Health Hacks And Facts
Nowadays, you always hear about health hacking, life hacking, diet hacking; one thing is for sure—there is a lot of “hacking” going on without a lot of results.
Rarely does one single habit change your life. Those articles you see featuring the one food that is missing from your diet, the one supplement to boost your metabolism, or the single greatest workout routine are clickbait.
When one of your friends says, “Taking fish oil changed my life,” it may be interesting to inquire more deeply into the other changes in their lives. Did they change their diet? Start exercising? Change their water consumption? When someone goes so far as to start supplementing, it’s generally not the only step they’re taking to improve their health.
Usually, what changed their life is an accumulation of good habits over time, but the credit goes to their most recent change or the most difficult habit for them to maintain.
Life hacks, diet hacks, and fad workouts operate under the assumption you have a deficiency: fix that deficiency, you’ll feel way better after—now may we have some money, please? All of these deficiencies can be corrected through proper diet, exercise, and sleep.
That said, there are some crazy hacks that can supplement diet, exercise, and sleep that aren’t total nonsense. Some of the claims of these hacks have anecdotal evidence, but all have at least one scientifically-backed claim. Nothing on this list is necessary, but they are fun ideas that don’t involve sticking butter into your coffee, sticking coffee up your butt, drinking vinegar, or the next weird thing that pops up as health advice. These also aren’t your typical, get eight hours of sleep, and lay your workout clothes out the night before. These hacks are the ones that leave you wondering, “Is this actually a good idea?“
HEALTH HACKS
1. Taking Vitamins and Supplements
In general, supplements are mostly unnecessary. When compared to real food, their absorption rate is abysmal. A balanced, healthy diet can supply sufficient nutrients to render supplements superfluous. However, if you have an unbalanced diet, a vitamin or micronutrient deficiency, supplements could be what you need.
Fish Oil: This is the only supplement that doesn’t use scare tactics to make you take it. We aren’t particularly worried about chronic fish-oil deficiency because I just made that up. Fish oil is consumed for the omega-3 fatty acids, but those can be found in foods other than fish. Fish oil is simply the easiest way to get a high quantity.
The list of benefits of omega-3 fatty acids is long. It can help improve everything from your mood to your eye health. It has preventative benefits and restorative properties. Omega-3s can also help decrease inflammation, which is critical for treating arthritis and asthma. Supplementing with fish oil is an excellent way to get a lot of the stuff easily.
Vitamin D: In the corporate world, people see the sun less and less. Lunch in the working world generally contains more bread than fatty fish and no time in the great outdoors. Unfortunately, this can lead to vitamin D deficiency, which is the scariest of the deficiencies, as the symptoms include depression, hair loss, decreased immune system, and muscle pain. Instead of supplementing with vitamin D, first, try going outside during lunch and eating some spinach, but if you cannot get it naturally, a vitamin D supplement won’t hurt.
Protein: In this day and age, it is hard to be protein deficient. As a society, we stress the importance of eating protein for growing big and strong. No matter what your diet is, it is possible to get sufficient protein. Unfortunately, you do still see the occasional person whose diet consists of pizza, pasta, and bread, who looks tired and has thinning hair. Protein deficiency is a scary thing, and if you aren’t a carnivore or a fan of dairy, beans, or legumes, supplements are a great option for you. There are plenty of protein powders available that will meet whatever ethical or dietary guidelines you adhere to.
Calcium and Iron: It is possible to get sufficient calcium and iron through a well-rounded diet. However, in an effort to prevent osteoporosis, calcium, and iron supplements are a good idea. Osteoporosis is most common in postmenopausal women, so if you fall into that category, it may be a good idea to get a blood test and supplement if necessary. Nobody wants brittle bones.
2. The Ketogenic Diet
The Ketogenic diet is mentioned here as a health hack instead of in the diet section of this blog because it is a little crazy, and most people can’t do it. The Ketogenic diet is a high-fat, almost-no-carbohydrate diet. It operates under the idea that utilizing ketones, the fuel source that is created when your body breaks down fat when there isn’t sufficient glucose in the body for fuel, improves energy levels and mental function.
Whether or not that is a result of utilizing ketones as fuel or simply a result of changing to a healthy diet is not scientifically proven.
The Ketogenic diet, aka Keto for short, is one of the most effective diet plans known to man. It has been shown to be great for performance when it comes to endurance exercise; it greatly improves symptoms of juvenile epilepsy and is good for weight loss. It catches a lot of flack because people try it for a few weeks, don’t see major changes, and give up. This is a diet that takes three to four months to truly acclimate to and appreciate the benefits. However, the major problem is that, in order to sincerely utilize fat as fuel and stay in ketosis, you can’t really cheat on the diet. Any slip-ups can set you way back. If you commit to Keto, eating a carbohydrate-rich “cheat” meal might initially make you feel sick, and it will even take a couple days to reintroduce them to your diet.
I don’t recommend the ketogenic because it is so hard to adhere to, but if you have an iron will, then, by all means, give it a try, and may the force be with you.
If you are looking for something a little more sustainable try flexible dieting, paleo, or intermittent fasting.
3. Crickets
This one isn’t so much a health hack as much as an up-and-coming trend. Regardless of your feelings about eating bugs, crickets are going to be seen more and more in the culinary arts. Currently, crickets are a dietary staple of two billion people, from Africa and Asia to Latin America. Crickets are inexpensive, earthy flavored, and nutrient dense.
Crickets are a great source of protein and are a better source of iron than beef, and they have a low impact on the ecosystem. Humanity’s current beef consumption is unsustainable long term; at some point, we won’t be able to supply the water necessary to feed the cows. Not only does a cow raised for slaughter drink around 1,500 gallons of water over its lifetime, there is also water used for the crops raised to feed cattle. The amount of water used for raising those crops is immeasurable, but, to put it in perspective:
“If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” according to David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Nearly three times the amount of people in the United States; a little messed up, right?
You don’t need to start eating crickets today, but in the future, when it becomes expensive to eat meat, it might be nice to have already become accustomed to the taste.
4. Cold Therapy
Take a few deep breaths and get ready, because this is going to suck. Cold therapy—cold showers, ice baths, and cryotherapy—all great strategies for relieving arthritis pain, burning a little fat, and feeling good.
Taking a cold shower is the worst; it’s no secret. Unfortunately, like eating your veggies, it is good for you.
There are two types of fat, white and brown. Think white fat, heart attack; brown fat, thermogenic effect. Brown fat is used to burn calories in order to generate heat. It is considered brown because when you look at the fat cell under the microscope and it is filled with mitochondria, it has a darker color. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of a cell, and they burn calories to create heat. In theory, with consistent cold therapy, it can turn white fat into brown fat, which is kind of a big deal when it comes to weight loss.
Cryotherapy, in particular, makes you feel awesome because it is stimulating your fight-or-flight response. Cryotherapy puts you in an environment that is insanely cold, which is why you cannot be at all wet when going in or faint of heart. When the temperature starts to drop, your body is thinking, Holy crap, we are going to die, and releases adrenaline, which, in turn, makes you feel great, like you just cheated death.
5. The Sauna
It seems as though there are benefits to throwing humans into extremes. Frequent sauna usage has recently been shown to decrease all-cause mortality pretty significantly. Haven’t you ever wondered why there are so many old people in the sauna?
It could be because in addition to reducing your risk of all-cause mortality, it also reduces your chance of a sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular disease. The reason this is featured in the health hacks section is because it has become commonplace to advertise the newest spa treatment that will save your life. There are experts all over the place touting the detoxing effects of infrared sauna, or why the steam room is superior, when, in fact, the only mechanism of relevance is the time spent in extreme heat. More research needs to be done as to which heating mechanism is ideal, due to the fact that they all use a different means to raise your body temperature. A traditional sauna uses a glorified oven, a steam room uses steam, and an infrared sauna uses infrared to heat you. However, the sauna is the hottest room of the three, and, as of right now, we have research showing that it works.
6. Grass-Fed Beef, Eating Local
You are what you eat, right? You’ve been hearing that little proverb since you were a child, and there is a fair amount of truth to it.
If you eat too many sweets, you become overweight and have a more ravenous sweet tooth. If you eat a healthy vegan diet, you build very lean-looking muscle.
So when it comes to your beef, would you want it to have been living in a pile of manure with thousands of other cows, sickly, antibiotic filled, and force fed corn mixed with literally any byproduct the food industry considers edible?
Instead, your cow could have been chilling on a field, eating green grass.
In theory, grass-fed beef has fewer calories and more omega-3s, and it is less likely to cause you harm. They are just healthier cows. The only real downside to locally raised cows is the price point; locally raised food is expensive, but, to make it more reasonable, you can buy in bulk.
If money isn’t an issue, you shouldn’t skimp on this.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like: