…and the day after that, and the day after that, and…well you get the picture. Want to start being healthier? It’s pretty simple.
Drink More Water
Get a pitcher of water. Drink it. Fill it back up. Drink it again. Repeat. Do this as much as you can. You’d be surprised at what common problems (headaches, colds, etc) are caused by people simply not drinking enough water. Drink a half-gallon extra of water a day and tell me you don’t feel better.
Move Often
Get up and move every 30-60 minutes. Do something. Anything.
- Stretch.
- Walk.
- Do Jumping Jacks
- Pushups
- Take the stairs
- Stretch some more.
Whatever you have to do to move, do it. Get up and move around. Sitting all the time is dangerous to your health.
Eat Paleo
Try it. Just try it. Give it a week and see how you feel. If you don’t know what paleo is, he-who-shall-not-be-named wrote a good beginner’s guide to paleo that you can use to brush up on the specifics.
The cliff-notes version is this: Meats, eggs, fruits, nuts, vegetables. If you still need help, here’s a quick rundown of paleo-approved foods.
(My favorite part was “It’s probably a rock”)
If you don’t think those food groups give you a lot of options, you’re wrong. Just check Rob Wolff’s food matrix for a bunch of options. Mix and match those and you’ll have a heck of a hard time repeating the same meals twice.
Procrastinate Differently
Every time you go to refresh your email. Do 10 pushups. Checking your Facebook? Do a handstand. Every time you check twitter, do a 30 second plank instead. If you’re procrastinating, you might as well be productive in some way, shape or form! In fact, you’ll start building other, more useful habits while making sure you do #2 on this list (move often) more often.
Confuse Yourself
Routines are good. They help you get in a rhythm and get things done. But you can get stuck in them too and that prevents growth. Every once in a while, confuse yourself. Shake up your routine – workout or otherwise. Do something completely different. Adapt. Your body can’t just coast on autopilot, you’ll push yourself out of your comfort zone and you’ll get stronger.
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If 5 ways is too many for you (God forbid you get *too* healthy), Jeff has got you covered for getting in shape in just 2 steps :).
If you need some help getting + staying healthy (or doing something else involving endurance, adventure and giving back) in February, join the February 30-day challenge coming up in the League. This month, Josh & Tristan are going to be heading it up and we’ll be adding in a buddy system to make sure you stay on track and accountable. Check it out. BOOM.
My name is Joel Runyon and I write about pushing your limits and telling a great story by 
LOVE the Paleo point! I’m on my last 3 days of Whole30, and I can’t say enough about how much better I feel and look. My skin is better than it’s been in years. I’ve not gotten sick once when my kids have brought home a couple of different bugs from school. I see this as a permanent lifestyle change for me, and will be slowly moving my kids to this lifestyle as well.
Paleo is great. There’s a ton of benefits I’ve seen in my own life as well.
Great tip on procrastinating differently. I’m going to write that in big letters on a sheet of A4 and stick it above my laptop.
I hope you didn’t procrastinate when you decided to do that.
With regard to doing a week of Paleo eating… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
I’ll add it to the my happiness experiments list after next week’s experiment with a light box.
The water thing is so key too. It’s really awe inspiring how many things can be traced to mild dehydration.
Procrastinate differently is brilliant. I used to do it with free weight sets when I was studying, but I stopped that when I finished school. Thinking back, that was kind of a dumbass thing to do. I loved my arms back then, they were amazing.
Great article
How’d it go?
So the important takeaway from this post are peanuts, potatos, corn and rocks are all hazardous to your long term health. Nice post Joel, some good stuff here.
You got it
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Primal/Paleo living rocks my world. I am so flipping happy to see continued growth with it. I’ve been to this site a few times as I continue to read about minimalism and traveling. Glad to see you mention paleo!
Drink Water! That one kills me cause I know I need to do that. right after this last coke zero. serious. haha. but serious good push.
It’s so simple, but so effective.
Water is so, SO important. I don’t think people realize how important it is to our health – our organs, our mental health, our awareness – everything is affected by water!
I like the tip about mixing it up! I hate just doing the same thing over and over again. It feels like it drags me down and ruins my productivity. I have to change up my routine; otherwise, I find myself sitting in bed watching TV and feeling like I just don’t want to do my routine anymore. It gets too boring!
Hey Joel, thanks for using my paleo chart! You can get a large version of the image here: http://on.fb.me/xoWXih
This one with my website removed has been circling around recently.
If you want a more complete paleo chart, there is one by Nicole at my blog here: http://colebradburn.com/2012/01/09/the-paleo-diet-flowchart/
Hey Cole!
Thanks for this. I didn’t know who exactly started it up. A bunch of people sent me some links via twitter. Updated the post. Thanks so much!