The other day I had a pretty wide ranging day of advice giving, covering several topics and sharing many tips and “things to think about.” So I thought to myself: maybe I should keep track of what I tell people and create a list of tips, advice and thoughts. Not an essay or structured article, just a list of things that I tell people on a day to day basis. I was also interested in how many of these things I will still be telling people a year from now. How much of it will become common knowledge and how much of it will stay under the radar? Will any of it change based off new information? Only time will tell.

So here was today…

Don’t think of things as good or bad in general. Think of their role in your situation. Does it make sense for you? Your goals, your needs, your likes.

White rice and fruit are examples. What are you trying to accomplish? Where are you now? Where have you been?

Ask these three questions: where have I been, where am I now and where do I want to go?

Does your behavior match your goals?

Natural is up for debate. What does “natural” even mean. Fresh? Organic? These have become buzz words but I don’t think they now mean what they used to. They are used very liberally by people and businesses for marketing. You need to ask for specifics, don’t trust a word or phrase.

Go for a walk on an empty stomach in the morning. Particularly useful after an excessive dinner the night before.

It’s more about hormones than calories.

Use your common sense.

Is there any evolutionary clues you can think of to help answer your question?

Don’t be afraid of carbohydrates. Use them to support your activity level.

And here was the next day…

You don’t have to eat every 3 hours. Don’t be a slave to food. Don’t eat foods that promote the need to keep eating.

Insulin shuts off fat burning.

Water helps keep you regular, not fiber.

Take my advice as a starting point. Just keep in mind I am not funded by corporations or drug companies.

No fruit if you want to lose weight faster.

Sugar and polyunsaturated fats are more what cause the cardiovascular risk, not saturated fat and cholesterol.

Lifting heavy is better for you. Light weight and high reps only works situationally (requiring way too many reps) and then you’re risking overuse injuries.

Overtraining is common. It causes a hormonal nightmare. Hormones rule all. Easy to spin your wheels or get worse in that condition.

Think about the minimum effective dose. Minimum investment, maximum return.

If A + B doesn’t equal c, there’s a problem. And it’s usually not solved by adding more A or B.

The next day…

You want a neutral position to maximize muscular contraction.

Know what you’re eating.

Vitamin D absorption has a lot to do with cholesterol levels and sleep.

Cholesterol is necessary. Every cell uses it for numerous functions. If we artificially control cholesterol, several things in the body will not work as well.

All genetic traits can be traced back to providing a survival purpose (e.g. celiac, autism). Although there is much less selective pressure now.

And the next day…

Let your body move the way it knows.

The body is always right and does things for a reason, usually a good reason. Everything it does is geared toward survival and reproduction. What we consider problems are the manifestations of the body reacting to survive in the face of the environment and what we expose it to.

Hormones control us.

If you eat sugar, it should give you energy. That’s what sugar does.

Macro nutrients have different purposes and uses. Structure and energy roles in the body. Carbohydrate is only an energy source. Protein and fat are also used for structural purposes as well as energy.

And the next day…

Why egg whites? The most nutritious part? Would an animal do that?

Cholesterol- think of them as fire fighters. There’s a reason the number is high (usually inflammation, excess glucose, cellular repair, hormone production) and you should find out why, not try to limit your cholesterol. If there’s a lot of fires raging, would you want to cut back on firefighters? No, you put out the fires and then find out what’s causing the fires. Think of the inflammation as the key.

Vitamin D synthesis relies on cholesterol and sleep helps keep us sensitive enough to make good use of the sunlight to make vitamin D.

To lose weight… Eat simple (limit ingredients, whole foods), walk, lift weights, sleep, limit stress.

When you eat often, you are always releasing insulin. This can make it hard to access fat burning.

If you are at a consistent deficit (too much exercise, not enough food) you can easily get into muscle wasting and fat accumulation.

The body knows best. It is not wrong.

Don’t be a slave to food. (Yes I told a different person this. Hopefully my clients go at least a week before they forget what I say. :)!)

That should wrap up my advice/info giving list from the last few days. I was not able to write down everything that I talked to people about, but I got most of it. For some conversations I went into detail (great detail on a few) to explain things, and others I kept it simple. For the people that wanted more, I gave it to them. For the others, K.I.S.S. was the approach.

Now I’m off to focus on listening this week, because last week was way too much of me doing the talking…