way that cigarettes are a controlled substance, we need to keep our consumption of added sugars under control or else risk falling into an abusive cycle of addiction.
It’s important to be aware of other sources of added sugars as well, including agave nectar, aspartame, dextrose, fructose and corn syrup.
While some may not possess the same dangers as plain white sugar does, they still increase our cravings for sweet snacks – so understanding what foods contain these alternative sweeteners is key to keeping our sugar consumption in check.
Get Adequate Rem Sleep For Better Health And Well-Being
When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, quality is just as important as quantity.
While we all know that it is important to get enough hours of restful sleep each night, it is also important to ensure that the time you do spend in bed counts.
That’s why many people find themselves feeling tired even after sleeping for nine or ten hours – because they have not been getting the most efficient form of sleep they could be getting.
The Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of sleep is the most important part of your entire snooze cycle, since this is when your brain processes thoughts and memories.
It is also key for helping you cope with traumatic experiences.
To ensure that you get the most out of your REM cycle, there are certain things you can do such as limiting your use of the snooze button, avoiding exposure to artificial light before bedtime and making sure that you set your alarm for the latest possible time so that you can squeeze in some extra shut eye.
Good quality slumber impacts our health in numerous ways and research has shown that people with low sleep efficiency are 5.5 times more likely than efficient sleepers to pick up a cold – clearly illustrating how essential quality sleep really is!
Wrap Up
The Takeaway from Eat, Move Sleep is this: Start making small, healthy decisions now that will have the biggest impact in the long run for your overall health.
This doesn’t mean you have to completely change your lifestyle, but by adding more protein-rich foods, limiting sugar and carbohydrates and taking the stairs instead of elevators, it all adds up.
And don’t forget about getting enough sleep that’s actually restorative and refreshing!
And when it comes to choosing healthy fruits and vegetables never overlook their dark, vibrant colors.
Eating plenty of greens like broccoli, spinach and kale plus colorful reds and blues like apples , raspberries or strawberries is a great way to kickstart a healthier diet.
