Health Hacks

[Tommy G]

After passing through mid 30s this year I've felt it was a good time to re-evaluate life choices particularly when it comes to health. I've never been one to diet, or work out excessively - I'm not sure if anyone else has felt like this but when you hit this age - you are likely busy juggling all sorts, career, kids etc and I think your own personal health and wellbeing gets kicked into the long grass. 

 

You are no longer young enough to eat and drink what you want without concequences, or avoid exercise and expect not to get out of bed stiff every day. 

 

Interested if anyone, whatever age you are, have any mantras you live by to improve your health. Small things becoming a habit have been easier for me to implement rather than large scale changes that last a week. 

 

• Upped my water intake and cut out soft drinks to a minimum
• Concious of eating more whole foods and cutting right back on takeaways (and UPF)
• Moving more - whether its a walk with the dog or parking at the other end of the supermarket
• Manuka honey every morning as last year I picked up all kinds of coughs and colds
• Weigh myself once a week to keep an eye on things, rather than have a goal weight (im late 14 st) 

 

Interested to hear what anyone else is doing to improve how they feel. 

 

 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Think a lot of folk really neglect how important water is. I'm bollock deep in a litre of sugar free Vimto every morning, I'm 34 but people say I could pass for 33, maybe even 32. 

 

 

[Nalis]

The older you get the more you realise yoga is massively underrated

[bovril]

Just double, not triple cooked chips

[bovril]

Bulgarian yogurt. You can get it in most 'Turkish' stores. Much better than Greek and great for the gut. Japanese swear by it. 

[lcfc278]

Might be more of a placebo effect tbh but I also take a multivitamin & mineral supplement everyday.  Also have one of those water bottles with the time of day printed on to ensure I do the usual 2L.

[Grebfromgrebland]

1 minute ago, lcfc278 said:

Might be more of a placebo effect tbh but I also take a multivitamin & mineral supplement everyday.  Also have one of those water bottles with the time of day printed on to ensure I do the usual 2L.

The irony is that multi vitamins don't help you live longer. In fact they might reduce your life expectancy. Doesn't mean they're aren't any other benefits though.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jun/26/daily-multivitamins-may-increase-risk-of-early-death-major-study-finds

 

[Izzy]

15 minutes ago, Nalis said:

The older you get the more you realise yoga is massively underrated

I've been doing Yoga a minimum of once/sometimes twice a week for the last 10 years. Even though I'm early 50's now, there are still two or three blokes older than me in the class.

 

I used to suffer from serious lower back pain (brought on from poor heavy lifting as a young retailer) but not any more.

 

I don't wake up with aches or pains and I'm more flexible than I was in my 20's. Even on days when I don't do Yoga, I still stretch at home.

 

P.S. Modern day footballers have a lot to thank Ryan Giggs for. He swears Yoga helped him prolong his career.

[Tommy G]

6 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I've been doing Yoga a minimum of once/sometimes twice a week for the last 10 years. Even though I'm early 50's now, there are still two or three blokes older than me in the class.

 

I used to suffer from serious lower back pain (brought on from poor heavy lifting as a young retailer) but not any more.

 

I don't wake up with aches or pains and I'm more flexible than I was in my 20's. Even on days when I don't do Yoga, I still stretch at home.

 

P.S. Modern day footballers have a lot to thank Ryan Giggs for. He swears Yoga helped him prolong his career.

Prolonged a few things for him I think 

[Tommy G]

Recommened by @JonnyBoy I try and have a portion of granola each day, this is good stuff and backed by Tim Spector

 

https://bioandme.co.uk/

[Samilktray]

Had a little bit of a health scare recently so will be keeping an eye on this thread. Only things I've done so far is cut down on processed foods, joined a gym, eat porridge and haven't had a beer for over a month. Feeling well in myself but also very miserable because I love pints 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

46 minutes ago, bovril said:

Bulgarian yogurt. 

 

I swear I got this in the National sweepstake at work

[StanSP]

2 hours ago, Tommy G said:

After passing through mid 30s this year I've felt it was a good time to re-evaluate life choices particularly when it comes to health. I've never been one to diet, or work out excessively - I'm not sure if anyone else has felt like this but when you hit this age - you are likely busy juggling all sorts, career, kids etc and I think your own personal health and wellbeing gets kicked into the long grass. 

 

You are no longer young enough to eat and drink what you want without concequences, or avoid exercise and expect not to get out of bed stiff every day. 

 

Interested if anyone, whatever age you are, have any mantras you live by to improve your health. Small things becoming a habit have been easier for me to implement rather than large scale changes that last a week. 

 

• Upped my water intake and cut out soft drinks to a minimum
• Concious of eating more whole foods and cutting right back on takeaways (and UPF)
• Moving more - whether its a walk with the dog or parking at the other end of the supermarket
• Manuka honey every morning as last year I picked up all kinds of coughs and colds
• Weigh myself once a week to keep an eye on things, rather than have a goal weight (im late 14 st) 

 

Interested to hear what anyone else is doing to improve how they feel. 

 

 

Literally in the same position as you (albeit a couple of years younger).

 

I definitely try and walk more and drink more water.

 

Cutting out alcohol also helps as well as the fizzy drinks. I'm a lot more conscious of what I eat these days, too. Used to eat a lot of chicken and meat but have cut that down (for variety, never going vegan or veggie ) to just 2-3 times a week if that. I'll eat low-carb stuff, and watch my diet a lot more during the week than ever before, too. Weekends I relax a bit on the food front.

 

[Tommy G]

5 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Literally in the same position as you (albeit a couple of years younger).

 

I definitely try and walk more and drink more water.

 

Cutting out alcohol also helps as well as the fizzy drinks. I'm a lot more conscious of what I eat these days, too. Used to eat a lot of chicken and meat but have cut that down (for variety, never going vegan or veggie ) to just 2-3 times a week if that. I'll eat low-carb stuff, and watch my diet a lot more during the week than ever before, too. Weekends I relax a bit on the food front.

 

Same - I’m an absolute chocolate warrior and could nail a large Cadbury bar in about 5 mins, the only way I’ve curbed it is a cpl of squares of dark chocolate - get some quality stuff and it takes any craving away - initially tastes like charcoal at the start but after a few weeks it’s a winner. Lindt dark sea salt 

[lcfcsnow]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Recommened by @JonnyBoy I try and have a portion of granola each day, this is good stuff and backed by Tim Spector

 

https://bioandme.co.uk/

Tried granola in the past but really not good for my teeth and the amount of fillings I have, feels like I'm going to break them each crunch

[Tommy G]

Just now, lcfcsnow said:

Tried granola in the past but really not good for my teeth and the amount of fillings I have, feels like I'm going to break them each crunch

This isn’t like chewing gravel - check the ingredients - bit of yoghurt with it, belter 

[ClaphamFox]

I had a '360 health review' via my firm's health insurance policy back in May and was told I needed to lose weight. I'd been wanting to do this for years anyway, but being told it by a doctor seems to have been the kick up the arse I needed. I've lost 12kg since then, with another 6-7kg to go before I hit my target weight. The one observation I'll make is that it's surprising what a big difference a few small changes can make. All I've really done is:
 

*Cut down heavily on carbs, particularly bread. Instead of a sandwich I have a rice cake (30 calories each vs 130 calories for a slice of bread) topped with cheese, avocado, peanut butter, whatever.

*Stopped having 1-2 glasses of wine every night, which I'd habitually done for years. I now avoid boozing from Sunday to Monday but buy myself a decent bottle on a Friday to enjoy over the weekend. Allowing myself to spend a bit more on a higher quality wine once a week has made this a bit easier to stick to.

*Using 400-calorie meal replacement shakes for lunch 4-5 days a week, with a 'light' lunch (eg, scrambled egg on toast) on the other days.

 

That's pretty much it. I've been meaning to start exercising properly again (I gave up twice-weekly five-a-side football when my second son was born two years ago, which definitely contributed to my weight gain), but am struggling to find the time. The diet regime above was tough for the first few weeks but once it became a habit I got used to it and I no longer crave bread and am perfectly happy with my lower wine intake. As with any attempt at change, it's finding the initial thrust that's the challenge - once you're in the groove, it becomes much easier.

Edited 3 hours ago by ClaphamFox

[StanSP]

30 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Same - I’m an absolute chocolate warrior and could nail a large Cadbury bar in about 5 mins, the only way I’ve curbed it is a cpl of squares of dark chocolate - get some quality stuff and it takes any craving away - initially tastes like charcoal at the start but after a few weeks it’s a winner. Lindt dark sea salt 

Crisps are my vice!

 

[Lionator]

I do keto for a week or two every few months. I find it helps me a lot but it’s obviously impossible to do permanently. The ultra processed food is the main one though, get meat from the butcher, veg from the market and try to eat wholewheat grains. Anything with sugar that isn’t fruit or veg is generally terrible for you. 

[VLC86]

I try to be as healthy as I can be, probably take it to an extreme at times which might be counter productive but generally I try to do the below.

 

7 hours sleep a night

drink 2 litres of water a day

No booze during the week

No takeaways/carb heavy food during the week

Exercise with a purpose (train for races/to build fitness for football etc) at least 5 times a week

Weigh myself once a week, if I’m above my max target weight I up the cardio and drop calorie intake 

 

As a trade off, at the weekend I eat and drink what I want.

 

All in all I’m a pretty interesting guy  

[Libertine]

Screaming into the void for a solid 90 minutes daily helps relieve tension.

 

And blueberries for antioxidants. 

[Unabomber]

Get up early. Gives you time to get shit done whether it’s a run, walk, work out, yoga/stretching all before your day really starts. Much better than trying to cram stuff like that in after work. Also best supplement I’ve found is creatine. 

Edited 24 minutes ago by Unabomber