7 Ways to Hack Your Health

When was the last time you were unexpectedly stuck in traffic, or at the end of a long grocery store line? Did you start to quietly freak out in your head? 

Chances are the answer is yes. 

We live in a high-demand, results-in-advance kind of world. Anything that doesn’t happen the way we imagine is an issue. 

Google has ruined the health of our country. Not the search engine aspect, but the immediate problem solving aspect. 

If you have a problem, Google will have a solution for you ready in less than 1 second. 

I just googled “How to Lose weight” and received 361,000,000 results in 0.89 seconds! That’s 361 MILLION answers to my question in less than a second! All this free information at the tip of our fingers and 66% of our country is overweight. 

Why?Because we have no patience. 

We mentally don’t have the power to stick to a training and nutrition program to extend our lifespan. 

It’s hard, it’s boring, and it takes too darn long. 

Google just have me 361 million answers to my question. But it’s going to take me 6 months to make any serious progress? I’d be pretty damn frustrated too! 

So what if there was a way to hack your fitness? Quick easy fixes that pay off huge dividends. Is that something you’d be interested in? 

“Hell Yea” – Everyone reading this 

7 Quick and Easy Tips to Hack Your Fitness: 

  1. Apple Cider Vinegar:: Drink 1 tablespoon of ACV in a glass of water prior to your largest meal. ACV has been shown to help control blood sugar response to carbohydrates by 30% for up to 90 minutes following meals. Controlling your blood sugar response to your largest or most carb heavy meals can significantly decrease your body fat and waist circumference.

  2. Get outside for 15 min at noon: The sun is at its highest point of incidence at 12:00pm each and every day. This is the point where the sun’s rays pass through the least amount of atmosphere and are the strongest. This is the best time for us to absorb all the benefits of natural sunlight: improved sleep, improved mood, improved immunity, and increased bone density. Take a 15 minute walk after lunch and soak up some sun. In order to increase absorption, avoid wearing sunglasses and maximize skin exposure (can wear a hat to limit direct sun exposure to eyes). 

  3.  Use smaller plates and bowls: This is the oldest trick in the fat loss book. Replace your plates and bowls with smaller alternatives. Research has gone back and forth in recent years regarding the effectiveness of smaller vessels, but I still think it’s worth a shot. Reducing the volume of food you consume at a meal = decrease in caloric intake = decrease in body weight.  

  4. Avoid screen time for up to 60 minutes before bed: Our progress is not dictated by how hard we work in the gym; it’s dictated by how hard we recover outside the gym. When it comes to recovery, our worst enemy is our technology, most notably blue light exposure. Screen time leading up to bed can significantly increase the time it takes you to fall asleep. Even worse, once you do eventually fall asleep, your sleep quality will also be negatively impacted. Give yourself a minimum 30 minutes of screen-free time before starting your bedtime routine, 60 minutes is preffered. If you want to take this one step further, remove all technology and screens from your bedroom entirely. Studies have shown that sleeping with a cell phone in the same room can negatively impact sleep quality. 

  5. Schedule your workouts in advance: Each month make a plan for what days and times you’d like to train. Each week go over your personal schedule and make any adjustments to your training schedule. The goal is to get as close to 100% compliance with your schedule as possible. You’d be surprised how much the simple action of scheduling in advance can improve compliance. Pro tip: have some contingency plans in place like some at-home workouts you can do if life gets in the way. 

  6. Schedule your meals each week: Following the same logic as scheduling workouts, when we plan our meals we are far more compliant to our nutrition plan. Layout what you will be eating at all of your meals for the week. Plan for the meals that don’t align with your current plan, too. Going out for dinner and drinks? Put it on the schedule. This way, you will be able to make the necessary adjustments before and after to stay on track. When you have a plan, you have the flexibility to eat what you please when you please. 

  7. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store: For anyone that consistently reads my posts, you’ve probably read this 100x. Shopping the perimeter of the grocery store is one of the easiest action steps you can take to improve the quality of your diet. REAL food lives on the perimeter of the grocery store. Produce, meat, and dairy should make up almost all of the contents of your shopping cart if you want to live a healthy life. By limiting the time you spend in the middle isles you also limit the risk of falling victim to strong advertising and strategic product placement. There is a TON of research behind where certain foods are shelved within a grocery store. Every time we shop, we’re part of a market research study. Stick to the perimeter and avoid being just another statistic. 

All seven of these hacks are quick and easy to incorporate into your lifestyle. If you need any help getting the wheels moving on any of them, please let me know.