in this video we are going to talk about what I believe to be the 5 pillars of
health each and every one of these pillars needs to be a part of your life
if you truly want to reach your maximum health potential now do not worry these
pillars are not difficult to implement each and every one of you can probably
start implementing them today I have personally prioritized everything
we are going to talk about in this video today over the course of a couple of
years and I can assure you these things really do make a big difference so if
you want to know how you can optimize your health keep watching hey guys
welcome back to my channel if you're new here at my name is Kait I'm a health
coach and I post videos on a high fat nutrient-dense way of eating if you like
this video please give it a thumbs up feel free to share and make sure
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should new posts every single day now this video might start off a little bit
basic I'm sure you can probably guess what pillar one is and maybe even pillar
two but make sure you keep watching until the end because I think the last
couple of pillars might surprise you number one the most important aspect of
our health is nutrition this is the biggest component that determines your
body composition way more so than exercise even though we've all been told
that both are equally important eat less move more but I believe from my personal
experience from my experience with clients that nutrition is 80 if not 90
percent of the battle and being overweight or obese is associated with
numerous diseases diabetes heart disease hypertension asthma it increases your
risk of cancer when someone who is obese or even overweight gets to a healthy
body weight a lot of these symptoms and diseases improve as well and because
nutrition plays such a big role in body composition it really is the most
important aspect of our health if you only take one thing away from this video
make it to get your diet in check but what exactly does that look like what
exactly does that mean well at the bare bones a healthy diet is
made up of eating only Whole Foods and no processed foods meat fish eggs nuts
seeds fruits vegetables no refined carbs no refined sugar if you can do that your
health will improve by leaps and bounds now I have plenty of other videos on my
channel that go into nutrition so I won't spend too much time on it today
but if you're interested in knowing more about what makes a diet successful and
how to find a diet that works for you you can check out this video afterwards
pillar number two is exercise now I really want to stress that burning
calories is not the main benefit of exercise I do not think exercise is
effective for weight loss or weight management but it is important for
general health regular exercise has been shown to have both physical and mental
positive health outcomes it helps you build muscle it helps you build bone
density it enhances your cardiovascular function it can improve your mood it can
improve your brain function and your memory and it reduces oxidative stress
now when I say exercise I don't mean going to the gym seven days a week
killing yourself in these high-intensity workout classes for hours on end this
chronic approach to exercise is simply not sustainable and may actually end up
doing more harm than good we will go into this a little bit more
in pillar number three there is a way to train a fish
where you get the maximum benefits in a minimal amount of time but let's take it
one step back first before we go into training because low intensity exercise
is key looking at humans through an evolutionary lens we have never spent as
much time sitting as we do today going for short walks throughout the day can
really make such a difference to your health again the benefits here are not
for burning calories if you are currently not doing any physical
exercise before you go ahead and jump into a workout routine simply start by
walking more now if you are looking to enhance your health further you can add
in some strength training when you are planning your exercise routine you want
to focus on working your muscles until absolute failure when you do this you
are essentially signalling your muscles that they aren't adequate that they have
to get stronger so yes this can be achieved by the classic lifting heavy
but it can also be done with bodyweight exercise push-ups pull-ups planks squats
do a few sets of these until absolute failure and you've got a really good
full-body workout 20 to 30 minutes sets three to four times a week is all you
need to yield maximum benefits and the same applies to cardio workouts there is
this culture around chronic cardio where the thinking is you need to work as hard
as you can for as long as you can I used to be so guilty of this I used to cycle
hundreds of kilometres every week pretty much every day if I took a day off I
felt so guilty about it my rides would be two three sometimes four hours but
this type of exercise in this chronic style can do a lot more harm than good
taking myself as an example number one I lost my period number two I lost muscle
mass I was never giving my body the proper chance to recover
and if I continue it on like this for much longer who knows what would have
happened doing sprint training also known as tip
training even once a week is again going to yield maximum results in a minimal
amount of time what this looks like for me right now is doing sprints for 15
seconds on and 15 seconds off on a stationary bike I also have some follow
along at home workouts on my channel that you can check out and do as well I
kind of touched on this with the last pillar but pillar number 3 is sleep and
recovery as I said before I went through a chronic cardio phase where I was
working myself to the bone and this came at a price to build and
increase your performance you need to be pushing your muscles to their limits for
short periods of time but if you aren't recovered from your previous worker you
simply cannot do this planning adequate rest is is so
important as is getting proper sleep when we are in deep sleep this is when
human growth hormone is released this is responsible for building maintaining and
repairing healthy tissues in your organs of course this is important for our
muscles but it is also important for other organs as well if you are not
getting enough deep sleep you are not giving your body a chance to repair and
it's not just deep sleep that is important getting enough REM is critical
for mood learning and memory a lot of people will trade off getting a good
night's sleep in order to get up early and go to the gym but it's just not
worth it sleep and recovery is something that I have not always prioritized and
that I really had to work at to optimize the difference I feel after a good
night's sleep not only physically but mentally as well is night and day so
what exactly does a good night's sleep look like and how can you achieve this
in dr. Sachin panda's book the circadian code he says we need a
of seven hours of sleep every night you should give yourself a minimum of eight
hours of sleep opportunity if you know that you need to be up in the morning at
6 a.m. for example do you need to be in bed by no later than 10:00 p.m. my other
top tip for getting a good night's sleep is managing your light exposure what
exactly does this mean your circadian rhythm which is what controls your
sleep/wake cycle is highly impacted by light for example when our eyes are
exposed to natural light in the morning and throughout the day our bodies
release hormones that wake us up and give us energy when the Sun sets and we
are no longer exposed to this light our bodies release hormones that help us
sleep but things get thrown out of whack when you are exposed to or not exposed
to light at the right times for example working in a dark office all day long
with no natural light can make you tired and make it hard to focus and on the
flip side when you're staring into the bright light of your phone screen in the
evening this can make it hard to fall asleep so how can we fix this number one
you want to get adequate natural light during the day going back to pillar
number 2 where I mentioned taking frequent walks throughout the day this
can hit two birds with one stone because you'll be increasing your light
exposure as well even working in a room with lots of natural light or sitting
closer to a window this can make a big difference as well and number two is to
limit your light exposure after sunset blue lights specifically is what
suppresses your sleep hormone production the easiest way to limit it is to get a
pair of blue light blocking glasses and wear these after sunset
put these on after sunset and they will block the blue light that your eyes are
it's supposed to now the ones that I have are the sleep plus glasses from
blue blocks I cannot recommend these enough there are other similar glasses
on the market but they do not block 100% of blue light which these glasses do I
have seen a significant increase in my sleep quality since I
started wearing these consistently after sunset and especially if you're someone
who has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
give these ago blue box is an Australian company who offers free worldwide
shipping and for every pair of glasses they sell they donate a pair of reading
glasses to someone in need in a third-world country I will link these
sleep plus glasses in the description box down below and you can use code HCK
15 to save 15% of your first order pillar number four is getting adequate
sunlight we have already briefly touched on some of the benefits of sunlight in
terms of how they affect your circadian rhythm getting adequate natural light
during the day is going to give you an energy boost another big benefit of sun
exposure is it allows our bodies to make vitamin D yes we can get some vitamin D
through food but the Sun is really our best source every single cell in our
body has a receptor for vitamin D meaning is important for so many
functions yes we all know that vitamin D is important for bone health but it's
also important for our immune system regulating our hormones improving our
mood and more I actually just uploaded a video earlier
this week on the importance and the benefits of vitamin D so if you want to
know more you can check that out here unfortunately most people in the Western
world are deficient in this critical nutrient a 2009 study found that 77% of
Americans had insufficient blood levels of vitamin D now to actually generate
vitamin D our bare skin needs to be exposed to UVB rays these rays are
strongest during the middle of the day and during the summer months and it
really only takes ten minutes in the Sun at peak times to generate a significant
amount of vitamin D of course depending on where you live in the time of year
getting vitamin D from the Sun isn't always an option but in those cases
supplementing does work as well I talk more about safe sun exposure
in my video on vitamin D but the Sun is our friend not our foe and the final
pillar community now if you are watching this video near the upload date
unfortunately right now this is something that we do not have much
control over humans are social creatures even if you're an introvert
we still need social interactions and a sense of community a feeling of
fellowship with others can help provide a sense of purpose and belonging and
well you may think these things are trivial they absolutely are not I think
this is really hitting a lot of us pretty hard right now because we aren't
able to see our friends to see our family members and although in person
communities are probably the most important online communities can be
beneficial as well I think this is why people get very attached to and
identified with different diets you find a community people who understand you
who are interested in the same things you don't have to explain your choices
to them they get it and those are my five pillars for living a healthy life
let me know in the comment section down below which of these pillars you could
probably stand to improve for myself it's definitely number four I could be
getting more sunlight I do road for walks multiple times a day but then I am
spending a lot of time inside and not getting as much natural light as I
probably could thank you so much for watching if you want to watch my video
on vitamin D that I talked about earlier you can click here if you want to catch
up on my most recent upload you can click here and if you're interested in
improving your health you can check out my coaching programs here thanks again
guys I'll see you next time bye