Q&A: What do you mean by ”Health Hacks”?

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to another video. So today I'm going to be talking or expanding on the concept of health hacks. Now the reason for that is I posted a comment— sorry, a video last week saying that you need to avoid health hacks because health hacks don't work in the long run. Basically, it's a case of we tend to get distracted by shiny objects and we, we don't want to commit to the work. So we're always looking for some kind of shortcut to help us hack our way to health. And of course, within the health industry right now, it's a very popular thing, particularly in marketing and all that, you know, biohack this, biohack that, and all the rest of it. These ways to kind of— I don't want to necessarily use the word trick, but kind of trick you into thinking, well, this is the solution, all the while, whilst leading you to believe that you can avoid the necessary tasks. So the eating right, the moving right, the sleeping right, the thinking right, and all those types of things. So it's like, oh, do this instead, you don't need to do that. Here's how you lose 30 pounds while still eating your favorite foods, and all this kind of shit. And you can, but often it's sold sort of attached to this thing of like, oh, all you need is 6 minutes a day and you can get a 6-pack, or take this one pill, so 20 seconds a day, and you'll burn 30 pounds of fat in the next week, and that kind of shit. And you're like, you what. So of course, we ultimately know that these things don't work, but there is this piece of us that is so desperate for a solution that we tend to go for it. We'll turn into these hacks and try to use them. So anyway, I put this video up, and Bobbi came back with a whole ton of comments, kind of wanting me to clarify, but I think also where she's maybe trying some of these things was wanting some kind of clarification on whether she's wasting her time or not. So she was like, oh, do you mean things like fat-burning pills versus say foods that are naturally lower or that naturally lower blood sugars? Do I mean a fat-free diet versus healthy fats for fat loss? Am I referring to crash diets? She likes things like intermittent fasting and all this and that. But there's like 7 or 8 comments of stuff, which makes me think that she's been using too many of these hacks herself and maybe not getting the results that she wants. But what I'm referring to when I say healthy hacks, or I say healthy hacks, because often they're not healthy, which is why I said avoid hacks and obviously do the work. But the things I'm referring to are in reality, anything that has led you to believe that this is going to be a shortcut. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to grind and slog and it's got to be a horrible experience to get to the health outcomes that you want. That's not how it should be. But most of these things are, as I mentioned, designed to kind of get you excited and trick you into thinking that it's going to be easy. Now, it's often simple, but it's very rarely easy because we've got obviously the context of a whole life to go on. Often we've got jobs, professions, or businesses to run. We've got family, partners, kids to raise, and all those types of things. We've got life going on around us, and then we know that we need to stick ourselves in the middle of all that and take care of ourselves too. So the ultimate hacks would obviously be things like steroids or fat-burning pills and things like that. And the catch with those is they allow you to get results whilst doing the work. You still have to do some of the work, but obviously it makes it feel so much easier. The catch is when you get to the result that you want and you think, oh yeah, cool, I'm happy with this outcome now, and you stop the hack, well then you lose the results and often you also lose your, your health. Because fat-burning pills, steroids, etc., will often come with a detrimental health effect as well. So we need to be careful. It's like, well, is this alleged result that I'm going to get, maybe the more muscle or the additional fat burning, is it worth the potential damage to my health that I will also experience as a result of using this thing? So we have to be careful. Now, if it comes to things like using a fat-free diet versus healthy fats, as Bobby's mentioned, so Fat-free diets are a big no-no. Now we do need healthy fats, and the truth is, in order to lose fat, you need to consume fat. Because what the body does, because it's too smart, what we have to remember is every single cell in the body contains fat, and the cell membrane of the majority of those cells is made up of fats, and ideally saturated fat as well. The one they tell you is bad for you, is gonna clog your arteries. But that's the truth. Like, that's how it maintains rigidity and structure, because much of that, that cell membrane is made from saturated fats. So we need fats in order to lose fat, because if you restrict the amount of fat coming into the body, the body goes, well, I still need fats in order to function properly, mate. So what it will then do is start to hold on and store fat because it realizes it's not getting enough coming in through the diet. So we do need healthy fats. Now, the fats you want to avoid, if we want to get into this topic right now, is vegetable oils. So they're the main things you want to avoid, vegetable oils, simply because they do not tolerate heat or light very well at all, and they tend to damage and become carcinogenic. So when cooking, or if we're going to be leaving them out in light or heat and warmth and so on, you need heavier fats such as your saturated fats. So that's animal fats, um, lard, dripping, tallow, butter, coconut oil, which is of course not an animal fat, but it is a saturated fat. Extra virgin olive oil is also okay for low temperature baking, things like that. And then avocado oil as well and stuff like that. But we want to avoid sunflower oil, safflower oil, soy oil, canola oil, and all those types of things. Because unfortunately, the moment you heat them, they become damaged and then cause inflammation and lead to increased risk of things like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and so on. So avoid those. Now, when it comes to intermittent fasting, really I should have made this multiple different videos, shouldn't I? Because there's so many different points here. But anyway, when it comes to intermittent fasting, this is another thing that we have to be cautious of. Not because it's inherently bad, because technically we fast every single day. Every time you go to bed, you're technically fasting because you have an extended period of time where you're not consuming any food. Now, that's why of course breakfast is called break fast, yeah? That's how it's spelled. Because you're breaking the fast. Now, what we have to remember though, particularly for someone like Bobbi, she's a female, so the female hormonal system is very, very sensitive. So, on average, intermittent fasting actually only works long-term for around 30 to 40% of women, if they're lucky. Some studies show it's even lower, like 20% and things like that. Men tend to be able to get away with it a bit better because we have a more robust hormonal system that can handle changes and fluctuations more. Has better blood sugar handling and things like that generally. So we can tend to do a bit better on intermittent fasting, and on average it will work for around 70% of men. The catch is, like most things, you've gotta be careful because what's going on with most of us is we're ill, we're tired, we're overweight, we're lethargic, we're lacking in health, and then what we do is we go, okay, well, I've just found out that this intermittent fasting thing might work, so what I'm now gonna do is eat less. So it's like, I've been eating bad anyway, so my body's already undernourished. Now I go and introduce intermittent fasting, which now restricts the amount of nutrition I'm actually bringing in as well. So now I'm bringing in even less, so I risk pushing myself deeper into malnutrition because I'm now bringing in less food, even though it's not the good stuff that I should be eating. Now, of course, if you are a bit smarter and you go, okay, well, actually, because I'm now gonna try this new form of eating, I'm gonna go into intermittent fasting, but I'm also going to change the particular types of foods I'm eating so that they're more nutritious, then we can get away with it a bit. So the advantages quite often with things like intermittent fasting is we give ourselves, our bodies, an opportunity to rest from the accumulation of toxicity and crap that we've been eating through poor foods and poor food choices. So it's handy for that, so we can get some level of detoxification, but we just have to be careful. As I say, we can't all handle it very well because of these big gaps in food. It tends to disrupt our systems and our physiology too much. And for some people, it actually works okay for them in terms of, oh, I'm achieving my fat loss, or I actually feel a bit better, my energy's better, but their mood and temperament is completely off. You've probably heard the phrase hangry. This can be a case for a lot of people with intermittent fasting, particularly if doing multiple days back to back and things like that. They just find that they end up wanting to kill their partner, or their partner ends up wanting to kill them. So even though it might work to achieve some of the goals that they want, it doesn't necessarily work for their lifestyle and their relationships. So we have to be careful with that. For some people, it also makes them less productive because of course, less energy coming in, not able to focus so much, and things like that. And of course, on the flip side, some people find it better. Again, less toxicity coming in. So their body is, is a bit cleaner, runs a bit smoother. It's almost like putting, um, super unleaded into a vehicle that's been running on normal unleaded. Now you've put this cleaner fuel in and given it, um, a better chance to kind of breathe. Now the, the, the system runs a bit more smoothly. But again, depends on the person. So, um, rather than me make this a 20-minute lecture, uh, I think I'll leave it there. One other thing Bobby did say was Oh yeah, eating or training before you eat. So would you say that doing a workout before eating promoted fat loss? Could this hack or habit lead me towards my goals, or would I feel too weak to lift the weights and better off eating before the workout? Now, this is an individual thing, and it will, for most people, depend on the time of day that you train. So I tend to train at around 6 AM. That's just because for me, I know that get my training out the way first thing, that's when I'm most focused on it. Mainly because I run my own business, etc., and if I leave it too late in the day, I've got a million and one excuses. Even though I'm the health coach, I've got a million and one excuses as to why I'm too busy now and got too many things in my business to do if I don't do my training first thing. So for me, I'll do it first thing, and I very rarely eat before I train. Although, even if I do eat, that doesn't tend to detrimentally affect me. So, some people find if they eat within a 2-hour period before their workout, they feel like crap, or they feel nauseous, and they wanna throw up, or they're just a bit sluggish, where the body is on one side trying to rest and digest this food, and then on the flip side, you're now trying to physically lift weights, or run, and do cardio, and all those types of things. So, the body's in this kind of conflict, this bit of a seesaw or tug of war, as to what, what you want from it. So it's an individual thing. Now, with regards to results, in reality it doesn't make a huge difference. Some studies will say, oh yeah, training fasted promotes better fat loss, and then others will say, well, no, actually training on a full stomach or having fueled yourself is better because you've got more energy, so therefore you can train harder, create a greater stimulus, and therefore because you've worked out harder, you've created more of an oxygen debt. Plus more damage and blah blah blah, which all results in greater fat loss overall. So there is no real right or wrong. Some people it's better, some it's not. So I would go with what your body tells you. If you find that you go for a training session and you're fasted and you felt awesome, you hit all your targets with the weights and so on, or whatever the workout is you're doing, and you feel great, cool, carry on doing that. But if you feel like actually that was a bit flat, that workout, maybe I needed some food, then have some food beforehand. Some people like to consume calories during, either with small snacks or with something like a high-quality protein shake during the workout, and they just find that sort of trickling in those calories across the workout also helps them. So again, there's no right or wrong, it's all individual, and that's the trick with this health game. When everyone tries to tell you, oh, this is the best diet, that's the best diet, and so on, It's very rare that's the case because it might be the best for one person but not for another. Same with workouts and so on, or schedules and routines and ideal sleep times and stuff. We're all slightly different. So some might need 7 hours, others need 9 hours of sleep. Some might do 8 and then others need 6. But on average, it's 7 to 9. So that's why we tend to talk in averages because everyone ultimately is biochemically individual. So anyway, back to the point. Just continue to avoid hacks, okay? Don't put off doing the real work. And from a, from a coach's perspective, the way I would say it is, at the end of the day, you need to take responsibility. And every time we use one of these hacks, all we're trying to do is basically sidestep our responsibility and the fact that we need to step up and take ownership of ourselves and actually become a leader. Now, I don't necessarily mean stand up and lead your community and all the rest of it, because we need to learn how to lead self first. But by standing in your own power and going, you know what, this is what is actually going to be best for me. It might not be what I wanna do right now. You know, I don't really feel like it, but this is what's going to be best for me. This is how I'm gonna stay healthy, fit, lean, and strong as I age. This is what's gonna keep me pain-free and so on. That's the choice I'm gonna make because I'm choosing to lead myself. I'm gonna take ownership and responsibility for what I need to do as an individual. And then that will, over time, as you get stronger and feel more confident in yourself and you see the results of, of stepping up and showing up in this way for yourself, what you will find is that you naturally become a better leader in your relationships with your partner, with your children, with your friends, your family, and then potentially even throughout the community. You become this almost like a role model or icon within the community that people will want to follow because they're like, fuck me, why is he so cool all the time? And I don't mean cool like, oh, you're cool. But, you know, like people, people see that because you show up with a different energy, this energy of abundance. Rather than scarcity or lack or lethargy and all the rest of it, you just show up as a different being. And as a result, people become inspired by that and become naturally attracted to it. And I don't mean attracted like, oh, I want to screw you, but that's the truth. Like, we naturally gravitate towards people who are vital and energetic. So that's why, unfortunately, it starts with us. We can't hack our way there. It comes from doing the work. One of my mentors will always say, you can't give what you don't have and you can't share what you haven't experienced, which basically means we have to run the bases first and that's what gets us the result. And then we can share that experience with others and cascade our result into those around us. So that's all I'm going to leave you with tonight, guys. This has gone on way longer than I planned, but sometimes we need to have a chat. So that's what we've done. Take it easy, people, and I look forward to chatting with you in my next video. See you later.