I grew up hearing that some people have good genetics, and some people have poor luck and are stuck with the “short straw” in the genetic lottery. I guess if you don’t have good genes then you have to accept getting sick, obese, and riddled with acne. I was overweight and wanted to be healthier as a child and young adult. I just did not know how. My parents and grandparents grew up eating mostly whole, fresh foods because that is what they had available. A lot of millennials grew up during the era of processed casseroles, fat-free carbs, and sugar-free sodas. This in turn has led to the largest obesity epidemic the Western world has ever seen. Unfortunately, our extra weight and unhealthy eating habits can also be a precursor to many chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and dementia.
In the last few years, I’ve been learning about epigenetics or how your lifestyle and environment can turn on or off certain genetic risks you may have. Dave Asprey says in his book, Fast This Way, “But mostly what studies have revealed is that genes are just a single, somewhat ambiguous component in the mix of factors that determine health and longevity. Diet, lifestyle, and other daily choices are just as important.” We not only have to be highly conscious of the dietary choices we make, but we also have to see how lifestyle plays a big role into our health and longevity.
I have not only changed WHAT I eat but HOW I eat. A secret to this is to not always eat three meals a day plus snacks plus eating from the moment you go to bed to the moment you wake up. A lot of our eating habits have been structured for farmers who wake up early and need three meals a day to support an active lifestyle. Snacking was invented to keep consumers buying more processed foods from the grocery store shelves that contain government subsidized ingredients like meat, corn and wheat. The next time you get upset that you are not having enough self-control to say “No,” to the chocolate cupcake remember that there are a lot of “powers-that-be” out there trying to keep you “fat and happy” or as I would say, fat and unwell.
I start my day off eating at 10am or 12pm and stop eating between 5pm-6pm. I usually don’t have this eating structure on the weekends. This is called Intermittent Fasting, but for me it is a way to have some limits on HOW I eat. I am definitely a BIG eater and being the youngest of four siblings I was usually the first one done at dinner time and ate just as much as my older brothers and sister. I carried these habits of eating fast, finishing my plate and getting "seconds" into my adulthood which is one of the reasons I dealt with extra weight as a teenager and young adult. For me having a 6–8-hour window of when I eat helps me to have more self-control of when and what I eat through-out the day. Intermittent Fasting also gives my body more time to digest and cleans up any toxins I have ingested throughout the day. There are many benefits to fasting including lowering insulin levels, inflammation, unwanted belly fat, and increasing growth-hormones, sleep, energy, and confidence. I strongly believe we are a species that excels on the “feast or famine” eating philosophy, but we have to learn how to gain control of our eating habits and learn to limit how much and when we eat.
There are hacks to Intermittent Fasting if you get really hungry in the morning or evening. If I need to put something in my body, I drink water, coffee, or some delicious sparkeling mineral water with some lime. Like Dave Asprey said diet and nutrition are not the only reason our nation is facing poor health, but it is a multitude of lifestyle factors that also play a role. Intermittent Fasting is only one of the lifestyle factors that helps me stay on track on track and have a healthy lifestyle.
What are some of your healthy lifestyle hacks that keeps you strong and healthy? Thanks for reading! Subscribe to my website at www.bangslife.com for more blogs like this and my monthly newsletters!