In early 2020 the pandemic has reduced our “mobility range” dramatically. There were a few weeks when our family barely left the house. When we did leave the house, it was simply to stock-up on essentials such as food! As you can imagine, eating well was suddenly top of the list in terms of “enjoyable” activities for us.
While at home, we started baking our own bread and cooking other awesome foods. It was the one thing left to do it seemed. These indulgences became the new highlight of our daily life. Being mostly indoors, craving to experience something special, food was definitively the center in our family.
It was good to eat well!
Perhaps we ate too well.
A few weeks into this “new lifestyle” of staying mainly at home, my weight increased. By summer 2020 I decided this must stop.
Physical and mental health go hand in hand: I made it a priority to take care of the issue!
There’s no wealth without health!
I’ve learned a lot about nutrition in 2020 and this post is all about sharing my tips about living a longer, healthier life and getting back in shape. Trust you may find them useful, especially during a lockdown and when you don’t have the luxury to work out in a fancy gym.
Staying in good health is the most important pillar of building a wealthy life, because without it, you can’t enjoy the rest of life as you may want to. Simple as that.
So, how to get started?
Set Goals and Break Them Down
I highly recommend you start with your goals and draft a plan to crush them! Even if plans don’t always work “as planned”, it’s best to have one, nevertheless. The best way to map it out is by starting with the end. Start with the big goal: Let us say you’d like to get rid of 10kgs: Write it down, then think backwards: How could you break this goal down into smaller sub-goals that are easier to achieve.
There are two ways to do this: The first one is to calculate with smaller steps first, e.g. aim to lose 1kg per week or 5kg per month for example. Following this will give you a resulting timeline. The second approach is to define to reach X by Y and break your big goal down to weekly/ daily ones.
No matter which way you choose: It’s super essential that you set a goal and make a plan.
Having clear and measurable timebound goals will help you to maintain your motivation.
Control your progress, measure regularly and mark down your progress on a “dream-sheet” or with an app. This will keep you focused and determined.
Input and Output
Our body is simple. It’s nothing else than other things in this world. You got to watch your input, and your output. Then, there are two dimensions regarding your input: Quantity and quality.
Ultimately you can say:
You become what you eat.
- If you add more nutrition than you “burn”, you’ll add weight.
- If you add less nutrition than you “burn”, you’ll lose weight.
- And if you add the right nutrition as opposed of the “wrong” one you may not even be impacted too much.
We’re not even talking about exercising here yet!
In March 2020, a lot of people have been cooking and baking much more than they used to. They’ve also been giving into indulgences. And that’s how some problems have started. Ultimately, if you want to change your body weight or fitness, it’s important to return to a healthy and balanced diet. Even the more in case you start exercising. Your body needs the right nutrients to complement the exercise.
Choose the foods that offer you the nutrients you need.
Start in small quantities and increase the intake later.
Take Back Control
If you want to target your bodyweight, start by controlling…
- how much of…
- what you eat.
In the end, your weight is nothing else but a solved input/ output equation.
If you understand each of the components, you will be able to control your weight: No matter if you plan to maintain, increase or decrease it.
Take control of your health!
It’s no rocket science.
It’s no magic!
Experience Sharing
In 2020 I managed to lose 10kgs in about 3 months. I did the whole thing way too aggressive and caused a follow-up health issue when one day I decided to eat a bit more again. Hence, I highly advise each and everyone of you to proceed with caution and understand that if you change your habits your body will need time to adjust.
Ultimately I found the best way for me to lose weight is to make delicious shakes with a blender, such shakes can replace a meal or two (!). Feel free to experiment, you can mix all kind of interesting combinations that are satisfying, yummy and healthy in one cup!
Please find below a selection of ingredients which my good friend Piotr helped me with for the use of healthy shakes:
- Banana half
- Apple half
- Cucumber 1/3
- Spinach leaves
- Kale leaves
- Berries
- Walnuts
- Cashew nuts
- Almonds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Pine seeds
- Ground black sesame seeds
- Chia seeds
- Ground flaxseed
- Mint fresh
- Basil fresh
- Egg (white)
- Wheatgrass
- Barley grass
- Moringa oleifera
- Spirulina
- Chlorella
- Baobab
- Ashwagandha
- Acai berry
- Goji berry
- Aronia berry
- Maca root (Peruvian ginseng)
- Cocoa nibs
- Guarana
- Bee pollen
- Hemp protein
- Rice protein
- Peas protein
- Whey protein
- Macadamia nuts
- Tiger nuts / chufa / earth almond
- Rosehip
- Almond flour
- Coconut flour
- Beetroot powder
- Sea moss / Irish moss
- Monk fruit (Luo Han Guo)
- L-glutamine
You may have read that drinking a lot is important. Yes it is. But you don’t have to limit yourself to drink just water alone, please find here a few suggestions what to drink:
- Water (still)
- Lactose-free milk
- Coconut milk
- Almond milk
- Rice milk
- Green tea
- Matcha green tea
- Lemon juice and water
- Apple cider vinegar
- Espresso coffee (black, no sugar)
From all sort of healthy oils we like to suggest these:
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- Black cumin oil
- Argan oil
- Pumpkin seed oil – of course as well
- Coconut oil – for cooking
There are a lot of different veggie oils as well. All good and healthy. However due to high calories concentration, a certain moderation is unfortunately required…
That being said, going liberal on Extra Virgin Olive Oil usage may probably be one of the best culinary decisions one can make to improve overall health, prevent heart diseases, prevent cancer, improve immunology, avoid diabetes, provide ton of antioxidants to prevent inflammations.
A few extra tablets to start the day with (albeit real food always trumps tablets):
- OPC / grape seed extract
- Omega 3
- Krill oil
- Turmeric / kurkuma tablets
- Hyaluronic acid tablets
And, finally, a modest selection of work-out supportive weight loss and muscle gain supplements:
- Creatine
- Carnitine
- Essential Amino Acids (EAA)
- Whey protein isolate
- Whey protein hydrolyzed
- Casein protein
- Pre-workout booster
With all that in mind, I’m most certain that you too will find a good way to improve the way you add “input” into your system going forward!
Overall, if you want to improve your nutrition, enjoying a balanced diet with a certain degree of moderation is most likely all you need to do. I know this was mentioned already above, but I like to say it once again:
You become what you eat.
Thanks, enough from me!
Over to Mike now!
Distilling Nutrition — The Best Nutrition Plan For Most People
No matter how chaotic your life is, you can always instill order by eating right.
When you make the decision to eat better for your body, you take back control of your life.
Diet is a deep rabbit hole and there are many great plans out there. We are not here to be your nutritionist. This is a basic blueprint to get you started on eating healthier and treating your body with more respect.
A healthy nutrition is not complicated, it’s simple. Get these 3 things right:
- Stick with a diet that you can comply for the rest of your life.
- Skip breakfast/dinner and implement intermittent fasting.
- Eat natural food.
What Should You Eat Then? Here’s a Basic Diet Plan — Distilled.
Choose lean proteins such as wild-caught fish or grass-fed animals
1. Primary Proteins:
- Beef
- Eggs
- Lamb
- Pork chops
- Chicken breasts
2. Go Easy on the Secondary Proteins:
- Cold cuts
- Processed meats
- Fried protein
- Sausages
Avoid processed foods, they are processed because our body cannot process these unnatural foods. Don’t let cheap and convenience make you eat processed foods that hurt you in the long term.
Organ meats have healthy nutrients and can be tasty when you cook them the right way. Liver is one of the healthiest organ meats because it has excess proteins, vitamins and minerals.
3. Eat Your Greens
Protein is important but don’t miss out these greens in at least one of your daily meals:
- Raw greens — kale, rockets, watercress, spinach
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Lettuce
- Asparagus
- Green beans
- Zucchini
Make sure not to overlook greens if you want superior health, 13 mins should do it. The longer you cook, the more micronutrients you burn off. Green vegetables need to be chewed to nearly liquid in your mouth so you can fully benefit from the nutrients.
4. Eat Nuts and Seeds
28-35g of nuts and seeds a day is the healthiest way to eat fats. It helps to extend longevity. Nuts and seeds have compounded benefits when eaten with vegetables.
Good nuts and seeds:
- Walnuts
- Hemp seeds
- Chia seeds
- Flaxseeds
- Sesame seeds
They have protective properties such as omega-3 fatty acids.
It’s ok to lightly toast them (not until it’s dark brown), but don’t eat those heavily cooked in oil or salted. Don’t toast until it’s dark brown.
5. Eat 3 Fresh Fruits
Unpopular opinion but it’s ok to eat fruits, they’re nutritious and delicious. Phytochemicals in fruits have anti-cancer effects. Berries can protect brain from dementia. Take 1 serving of berries or pomegranate as part of your total fruit intake.
Worry about fructose? Eat them with vegetables, it dilutes and slows your body’s absorption of glucose and fructose. Mix it in with salads or eat them as a dessert.
Avoid fruit juice and dried fruit, like dates, raisins, figs. They are dense with calories and elevate blood sugar in large amounts.
Start Today
No matter how bad your diet might be now, you can make changes to it by following the tips in this post and see drastic improvement. Never let cravings take away the most precious thing in your life — health.
That’s it for today,
Yours, Mike
Distill to Imagineer Series
In this collaboration between Financial Imagineer and Distill Institute, we want to let people know that fast and targetted learning is a key to imagineering your life. We are going to use real world examples to distill skills for you so that you can learn fast too. We will be releasing a distill to imagineer post roughly once per month going forward. Stay tuned!
The world is wide open:
If you have the ability to distill any skill, you can imagineer any life!
Mike and Matt
Live long and prosper!
Mike and Matt
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