The Vitality System

THE VITALITY
SYSTEM
THE VITALITY
SYSTEM
The Ultimate Guide
to Living an Active, Healthy,
and Happy Life
By KYLE GONZALEZ
Copyright © 2022 Kyle Gonzalez
All rights reserved.
The Vitality System is a registered trademark of Kyle Gonzalez.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023900919

Paperback: ISBN# 9798372887848
Hardcover: ISBN # 9798372892439
Printed in the USA
Design by Morgane Leoni

Cover photographs: Images used under license of Adobe Stock
This book contains advice and information relating to health care. It should be used
to supplement rather than replace the advice of your doctor or another trained health
professional. If you know or suspect you have a health problem, it is recommended that
you seek your physician’s advice before embarking on any medical program or treatment.
All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this
book as of the date of the publication. The author disclaims liability for any medical
outcomes that may occur from applying the methods suggested in this book.
To my mother, the person who showed me what it means to help
people, gave me the courage to explore and fail, and gave me the
faith to always believe and strive for my wildest dreams.
Table of Contents
Preface 9
Introduction 13
What is The Vitality System? 15
How Do I Use The Vitality System? 18
Foundational Principles 20
Education—Baseline Knowledge 20
Exploration—Strategic Planning and Awareness 21
Experimentation—Test, Measure, Analyze 22
Execution—Implement and Achieve 23
Evolution—Review, Refine, Adapt, and Transform 25
Vitality Concepts 27
Assessments 27
Behavioral Strategies 41
Mental Models 46
The Core Four 53
Core One: Movement 54

Health Benefits of Movement 55
Basic Anatomy and Physiology 58
Movement Assessments 60
Types of Exercise 62
Exercise Prescription 67
Energy Expenditure 74
Injury Prevention 78
Athletic Performance 81
Core Two: Nutrition 85
Digestion, Absorption, and Metabolism 87
Energy Balance 90
Macronutrients: Carbs, Protein, and Fats 93
Micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals 97
Hydration: Water and Fluid Balance 99
Nutritional Frameworks 103
Personalized Nutrition 113
Other Nutrition Topics 125
Core Three: Recovery 136

Homeostasis and Allostasis 138
Seven Rs of Recovery 139
Sleep 143
Breathing 151
Light 154
Immunity 158
Temperature 162
Recovery Levels 167
Recovery Indicators and Measurement 170
Core Four: Lifestyle 176

Stress 178
Mindset and Mindfulness 183
Emotions and Emotional Intelligence 190
Motivation and Drive 198
Productivity 206
Happiness, Fulfillment, and Joy 213
Environment 219
Habits and Goal Setting 223
A Final Word on Consistency 236
Conclusion 243
The Vitality Pledge 245
Educational Resources 247

Vitality System Quick Reference 247
Tables, Definitions, and Further Information 250
General Resources 271
Acknowledgements 273
References 275
About the Author 281
Let’s Connect! 282

Preface
Never stop exploring.
—Doug Tompkins
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for exploration. It all started with
my father, who was the ultimate explorer. Every day he could, he’d round up my mom,
my sister, my brother, and me, and the family would set out on a new journey. Whether
it was biking to the park, learning a new sport, or checking out a history museum, we
were constantly exposed to different experiences that taught us something new about
our world. When I was young, he took the family on a cross-country road trip, driving
from Virginia to California and back. He used only paper maps and hit every possible
tourist attraction. We immersed ourselves in many endeavors, learning about different
cultures and taking in everything nature had to offer. We learned by doing and were
always encouraged to ask questions. My father’s energy for life inspired our family to
find joy in every adventure.
As I got older, I developed an interest in sports, so he taught me how to play as many as

possible, from basketball to baseball to badminton. My father was very competitive and
loved to get the neighborhood kids together for various games. These neighborhood
battles, mixed with my father’s fiery Puerto Rican personality, turned me into the ultimate
competitor. I was willing to explore any strategy to get better and ultimately win. I always
looked for a leg up, whether that was throwing a foam baseball against my basement
wall for hours to practice pitching, getting a mini basketball hoop on my door, or playing
imaginary football in my front yard. Even board games got so intense in the Gonzalez
household that losses left me in visceral pain. Despite the rivalries and the tough battles,
my father knew how to turn losses into lessons, spread joy, and make people smile. No
matter the occasion, he had the unique ability to light up a room, bring people together,
and motivate them to do their best. My father passed away at age forty-two from colon
cancer in 2002. I was eight. The lessons I learned from my father stick with me to this
day and continue to fuel my drive and my inner explorer.
Preface 9
Nothing worth having comes easy.
—Theodore Roosevelt
My mother was hard work and selflessness personified. After my father passed, she played
the role of both parents, raising three kids and working full-time to ensure that we had
everything we needed to succeed. On top of working full-time, my mother was the ultimate
DIY queen. She did everything from yard work to cooking to fixing anything in the house
for our family. There was always food in the house, presents under the Christmas tree, and
new clothes on our backs each school year. She was the voice of reason and the shining
light of positivity during a dark and confusing time.
Although I had a lot of unanswered questions following my father’s death, my mother

always helped me channel my curiosity and drive for knowledge. Whether through sports
or school, she gave me the lessons and tools I needed to navigate my journey, along with
the autonomy to explore. When I started getting more serious about basketball, she got
me a new, state-of-the-art basketball hoop in our front yard and a Spalding NeverFlat
basketball. That ball never left my hands, and I spent countless hours playing with that
hoop, trying to perfect my game. I would play outside all day, rain or shine, and sometimes
even in the snow. Right alongside me was my mom, who would be doing yard work.
Watching my mom take care of us over the years provided me with my first true lessons
in hard work and dedication. They instilled a work ethic in me that carried over into
everything I did growing up. My goal was to emulate that same focus and dedication in
my schoolwork, my personal life, and as an athlete, so my mom wouldn’t have anything
extra added to her already overfilled plate.
I embraced challenges as she did, with an open mind and a willingness to do whatever it
took. The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it, and I wanted to overcome
every obstacle. This relentless work ethic and growth mindset I learned from my mother
was a significant part of my development, but it wasn’t the only thing I picked up from
her. The quality that always stood out over all others was her selflessness and unmatched
enthusiasm for helping others. She proudly served in the military, volunteered throughout
our community, and worked in the medical field for over a decade. She never asked for
favors, or even reciprocation if she helped someone. She would give you the shirt off her
back and her last dollar. She always saw the best in people no matter the circumstance,
and would provide any resource to help bring that out. Because of her, I was inspired to
pursue a career in health and wellness.
10 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

The opportunity to empower people through health and wellness gives me life and
purpose. Every day in my life, I try to embody the qualities I learned from my mother so
I can bring out the best version of everyone I encounter. My passion for knowledge, my
desire to help others realize their potential, and my unabating curiosity are without a
doubt the products of my most significant influence and my role model: my mother, the
person who has always brought out the best version of me.
Don’t find a way; make a way.
—Kyle Gonzalez
My journey through life has been filled with many twists and turns. No matter which
direction life has taken me, one thing has remained constant: my passion for health,
wellness, performance, and the exploration of the human body. As an athlete, I was
willing to try whatever it took to get stronger, faster, and wiser. I was obsessed with testing
different products, training methods, and mental techniques. I called it being “self-curi-
ous,” and there was always something new to learn. I always tried to ask questions about
things you couldn’t find in school textbooks. Although I was a health science major in
college, I took chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology, and economics classes. In the
health and wellness field, there always seemed to be a gap between what people knew
and what people did. In graduate school, I discovered how to conduct proper research,
and more importantly, how to spot flawed research. The more information I absorbed,
the more I wanted to be out on the front lines helping people. As I entered the workforce,
I accumulated as much experience as possible in the health and wellness industry over
many bouts of teaching, training, coaching, managing, leading, and most importantly,
learning. I’ve been able to work with and learn from people ranging from professional
athletes to elderly clients to young kids.
Over my professional career, the most important thing I realized was that neither experi-
ence nor education alone was enough to help people. Along with a sense of purpose and
intrinsic motivation, a balance of education and experience pushed people (including
myself) to make meaningful changes. With this knowledge, I created a system for people
that fills knowledge gaps, fosters intrinsic motivation, reveals true potential, and drives
positive behavior change. I wanted to give people a sustainable framework with all the
correct information, concepts, and strategies needed to explore and evolve their health,
wellness, and performance.
Preface 11
That is how The Vitality System was born. It is a testament to my mission to never stop
learning, exploring, and creating, and to empower people to take control of their health
and wellness. With this book, I hope to give you the knowledge, confidence, and tools
to create your own path toward optimal health and wellness so you can live the life you
love and love the life you live.

Introduction
Health is wealth, so the best investment

you can make is in yourself.
—Kyle Gonzalez
What does being healthy mean to you? Think about it. The answer to this question can
look quite different depending on who you ask. Some view being healthy from a purely
physical standpoint. These people want to avoid disease, build strength, and take care of
their bodies. Others view being healthy from a mental or emotional perspective, placing
an emphasis on minimizing stress and enhancing overall mood. Some even look at being
healthy as having strong social relationships and staying true to yourself. We all have
different views on what being healthy means and what constitutes health in general.
The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” Defining
what “being healthy” means can be an ambiguous, highly subjective process. Despite
the subjectivity, one thing remains clear by any definition of health: We are in a global
health crisis.
We are not only losing sight of what being healthy means, but we are losing our ability to
obtain and sustain it. Two out of three people in the US are overweight, and one out of
three is obese. Unfortunately, 80% of Americans don’t get enough physical activity. One
out of three people doesn’t get enough sleep. And it doesn’t stop there. Inactivity and poor
nutrition account for over 500,000 deaths annually, and nearly 60% of Americans deal
with at least one chronic disease. Obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental
illness, among other afflictions, are all on the rise. In 2019, healthcare accounted for
3.8 trillion dollars, or 18% of GDP, with obesity costing nearly 173 billion dollars a year
(CDC 2022). These mind-blowing statistics can be overwhelming and daunting. But this
is the reality we face.
Fortunately, I have good news: we all have the power to change this fate and take control
of our health and wellness. We can change not just the courses of our own lives, but the
courses of those around us. We can build a better future for those who come after us and
Introduction 13
help save millions of lives. The secrets to being healthy are already inside each and every
one of us. With The Vitality System, you can unleash them and find what works best for
you. This system empowers you to chart your own course and live a healthy lifestyle on
your own terms. By providing an easy-to-follow framework, digestible information, and
action-based tools, you can reach a state of complete physical, mental, emotional, and
social well-being.
Health doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. We all deserve the right to be

healthy, but we must understand what that truly means to figure out how to get there. So
again, I ask: What does being healthy mean to you? This is the question we will help you
answer as you navigate through this book. So flip the page and let’s get started.

What is The Vitality System?
Vitality:
The state of being strong and active; energy.
The power giving continuance of life,
present in all living things
—Oxford Languages
The ultimate objective of The Vitality System is embodied in its mission statement:
“Empower people to take control of their health and wellness, ignite meaningful change,
and inspire others while reaching personal fulfillment.”
I created The Vitality System to help millions of people struggling to find answers to
their many daily health and wellness questions. There is a vast amount of information
out there on health and wellness and how to be “healthy.” Some of it is good and some
of it isn’t. Some of it applies to you and some of it doesn’t. How do you know what to
trust and apply in your life? Information alone isn’t enough. We need the right infor-
mation in the correct context with the proper structure, and the right tools to make the
best-informed decisions day in and day out. In other words, we need a system instead of
a product, service, or one-time fix. Many people search for the perfect training program,
diet, recovery method, or motivation to fix all their health problems. We throw money
at complex “solutions” before addressing the fundamentals. Unfortunately, everywhere
you look, you find random pieces of your health puzzle, but nowhere can you find all the
pieces of your puzzle and directions for putting them together.
The reality is that there is no one way to live and sustain a healthy life. It’s not just your
movement, nutrition, recovery, or lifestyle that determines how healthy you are or can
be. Combining all these factors with your genetics and environment determines your
health status. I created The Vitality System to solve this problem and help the millions
of people trying to put things together. It is a resource that addresses not just one but all
the pillars of well-being and how they affect each other. A system that helps you become
knowledgeable about significant aspects of your health. A system you can use if you are
a beginner looking to get started or a health enthusiast looking for an extra edge.

This book is broken into three main parts: Foundational Principles, Vitality Concepts,
and the Core Four. These are the building blocks that make up The Vitality System. We
start with Foundational Principles, which highlight the five significant phases of your
health and wellness journey: education, exploration, experimentation, execution, and
evolution. In the Foundational Principles section, I’ll explain why these phases are
essential to your journey.
In the next section, Vitality Concepts, I will help you navigate, facilitate, and activate
health and wellness changes. The Vitality Concepts are specific tools designed to guide and
bias you toward action throughout your journey to optimize your health, wellness, and
performance. Vitality Concepts are divided into three categories: Behavioral Strategies,
Mental Models, and Assessments. Each category offers various introspective (internal)
and extrospective (external) approaches which will help you better understand and reg-
ulate your thoughts, behaviors, and environment. Together, these concepts will provide
direction and help you turn the information in the Core Four chapters into action. Change
starts from within, and the Vitality Concepts help you become a self-expert so you can
master your perceptions and behaviors. They act as the glue that holds The Vitality System
together, and they can be used during any phase of your wellness journey.
Finally, we have the Core Four. These are the primary pillars of health and wellness:
Movement, Nutrition, Recovery, and Lifestyle. These make up the foundation of a healthy
life. Gaining an understanding and awareness of these pillars is a pivotal part of The Vitali-
ty System. All four pillars are connected and equally important for your overall well-being.
They are the critical components that can be optimized to improve your quality of life.
I’ll review the Core Four in depth, touching on the essential topics within each pillar.
I will detail the many facets of how we move, eat, drink, recover, think, and live so you
can identify what’s optimal for you. Everything from exercise prescription and energy
balance to mindset and stress is covered, so you’ll have a full breadth of knowledge at your
disposal. The sections within the chapters are short but jam-packed with what you need
to know, why it matters, and how you can apply it in your life. These sections provide an
overview of crucial health topics and contain clear takeaways that you can easily refer
to or revisit when needed. Within the sections are summaries of each topic, along with
specific resources, strategies, and tools you can use to feel comfortable and confident
about every decision you make on your journey.
When it comes to optimizing your health and wellness, you must take an inside-out
approach. Before you change your external environment, it is helpful to define and align
your values, purpose, and overall identity with your thoughts and behaviors. Having

the correct perspective, strong self-belief, and the willingness to take daily action makes
it much easier to see and unlock opportunities for growth. Developing a secure sense
of purpose can fuel the intrinsic motivation you’ll need to learn, adapt, and evolve on
your journey.
Along with cultivating the right attitude and character that represent who you want
to be, you need a baseline understanding of health and wellness, as well as the correct
tools to apply that knowledge in everyday life. We must be experts on ourselves and our
environment to adapt to any situation. We must understand what and how to think in
different scenarios to make the right decisions. With The Vitality System, I aim to make
information on health, wellness, performance, and longevity digestible and actionable
through your own lens. Everyone is unique and everyone changes, so I have developed
a system that does the same. By combining all aspects of health and wellness into a
comprehensive system, I will equip you with everything you need to know so you can
live your life your way. With this system, I hope to bridge the gap between knowledge
and action so we all can change the health narrative in America. And a change of this
magnitude starts with the evolution of one: you.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to health, nor is there one perfect lifestyle that
fits every individual, but there are proven facts, strategies, and tools that can apply to
everyone. The Vitality System will give you the confidence to make informed decisions,
navigate ambiguity, and lead a healthy lifestyle that’s both all-encompassing and specific
to you. I will outline what’s important, why it matters, and how to apply it. We all have
distinct needs and ways of living that are influenced by our genetics and our environment.
Although we are all different, the basic foundations of health, wellness, performance, and
longevity are clear. The Vitality System ensures that you have all the correct information
in an understandable framework paired with the right tools to optimize your unique
approach to being healthy. You can define and live in line with your new identity, values,
and purpose, and become the person you truly want to be. You can apply, build upon, and
share the knowledge and wisdom you gain throughout your journey to help uplift others.
My goal is to give people the right information, frameworks, and tools to make sustainable
and informed decisions on their own, so they don’t have to depend on anyone or anything
but themselves. The more we know, the easier decisions become and the more levers we
can pull. The more we understand what we don’t know, the more we can learn and help
others so we can all live healthier lives.

How Do I Use The
Vitality System?
Now that you understand what The Vitality System is, it’s time to put it to use. The beauty
of this system is that it is adaptable to any health and wellness goal. Think of this system
as your health and wellness encyclopedia: a place where you can come to find answers
and where you can find the right information paired with the right strategies to get you
from problem to solution or idea to action.
The sections within each chapter are designed to be short, digestible, and actionable so
that you can easily find what you need without wasting too much time reading through
what you don’t need. Not every concept, principle, or strategy will apply to you directly,
and that’s okay. Find what does apply to you or what does resonate and utilize it. Your
health and well-being are dynamic and ever-changing, for better or for worse. Having
this collection of tools gives you a go-to resource to reference when different situations
arise. I’ve taken this comprehensive approach because I know that just as not all people
are the same, not all lifestyles, problems, or goals are the same. If your goal is weight loss,
you can benefit immensely from some of the Vitality Concepts including the CHANGERS
Framework and Impulse Resistance Training, as well as the Nutritional Frameworks and
Personalized Nutrition sections in Core Two: Nutrition. This combination will help you
assess your current situation, identify critical nutritional areas to change, and apply the
correct behavioral interventions to achieve and sustain weight loss.
Want to go from couch to 5K? Check out the 3P Method and the Comfortability Continu-
um, along with key sections in Core One: Movement and Core Three: Recovery. Learning
about exercise prescription, injury prevention, and athletic performance will help you
get race ready, while understanding the roles of sleep, breathing, and recovery will help
you stay healthy.
The Vitality System can also help you if you want to build better habits and focus on
mindset improvements. Try starting with Why Prompts, the Triple R Report, and Mental
Models. These will help lay the groundwork for shifting your perspectives and behaviors.
Then you can dive into Core Four: Lifestyle, which outlines how to create the right
environment, frame of mind, and goals that will allow your productive habits to thrive.

All aspects of health and wellness covered in this book are essential in their own right,
but each specific topic or tool’s degree of importance will vary for different individuals.
The Foundational Principles give you a base you can build on with the Vitality Concepts
and The Core Four to customize your particular path toward changed behavior. As your
objectives and goals shift, your behaviors must shift as well. With The Vitality System,
you can mix, adjust, and apply the information, strategies, and tools that are the most
relevant to you. It is a single, central place in which you can find personalized answers
to the many health questions that life asks you. You are the driver of your health and
wellness. The Vitality System is the GPS that will guide you to your desired destination.
So buckle up and prepare for the journey.
How Do I Use The Vitality System? 19

Foundational Principles
In The Vitality System, the Foundational Principles provide structure for your journey.
Five phases make up the Foundational Principles. Each one is an essential piece of your
journey and lays the groundwork for making, sustaining, and advancing significant
and impactful behavior changes in your life. The phases are education, exploration,
experimentation, execution, and evolution.
While you can engage with the phases individually and in any order, the overall goal of
the Foundational Principles is for you to be intentional about improving your health.
Once you are equipped with the knowledge in the Core Four, as well as the strategies
and tactics of the Vitality Concepts, you should be able to plan your health journey by
organizing it with these phases.
The Foundational Principles ensure that you have the proper structure to succeed in
an ever-changing world of misinformation, general advice, and unanswered questions.
Being principles-centered gives you a sense of direction, awareness, and structure that
is invaluable when navigating your journey to optimal health, wellness, and longevity.
EDUCATION—BASELINE KNOWLEDGE
Education is the process or acquisition of awareness, skills, habits, values, and knowledge.
Education comes in many forms and is associated with giving and receiving information
that encourages development. Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is the product
of education and experience, and when it comes to your health and wellness journey,
knowledge is not just power. It also fuels your potential to learn and think at higher levels,
make more informed decisions, acquire the skills needed to make changes, and increase
your self-awareness so you can shape your future. Your vision is only as strong as your
knowledge of how to create it. Therefore, the knowledge you seek should represent the
person you hope to be in the future. The more knowledge you have, the more control you
have over your life path.
Baseline knowledge of health, wellness, and the human body is needed to uncover what
being healthy truly means to you. That allows you to shape and mold your behavior toward
what matters to your life. For example, a person struggling to lose weight could use this

phase to learn about energy balance, nutritional frameworks, and the best nutritional
practices for losing weight and keeping it off. This could also be supplemented with
learning about exercise interventions for weight loss, how sleep plays a role in weight
loss, and what habits they can build to make losing weight simpler and more sustainable.
This foundational knowledge starts with becoming an expert on yourself and your body.
In the Core Four chapters, I dissect the pillars of health and wellness to get a detailed
picture of how the body works, why being healthy matters, and how to make necessary
changes in your life to achieve health. Specific knowledge and skills tailored to your
unique situation can incite behavior change. The education phase lays the foundation
for developing the requisite knowledge, skills, habits, and self-awareness that drive
meaningful behavior change. This phase focuses on increasing knowledge by building
up your mental database with relevant and applicable information, which will help you
understand what you can and cannot control.
• Vitality Concepts for Education
◊ CHANGERS Framework
◊ Mental Models
EXPLORATION—STRATEGIC PLANNING AND

AWARENESS
Exploration is the act of searching for the purpose of discovering information or resources.
Exploration can lead to knowledge and understanding, and is the key to unlocking your
potential and revealing possibilities.
The more you uncover through exploration, the easier the planning process becomes.
Whether it is self-exploration or exploration of your environment, the ability to explore
different realms helps you develop strategies and increase awareness. Determining your
“why,” establishing objectives, and identifying obstacles are all by-products of the explo-
ration phase. For example, the person struggling with weight loss who has finished the
education phase would use the exploration phase to further their sustainable weight loss
progress. They would do this by assessing where they are, prioritizing where they want to
go, and then identifying what would help them get there. This person could explore the
various tools provided throughout Core Two: Nutrition, and combine them with various
mental models to map out the ideal plan for attacking their weight loss.
This phase lets you define your vision and build your path toward optimal health and
wellness. It gives you tools for exploring and helps you understand how to apply them.
The exploration phase is carried out through several of the Vitality Concepts listed below,
which are detailed in the next chapter. This phase will help you recognize where you are
now, where you want to go, how you want to get there, and why it matters to you. These
reflective processes will also help you make sense of the outside world. Being more in
tune with yourself shields you from negative internal and external influences that can
throw you off your path.
To achieve something you never have before, you must be willing to do things you’ve never
done. As kids, our ability to quickly adopt walking, talking, jumping, and climbing come
from trial and error. Although this can sometimes be inefficient, we eventually develop
through this continued exploration and experimentation (the next phase). Acquiring
the necessary knowledge and awareness can significantly improve the efficiency of this
trial-and-error process. You can find answers for yourself and explore possibilities that
you can then cross-reference with your knowledge and the best current research. With
this phase, I hope to give you both map and compass as you embark on your health and
wellness expedition.
• Vitality Concepts for Exploration
◊ 3P Method
◊ Mental Models
◊ Why Prompts
EXPERIMENTATION—TEST, MEASURE,
ANALYZE
Experimentation is the feedback that helps bridge the crucial gap between knowledge and
action. Collecting information on the successes and failures of various experiments en-
ables you to make more informed decisions. You can confirm or refute your assumptions
by gathering and studying objective and subjective data. You don’t know if something
works or not until you try it properly. The experimentation phase is about understanding
which strategies to apply and how to apply them.
In science, we use the scientific method, which consists of systematic observation and
measurement, along with formulating, testing, and modifying hypotheses. This empir-

ical method of acquiring knowledge has characterized the developmental process of
science since at least the seventeenth century. Using this tried-and-true process for our
personal development is only fitting. In this phase, the person who explored weight loss
strategies in the previous phase could test those strategies and tools that they identified as
potentially useful. To carry out this phase, this person should dive into doing research on
themselves. They should try new things in a calculated manner, like using a different nu-
tritional framework or nutrition tracking to help aid in their weight loss. Then they could
examine their results to figure out the best process for achieving sustainable weight loss.
This phase is characterized by three staples of experimentation: testing, measuring, and

analyzing. Testing is carried out by checking the quality, performance, and reliability of
something before putting it into widespread use. Measuring is the process of tracking
and quantifying attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other
objects or events. Finally, analyzing is characterized by the methodical examination of
something, especially information, typically for the purposes of explanation and inter-
pretation. So in this phase, we test, measure, and analyze behaviors, routines, events,
and information to be more conscious in the decision-making process.
Vitality Concepts will guide you through the process of creating and running your exper-
iments. This investigative process is crucial to growth and progression on your journey,
and the concepts will help you become a vigilant detective. Research is the backbone of
development, and with these strategies, you can conduct legitimate research on yourself,
your environment, and your ideas.
• Vitality Concepts for Experimentation
◊ Comfortability Continuum
◊ 3P Method
◊ Impulse Resistance Training
EXECUTION—IMPLEMENT AND ACHIEVE
Implementing and executing a plan is imperative for success. A perfect plan poorly
executed will fail, and an effective strategy and proper knowledge are only useful with
execution. The Vitality System provides structure, strategies, and education that make
creating and executing your vision seamless. In this phase, the person who wants to lose
weight will have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t after the experimentation
phase. Execution for this person would be consistently putting into action the strategies
that they know work for them. With the goal of losing weight, this person can apply the
most effective and relevant behavioral and nutritional strategies that they tested in the
previous phases. Execution becomes easier when you know what you need to do and why
you need to do it. As in the other phases of the Foundational Principles, Vitality Concepts
drive execution. In this phase, the focus is on habits over outcomes and documentation
of successes and failures.
Showing up is a skill that needs to be trained extensively. The more mental and physical
barriers you remove, the easier it becomes to take that first step. Regardless of how big
or small it is, taking action is the first step toward growth and achievement. Resistance,
fear, and anxiety can all be overcome by decisive action. As discussed in later chapters,
this action leads to motivation, confidence, and ultimately, more action. This is how you
achieve your goals, make meaningful changes, and see results: through persistent effort
supported by structure and strategy.
The ability to navigate different scenarios, build strong habits, and take daily action is
essential in driving progression and growth. The Vitality System emphasizes consis-
tency and will help you create an environment conducive to change. It will help you
develop resilience and the confidence to step out of your comfort zone, seek change,
and embrace challenges. This phase provides guides on how to start, stop, and maintain
certain behaviors to achieve your goals. Execution becomes easier when you have robust
systems in place.
• Vitality Concepts for Execution
◊ 3P Method
◊ Mental Models

EVOLUTION—REVIEW, REFINE, ADAPT, AND
TRANSFORM
In life, change is the only constant. Your ability to keep up with and stay on the right side
of change determines whether you evolve or regress. If you can adequately integrate new
information, control the controllable, and shift your perspectives, you can bring about
positive change. You can avoid plateaus, anticipate roadblocks, and set yourself up for
future success. You must be willing to change in this phase because change is at the core
of evolution. You must adapt based on your unique needs and environment to adjust to
life’s ever-changing landscape.
When you assess your physical, mental, emotional, and social landscape, you can un-
derstand how best to navigate it. Regarding your health, wellness, and longevity, you
must ensure that these adaptations cater to your unique needs. You are influenced by
both nature (genetics) and nurture (environment). Although you can’t always control
your genetics, you can, for the most part, control many aspects of your environment.
How much you move, what and when you eat, how much you sleep, your social groups,
and your mindset are all things you can modulate, in most cases. The good news is that
evidence suggests that nurture matters much more than nature in the long run. No matter
what cards you are dealt, you still have the power to play your best hand.
The Evolution phase consists of concepts and strategies that enable you to review, refine,
adapt, and transform your journey, giving you the direction and control you need to forge
your path. Reviewing is the process of examining something formally to make changes if
necessary. Refining involves removing unwanted elements and making minor changes
to improve something. Adapting is becoming better suited to new conditions. Finally,
transforming is about making dramatic and thorough behavior and mindset changes.
Each of these processes works in tandem, powering you to evolve. Using these concepts
and strategies, you can continuously assess your journey through an objective lens. In
addition to helping you evaluate your journey, the Vitality Concepts will bolster your
ability to adjust it as you progress by creating tight feedback loops so you can learn
from mistakes.
In this final phase, the person whose goal is to lose weight will need to continuously evolve
on their journey. Losing weight is an ongoing process that requires constant adjustment.
Assessing successes and documenting and learning from failures are necessary compo-
nents of this phase. What works in the beginning of a weight loss journey might not work
later on, so I’ve provided strategies and tools that will help you avoid plateaus, bounce
back from failure, and build on your successes.
• Vitality Concepts for Evolution
◊ Triple R Report
◊ Mental Models

Vitality Concepts
Most people have a general idea of what to do to improve their health and wellness. It’s
the how and why that people tend to get stuck on. This is where Vitality Concepts come
in, offering strategies, frameworks, and practices that will give you the tools to effectively
move through the phases in the Foundational Principles and apply the knowledge gained
from the Core Four.
The Vitality Concepts consist of assessments, behavioral strategies, and mental models.
The assessments are methods of evaluating your health and wellness journey to promote
growth and development; behavioral strategies will help bias you toward action; and
mental models, a collection of mental frameworks and paradigms, will help shift your
perspective to better understand your health, challenge your assumptions, make informed
decisions, and solve problems. These versatile and wide-ranging concepts can be used
throughout your journey. The goal isn’t to teach you what to think or believe, but to give
you the autonomy and confidence to learn how to think and act according to your lifestyle.
These concepts will lead the way, whether by helping you achieve a goal, change a be-
havior, or shift your perspective. This chapter will outline each concept, giving you an
in-depth overview of how they can be leveraged and integrated into your life. Deep down
inside each of us lies the locked potential for vitality. Vitality Concepts are the keys that
unlock that potential and reveal endless growth opportunities.
ASSESSMENTS
Assessments have been widely used to help people evaluate specific aspects of their health
and wellness. People use assessments to collect information, make decisions, analyze
data, and interpret different situations. When you go to the doctor for a checkup, you do an
assessment. When you join a new gym, you do an assessment. When you assess something
or someone, you are evaluating overall ability. This gives you critical information that
informs your future decisions and actions.
Without assessments, you are flying blind when it comes to certain choices. Whether
you are assessing yourself or your environment, assessments are crucial to progressive
behavior change. They are an important part of the learning and development process,
which is why I provide several different assessments you can use. Wherever you might
be on your journey, the assessments provided below will help you. Whether you are just
starting out, facing a big change, or trying to continue on a successful path, regularly eval-
uating yourself will make it easier to achieve your goals and attain the life you want to live.
Why Prompts
Why Prompts are a set of questions and strategies to help you discover or clarify why
you want to create your path toward a healthy, fulfilling, and enjoyable life. Your Why is
your purpose, mission, conviction, and calling. It’s your reason for being. Your Why is
your moral compass that guides your decisions and gives you direction. Knowing your
personal Why fuels the pursuit of your passions and guides your life. Before you figure
out how to live a healthier life, and before you map out what to do to be healthier, you
must first consider why you want to be healthier in the first place. The clearer you can
be about your Why, the easier it will be to remain locked in, no matter the circumstance.
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “He who has a ‘why’ to live for can endure almost any
‘how’” (Goodreads 2022). Your confidence, courage, and focus are enhanced when you
know what matters most to you. Figuring out your personal Why is an ongoing process.
Your Why can change as you navigate life. Understanding your unique identity, values,
passions, skills, knowledge, morals, and beliefs can help you home in on your personal
Why. It’s about having clarity of vision and flexibility in your efforts to carry out this
vision. It’s about clearing the clutter and noise from your life.
The Why Prompts give you the tools to identify the characteristics mentioned above and
put them into practice throughout your journey. This allows you to define your vision
and carry out the necessary actions that will turn that vision into a reality. Stephen Covey
talked about living a “principle-centered life,” and he emphasized writing out your per-
sonal mission statement in his best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
By spelling out who you want to be, the values you want to live by, and why it matters to
you, you can ensure you always “begin with the end in mind” and “put first things first,”
(Covey and Covey 2020). Having a clear vision, strong principles, and a sense of purpose
can help you reach new heights.
Why Prompts: Write out your answers to some or all of these questions, then build
your Why statement or mission statement. The answers can focus on your personal Why
or a health-specific Why, or they can be a mix of both.

• Why do I want to be healthy?
• What does being healthy mean to me?
• What makes me get up in the morning?
• What keeps me up at night?
• Who are the people that depend on me, and what do they rely on me for?
• What things am I passionate about?
• What motivates me?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What gives me pride in my life?
• What gives me courage?
• What talents and abilities do I possess?
• When do I feel my strongest, and when do I feel my weakest?
• Where do I add the most value?
• Who do I admire?
• How would I describe my identity?
• How will I measure my life?
• What does success look like for me?
• How would I like to be remembered, and what is my legacy?
• Why do I do what I do now?
After writing out the answers to some of the questions above, try to find some of the
commonalities. Are there themes or patterns that you can spot among your answers?
Group these answers together. Once you do, see if you can go deeper with your answers.
Continue to ask “Why?” until you can boil things down to some core thoughts. Once you
have these core thoughts gathered, try to combine them into a statement or couple of
statements that describe your mission, your Why. This can be in relation to health and
wellness or life in general. It can be broad or specific, as long as it has meaning for you.
Having your Why written out and being able to refer to it will help you internalize and
come back to it when you need to. As mentioned before, this statement can evolve as you
do, so don’t feel any pressure to make it perfect right away. Check out some examples of
mission statements below to help you get started with yours:
• My mission is to consistently prioritize my physical, mental, and emotional health

through the progression and development of meaningful and sustainable habits
• My mission is to continuously learn and help others learn about all things health
and wellness
• My mission is to watch my kids grow up and to be there for them when they need me
• My mission is to provide an example of how to lead a healthy life for my family
and community
CHANGERS Framework
The CHANGERS Framework is an acronym that will help you identify and define the
critical elements that influence your behavior so you can make consistent, sustainable
changes. This approach allows you to break down any behavior you want to start or stop
doing. By breaking down each element, you can remove barriers to positive behaviors you
want to incorporate into your day-to-day life. This also applies to the negative behaviors
you want to curb; by understanding each component of the framework, you can effectively
suppress or stop specific behaviors.
Change can be intimidating when it comes to your health and wellness. With so many
options, opinions, and obstacles, it can take time to make the necessary choices that lead
to the right changes. This framework helps you map out your behavior change landscape,
which makes positive decisions clearer. When decision-making is more manageable, your
cognitive load is reduced, which gives you more willpower to take action.
With this model, I want to help you get out of your way by helping you create a clear path
to success. By identifying and then defining each element of the CHANGERS Framework,
you can simplify the process of altering your behavior. This way, you can make specific,
impactful, and long-lasting changes. Below is a brief description of each element of
CHANGERS Framework and how to properly use it on your journey.
CHOICES
Choices are the decisions you make when faced with multiple possibilities. Choices shape
your life for better or for worse. Everything you do in life is the result of a choice, and
each one starts a cascade that leads to a behavior, a habit, or a result. The more control
you have over your choices, the better actions you can take to build better habits. Control
over your choices starts with awareness and is further fueled by your values and beliefs.
If you repeatedly or unconsciously make the same bad choices, you can expect the same
bad results. Developing strong core values and consistent self-awareness will lead you
down the right path. Finding what’s important to you, defining your goals, and staying
true to your beliefs will make your choices more manageable and fulfilling.
Use the questions below to identify the different choices that put you where you are
currently, and the choices that will lead to the change you desire:

• What choices do I need to make to get to where I want to be?
• What choices do I need to avoid?
• How can I make my choices easier?
• Who or what can help me make more informed choices?
HABITS
Habits are regular routines or behaviors that tend to occur subconsciously. Habits make
up most of what you do on a day-to-day basis. Your daily actions build a foundation for
your habits. The more you can take daily action toward the goals of your journey, the
easier it will become to move forward. Taking daily action is step one; step two is assessing
and figuring out which daily actions or habits you want to implement or eliminate to
become what you want to become or change what you want to change. You can do this
by understanding the nature of habits.
Habits help you integrate behaviors and expand your focus. They can be helpful or harm-
ful, depending on the context. What’s important is that you recognize which habits are
working for you and which are working against you. Building positive habits and breaking
negative habits is critical to success in making and sustaining behavior changes. Habits
consist of a cue, a craving, a response, and a reward. You can recognize and manipulate
different aspects of this habit loop to create better habits.
I will talk more about habits in Core Four: Lifestyle, but here, I’ve provided some ques-
tions to help you rethink your habits. Using the questions below, identify current positive
and negative habits you have that affect your desired behavior change:
• What habits do I want to build? Why?

• What habits do I want to break? Why?
• What daily actions do I need to take to live a healthier lifestyle?
• What daily actions do I need to avoid to live a healthier lifestyle?
• What actions can I take right now to live the way I want?
AWARENESS
Awareness is the state of being conscious of something, having knowledge, or perceiving

a situation or fact. Awareness is the ability to directly know or be mindful of the events
and choices in your life. Having awareness is the first step toward change, because you
can’t change what you aren’t aware of. Once you become aware, you gain power over your
choices and you can make changes in your life.
Awareness can be fostered and strengthened in many ways, but education, exploration,
and experimentation are three proven ways to build up your awareness muscle. This is
why, when it comes to change, you must understand, track, measure, analyze, and reflect
on your choices and behaviors. This will allow you to replace, enhance, and evolve them
in ways that fit your desired path.
Using the questions below, identify the key factors that can boost your awareness of the
changes you want to make:
• Why do you want to make this change?

• What will this change bring to your life?
• How significant is this change to you?
• What can I learn about this change that will make it easier?
NOVELTY
Novelty is the quality of being new, original, or unusual. Novelty is a significant driver of
intrinsic motivation. Dopamine, the neurochemical that motivates us to pursue things,
is fueled by novelty. When you experience new things, your attention and focus are
heightened, and learning becomes more straightforward. Your memory is enhanced
and your senses become keener. These are all triggered by experiencing something new.
If you want to make significant changes on your health and wellness journey, you must
be willing to tap into this concept of novelty. This can be done by trying new things and
constantly challenging yourself and the status quo. Nothing changes if nothing changes,
so you must make adjustments in your life to see a difference. This doesn’t mean that
everything you do must be new or novel, but when it comes to making significant changes
and adjusting behaviors, inserting a dose of novelty can be beneficial. Thinking about
and figuring out how to properly insert novelty into your life at the right times can be the
key to making changes that stick.
Using the questions below, identify how novelty can play a role in making your de-
sired change:

• What novelty do I currently seek on a day-to-day basis? Is this negative or positive?
• What new things can I add to my life that will be beneficial?
• What new things should I avoid in my life that will be beneficial?
• What’s new or novel about my behavior now that was different from before?
GOALS
A goal is the object of a person’s ambition or effort. It is an aim or desired result. Goals
are at the core of everything you do in life. They can help you envision a better future
and give you the necessary direction to reach it. This ultimately builds activation energy
that makes change easier.
Goals and goal setting are synonymous with planning, objectives, dreams, and purpose.
There have been many goal-setting frameworks that have come along, like ABC and
SMART goals. Essentially, they all break down into three main components with a
couple of overarching ideas. The core idea is that you must adequately set, evaluate, and
execute your plans in a purpose-driven, autonomous, measurable, rewarding, specific,
and identity-based way.
I will discuss goals further in Core Four: Lifestyle, Habits and Goal Setting. For now, use
the questions below to identify how goals and goal setting can play a role in making your
desired change:
• Are the goals I set helping or hurting my progress?

• What goals do I need to achieve to get closer to who I want to become?
• How do I currently set and evaluate goals?
• Are my current goals aligned with my purpose and identity?
ENVIRONMENT
Environment consists of the circumstances, objects, people, and conditions you are
surrounded by. As we’ll discuss in Core Four: Lifestyle, your environment significantly
influences your behavior. Your external environment (people, places, things, and infor-
mation) and your internal environment (your mindset and mental strength) are heavily
intertwined. Although you don’t always control your external environment, you certainly
have power over your internal environment.
However, having all the right intentions and willpower in the world doesn’t always
outweigh a bad external environment. What and who you surround yourself with can
make change easier or harder. Building the right environment enables you to reserve
cognitive energy, reduce stress, and clarify decision-making. You can only be as strong
as your environment allows.
Using the questions below, identify the environmental factors that could be helping or
hurting your ability to make your desired change:
• How can I make my environment more conducive to my success and identity?

• What support systems do I have around me?
• What information do I want to consume?
• What information do I want to stay away from?
• How can I shift my mental environment to drive success?
• What people, places, things, or information can help me succeed in making my
desired change?
• What people, places, things, or information might be hurting my progress?
READINESS
Readiness is the state of being fully prepared for something or the willingness to do some-
thing. The change process starts by recognizing that you need to change and deliberating
on the risks and rewards involved in the process. This contemplation, or preplanning,
is crucial in determining the degree of readiness for a given behavior change. If you do
not feel ready to make specific changes, then a higher degree of friction will be involved
in getting started.
However, there won’t always be a perfect or ideal moment to start when it comes to
making changes. You must evaluate your preparedness and make the best decision you
can depending on your situation. This could involve doing a cost-to-benefit or risk-to-
reward analysis to ensure that the change makes sense and that it is the right time. Overall,
checking your readiness when making significant changes is crucial. There are currently
various readiness scales for change, but here, I’ve laid out simple questions that should
get your gears turning in your desire and willingness to make changes. As Bill Paxton once
said, “Through readiness and discipline, we are masters of our own fate” (Ernst 2014).
So ask yourself, are you ready to make changes?

Using the questions below, evaluate your readiness for change:
• Am I fully prepared to make this change?

• Is this the best time for me to make this change?
• Will there ever be a better time to make this change?
• Will this change be beneficial to me right now?
• What am I willing to sacrifice for this change?
• Are there more risks than rewards for this change?
SELF-EFFICACY
Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their capacity to execute the behaviors

necessary to achieve specific outcomes. It can also be defined as your belief or confidence
in the ability to control your own emotional, cognitive, and behavioral states (Carey
and Forsyth 2009). How much you believe you can achieve something can profoundly
impact how much energy you put into it. Furthermore, your attitude toward changes
and behavioral interventions can significantly influence your success rate. It has been
proven in various health and wellness domains that the more robust your beliefs, the
better your outcomes.
In psychology, the factors that influence self-efficacy include:
• Performance experience (your personal experience)

• Vicarious experiences (seeing others’ experiences)
• Verbal persuasion (people’s opinions of what you can and cannot do)
• Imaginal experiences (how well or poorly you imagine yourself doing)
• Your affective states and physical sensations (how you associate moods and
sensations with success or failure)
The more you believe, the more you can achieve; it’s that simple. Building your self-effica-
cy can boost learning, performance, health, and self-regulation, making positive changes
easier to carry out and sustain.
Using the questions below, identify your self-efficacy regarding your desired be-
havior change:
• How confident am I that I can complete this change?

• Have I seen others complete this change?
• Do I feel good or bad about making this change?
• Can I imagine that this change will go well for me?
• Do the people around me think I can and should make this change?
• How afraid of failing am I when it comes to this change?
Comfortability Continuum
The Comfortability Continuum is an assessment method for understanding the optimal

comfort level needed for meaningful change. This assessment involves figuring out the
correct balance between pushing out of your comfort zone and sticking with what you
know. It operates similarly to the Yerkes-Dodson law, which states that as arousal level
increases, performance improves, but only to a point beyond which increases in arousal
lead to decreasing performance (Nickerson 2021). The Comfortability Continuum is
characterized by an inverted U relationship between change and comfort, meaning that
there is a sweet spot in your health journey wherein a particular level of comfort produces
maximum change.
Pushing yourself too far out of your comfort zone on the Comfortability Continuum can
result in a loss of enjoyment, as well as mental and physical fatigue. But not pushing
yourself enough can lead to stagnation and a loss of motivation and confidence. The
more time you spend outside your comfort zone, the more opportunities you gain. You
should consistently step out of your comfort zone, but not to the point that you are
counterproductive.
We usually run from the things or behaviors that help us the most. When you constantly
push your own boundaries, you expand your comfort zone. In health and wellness, this
means continuously looking for ways to challenge yourself across each realm of the Core
Four. Whether it’s sleep, nutrition, exercise, or mindfulness, there are always areas you
can improve on and ways to test yourself. Finding these desirable difficulties forces you
to learn and evolve along your journey, which fuels continued growth. Adversity unlocks
potential, so you must consistently question comfort and find answers in challenge.
There is an optimal zone of comfort for every individual between no challenge or extreme
challenge. I’ve provided questions that help people understand where their specific
behaviors or changes fall on the Comfortability Continuum. These questions can be used
to assess any behaviors on your health journey and are both subjective and objective.

Pick a behavior or intervention you want to assess on the Comfortability Continuum.
Focusing on this behavior or intervention, truthfully answer the questions below.
CHALLENGE
• How difficult is the behavior/intervention for you?
◊ 1: Low difficulty
◊ 2: Medium difficulty
◊ 3: High difficulty
• What level of effort does this behavior/intervention require?
◊ 1: Low effort
◊ 2: Medium effort
◊ 3: High effort
• What amount of time do you commit to this behavior/intervention?
◊ 1: Low amount of time

◊ 2: Medium amount of time
◊ 3: High amount of time
• How confident are you with this behavior/intervention?
◊ 1: Low confidence
◊ 2: Medium confidence
◊ 3: High confidence
CHANGE
• How consistent are you with this behavior/intervention?
◊ 1: Low consistency
◊ 2: Medium consistency
◊ 3: High consistency
• How much do you enjoy this behavior/intervention?
◊ 1: Low enjoyment
◊ 2: Medium enjoyment
◊ 3: High enjoyment
• How much does the behavior/intervention benefit you?
◊ 1: Low benefit
◊ 2: Medium benefit
◊ 3: High benefit
• How conducive is your environment to making the change?
◊ 1: Low conduciveness
◊ 2: Medium conduciveness
◊ 3: High conduciveness
Add up your scores in the Challenge and Change sections separately, and compare them
with the ranges listed below.
• Challenge
◊ 11–12: Too much challenge

◊ 7–10: Optimal level of challenge
◊ 4–6: Not enough of a challenge
• Change
◊ 8–12: Change likely

◊ 4–7: Change not likely
We all know the saying, “if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you,” but time after
time, we slip back into a physical and mental comfort zone. This makes progress improb-
able and leaves potential unrealized. How can you ever know your limits if you’ve never
strived to move beyond them? Most of what you want and need in life lies on the other
side of fear. Getting past your fear of being uncomfortable sets you up for success. With
health and wellness, you must be willing to push your boundaries and challenge yourself.
This can be done in many different ways and ultimately depends on what precisely you

are trying to achieve. Not everything needs to be uncomfortable, but we all know of
areas where we can improve, work harder, or give more effort. You rob yourself and the
world of what you could be if you don’t push yourself appropriately. The Comfortability
Continuum shows you how to do just that by helping you analyze your behaviors, push
your limits, and make meaningful changes in your health and wellness. Nobody knows
what you’re capable of until you show them.
Triple R Report
The Triple R Report is a unique way to analyze your health and wellness journey by
regularly checking in with yourself to ensure you are on the right path. This report is a
way to evaluate your progress, make necessary observations and changes, and increase
your self-awareness. The three Rs stand for Review, Reflect and Revise. These three com-
ponents are essential in personal growth and progression. When it comes to enhancing
your health and wellness, there is always room for improvement and learning. Organizing
your thoughts and identifying different paths of development are extremely valuable.
The Triple R Report gives you the structure to assess your overall health journey so you
can continuously progress toward vitality. Below, I will go over each R and how to use
the Triple R Report.
REVIEW
Reviewing is assessing or examining something with the intention of instituting change

if necessary. Reviewing brings a general awareness and perception to your actions and
thoughts. It helps you observe and objectively evaluate your experiences. This opens the
door to finding areas for improvement and opportunities to learn from mistakes.
REFLECT
Reflection involves thinking deeply and carefully about something. This may seem similar
to the Review section, but it is very different. Reviewing is about observing in a general,
objective sense, while reflecting is about actually making sense of those observations.
It’s about attaching and detaching meaning to the things going on in your journey. This
will push you to question your perceptions, carefully consider different perspectives,
and strengthen your self-awareness so you can move from experience to understanding.
REVISE
Revision is about making changes to improve or correct something in light of evidence.

Revision is the manifestation of your reviewing and reflection. Once you identify and start
to understand your past thoughts and experiences, it will become easier to make necessary
adjustments. Often, significant changes may not be necessary, but you can always find a
way to get better. Revision will help you correct mistakes, enhance your strengths, and
build your path to sustained success.
HOW TO USE THE TRIPLE R REPORT
You can use the Triple R Report to check in with yourself on a monthly, weekly, or daily
basis. By using the chart below, you can also use the Core Four health pillars (Movement,
Nutrition, Recovery, and Lifestyle) to help organize your thoughts. Write out any ideas
or actions you want to take within the chart’s corresponding categories. Depending on
your chosen time frame, you can revisit this report to evaluate how you want to learn
from the past and move forward.
DATE: ____________ REVIEW REFLECT REVISE
Movement
Nutrition
Recovery
Lifestyle

BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES
Behavioral strategies are practical approaches to sustainable behavior change. Their

ultimate goal is to promote learning and progression toward a desired behavior. You
use behavioral strategies and interventions every day to address problems in your life.
Everything from goal setting to rewarding yourself to self-monitoring can help reinforce
behavior change.
Regarding health and wellness, behavioral strategies are crucial because they will bias you
toward action and they are within your control. You can choose to go to bed earlier, exer-
cise more, or eat less to improve your health. The strategies in this section make it easier
to start, stop, or continue specific behaviors. When it comes to behavioral strategies, it’s
not all about taking action; sometimes it can be about inaction or refraining. You are faced
with hundreds of decisions each day that affect your health and wellness. Every action you
take can be a step toward or a step away from your health goals. Having strategies to help
you make the right choices and build the right habits can increase your personal growth.
The strategies covered below can be used across many different scenarios or situations.
They act as foundational tools for behavior change that can be deployed whenever you
need them. Behavior, as it relates to your well-being, is one thing you have a tremendous
amount of control over. These strategies will help you exercise that control so you can
achieve the outcomes you desire.
3P Method
The 3P Method is a quick but versatile process used when building a habit, establishing
a goal, or trying to accomplish anything in life for yourself or others. The 3Ps stand for
Prioritize, Plan, and Pursue. These Ps can be shuffled into any order when embarking on
your behavior change. Depending on the type and context of the change, a combination
of these three pillars can be used to ensure progression. The vital part of the 3P Method
is that you complete and combine all three pillars during your journey.
You must execute each pillar at a high level, no matter the order. Below, I’ll go over each
pillar so you know what they mean, how to apply them, and how to properly combine
them to best fit your unique goals.
PRIORITIZE
To prioritize is to determine the order of items or tasks based on importance. To do

this, you need to fully understand what is important to you and why it is a crucial step
toward growth.
A big part of prioritization is realizing what not to do. Avoiding negative behaviors
eliminates mental clutter and allows positive behaviors to fill the gaps. It also becomes
much easier to change when you know why that change is needed. This clarity will give
you an advantage when going through ups and downs. Prioritization can significantly
reduce stress while increasing productivity. You can make the most of your time and
energy when properly prioritizing your goals, habits, and behaviors. Once your priorities
are in check, you can focus more on planning and pursuing. I will cover prioritization in
more depth in Core Four: Lifestyle, Productivity.
Quick tips for prioritization: determine your Why (see Why Prompts), set boundaries,
identify distractions or obstacles, use the Eisenhower matrix (see Core Four: Lifestyle,
Productivity), manage commitments, establish core values, identify goals, habits, and
behaviors you want to achieve, create to-do lists, map out your time, delegate tasks, and
allocate resources efficiently.
PLAN
To plan is to decide on and arrange things in advance. It can also mean making a detailed
proposal for doing or achieving something. Planning will help you envision a future that
you’d like to experience. When planning, you should critically assess your goals, habits,
and behaviors to determine how realistic they are. Break things down into smaller parts
and find the best ways to piece them together. Set objectives and define success. This
way, decision-making will become more straightforward and your map to progress will
become clearer.
We all know the saying, “failure to plan is a plan to fail.” Failure to adapt your plan can
also be a sure way to fail. You must see and use failure as feedback that points you in the
right direction for future plans. Plans should be fluid, and change as you change. You
are constantly adapting, adjusting, and learning, so it is imperative that your plan does
the same. This way, your plan can lead to increased efficiency and enhanced creativity.
It might not always be a straight path from A to B, but having a fluid plan allows you

to focus on your task and adapt when necessary. You can set yourself up for success by
continuously reassessing your situation and laying a path at every stage of your journey.
Proper planning can reduce risk, increase confidence, and avoid mental fatigue from
overthinking. Without planning, you have no vision, mission, or direction. Although it
doesn’t always have to come first, planning should always be integral to your health and
wellness journey. Changes in your movement, nutrition, recovery, and lifestyle are all
made easier with a proper plan.
Quick tips for planning: don’t spend too much time planning and not enough pursuing,
break things down into smaller parts and write them down, visualize, turn outcome goals
into habits, review your plan daily, measure progress, explore options, anticipate failure,
identify alternatives, begin with your end goal in mind, hold yourself accountable, and
develop routines.
PURSUE
Pursuing is continuously exploring a route to accomplish something. When you are in

pursuit, you are actively trying to progress. Pursuit is all about action. Without action,
nothing can be achieved. Whether you are pursuing something mentally or physically,
daily actions create habits. Just like an object in motion stays in motion, being in pursuit
is a continuous endeavor. Some days will be better than others, but you will get better as
long as you learn, explore, and engage.
Pursuit is about habits over outcomes and seeking never-ending knowledge of yourself.
Goals can be finite, but pursuit helps you see beyond your goals and build behaviors
that will sustain you once you achieve them. The journey to optimal health and wellness
is endless and requires relentless engagement—the constant pursuit of knowledge,
self-improvement, and self-awareness. Pursue with your mind and your body so you can
reach higher and higher to uncover different paths.
This can be the hardest step to maintain when dealing with health, wellness, and longev-
ity, but ultimately, it’s the most rewarding when it all comes together.
Quick tips for pursuing: focus on showing up every day, prioritize habits over outcomes,
don’t be restricted by goals, explore different paths, focus less on what you do and more on
how and why you do it, create a support system, keep to your mental and moral compass,
know when to change or ditch a plan, and block out distractions.
The 3P Method was built as a quick strategy for accomplishing any task, goal, or habit
you want to take on. As mentioned before, you can use these three pillars in various
orders depending on who you are and what you want to accomplish. What’s important
to remember is that when used together, all three will provide you with the best chance
of success. A plan without pursuit is an idea unrealized. Pursuit without prioritization or
planning can lead to wasted time and energy. And prioritization without planning and
pursuit gets you nowhere fast. Each P offers little value individually, but they can bring
immense value to your journey when combined.
Regarding behavior change, prioritizing ensures that you are doing what’s right, planning
ensures that you map out all your options and possible paths, and pursuing ensures that
you take daily action in the right direction. So no matter which pillar you choose first or
how you decide to arrange them, the goal is to make sure that you put each one to use.
Impulse Resistance Training
Impulse Resistance Training is a strategy designed to strengthen willpower and self-dis-

cipline by repeatedly and deliberately resisting urges to do unwanted behaviors. This is a
crucial strategy for developing mental resilience. You are bombarded daily with distrac-
tions, unhealthy food choices, addicting technology, and mental roadblocks. Resisting
these forces can be extremely difficult and daunting, given that they’re everywhere. Time
and attention are two of your most valuable resources. How you allocate these resources
profoundly influences the successes and failures you experience. The more time you invest
in yourself and your health, the more you can make every second count.
Knowing what you want to direct your time and attention toward is not enough. You must
also be aware of what doesn’t deserve these valuable resources. Your ability to overcome
negative impulses is vital and can impact all aspects of life beyond health and wellness.
You can actively fight against these distractions, urges, and roadblocks by identifying
when and where they exist in your day-to-day life. Awareness is the first step to stopping
or reversing these impulses. Once you’ve pinpointed these impulses, you can proactively
combat them by tracking, understanding, and replacing those thoughts and behaviors.
This builds your self-awareness and self-control in cultivating better habits and investing
your time and attention wisely.
Using the questions below, identify what unwanted distractions you have, along with
when and where (mentally and physically) you encounter them. Write down your answers
and follow the prompts after the questions.

• What distractions, urges, or roadblocks do you have that you want to get rid of?
• When do you usually encounter them? (For example, what day of the week, time
of day, or specific mood, etc., do you associate with the distraction?)
• Where do you typically encounter them? (For example, are there places, people,
or things that trigger these behaviors?
Now that you’ve answered the questions, follow the prompts below.
• Take one day (beginner) or one week (advanced) and track how many times you
succumb to these unwanted distractions, behaviors, or thoughts.
• Identify what constitutes succumbing for you.
• Mark down the day, time, and activity every time you succumb to an unwant-
ed impulse.
• After your chosen time frame is done, pick one or two of those impulses and track
how many times you can actively resist them for either a day (beginner) or week
(advanced).
• Identify what constitutes resisting for you.
• Write down each time you resist the unwanted distraction, behavior, or thought.
• Keep track of the specific time, day, and your mood when you fight the impulse.
• Keep track of the total number of times you resist or succumb to the impulse.
• After actively resisting for a day or a week, try to replace that impulse with some-
thing positive for a day, week, or month.
• Every time the urge comes up, try to resist and replace it with something more
conducive to your health journey and goals.
• Keep track of how many times you can resist and replace.
• Keep track of how many times you still succumb to the impulse.
Assess your success rate with resisting and replacing, then repeat with the same behaviors
if unsuccessful, new behaviors if successful, or altered behaviors. Use the following
questions to help assess your impulse resistance training:
• Did you resist more than you succumbed?

• How many times did you replace the behavior?
• How many times did you succumb?
• What days or times were the most difficult or most manageable?
• What moods were you in during resisting, replacing, and succumbing?
Another method for resisting impulses is to punish yourself when you succumb or reward
yourself when you resist the behavior, thought, or unwanted distraction. Punishment
and reward should both be relevant to you and your journey.
For example, I wanted to resist the impulse to check my phone. Whenever I resisted
checking my phone, I would mark a tally in my notebook. When I reached one hundred
tally marks, I would buy myself a new book. On the opposite side, whenever I failed to
resist and did check my phone, I would mark a tally and immediately do ten push-ups.
If my count for failing to resist this behavior reached fifty in my chosen time frame, I
would have to do fifty burpees. I made sure to align my rewards and punishments with
my goals and habits.
This strategy can adjust unwanted thoughts, behaviors, or impulses. Urges can plague
your life, from excessively checking your phone to overeating. You have to actively work
to break these vicious cycles. Using Impulse Resistance Training, you can develop your
ability to use top-down inhibition. Top-down inhibition is a cognitive process that allows
you to inhibit natural, habitual, or dominant behavioral responses to stimuli to select
for a more appropriate behavior aligned with your goals. With this strategy, you will
strengthen your response inhibition and overall executive function.
This strategy allows you to effectively assess your ability to resist your life’s impulses
and devise a plan to replace, reward, or punish accordingly. Once you do this, you can
take back command of your precious time, attention, and energy that you can use to
fuel personal growth. Developing this type of mental strength and resilience comes
from deliberate practice in the art of resisting urges. Impulse Resistance Training gives
you a strategy to stay focused on what matters in a world filled with temptations and
distractions. You can better allocate your time and attention when you can identify, resist,
replace, and assess these unwanted thoughts and behaviors. Your time follows wherever
your attention goes, so make sure you direct these valuable resources appropriately.
MENTAL MODELS
Mental models are a collection of different concepts, ideas, and paradigms that can
broaden your scope of perceptions and behaviors. The mental models presented in
this section can be used to help you understand and navigate your health and wellness,
make informed decisions, and solve problems. They allow you to tactfully integrate new

information into your current beliefs while becoming more receptive to changes in your
existing beliefs.
Meaningful and sustainable behavior change requires shifts in perspective and mindset.
Learning and developing different heuristics simplifies your path to optimal health and
wellness. These evidence-based mental models allow you to understand how you think
and help you see things through multiple lenses. You need to know how to think before
being taught what to think about. Therefore, you must utilize various mental models for
growth across all health, wellness, and performance areas.
You must be mentally malleable so you can adapt to complex scenarios. You must also
understand that your knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions should be challenged, vali-
dated, and adjusted. This section analyzes multiple mental models you can use to actively
foster the ability to question assumptions, solve problems, shift your perspective, and
open yourself up to new experiences. You will face many psychological battles, and you
will have to deal with ambiguity throughout your wellness journey. These practices allow
you to clear the mental space required for critical thinking, creativity, and growth so you
can thrive in all areas of your health and wellness.
Active Open-Mindedness
This mental model involves viewing your knowledge as a collection of hypotheses that
need testing. Don’t convince people (or yourself) of your expertise or beliefs. Instead,
encourage people (or yourself) to try and prove them wrong. You are never truly right.
You just get a little less wrong the more you learn and explore. To foster a drive toward
continuous improvement, you should actively keep an open mind and seek to prove
yourself wrong. That will allow new ideas to flow in and old ideas to be adjusted as needed.
Example: you’ve been doing the same exercise routine over and over. You swear by it, but
you’ve stopped seeing results. Instead of doing the same exercises or the same program
over and over with the expectation of different results, you could try something new and
test a new routine. Maybe you try biking if you’ve always run for your cardio, or maybe
you try yoga instead of normal stretching. Exposing yourself to new challenges helps you
prove yourself, right or wrong.
First Principles Thinking
First Principles Thinking is actively questioning every assumption you think you know
about a problem or scenario, and then creating new solutions and knowledge from
scratch. This physics principle means breaking issues, processes, or ideas into their most
fundamental parts that you know to be accurate, and then building up. The converse of
this is reasoning by analogy or experience, which most people do. We draw from what
we know or what’s generally known to be true by the public, which can be flawed in a
world where everyone is different. The problems we face are unique and depend on the
context of the individual. First principles thinking is a great way to manufacture creative
solutions to simple or complex issues that you face daily. Sometimes when you boil things
down to the basics, the answer is more apparent than you think.
Example: many people could benefit from first principles thinking regarding their diet.
The media is flooded with endless diets promising this and that. The truth is that there
is no perfect diet. When looking at nutrition in general, it can be helpful to break it down
into much simpler parts. Take a vegetarian diet, for example. You can break that down
into more manageable parts by asking yourself some simple questions: is this a diet you
can sustain for the rest of your life? Why do you want to try this diet? How much meat
do you eat currently? How strict do you want to be with yourself? What foods should
you eat more of instead of meat? After answering some of these basic questions, you can
create your own variation of a vegetarian diet. Addressing the fundamentals of a diet
and whether you can execute each separate part can be much more effective than blindly
following a diet made by someone else.
Lateral Thinking
This mental model is an indirect and creative approach to solving problems, and typically
works by viewing the issue in a new and unusual light. This way of thinking deviates
from traditional logic and purposely tries to step outside the norm, which can be useful
for breaking through plateaus or stagnation. Lateral thinking encourages you to alter
your perspective to generate new ideas and find value in different areas of information.
Mentally approaching problems or concepts from a new angle can reveal possibilities and
opportunities in places you weren’t initially thinking about. A more intense form of lateral
thinking is counter-thinking, or actively trying to think the opposite of assumptions, ideas,
or problems to gain a new perspective and reveal further information.

Example: you are trying to boost your overall activity levels but you can’t seem to make a
difference. You try to boost the amount of structured exercise you do every week or steps
you take each day, but it’s hard to sustain. Instead of only looking at what you can do to
boost activity level, you take a new approach and look at how you can decrease inactive
time. Flipping the script, you focus more on not sitting as much, moving every hour, and
lowering your screen time. Sometimes a fresh approach or a new perspective can bring
unique benefits.
Sampling
The idea of sampling entails trying out several different things to gain a breadth of
experience before narrowly focusing on one thing. Sampling allows you to test and
experiment without much structure. This is important in health and wellness because
what works for one person or many people might not always work for you. As I went
over in the Foundational Principles, you must explore and experiment so you can build
awareness and start to shape your path. Sampling helps you figure out what works and
what doesn’t, what you like and dislike, and what you can and cannot do consistently.
Once you better understand these things, you can dive deep into optimizing specific areas
of your health and wellness.
Example: you have been trying to home in on your ideal bedtime routine to consistently
get quality sleep, but you’ve only tried to adjust your actual bedtime and nothing else.
While adjusting your bedtime can be helpful, it is just one tool in the toolbox. If you were
to apply sampling here, you could try other interventions like taking a warm shower or
bath before bed, making your room cooler, reading before bed, changing your mattress,
or doing breath work before bed. Sampling each of these interventions individually can
give you more insight into what your ideal bedtime routine is.
Association
Association is the ability to connect ideas in unrelated fields or places. Being able to look
outside your field for ideas and then apply them in your context is a significant skill.
Often, you may be paralyzed by seeing problems only through your lens. This creates
a narrow view of things that can hinder your ability to solve problems and be creative.
Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same thinking we used
when we created them.” When it comes to your health and wellness, you must take a
holistic approach and integrate ideas found across several disciplines. The Vitality System
looks to bring together the most pertinent information, strategies, and views across
many health and wellness fields to help you find success. Broadening your horizons and
fostering curiosity outside your usual knowledge realm will open up possibilities. It’s
about collecting and connecting the dots. The more dots (information, strategies, and
ideas) you collect, the easier it becomes to see connections.
Example: when it comes to weight loss, you can use association to attack it from different
angles. When thinking about weight loss, many people only think about short-term nutri-
tion or exercise-based interventions. This can lead to weight fluctuations and unsustain-
able pursuits. With association, you can combine what you know about the importance of
sleep, stress, mindset, and many other important factors with the more traditional factors
of nutrition and exercise. This will help you tie several different behavioral interventions
together to create a healthier lifestyle, as opposed to a hyper-focused, outcome-based
strategy. One of the goals of The Vitality System is to help you make these associations by
providing you with evidence-based information across a plethora of domains.
Growth Mindset
Carol Dweck pioneered the idea of growth versus fixed mindsets in her book, Mindset:
The New Psychology of Success. She defines people with growth mindsets as “people
that believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard
work—brains and talent are just the starting point,” (Dweck 2006). This view creates a
love of learning and resilience essential for great accomplishment. The book explains the
difference between a growth and fixed mindset, and how to cultivate a growth mindset
in different aspects of life.
A growth mindset is essential to continued progression and evolution in health and

wellness. I dive deeper into mindsets in Core Four: Lifestyle, but below you’ll find some
examples of how you can integrate a growth mindset into your life to help navigate on
your path to success.
Fixed mindset: I am not very strong, so I don’t think weightlifting is

right for me.
Growth mindset: Most people who start weightlifting aren’t strong
initially, but over time I can become stronger and get better.
Fixed mindset: I always fail on diets because they are too hard.
Growth mindset: Many diets I have tried haven’t been right for me, but I
have learned several things about what I can and cannot sustain.

Fixed mindset: I never get good sleep, it must be genetic.
Growth mindset: Although I have struggled to get good sleep, there are
several things I have yet to try to improve my sleep quality.
Growth mindset qualities: has desire and passion for learning, has a
beginner or novice mentality, embraces challenges, sees effort as a path to
mastery, seeks feedback, perseveres in the face of setbacks, finds lessons and
inspiration in others, learns from criticism, values effort over talent, and tries
new things.
Network of Expertise
This mental model involves collecting and organizing several different perspectives from
experts or trusted sources to supplement and enhance your understanding of a given
topic, idea, or problem. By aggregating a breadth of information from reliable sources,
you can quickly discern viable solutions and make more informed decisions. Just as
research articles have to go through a review process, and just as major companies have a
board of experts, you should have a method for gathering feedback from credible sources.
This helps reinforce the things you might be doing right and sheds light on areas for im-
provement. A strong network can be a valuable asset, so build the right team around you.
Example: you want to understand if you should take a specific supplement to help with
vitamin D levels. You’ve done your research but have gotten mixed evidence on the
efficacy of vitamin D supplements. Instead of relying solely on your own research, you
could reach out to your physician, ask your closest friends, look at reviews, and reach
out to trusted experts on vitamin D supplementation via social media or email. With the
information you collect, you can find the right and most personalized solution. That might
be getting outside more, taking a specific liquid or pill supplement, or just starting by
getting your vitamin D levels analyzed. Whatever the case, having additional information
from trusted sources can help inform your decision-making process.
Context-Dependent Analysis
Context-dependent analysis entails evaluating and adjusting your behavior based on your
situation to ensure that you make the best decision for your overall health and wellness.
This framework is about raising your awareness of various behaviors in different scenar-
ios. Each day, you are presented with thousands of small and big decisions that can have
ripple effects across everything you do. The idea of checking in with yourself and analyzing
your decisions allows you to better align yourself with what’s best for you. Having a sense
of direction will help guide you through any environment under any circumstance.
What’s best for you one day might not be best for you the next, and that’s okay. You must
constantly consider the risk versus reward or cost versus benefit of your behaviors to
sustain healthy habits. Decisions become more straightforward when you have a firm grip
on your identity and mission. Achieving and maintaining optimal health and wellness
requires context-dependent discipline, attention to detail, and a strong focus on all the
behaviors surrounding the Core Four. Using context-dependent analysis ensures that
you will approach every decision with awareness, discipline, and purpose.
Example: you set a goal of not eating out during the week, but you unexpectedly have to
work late. Instead of trying to make something when you get home and messing up your
sleep schedule or nighttime routine, you look at the context of the situation. You decide to
stop by a healthy food place and order something similar to what you would have made.
You save yourself time, unwanted stress, and you preserve your nighttime routine instead
of sticking to the original goal of not eating out, ultimately costing yourself your progress
in other essential health and wellness areas.

The Core Four
There are countless factors that can positively or negatively influence your well-being.
These factors vary in significance depending on the person, the situation, and the goal.
Some factors have a bigger impact on your overall health than others. It can be hard
enough distinguishing what specific factors have the greatest impact on your health, let
alone actually knowing how to improve them. The Core Four synthesizes and simplifies
these factors into four primary pillars. These pillars are Movement, Nutrition, Recovery,
and Lifestyle. Together, these categories encompass the most significant factors related
to health, wellness, performance, and longevity.
Within the Core Four are critical components that make up each pillar. You can figure
out and implement what is most relevant to your life by reading the comprehensive
breakdowns of each component, which include information, strategies, and tools. Each
section within the Core Four chapters provides a detailed yet digestible and actionable
overview of the topics that will help you master your movement, nutrition, recovery,
and lifestyle. These sections provide a full menu of options to help you create your own
customized Vitality System.
We all have areas we can improve when it comes to our health. The Core Four allow you to
quickly identify those areas, develop a baseline knowledge of them, then make necessary
changes using the strategies and tools provided. The more you understand these primary
pillars, the easier it will be to recognize and shift the behaviors you need to change.
You can mix and match sections within each of the Core Four chapters to develop your
own personalized plan. The Core Four provide the last pieces of The Vitality System
puzzle, connecting the Foundational Principles and the Vitality Concepts with actionable
knowledge. I’ve provided guidance concerning which factors are important to overall
health and wellness, why they are important, and how to optimize them. With this
knowledge and the tools provided by the Core Four, you can ultimately curate your own
path to sustainable and enhanced health, wellness, and vitality.
The Core Four 53

Core One: Movement
Movement is life; without movement, life is unthinkable.
—Moshe Feldenkrais
Movement is at the core of everything you do. Whether walking upstairs, drinking a glass
of water, lifting weights, or getting out of bed, healthy movement powers your life. Almost
every system in the human body benefits from proper and habitual movement. Movement
is arguably the brain’s most important job, as it is the main ingredient in making change
in your physical, mental, and emotional states. Unfortunately, according to the CDC, only
one in four adults and one in five high school students are meeting activity requirements,
and around 25% of Americans are entirely inactive. In addition, inactivity contributes
to one in ten premature deaths in the US, and inadequate levels of physical activity are
associated with 117 billion in annual healthcare costs (CDC 2020).
Inactivity leads to a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer,
among many other ailments. We need to change this narrative in our country. It’s not
just about educating people on the benefits of everyday physical activity, but giving them
the systems and tools to incorporate it simply and beneficially into their lives. Movement
comes in many forms, from walking to weightlifting to playing sports to yard work.
Habitual movement or physical activity can reduce the risk of disease, improve mood, and
control weight, all while building strong muscles, bones, and joints. This just scratches
the surface of the health-promoting benefits of something that just about every person
on this planet can do. All you have to do is start.
Through habitual movement, you can not only improve your overall health, wellness, and
longevity, but you can pursue your dreams and live the life you want. With movement,
you can start taking charge of your actions and health. In this chapter, I will explain how
to use this powerful tool to bring energy and vitality to your everyday life. I will help
you understand the structures of the human body and how you move so you can assess,
select, and perform movement optimally to prevent injury, improve health, and boost
performance.

I’ll start by reviewing the various structures that make up the human body. Then I’ll dive
into how the human body moves so you can better understand how to move correctly
during exercise. I’ll cover everything from basic anatomy to foundational movement
patterns to help you understand and feel what healthy movement is.
Understanding how your body moves means nothing if you don’t know how to apply
that to your day-to-day life. Learning what types of exercise are best for you is some-
thing we’ll also cover, as well as how to properly prescribe the right intensity, duration,
and frequency to maximize the health benefits. Injury prevention is another area I’ve
included because of its extreme importance at every stage of life. Understanding the
preventative and corrective measures you can take to ensure your body is ready to move
is crucial in staying healthy. These measures include stretching, mobility work, postural
restoration, and more.
We’ll dive deep into other topics along the way, including energy expenditure and the
plethora of health benefits associated with moving daily. It’s time to use this powerful,
zero-cost driver of health that is accessible to anyone. Humans are designed to move, so
why not do it well and often?
HEALTH BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT
What if I told you there was a medicine that could significantly reduce your risk of chronic
disease, improve cognitive function, and help you build strong muscles and bones? What
would you pay for something that would improve your physical and mental health with
minimal to no side effects that has more data to support it than any other medicine on
the market? Save your money, because this medicine is movement, and you can write
your own prescription.
The power of daily activity is unmatched, making it one of, if not the most, cost-effective
ways to improve health and wellness. Without movement, life wouldn’t exist. It’s an es-
sential function required by all living organisms that affects everything you do. Movement
is more than just exercise; it is how you carry out actions, regulate your body, and utilize
energy. Bad things happen throughout your brain and body when movement is stopped
or slowed. You burn fewer calories. You lose muscle mass, strength, and endurance. Your
bones lose some mineral content and get weaker. Your immune system and metabolism
get disrupted. Your hormonal balance gets thrown off. The list goes on and on. Being
sedentary is a fast track to premature death.

Sedentary behavior is becoming easier and easier with technological advances that allow
you to get just about anything you need delivered right to your doorstep with a couple
of clicks. You sit to work, you sit to watch TV, you sit to eat, and you even find ways to
sit while exercising. We all have an uphill battle regarding inactivity, sitting, and overall
sedentary behaviors. But the good news is that we are all equipped with the tools needed
to combat the risks of a sedentary lifestyle.
A healthy dose of activity takes nothing but having a willing body. Walking, running,
stretching, lifting, biking, canoeing, swimming, dancing, and any other activity that gets
you moving consistently is the antidote to sedentariness. Just one thousand extra steps a
day can decrease mortality risk by up to 28% (Ries 2021). While most health organizations
recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, why stop there? People
who exercise 300 to 600 minutes a week have a 26% to 31% lower all-cause mortality
risk (Calvert 2022). It’s hard to imagine a better option for reducing mortality risk while
simultaneously improving health.
You should approach your movement and exercise habits like you approach sleeping or
eating: as a necessity for life. Moving well and moving often will give you an increased
sense of agency. Although I have only scratched the surface of movement’s health ef-
fects, the impact it has on various aspects of your life is vast and cannot be understated.
Below, I have detailed the most significant health elements that daily movement can
affect positively.
MAJOR AND MINOR DISEASES AND HEALTH CONDITIONS
Pick a disease or health condition, and you are almost guaranteed to find that regular
exercise helps prevent or manage it. Improved insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, heart
health, lung health, body composition, and cholesterol levels achieved through exercise
help to stop significant diseases in their tracks. Avoiding heart disease, hypertension,
diabetes, and cancer is a sure way to live a longer and healthier life.
MOOD AND ENERGY
Exercise has been shown to enhance your mood, helping curb feelings of anxiety, de-
pression, and chronic stress. The increased blood flow from exercise, coupled with the
release of powerful brain chemicals, can give you energy and boost self-esteem. Exercising

regularly helps fight mental fatigue and mood disorders while building your confidence
and energy.
SLEEP
Whether quality, quantity, or latency, exercise enhances your sleep in many ways. Ex-
ercise improves different aspects of sleep through body temperature changes, energy
depletion, overall relaxation, and various other mechanisms. Exercise should be near
the top of the list regarding ways to improve sleep hygiene.
WEIGHT AND METABOLISM
Regular exercise increases energy expenditure, which can lead to weight reduction.
Even increasing non-exercise movement throughout the day can significantly control
your weight and ramp up non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Exercise helps
efficiently convert food into energy and shed excess fat. You even burn calories after you
exercise. The formula is simple: move more and burn more calories.
MUSCLES, JOINTS, AND BONES
Exercises of all types play a pivotal role in building and maintaining strong muscles,
joints, and bones. Whether it’s strength training to build muscle or high-impact activities
to strengthen bones, different types of exercise ensure you keep your structural integrity
solid. Your body is meant to move, and when it doesn’t, its musculoskeletal system suffers
breakdown and dysfunction. Improving movement efficiency and quality is a crucial
benefit of regular exercise. Exercise can help you prevent falls, avoid osteoporosis, and
slow age-related muscle mass decline. These are all significant health and longevity boosts
if you are willing to put in the effort.
MEMORY AND COGNITION
Exercise can boost brain health and even brain size. Regular movement increases blood
flow to the brain, promoting healthy and active brain cells. It can also enable brain chem-
icals (hormones and neurotransmitters) to enhance memory, focus, productivity, mood,
and overall cognition. Exercise is one of the best treatments for dementia and aging.

QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF LIFE
Everything mentioned above combined will not only help you live longer, but they help
you live better. Exercise is one of the rare free things in life that improves health span
(healthy years free of disease) and lifespan (how long a person lives, measured in years).
Through various physiological, social, emotional, and mental mechanisms, exercise can
bring a vibrancy to your health and well-being. Your ability to carry out daily activity and
to do what you want is directly related to how well you move. Exercise can help you find
purpose, build community, and enjoy life.
OTHER BENEFITS
The benefits of exercise don’t stop with the topics above. Exercise can improve several
other aspects of health and wellness: pain tolerance, hormonal balance, immunity, skin
health, sex life, blood circulation, stamina and endurance, productivity, attention span,
addiction recovery, social well-being, and plenty more! What will exercise do for you?
BASIC ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
Anatomy and physiology study the body’s systems and structures and how they interact.
Anatomy refers to the body’s internal and external structures and physical relationships,
whereas physiology refers to the study of the functions of those structures and systems.
Humans are complex organisms of cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems that ulti-
mately make up the entire human organism. The human body contains around thirty
trillion cells, 200 bones, and over 600 muscles connected by tendons, ligaments, and
soft tissue. You have over seventy-five organs (a collection of tissues that structurally
form a functional unit specialized to perform a particular function) that comprise several
different organ systems (Rad 2022). This intricate network of organ systems allows us
to move freely and function optimally every day.
It’s incredible how much goes on internally to keep you alive. Each structure and system
has a unique job to perform while working collectively to maintain balance and order.
From the brain to the heart to the lungs to the liver, the human body and its systems are
a grand orchestra playing a beautiful symphony that keeps you alive. Having a baseline
knowledge of each organ system will help you develop a deeper understanding of how
the human body operates.

Below is a brief explanation of each organ system and its function from Kenhub author
Adrian Rad (Rad 2022):
• Integumentary: This system consists of the skin and associated appendages,

such as hair follicles, nails, sweat glands, and sebaceous glands. It involves various
functions, including protection, tactile and thermal sensation, and temperature
regulation through sweating.
• Musculoskeletal: The 200 bones of the human body act as a scaffold, providing
support and protection, facilitating locomotion, and even storing various cells and
substances. The bones are the pulley systems on which muscles act, contracting
and relaxing to ultimately produce movement.
• Nervous: Nerves are responsible for transporting electrical impulses, which
permit communication between the brain, spinal cord, your senses, and every
peripheral anatomical structure. This communication allows you to interact
with your environment, sense and feel emotions, think, and perform many other
complex cognitive tasks.
• Endocrine: The endocrine system is composed of glands that release substances
called hormones into the bloodstream. These hormones allow chemical commu-
nication between anatomical structures, inducing various regulatory effects when
they reach their targets.
• Circulatory: The circulatory system is responsible for keeping you alive by
providing oxygenated arterial blood to every part of your body. The key player is
the heart, an organ that pumps oxygenated blood into arteries and returns to the
heart via veins once it is deoxygenated.
• Lymphatic: The lymphatic system removes interstitial fluid from tissues, trans-
ports absorbed fats after digestion, and protects your body from illness-causing
invaders. Immune cells and substances travel via the lymphatic system, sampling
lymph for potential invaders and mounting an immune response if needed.
• Respiratory: The respiratory system’s primary function is to keep us alive via
inhalation of oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide. The lungs and alveoli
operate as the gas exchange site, which involves a series of convoluted air passages
and membranes.
• Digestive: The digestive system is a hollow system with two openings, and
consists of several organs. Food is ingested via the mouth, processed, and absorbed
inside the system. The resulting solid waste, called feces, is eliminated via the anus.
• Urinary: The urinary, or excretory system is the central filtering unit of the
human body, responsible for purifying blood and eliminating wastes. The entirety
of your blood is continuously passed through the kidneys, and the resulting un-

wanted or toxic substances are passed to the bladder and ultimately eliminated
via the urethra.
• Reproductive: The primary responsibility of the reproductive system is to
facilitate the generation of new offspring and pass on your genes. The female
system produces the eggs and nourishes the developing fetus until birth, while
the male system synthesizes sperm and delivers it to the egg during fertilization.
All these systems work together to help you move, eat, rest, and think, but their main job
is to ensure you survive and reproduce. Movement is a key component of survival and
reproduction, which is why the nervous system (among many other systems) dedicates
much of its real estate to moving and moving well. While the musculoskeletal system
actually carries out the movement facilitated by the nervous system, many other critical
systems play a role and can be enhanced by the movement itself.
I will revisit many of these systems throughout the rest of the book. The more you can bolster
your movement vocabulary, the more you can increase your overall movement literacy.
Understanding the functions of your body allows you to communicate more effectively
with others and helps you facilitate your own movement plan. Knowing basic anatomy
and physiology is not required to live a healthier life, but learning about the human body
and its many functions can give you an appreciation for your body and useful background
knowledge that helps you treat it with care.
MOVEMENT ASSESSMENTS
A movement assessment is a way to evaluate your movement quality to identify dys-

function, monitor progress, and establish a baseline. Movement assessments are widely
used across several fields in the health and fitness space. These assessments can predict
strength, flexibility, endurance, motor control, and overall movement quality. Two of
the main goals of a movement assessment are reducing your risk for injury and gauging
your preparedness for different types of movement.
Seven basic movement patterns make up almost every exercise the human body can
perform. These movement patterns are push, pull, squat, lunge, hinge, rotation, and gait
or carry. You perform most, if not all of these movements each and every day. Whether
you are picking something up off the ground, carrying groceries inside from the car, or
opening a door, it is these movements that carry out these actions. Understanding and
mastering the fundamental movement patterns will give you a foundation upon which

you can build more complex movements. It can also significantly improve your overall
movement quality and efficiency.
Movement assessments are a great place to start when establishing your baseline move-
ment quality. Assessing allows you to evaluate and analyze your movement to figure out
where you stand at the start of your improvement process. From there, you can determine
which movements will give you trouble and work on any deficiencies in areas like core
stability, balance, neuromuscular control, and weakness. Once you encounter these
deficiencies, you can use corrective exercises to promote proper movement patterns and
avoid anything that causes pain. You can track, measure, and analyze progress throughout
your journey with a baseline. If you aren’t assessing your movement, you leave yourself
susceptible to injury and imbalances in your physical progress.
Everyone should use the movement assessment tool to assess their seven fundamental
movement patterns. Understanding your starting point from a movement perspective
is key to revealing dysfunction and mapping your progress. Knowing your movement
quality will give you the confidence and comfort to carry out safe movements that fit your
training level and style.
Movement assessments are especially important for people starting a new exercise
program or people who are beginners to exercise. I have developed a basic movement
assessment that you can do to test your movement quality. I’ve also given you an overview
of the seven basic movement patterns, along with common exercises for each one. Note
that the movements included in the assessment are not all-encompassing. These simple
baseline exercises can be altered to fit your specific movement level. There are plenty
of different helpful movement assessments out there that can be used to evaluate your
movement quality. You can find the list of the seven basic movement patterns and the
movement assessment in the Educational Resources section.
Everyone should strive to move optimally and effectively regardless of fitness level.
The assessment acts as a guide that allows you to learn what healthy movement should
generally look and feel like. It will also help you lay the foundation for complex move-
ments that require a base level of movement efficiency. Although movement quality
isn’t the only thing you can assess, it is critical to your everyday function. As you build
your movement literacy, you can start other in-depth tests of your strength, flexibility,
endurance, and athleticism. Come back to the movement assessment as you progress,
and continuously adjust and evaluate your movement so that you can move your body
how you want, when you want.

TYPES OF EXERCISE
Exercise is defined as an activity requiring physical effort carried out to sustain or improve
health and fitness (OUP 2022). Exercise can take several forms, from running a mile to
taking a yoga class to lifting weights. Americans generally fall way short of their exercise
requirements, but not from a lack of options. Simply walking for fifteen minutes a day
can lead to massive health benefits. With all these options, people often get stuck when
choosing what’s best for them or only stick with what they know or what’s comfortable.
This can lead to stagnation, hesitation, or simply not starting at all.
Many people fail to understand that varied exercise is important. Learning about the
different kinds of exercise opens you up to more possibilities and helps you build a
well-rounded exercise regimen. There are types of exercise for everyone out there, so
you must be willing to find the combination that’s right for you.
This section examines the four main types of exercise and why each type is vital to living a
healthy life. The four major types of exercise include endurance (aerobic and anaerobic),
strength, balance and stability, and flexibility and mobility. Each type of exercise offers
unique individual benefits which when combined can have an even more significant
cumulative effect. A holistic approach to your exercise regimen is essential to physical
and mental health and can promote longevity. Understanding the details of each type of
exercise allows you to incorporate them properly. Once equipped with this knowledge,
you can choose what’s best for you, add variety, and stay healthy throughout your journey.
In the realm of exercise, you have endless choices. In this section, I’ll help you make sense
of those choices, then guide you to make the right choice for your situation. Exercise won’t
always be easy or fun, but the more options you have, the easier it is to adapt your plan
to your likes and dislikes. Like many aspects of this journey, when it comes to exercise,
you must explore, experiment, and evolve.
There are many ways you can go about exercise. Understanding that these types of
exercise can and often do overlap multiple categories is essential. Categorization mat-
ters less, but helps define every exercise’s main qualities. Each type can be combined,
adapted, regressed, or progressed, but before any of that is possible, you must first start.
Exercise is one of the most powerful influencers of health, and the beauty of it is that all
it requires is you.

Endurance
Endurance can be defined as the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity
(Merriam-Webster 2022). Having endurance helps you maintain exercise for longer
while becoming more efficient. Many people know endurance as “cardio,” but for this
section, I will break endurance into aerobic endurance and anaerobic endurance. Both
are vital to health and longevity but very different in the qualities they develop. Training
your endurance sets you up to take on the various activities of daily living more efficiently
and effectively.
AEROBIC ENDURANCE
Aerobic exercises such as brisk walking, swimming, running, and cycling are activities that
increase your heart and breathing rate and use oxygen, glucose, and fats as the primary
fuel sources. The breakdown of these nutrients is usually slower but yields more energy
than during anaerobic exercise. Generally, these aerobic activities will improve your
stamina and ability to withstand extended physical demands. They will also benefit heart
and lung health and overall blood flow. When the heart and lungs undergo mild stress,
they adapt, become more robust, and function better. This is important when you want
to climb a flight of stairs or play a long game of tennis.
Your muscles depend on oxygen to properly function and sustain exercise. The more
efficient your heart and lungs are at getting and properly transporting oxygen to the
rest of your body, the easier physical activity becomes. Aerobic generally means “with
oxygen,” and anaerobic typically means “without oxygen.” Usually, endurance exercise
is aerobic in nature. The cardiovascular conditioning that comes with aerobic activity
lays the foundation for any sustained exercise.
The benefits of aerobic exercise are countless, from improving cognitive function and
mood to boosting the immune system to reducing the risk for virtually all major diseases.
Aerobic exercise is the most widely performed in America since almost anyone can do it
and it requires minimal equipment.
Aerobic activities: walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, yard work,
playing sports, hiking, climbing stairs, and dancing.

ANAEROBIC ENDURANCE
Anaerobic exercises are shorter, more intense bouts of activity that break down glucose
for energy without oxygen. Examples of these exercises are high-intensity interval training
(HIIT), weightlifting, sprinting, and jumping. Since these activities require quick energy,
the body relies on the energy stored in your muscles and the breakdown of phosphocre-
atine (producing adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the body’s energy currency) instead
of fat stores. These energy stores are not sustainable, so proper anaerobic exercise can
only be sustained for a couple of seconds to two minutes.
Anaerobic exercise is extremely valuable for training your body to handle stress and
boosting your lactate threshold (the point at which lactate and hydrogen ions accumulate,
causing fatigue). The more you can tolerate and buffer lactate, the better you can perform
and the less quickly you’ll fatigue when doing high-intensity exercise bouts. Beyond the
performance benefits, anaerobic exercise can benefit your overall health in various ways.
These benefits include boosting metabolism, improving bone density, and reducing
disease risk. As with aerobic exercise, your heart, lungs, and brain will adapt to the stress
you place on them by becoming stronger and more efficient.
Anaerobic exercise is physically and mentally demanding and requires adequate recovery.
Your body is constantly working to replenish these anaerobic energy stores, so incorpo-
rating the proper work-to-rest ratios (the best ratios for anaerobic activities are usually
1:1 or 2:1) allows you to get the most out of each session. Later, I will discuss exercise
prescription, but know that the frequency, duration, and intensity of anaerobic activities
should be monitored to avoid overtraining.
Many people fear anaerobic activities and high-intensity exercise, but the benefits cannot
be understated. You don’t need to do much anaerobic exercise to fully leverage the
advantages of it. Incorporating anaerobic exercises into your regimen will enhance
performance, longevity, and overall health.
Anaerobic activities: HIIT, Tabata, explosive movements, sprints, jumps, and max-
imum-effort bouts.
Strength
Strength and resistance exercises are activities designed to improve muscle strength.
Although this training is often associated with weightlifting, strength training can take

many forms, like calisthenics and band work. Strength training is crucial to building
muscle, as well as losing fat by burning calories more efficiently. No matter your age,
gender, or experience level, strength training should be a staple of any program. As you
age, you lose muscle mass, so strength training is a great way to combat this loss while
developing other qualities.
Other benefits of strength training include reducing risk of injury and falling, reducing
blood sugar, controlling weight and metabolism, and improving quality of life. When you
are stronger, activities in your daily life become easier. Like endurance exercise, strength
training can put tremendous stress on the body, sometimes causing damage to connective
and muscle tissue. This can cause soreness, but ultimately it leads to the rebuilding of
stronger, more resilient muscles.
I will discuss soreness further in Core Three: Recovery, but it is important to understand
here that in a well-balanced training regimen, including the strength training that’s right
for you is essential. You can continuously adapt your training to fit your fitness level and
goals. Adding strength training to your routine is necessary to get stronger, be healthier,
and fight off the effects of aging.
Strength-based activities: free weights, resistance bands, suspension training, cal-

isthenics, cables, and weight training machines.
Balance and Stability
Balance and stability exercises are activities that enhance proprioception and coordina-
tion and also prevent falls by strengthening and stabilizing muscles, specifically in your
core, legs, and back. Every other type of exercise requires proper balance and stability.
Balance is the even distribution of weight, enabling someone or something to remain
upright and steady. Stability can be thought of as allowing wanted movement while
resisting unwanted movement through proper timing and muscle activation. Balance
maintains your center of gravity over your base of support, while stability controls your
body position through movement from head to toe.
The ability to control your body in space is vital to your day-to-day functioning. Whether
trying to stand up while putting on jeans or walking down a flight of stairs, you test your
balance and stability every day. Intrinsic stabilizing muscles throughout your body that
don’t have primary roles in movement can be activated and strengthened through this type
of training. With aging comes a loss in muscle mass as well as a decline in some fundamental

functions like vision, hearing, and joint health, which can ultimately lead to falls. Building
your overall coordination through balance and stability training can help mitigate the
risks of falling and give you a better general awareness of your movement. With this type
of training, the focus is on posture, positioning, timing, activation, and weight distribution.
It can be challenging and different for those who haven’t tried it, but it is also gratifying.
Improving your balance and stability can help you feel steadier and stronger when walk-
ing, running, lifting, climbing stairs, and exercising in general. Many variations of balance
training include interoceptive practices like controlled breathwork, closing the eyes, and
monitoring your heart rate. This has a therapeutic effect for some and can bring about
a sense of internal and external control. Stability-specific training uses props, cueing,
and proprioceptive feedback to master movement and prevent energy leaks (when bad
positioning causes more energy to be used than necessary). Balance and stability training
is a great strategy to uncover weaknesses and build total body strength.
This type of training can also help evaluate your movement quality beyond a movement
assessment. The foundation of any cardio, strength, or flexibility routine starts with good
stability and balance. Having total control over and understanding your body movement
is empowering and has countless health benefits.
Balance and stability activities: planks, bridges, yoga, tai chi, Pilates, heel-toe walks,
and eyes-closed balancing.
Flexibility and Mobility
Flexibility and mobility exercises are activities that involve deliberately stretching or
flexing different muscles and muscle groups to improve elasticity and muscle tone.
Flexibility is the range of motion of a given joint or group of joints, while mobility is the
ability of a joint to move actively through a range of motion. Flexibility is passive, while
mobility is active or dynamic. This training involves lengthening, shortening, relaxing,
and contracting muscles in various positions to increase control and range of motion.
Flexibility exercises can help identify muscle imbalances, prevent injury, and increase
mobility. Mobility allows you to move more freely, reduce pain, and improve vascular
health, or circulation.
Your flexibility and mobility can significantly affect your overall movement and movement
patterns. With proper training in this realm, your freedom and efficiency of movement
improve. This allows you a more extensive range of motion with more control. When

most people think of flexibility and mobility training, they think of stretching, which can
be great for warm-ups, cool-downs, stress relief, and alleviating cramps.
It’s important that your flexibility and mobility training plan is well thought out and
specific to you. The movements you want to improve and the activities you perform daily
should inform your program. You lose flexibility throughout the body as you age, which
can cause muscle and tendon tightness, shortening, and impaired functioning. To avoid
the strains, pains, and injuries associated with flexibility and mobility loss, you must make
a conscious effort to move often, stretch when needed, and prevent prolonged sedentary
behaviors. Your muscles and joints are built to move through various positions, and this
type of training allows you to test these positions in a controlled manner. When used
correctly, flexibility and mobility training can unlock new ranges of motion, help prevent
injury risk, improve posture, reduce pain, and boost performance.
Flexibility and Mobility activities: Yoga, Pilates, and stretching.
When it comes to exercise, having a healthy mix of endurance, strength, balance, stability,
flexibility, and mobility training is the way to go. Many types of training overlap, making
them easy to pair with each other. Knowing the benefits of each type makes choosing
which to incorporate into your regimen much more effortless and reduces the friction of
starting your health improvements.
There is so much to choose and benefit from. You mustn’t incorporate just what you
know, but what will bring you the most benefits and a healthy level of challenge. The four
major types of exercise offer a wealth of unique and synergistic benefits that will improve
your lifespan and health span. When combined, they can help you protect yourself from
disease, injury, deterioration, and other maladies.
EXERCISE PRESCRIPTION
An exercise prescription is a specific plan of fitness-related activities designed for a

distinct purpose. There is a lot to consider when thinking about how to structure and
organize your exercise routine. From figuring out what is right for you to knowing how
much of it you should perform, your exercise regimen should be planned and well thought
out. Frequency, intensity, age, fitness level, medical history, enjoyment, and environment
all matter when determining what’s optimal for you.

While there are many details involved in exercise prescription, basic daily movement is
fundamental to your health and survival. I touched on the many different types of exercise
at your disposal, but how much of each should you incorporate? What about intensity?
How often should you change or progress? How much is too much? The truth is that there
is no perfect formula or prescription for everyone to follow.
The best exercise prescription is one that you’ll do consistently. Every person is different
in what they enjoy and what their bodies can handle. This is why it is essential to person-
alize your routine and diversify your exercise selection. An individualized exercise plan
makes it easier to make adjustments, track progression, and stay consistent.
Within this structure, it’s crucial to give yourself the freedom to try new things and venture
outside your comfort zone. This way, you avoid plateaus, boredom, and stagnation.
There are basic principles and considerations to consider when developing your exercise
prescription. These principles will ensure that you stay safe and progress properly. In
this section, I will briefly go over some of these principles and recommendations so that
you can curate your individual exercise prescription. I will answer key questions about
how to build a personalized exercise program and what to think about when executing it.
Use these principles as a guide when creating your exercise prescription, but always
explore and experiment to gain further knowledge and experience. Not everything has to
be structured and planned when it comes to exercising, but you can get more out of each
exercise bout and each day when you set yourself up for success. Find the right balance
of exploration and execution so your planning never holds up your pursuit.
FITTE Principle
The FITTE principle is widely used to construct or add structure to exercise plans. This
principle includes key factors to consider when exercising: frequency, intensity, time,
type, and enjoyment (Kester 2020).
FREQUENCY
Frequency refers to how much you exercise. Although there are various recommendations
for how much strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility training you should get each
week, you must take an individualized approach. You can make exercise a part of everyday
life if you adjust its intensity, time, and type accordingly.

INTENSITY
Intensity refers to how hard you exercise, or your exercise’s difficulty level. Intensity should
be constantly monitored and altered to reflect how you feel on any given day. The goal is to
be able to show up each day, which means you should think more about consistency over
intensity. Intensity can be measured using weights, sets, reps, heart rate, and RPE (rate
of perceived exertion). You should constantly check in with yourself so you know when to
challenge yourself and when to scale back.
TIME
Time refers to how long you exercise for. Once again, this should depend on how you feel
on any given day. You should also take into account the intensity, frequency, and type
of exercise. The goal is to get as much exercise as possible while maintaining healthy
functioning and consistency. Most recommendations point to at least thirty minutes a
day of general exercise, but it is all relative. What are you trying to achieve? What can your
body and mind handle? Keep your goals and overall health in mind when considering
how long you should exercise each day.
TYPE
Type refers to what kind of exercise you do. Balancing your exercise plan is crucial. En-
durance and strength training are the most popular types and can benefit your overall
health and wellness. Still, balance, stability, flexibility, and mobility training provide a
wealth of benefits and ensure that you can continue your endurance and strength training
more efficiently, without pain or injury. The exercise you choose should be based on
enjoyment, fitness level, goals, and environment. The best kind of exercise is consistent
exercise, no matter the type, so focus on consistency first, then figure out how to incorporate
different types.
ENJOYMENT
Enjoyment refers to how much you enjoy the exercise. Your subjective feelings toward
exercise and movement are vastly important. This could be the most significant factor
of them all. People are more inclined to exercise consistently if they enjoy what they’re
doing or with whom they’re doing it. Not all exercise has to be enjoyable, but when it is,

it fuels motivation. Enjoyment can change your perception of intensity, time, and effort
while exercising. Sports, dance, and hiking are great ways to incorporate exercise while
having fun. The more you exercise, the more fun it should become, and the more fun it
becomes, the more you should want to exercise. Facilitate this positive feedback loop by
incorporating exercises you enjoy into your routine.
Exercise Recommendations
There is no generalized exercise prescription suitable for everyone when it comes to ex-
ercise. This is why exploring and experimenting with different exercise types, intensities,
and durations is imperative. Plenty of data explicitly supports the health benefits of all the
exercise types I have discussed so far. Understanding these baseline recommendations
for exercise can help you construct your plan so it includes what’s necessary for you to
reap the health benefits. Think of these recommendations as just that, recommendations,
not a hard-line prescription. What works for you might look different from what works
for a friend. What matters most is that you are moving consistently and effectively for
your lifestyle. Below are some minimum recommendations for the types of exercises I
have discussed above.
FREQUENCY
INTENSITY(LIGHT, TIME (DURATION
TYPE OF EXERCISE (BOUTS PER EXERCISE EXAMPLES
MODERATE, HARD) PER BOUT)
WEEK)
Running, cycling, stair

Endurance 3–5 Moderate to Hard 30–60 minutes
climbing, rowing
Resistance training,
Strength 3–4 Moderate to Hard 20–40 minutes
calisthenics
Balance and
1–2 Light to Moderate 15–30 minutes Pilates, yoga, tai chi
Stability
Flexibility and
2–3 Light to Moderate 15–30 minutes Stretching, yoga
Mobility
AGE
Regardless of age and gender, exercise significantly and positively impacts health and
wellness. That said, it is important to understand how to properly adapt your exercise

prescription based on your age to get the most out of each bout. As you age, usually after
thirty, you lose muscle mass and bone density (up to three to five percent per decade for
both). To slow and possibly prevent this decline, you need to incorporate different types
of exercise, in this case, strength and endurance training. Along with muscle and bone
loss, your proprioception and elasticity will also decline with age. This is where balance
and flexibility training come in handy. These different types of exercise, when done
consistently and in a well-balanced manner, can keep your heart healthy, your muscles
and bones strong, and your senses keen.
OVERTRAINING
Overtraining is marked by constant, intense training that does not provide adequate
time for recovery. When you consistently exceed your body’s ability to recover from
exercise, you have ventured into the overtraining zone. Very few people experience this
phenomenon, but it can cause various bodily disruptions. Overtraining symptoms and
manifestations include persistent muscle soreness, fatigue, mood disruption, and im-
paired immune function. Overtraining can be prevented with proper exercise prescription
and recovery. You have nothing to worry about if you listen to your body and emphasize
consistency in your training and recovery efforts.
EVALUATION OF EXERCISE
There are several different ways to evaluate yourself on your exercise journey. Although
consistency should always be the primary goal, tracking and assessing other metrics
helps regulate your exercise intensity, frequency, and duration. Identifying strengths,
weaknesses, baselines, and personal bests allows you to make the necessary changes to
progress continuously. Data and biometrics are valuable tools, but they should not be the
only factors you track when considering your exercise prescription. You can’t measure
your impact if you don’t record your efforts, but be careful not to let what you measure
completely guide your behavior. Evaluating exercise can provide essential information,
but how that information is digested and applied is up to you. Refer to the assessment
tools in the Vitality Concepts chapter and check out further evaluation methods in
Educational Resources.

Basic Principles of Exercise
Understanding fundamental training principles and how the training response works is
key to getting the most out of your exercise program. Establishing familiarity with these
principles can help you continuously evolve your training, mindset, and body. These
principles act as the basic playbook for you to reference when building your own program.
Failure to adhere to these principles can lead to plateauing, injury, boredom, and a
lack of results and sustainability. Not every principle listed below applies to everyone’s
unique exercise journey. These are meant to be a guide so you can get the most out of
your training; they are not a hard-and-fast prescription. Use them as you see fit and keep
them at the top of your mind as you start to craft your exercise strategy. I will revisit many
of these same principles later in the book.
SPECIFICITY
The exercise you do should be matched to the improvements you want to achieve. If you
want to be a better runner, you should run more often. If you want to be more flexible, you
should stretch more often. In the training world, this is referred to as the SAID principle:
specific adaptations to imposed demands. The body adapts to the demands put on it, so
you have to practice the things you want to get better at.
PROGRESSION
When exercising for consistency and longevity, you should start slowly and build as you
go. Progress isn’t always linear, but getting 1% better every day can lead to tremendous
results. You must crawl before you walk, so make sure you take the necessary steps to
progress appropriately.
OVERLOAD
With most types of exercise, to improve you must push your body harder than usual to
drive its adaptation. You can overload the body by increasing things like weight, distance,
or resistance. Your training time, intensity, and duration can also be adjusted to overload
the body. Although it is good to push the boundaries, be careful not to venture into the
overtraining zone.

ADAPTATION
Over time, your body becomes accustomed to your exercise. If this happens and you
want to continue to see progression, you must change the stimulus to avoid plateaus.
Adaptation can take time, so be patient and stay consistent.
REVERSIBILITY
If you stop training or exercising, your improvements will likely be stunted or even
reversed. In other words, you can lose what you’ve gained if you don’t maintain it. It is
much easier to lose what you have gained than to regain what you have lost.
VARIANCE
To avoid stagnation and boredom, you must switch up your exercise regimen. You can
do this by adjusting the intensity, time, and type of exercise, as well as where and with
whom you exercise. Variance is key to keeping exercise enjoyable, as it allows you to get
out of your comfort zone and experience new things.
REST, RECOVERY, AND RESTRAINT
You must recover adequately so you can improve with exercise. There is a reason I
dedicate an entire Core pillar to recovery. Ensuring you get the proper rest during and
after training is essential for growth and repair. Also, understanding when to push and
when to show restraint can help you maintain consistency throughout your journey.
ENVIRONMENT
You must set yourself up for success by creating a conducive environment for growth and
development on your exercise journey. Your support system, your surroundings, and
your mentality should all be helping you push forward. As I went over in the CHANGERS
Framework, you are a product of your environment, so you should build one that makes
it easier to succeed.

While this section is about exercise prescription, the truth is that exercise should be less
of a prescription and more of a priority. Daily movement can improve health at every
level and reduce the risk for virtually all diseases and cancers. Whether it’s yard work,
playing basketball, going to a dance class, or taking the stairs every day, you should weave
exercise into the fabric of everyday life. Exercise should be personalized, fun, and planned
to ensure consistency and progression.
This section was built to answer different questions about exercise prescription and
to give you the tools to construct your plan confidently. Use the principles and recom-
mendations offered in this section to guide your training, and follow the Foundational
Principles to stay educated, explore options, experiment freely, execute consistently,
and evolve throughout your exercise journey. Exercise offers endless benefits and can
be incorporated in so many creative ways.
Whether you are young or old, exercise gives you life and slows aging and disease. A
program that incorporates a healthy mix of training types is sure to bring you success
and keep you functioning at high mental and physical levels. But remember, the per-
fect training plan is what you’ll do, and do often. Don’t sacrifice trying new things for
perfection, and don’t spend so much time planning that you fail to start. Your exercise
journey is unique and should take its own shape. Finding what works for you, doing it
consistently, and having fun along the way is the best prescription I can offer for living
a healthy and active life.
ENERGY EXPENDITURE
Energy refers to the capacity to do work. Your body uses energy to fuel movement and
other daily functions. This energy is produced in the form of heat, measured in calories.
Energy expenditure refers to the energy needed to carry out and maintain essential body
functions like breathing, digestion, circulation, and movement. Energy expenditure
can be subdivided into multiple components. The main factors are basal metabolic rate
(BMR), resting metabolic rate (RMR), thermic effect of food (TEF), and the thermic effect
of activity (TEA). It’s worth noting that BMR and RMR are often used interchangeably.
BMR is the minimum number of calories required for essential functions at complete
rest, while RMR is the number of calories that your body burns while it’s at rest during
a typical day. BMR and RMR slightly differ, with RMR being marginally higher (Froth-
ingham 2018). The bottom line is that your body requires a certain amount of energy to

maintain vital functions like regulating body temperature, repairing internal organs, and
maintaining cardiac function, cell function, and respiration.
One of the biggest consumers of energy in the body is the brain. Although the brain makes
up only 2% of your body weight, it consumes up to 20% of your body’s energy. Processing
and transmitting electrical signals take up a significant chunk of your energy demands.
These basic functions, which make up your BMR and RMR, keep you alive and on average
take up about 50% to 70% of your body’s total energy.
The next most significant energy requirement comes from your activity. All the energy
required to move your body depends on your body size, speed of movement, and distance
traveled. Within your total TEA is the thermic effect of exercise, which is highly variable
but usually accounts for around 15% to 30% of total energy expenditure.
Also essential in energy expenditure is what’s called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogen-

esis, or NEAT. NEAT is the energy expended for everything you do that is not sleeping,
eating, or consciously exercising. It can account for as little as 10% of total energy ex-
penditure and as much as 50% of energy expenditure depending on how active you are
throughout the day. Your NEAT generally accounts for more energy expenditure (in terms
of calories burned) than your planned exercise.
Last is TEF, which accounts for around 5% to 10% of your total energy expenditure each
day (TRUE 2020). Ironically, chewing, and digesting food burns energy. Some foods like
carbs and proteins have a higher thermic effect, but overall the thermic effect of food is
a small component of energy expenditure. Energy expenditure is highly variable from
person to person and is influenced by your body size, sex, body composition, genetics,
and overall activity level.
What, when, and how you eat and exercise can significantly affect your energy balance.
Energy balance is the relationship between energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy
storage. I will cover energy balance in depth in the Core Two: Nutrition chapter. Still,
when your energy expenditure is less than your energy intake, this results in a positive
energy balance and energy storage, primarily as body fat. You’d have a negative energy
balance if your energy expenditure exceeded your energy intake, leading to weight loss. If
energy expenditure and energy intake are equal, your weight is maintained. Your activity
level and nutrition are the two main drivers of energy balance, but your age, weight,
muscle mass, and hormone levels can also tweak your energy balance.

Movement is a tool you can use to modulate your energy balance and expenditure.
Through regular exercise, you can raise your metabolism and burn more calories at rest.
You can also build muscle and burn fat, which further elevates your metabolism. You
expend energy in many ways. With exercise, you have the power to control how and when
you utilize this energy. Energy is the currency of life, and you must spend it wisely, one
calorie at a time. Below, I’ll answer some common questions on the effects of weight,
gender, fitness level, and different types of exercise on energy expenditure.
How does your body burn calories during endurance training as opposed
to strength training? Are the rates of energy expenditure any different? Is
there any effect on post-workout calorie burn?
Endurance and strength training are effective ways to burn calories, but they work dif-
ferently. Endurance training is usually aerobic in nature, increases your breathing rate,
and improves overall cardiovascular health. With endurance training, you tend not only
to burn calories quicker, but you burn more total calories per session.
On the other hand, strength training can be anaerobic in nature, and helps you build
muscle and boost your metabolism. With strength training, you generally burn fewer
calories per session, but it has a more prolonged calorie-burning effect on the body when
compared with endurance training. This is because strength training increases excess
post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), or the amount of oxygen the body requires
to get back to resting levels. This excess causes a continual caloric burn after you finish
a strength training session, which is a burn that is greater than what you would get with
a cardio session. Strength training can also help you increase your RMR, allowing you
to burn more calories at rest.
A healthy mixture of strength and endurance training with varied intensity, frequency,
duration, and exercise types is always best when building your exercise program.
How do your weight and muscle mass affect how many calories you burn?
Weight and muscle mass play a significant role in burning calories. Generally, the more
you weigh, the more calories you’ll burn per session. Calories are just a measure of energy,
so the more you weigh, the more energy it takes to move your body. Thus, you will burn
more calories. Likewise, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn
during your session and at rest due to increased RMR from building muscle. So when you
match two people with the same weight, the person with more muscle mass will generally
burn more calories because muscle burns more calories than fat.

Overall body composition and weight should be considered when predicting calories
burned during and after a session. With that being said, the session’s intensity and your
overall fitness can play a vital role in how many calories you ultimately burn.
Roughly how many more calories do men burn during exercise than wom-
en, and why?
Generally, men burn more calories at rest and during exercise than women. This is
because men typically have more muscle mass and less body fat than females of the same
age and weight. This makes metabolic demands higher for males, causing them to burn
more calories. Males also tend to have a higher RMR due to the same factors above. Other
smaller factors in calories burned at rest and during exercise include hormonal profile,
height, weight, and genetics. Males generally burn 5% to 10% more calories than females
at rest, which usually increases with exercise. As mentioned before, intensity, duration,
and type of exercise make a huge difference, along with the body composition and weight
of the person exercising, male or female. Men and women should focus on building
muscle, reducing body fat, and improving cardiovascular health with a well-balanced
endurance and strength training program.
Does your body adapt and burn fewer calories as you get more fit? If so, how?
Yes, as your body adapts to training, you will burn fewer calories with the same workouts.
This is because your body becomes more efficient at utilizing energy during exercise and
rest. Your lungs, muscles, heart, and brain become more efficient as you become more fit,
which can be a gift and a curse. The adaptation principle describes a plateau that takes
adjustment in intensity, frequency, duration, and type of exercise to break. This is why it
is vital to continuously adapt and personalize your exercise plan according to your fitness
level, body type, and age. As you progress, your exercise should as well.
Energy expenditure should always be at the forefront of your mind when thinking about
health, wellness, and weight management. To boost your energy expenditure, you should
think about the foods you eat (which I’ll talk more about in the Core Two: Nutrition
chapter), your activity level, and the types of exercise you perform daily. Also, it often
gets overlooked, but your activity level outside your training or NEAT can profoundly
impact energy expenditure. Don’t just focus on what you’re doing in your workouts;
concentrate on your overall activity. The more you move, the more calories you burn, so
take the stairs when you can, walk to destinations whenever possible, and try to stand
more than you sit. These are all subtle behaviors that can have a massive impact on your
energy expenditure and overall health.

Not everyone will want to increase their energy expenditure or boost their metabolism,
so find ways to adjust and adapt your energy balance equation to match your goals.
Understanding energy expenditure gives you a critical advantage when it comes to
health. It affects weight loss, weight gain, and weight management. Regardless of your
goals, energy expenditure is the regulator at the center of each one. Energy is the key to
surviving and thriving, so use and consume it wisely.
INJURY PREVENTION
Injuries can plague your overall health and wellness. From a minor hiccup to a significant
setback, injuries can profoundly influence your daily functions. While some injuries
can be unavoidable, most injuries are preventable if you pair quality movement and
proper recovery with sound injury prevention strategies. Injuries can come when you
are fatigued, overtrained, or when your body isn’t prepped for the demands it’s trying to
meet. Most of the information and tools from the previous sections set you up to avoid
injury. But even when everything is done right, injury can strike, so you must understand
the basics of injury prevention.
Injury prevention can be defined as a set of activities that prevent, ameliorate, treat, or
reduce injury. From warm-ups and cool-downs to form and intensity, you need to be
conscious of the things you can do to try to steer clear of injuries. It’s these proactive
activities that will help you stay healthy and consistent. They can be tedious and cumber-
some, but the alternative—being injured—is much worse. It can be hard to meet your daily
movement goals when healthy, so adding pain or injury makes things even more difficult.
Being hurt slows down your movement and can negatively affect you mentally. Activities
of daily living become harder to execute, and your body can develop compensations or
imbalances. This is why it’s best to focus on prevention rather than treatment of injuries.
Unfortunately, many of these injuries come from the very thing that can help prevent
them, which is exercise. The US Department of Health and Human Services reports that
about 8.6 million Americans are hurt annually while engaging in physical activity (APTA
2017). These injuries result in movement impairment, pain, discomfort, unwanted stress,
and inactivity. Luckily, there are specific ways you can protect yourself from falling victim
to injury. This section lays out the basics of injury prevention and will help you stay
healthy. With movement being so important to everyday function, you must do everything
in your power to avoid injury and actively prevent it through various interventions.

Availability is the best ability when it comes to exercise and longevity. Showing up every
day in a healthy state is invaluable to achieving goals and progressing on your move-
ment journey. Below, I’ll identify the major causes of injuries and give you strategies to
prevent them.
IMPROPER OR LACK OF WARM-UP OR COOL-DOWN
A quick warm-up before you exercise and a cool-down after you exercise can save you a
lot of pain and dysfunction. The warm-up raises your core body temperature and heart
rate, which heats your muscles and prepares them for action. A proper warm-up also
lubricates your joints and helps activate your nervous system. The cool-down helps bring
the heart rate and body temperature back down after exercise so you can adequately
recover. The warm-up and cool-down don’t have to be highly specialized, but they are
vital to injury prevention. Examples of warm-up and cool-down exercises are listed in
the Educational Resources section.
NO VARIETY IN YOUR TRAINING PLAN
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, ensure you have varied exercise types in your training
regimen. A healthy mix of endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility training will help
you develop all the right qualities to stay healthy. It doesn’t have to be a perfect mix; most
exercise types overlap, so find what mix is right for you.
LACK OF BALANCE AND STABILITY
I’ve reviewed the importance of balance and stability training and how it sets the foun-
dation for all other exercise types. A shaky foundation can lead to greater chances of
injury. You need to train your core, legs, hips, and back to handle the varying demands
put on your body through exercise. Balance and stability might be the least-trained type
of exercise, yet possibly the most important for staying healthy.
BAD EXERCISE HABITS AND EQUIPMENT SELECTION
Regular exercise is one of the best injury prevention strategies. You are designed to move,
and when you don’t, you lose muscle, bone density, and overall strength, which can lead

to injury. If you use any equipment when exercising, make sure you know how to use the
equipment, make sure the equipment is safe, and make sure the equipment fits you and
your training style. Good-quality movement on bad equipment can still lead to injury,
so ensure you are protecting yourself.
POOR MOVEMENT QUALITY OR FORM
Movement quality is imperative in staying healthy during all types of exercise. Making
sure you have a strong movement foundation and know the basics of whatever exercise
you try is essential. Whether you use a movement assessment or a coach, make sure you
understand and feel how to move so you can avoid injury correctly.
TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE VOLUME OR INTENSITY
It is critical to properly scale frequency, intensity, and time with your exercise regimen.
Volume describes how much work you do, and intensity is how hard you do that work.
Not doing enough can leave you underprepared for particular demands, while doing too
much can leave you fatigued and susceptible to injury. Be cautious with how much you
take on and remember that consistency is more important than intensity.
NOT LISTENING TO YOUR BODY
Most times, if something doesn’t feel right or causes pain, it isn’t good for your body.
Listen to your body if it sends you signals, and don’t exercise on an existing injury. Know
when to push and when to stop or hold back. There is a difference between pain and
soreness and soreness and injury. The more you train properly, the more you will be able
to delineate between a healthy push or challenge and a harmful one.
NOT KNOWING YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY
Understanding your medical history and predispositions can provide insight when
considering your exercise regimen. Although most exercise will help mitigate medical
issues, some forms of exercise can exacerbate certain conditions. Talk with your doctor or
a professional to ensure you are cleared for exercise if you have any medical conditions,
and do your research to ensure your safety.

IMPAIRED REST & RECOVERY
The importance of rest and recovery can’t be overstated. From sleep to hydration, recovery
is just as important—if not more important—than the exercise itself. Make sure you are
taking your rest and recovery seriously. I spend a whole chapter diving deeper into this
topic in Core Three: Recovery.
Injuries are not entirely preventable, but you can significantly reduce the risk with the
right strategies. Good-quality and consistent movement plus adequate recovery is the
simple formula that equals staying healthy. Building the right plan, knowing what to
avoid, and applying the information from this section will help you further promote
an injury-free lifestyle. When it comes to injury prevention, you must be proactive and
take matters into your own hands. It’s about prevention, not treatment. You are doing
unglamorous work now to avoid pain and dysfunction later.
The injury burden affects millions of people each year and costs millions of dollars. If you
can take the necessary steps to prevent, treat, and reduce injuries and injury risk, you can
save time, energy, and money, resources which you can then use to lead a healthy and
fulfilling life. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
Athletic performance surrounds exercise culture and drives movement in a plethora of

domains. Many of us strive to be “athletic” as we age, but what does that really mean? Ath-
letic performance can be defined in multiple ways. One definition is having the skills and
capabilities to participate in an activity that requires physical skill or movement. Another
definition is the efforts made by an athlete to attain specific performance objectives over
time. No matter how you look at it, we all have some level of athlete in us. If you exercise,
you are an athlete. You should strive to find and foster that inner athlete to get the most
out of your exercise. Whether you actually play a sport or not makes no difference.
Most of us are exercising for a reason or to reach a goal. This puts you in fierce everyday
competition, just like athletes, but only you compete with yourself. If you do play sports,
train for events, or regularly take on various athletic endeavors, then you know that
much can be gained from how you approach exercise physically and mentally. From a
competitive mindset to meticulous preparation habits, there are many different things
you can gain from high-level athletics.

Your standards can shape athletic performance, but they are usually based on individual
results over time. Regarding movement, you should be looking to set and continuously
meet or exceed your standards. Regardless of the activity, your goal, most of the time,
should be to improve and evolve continuously. For an athlete, this is second nature, and
it can push them toward favorable outcomes. But beyond what has been mentioned thus
far, what does training for athletic performance look like? Although it can vary depending
on the person, goal, and context, training like an athlete involves movement that improves
strength, muscle mass, balance, central nervous system (CNS) coordination, flexibility,
body composition, bone health, endurance, and overall athleticism. This is paired with a
lifestyle and mindset that helps them advance toward a specific outcome. It also involves
commitment to a routine.
Ultimately, it’s less about what you do and more about how and how much you do it. There
must be a focus and attention to detail regarding your exercise, or your performance will
drop or plateau. Planning and preparation must set you on the right path toward your
goal. There must be a hunger for progression and growth. If you can tap into these things
and bring out the inner athlete in yourself, you can start to master your movement habits
and other habits in the Core Four pillars of health. The more athleticism you can unlock,
the better you can become in competition, even if it’s only against yourself. Below are some
of the qualities that successful athletes possess. When applied correctly, these qualities
can help you release your inner athlete to boost athletic performance and improve all
aspects of your health and wellness. Athletes…
• Show up every day. Showing up is a skill that must be trained often. You can’t
reach your goals with solid intentions. You must physically and mentally show up
for yourself if you want to succeed.
• Prepare meticulously. Do the work before the work. The more effective you are
before the work begins, the easier the work becomes. Set yourself up for success
by staying ready.
• Bring a competitive spirit. Competition causes better performance. Whether
you compete against yourself or someone else, healthy competition drives growth.
• Stay focused and pay attention to details. The small details are a big deal.
Stay focused on what matters and oblivious to what doesn’t. Continuously take
care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.
• Understand their strengths and weaknesses. Self-awareness is crucial for
development. Knowing where you need to improve and what you already do well
gives you an advantage in change and evolution. Work on your weaknesses and
turn your strengths into superpowers.

• Commit to constant improvement. Not every day will be perfect, but staying
dedicated to getting better will yield positive results. Small and big wins compound
over time, so commit to forward progression at any rate.
• Have confidence and belief in themselves. Your belief must be stronger
than your doubt if you want to make significant changes in your life. If you don’t
have confidence in yourself, why should anyone else? Your confidence grows when
you build up your knowledge and experience.
• Are poised and disciplined. Self-control is invaluable in your health. Under-
stand that you can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can control
how you react. Control the controllable, quiet the external noise, and channel your
internal focus toward progression.
• Develop motivation and desire. You must want success for yourself and know
what that looks like. Not having a purpose and not knowing what you wish to do
will kill motivation and drive. Let your purpose drive your pursuits. Then, through
consistent action, you can create motivation that fuels more action.
• Are resilient. Treat setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow. Adversity can be
one of your most excellent teachers, giving you countless lessons in humility. How
well you persist in the face of failure can determine your success on your journey.
There are many other qualities like passion, humility, leadership, and optimism that many
successful athletes demonstrate. The goal is to find what qualities you want to embody
and take steps toward developing them in yourself. The actions you take on a day-to-day
basis reflect the person you are and want to become. Aristotle once said, “you are what
you repeatedly do” (Greeno 2018). So ask yourself whether your actions are in line with
who you want to be. Checking in with yourself from time to time can keep you honest and
help you realign when necessary.
You don’t have to play a sport or train for an event to benefit from training like an athlete.
If you exercise or move for a specific purpose, you are an athlete in your own right. Your
athletic performance is individualized to the standard you set. This standard should be
something you strive to exceed as often as possible so you can establish new baselines
and reach new heights. Use the pointers above, and you will continue to raise the bar
higher and higher. An athlete’s approach to exercise and the Core Four will help you make
significant changes, build healthy habits, and improve your overall health and wellness.
Your inner athlete awaits if you are willing to unleash it.
As you’ve seen throughout this chapter, movement is essential to everything you do as

a human. Without it, your body doesn’t function properly, and your health declines.
Unfortunately, this simple yet powerful tool is underutilized in our society. More than a

quarter of Americans aren’t physically active, and almost 60% don’t get the recommended
amount of activity per week (CDC 2022). This is not only a burden on the health of our
society, but it strains us financially as well. More people have chronic diseases now than
ever, life expectancy has dropped in the past two years, and the gap between healthspan
and lifespan is widening. Each of us will, on average, live ten or more years with disease
and ailments. There is a severe need for education on and implementation of regular
exercise or physical activity in our society. Movement shouldn’t be considered a chore
or something you “have” to do, but rather something you “get” to do.
Healthy movement can be accessible, customized, personalized, enjoyable, and safe

for everyone. You can build this path for yourself using the Foundational Principles
along with the information presented in this chapter. Educate yourself on what healthy
movement and exercise look like for you and why it matters. Explore different types
of training and test out strategies to boost your movement and assess your movement
literacy. Experiment with varying types of exercise, intensities, frequencies, and durations
to find what you enjoy, then stay consistent with it. Execute your exercise prescription
like an athlete and weave in some injury prevention strategies so you can stay healthy
and make progress.
Continuously evolve your plan, mindset, and strategy to keep things fun, stay consistent,
and adapt as needed when it comes to training. Use the information in this chapter to
spark your movement journey and build on this knowledge by doing your own research.
Movement is at the center of all change, whether physical or mental. To make this a large-
scale societal change, you first need to individually adopt movement as an everyday staple
in your life. You must remove the barriers and negative connotations around exercise to
make daily exercise attainable and desirable. Movement is what you make it, and it can
be expressed in countless ways.
Each variation of movement offers an escape from sedentariness and a much-needed

boost to your well-being. If you can harness the full potential that regular movement
provides, you can help change the landscape of health in your society. It begins with you.
The actions you take today can help to fuel a movement for a revolution tomorrow. As the
great Albert Einstein once said, “nothing happens until something moves.”

Core Two: Nutrition
Optimum nutrition is the medicine of tomorrow.
—Dr. Linus Pauling
It’s no secret that America has an obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer epidemic.
We can’t dance around or try to mask it: we as a population are in a public health crisis.
Lifespan is going up while health span is going down, people are spending more years
sick and diseased, and we are fighting new conditions and ailments each year. It’s not
enough to simply know we are in an epidemic or even to understand what we need to do
to get out of it. We truly need a system of execution, attacking the problem from all angles.
In this chapter, I’ll discuss arguably the most significant and impactful lever in fighting
disease and living a healthier life: nutrition. Whether you need to lose weight, gain weight,
look better, feel better, perform better, reduce your disease risk, or live healthier lives,
nutrition sits at the foundation of those goals.
Nutrition is likely your most incredible and impactful connection to the outside world.
The food you eat and the drinks you drink don’t just provide you with energy and nour-
ishment; they contribute to your body structure, regulate chemical processes, and help
you function daily. What you eat, why you eat, when you eat, and how you eat all play a
role in your health, wellness, and longevity. With personalized and optimized nutrition,
you can prevent almost every disease, reverse, or slow the effects of aging, and live with
vitality each day. This is no easy task since personalized nutrition requires knowledge of
what’s suitable for you and the means and discipline to consistently eat and do the right
things for yourself.
Modern society has failed to provide an environment conducive to healthy and mindful
eating. Whole, unaltered foods are becoming rare, while artificial ingredients and mod-
ified foods are becoming the norm. You can’t fully trust nutrition guidelines, advertising,
or labels. Big food corporations can even influence government policy and scientific
research. There is an immense amount of information and misinformation flooding the
nutrition world. We have barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about the
foods we consume, the nutrients in those foods, and how they affect our bodies. We do

have considerable research and evidence-based data to guide proper nutrition choices,
but sadly, we fall short when integrating that science-based knowledge into our practices.
We consume unnatural and processed ingredients, and we eat them in excess. Excess
sugar, vegetable oil, sodium, saturated fat, and refined grains are staples of the Western
diet. Portion sizes have almost tripled in the past twenty years, and not with healthy com-
ponents. Fewer than one in ten adults and adolescents eat enough fruits and vegetables.
Poor nutrition is the leading cause of illness in America, contributing to every significant
chronic condition, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and brain disorders.
The unsettling part is that half a million deaths yearly caused by poor nutrition are mainly
preventable (CDC 2022).
We must change the trajectory of nutrition in America by arming ourselves with the
proper education paired with tools that we can apply in everyday life. Turning the tide
of nutrition in America will take a movement beyond simple knowledge. In our food
culture, food safety, food sourcing, and food preparation, we need application and evo-
lution. Nutrition isn’t just about calories and nutrients; it’s a complex interplay between
culture, emotion, psychology, and the environment. This can make decision-making
complicated. It’s not always easy to make the right choices regarding nutrition, but the
first step in making the right choice is knowing what the right choice is for you. When you
can consistently make the right choices, nutrition has the potential to change your life and
your body from the inside out. You must learn to shield yourself from misinformation
and create your own sustainable and personalized nutrition path so you can help rechart
the course of health in America. It’s time to take a stand.
In this chapter, I’ll help you understand food, the nutrients you eat and drink, how the
body uses them, and how food and its nutrient makeup can impact health, disease, and
performance. This will allow you to choose the whole foods and drinks that will optimize
your health and well-being. Good nutrition is more about eating whole foods and less
about chasing or avoiding specific nutrients. Still, understanding what nutrients make
up whole foods is valuable to know. Key nutrients found in food are the building blocks
of life and health. These include carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and
water, all of which play an essential role within the human system, providing energy for
growth and repair. Understanding each nutrient’s function and its effects on your body
can guide your food choices, helping you consume more of what you need and less of what
you don’t. The foods you eat and their nutrients can profoundly influence your anatomy,
physiology, and psychology. Knowing the basics will help you navigate the food world.

In addition to learning about nutrients, you’ll also learn about topics like digestion,
metabolism, supplementation, and hydration. The more you grasp how these nutritional
processes affect your body, the more equipped you will be to prevent illness in yourself
and others. How you select, prepare, consume, track, and even think about foods and
drinks will influence your well-being. This chapter also looks at some of the major diseases
caused by poor nutrition and how you can combat or prevent them.
I’ll cover the best nutritional strategies for body composition shifts, performance gains,
and healthy living. Throughout the chapter, I present frameworks and strategies you can
use to personalize your nutrition based on your lifestyle and goals. I’ll also cover healthy
food choices and how to source, shop for, and prepare them. Finally, I will explore some of
the up-and-coming topics in nutrition and give you quick pointers on nutrition tracking,
reading nutrition labels, and finding reliable nutrition information. The world is filled
with opinions regarding nutrition, so I try to stick to facts and evidence-based research.
Ultimately, the goal is to help you construct the most optimal nutritional lifestyle by
developing sustainable habits and making decisions that promote overall health and
wellness for you and your society.
What you eat, when you eat, why you eat, and how you eat are all based on various factors,
most of which are under your control. Understanding these variables and how to modu-
late them can help you build a healthy mindset and an individualized nutrition practice.
There is no perfect diet that everyone should follow. Nutrition needs to be personalized,
sustainable, and enjoyable if you want to make significant changes at individual and
societal levels. We are in the midst of a nutritional epidemic, and it affects each of us.
With proper education, communication, and sound nutrition habits, we can change the
course of nutrition in America and build a better future for generations.
DIGESTION, ABSORPTION, AND METABOLISM
A lot happens between eating or drinking something and excreting or absorbing it. The
processes of digestion, absorption, and metabolism involve breaking down, utilizing, and
storing energy. Although these processes are different, they work together to turn food
into energy, which your body can use for various essential bodily functions. Not every
nutrient in the foods you eat and drink gets fully digested, absorbed, and metabolized.
Your body can be selective about the nutrients it takes in. Nerves, hormones, enzymes, and

other mechanisms facilitate the digestive and metabolic processes. What you consume
has to go through several complex steps before it can be used as energy for growth, repair,
and storage. Specifically, these steps are digestion, absorption, and metabolism.
Digestion refers to how the body breaks food down into smaller molecules that can
be eliminated as waste or absorbed as nutrients. Absorption is the process by which
nutrients are moved from the digestive system into other parts of the body for use or
storage. Lastly, metabolism refers to the process by which your body converts what you
consume and absorb into energy to fuel bodily functions. Each process is intertwined,
and sometimes people speak about them interchangeably despite their distinct differ-
ences. Understanding how the digestive system works can help you be more conscious
of your nutrition habits. Not every calorie is built the same, and we all digest, absorb,
and metabolize calories differently. What you consume takes a long journey from your
mouth to your large intestine with many turns and stops along the way. In this section,
I will briefly go over each of the processes on this journey that turns your food and drink
into waste, building blocks, or energy.
Digestion
Your body starts to prepare for food before it even hits your mouth. How you think about
food— the sight, the smell, and even the sound of food—can trigger powerful physiological
changes before you even take a bite or sip. Digestion is how you break food down into
its component parts. You don’t eat pure nutrients, you eat foods made up of hundreds
of nutrients. All carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals are held together
by strong bonds that need to be broken down so you can digest, absorb, and metabolize
them. Proteins are broken down into amino acids, fats are broken down into fatty acids
and glycerol, and carbohydrates are broken down into sugars (glucose).
This process is carried out using both chemical and mechanical means. Both allow your
body to utilize each nutrient component properly. The mechanical processes for breaking
down food are mainly chewing and swallowing, while the chemical mechanisms include
saliva, stomach acid, bile, and digestive enzymes. With the help of some peristaltic
movement (rhythmic, wavelike contractions that push food down the digestive tract),
your food travels from mouth to stomach to small intestine to large intestine (the colon)
and out of the body through the anus. This process can take anywhere from fifteen to
seventy-five hours and depends on the amount and type of food you eat, among other
factors. Digesting food properly makes the nutrients in it more bioavailable for absorption
and metabolism.

Absorption
Absorption takes place throughout the digestive tract at varying levels. Although most
nutrient absorption occurs in the small intestine, there are smaller nutrient molecules
that can be broken down and absorbed in the mouth. Enzymes in saliva help with the
breakdown, and some liquids, electrolytes, sugars, fats, and drugs can be absorbed
directly through the inner lining of your mouth. Beyond the mouth, food travels down
the esophagus, and is churned and bathed in stomach acids that activate enzymes to help
break down proteins, fats, and carbs into amino acids, fatty acids, and monosaccharides.
The powerful gastric acid kills germs, while the mucus lining protects the walls of your
stomach. The liver secretes bile to assist in molecule breakdown and germ-killing as the
food passes through the stomach into the small intestine.
The small intestine is where most nutrients get absorbed, since most of the breakdown has
already occurred. Here, villi (microfibers that help grab and absorb nutrients) and specific
enzymes for amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids help facilitate the final breakdown and
transfer of nutrients into the bloodstream. These nutrients are usually shuttled to the
liver, where they can be stored, processed, and distributed throughout the body by carrier
proteins. Water is also absorbed in the small intestine, and a mucus lining helps protect
the small intestine from harmful bacteria and viruses.
Finally, the food gets to the large intestine, the colon. Here, there is more water and
electrolyte absorption, and your body begins to form and store your stool at this stage. The
waste products your body doesn’t use, including dead bacteria, indigestible foods, inor-
ganic substances, fats, and protein are passed through the colon and excreted through the
rectum and anus. All this work turns food into a usable energy source for various bodily
functions. You don’t absorb 100% of the food you eat, and your gut health significantly
affects absorption efficiency. What you eat, when you eat, and how you eat can all affect
the absorption of nutrients.
Metabolism
Metabolism has many meanings in the public sphere. Truthfully, metabolism is how
you turn food into energy and what you do with that energy. It sounds simple, but it is a
very complex process that differs depending on the nutrient. Factors that influence the
speed and efficiency of your metabolism include age, gender, activity level, muscle mass,
hormone levels, and genetics. When you metabolize carbs, fats, and proteins, you release
stored energy that fuels your breathing, digestion, blood flow, hormone regulation, body

temperature, and movement. Your body is hard at work metabolizing nutrients for energy
every waking second, and even at rest.
A minimum number of calories (your BMR) is required to run essential bodily functions
and process food into fuel. The rest of your energy goes into movement. I talked a bit about
how energy is used and stored, but I will cover energy balance more in the next section.
The metabolism process is intricate, requiring several pathways to properly create and
store energy from nutrients. These enzymatic reactions convert sugars, amino acids, and
fatty acids into chemical energy (ATP) which is used by the muscle, brain, liver, and other
tissues in different quantities.
Metabolic reactions can be anabolic (building up) in nature or catabolic (breaking down).
You might have heard of some of the most important metabolic pathways, like glycolysis
and the Krebs cycle. Hundreds of similar pathways keep us alive and functioning each
day. The bottom line is that your body constantly conducts several chemical processes
to sustain your life; one of those is turning food into energy. What you do with most of
that energy is another story, which I will discuss later in this chapter.
In the meantime, below are some factors that affect your metabolism:
• Factors that can increase metabolism: hot or cold exposure, acute

stress, fear, high altitude, injury, caffeine, an increase in muscle mass, and
certain medications.
• Factors that can decrease metabolism: aging, a reduction in training volume
and intensity, loss of muscle mass, and chronic stress.
ENERGY BALANCE
You use energy to do various types of work like moving, eating, digesting, breathing,
and ultimately, surviving. You even use energy (and a lot of it) to think. The amount of
energy you derive from food, the energy you store, and the energy you use for mental
and physical work determines your energy balance. Energy balance simply refers to the
relationship between energy in and energy out. Energy balance is achieved when energy
expenditure matches energy intake. Although this might seem like an oversimplification,
that is what it boils down to.

Several factors influence energy intake and expenditure, and their relationship deter-
mines weight gain, weight loss, or weight maintenance. Generally speaking, if you take
in more energy through food or drink than you excrete or burn, you will gain weight. You
will lose weight if you excrete or burn more energy than you take in. This remains true
no matter what, when, or how you eat (or drink).
Energy is energy, and it cannot be created or destroyed, only converted or transferred,

which is basic thermodynamics. While energy balance seems reasonably straightforward,
it gets tricky when you consider how to measure energy and try to identify the various
components that influence your energy balance. Most people are familiar with energy
as measured in joules or calories. Since energy is measured indirectly via calories as heat
production, you won’t have an accurate picture of true energy in and out, unless you are
in a laboratory setting with the proper equipment. Additionally, not all nutrients are
created equal, calorically speaking. Below is a quick breakdown of how many calories
you get from different nutrients:
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
• 1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories
The energy in specific nutrients can be precisely measured in a laboratory setting, which
gives us some accurate baseline knowledge. Knowing exactly how many calories and
nutrients your foods contain in the real world is impossible outside the lab. You have
nutrition labels, devices, and equations to help you make your best educated guesses, but
truthfully, there will always be a margin of error when calculating calories and nutrients.
This is also the case regarding the calories and nutrients you absorb, excrete, and expend.
This is why it can take a lot of work to count calories precisely and accurately or manage
weight effectively. Whether it’s your wearable device, an app, or a formula, you can expect
a significant amount of error regarding energy measurement. Knowing this, you should
use these different measurement tools as a guide, and not the end-all and be-all of energy
tracking. This will lead to a better relationship with food, movement, and your body that
will facilitate healthy habits. I hope these tools and technologies continue to improve and
become more individualized. But for now, the nutrition labels, devices, and equations
available today are just a compilation of averages.
While it is true that all calories (a unit of measurement, not a specific nutrient) are equal,
the sources of calories may have varying effects on energy balance and appetite. So what
factors influence energy balance? There are several answers. Having insight into these

factors and their impacts will give you the knowledge you need to control your energy
balance. Below, I break down the main aspects of energy in and energy out, as provided
by Precision Nutrition (Berardi 2012):
ENERGY-IN FACTORS
• Appetite: influenced by hormones that regulate appetite and satiety as well as

time and other eating habits.
• Food consumed: influenced by availability, sleep quality, education, culture,
and energy density.
• Calories absorbed: influenced by macronutrient intake, time and order of
consumption, food preparation, age, microbiome, health, and energy status.
• Psychological factors: influenced by stress levels, mindset, perceived control,
self-esteem, and sleep quality.
ENERGY-OUT FACTORS
• Energy burned at rest: influenced by body size, hormones, genetics, sleep

quality, age, and diet history.
• Energy burned through exercise: influenced by exercise ability, intensity,
duration, frequency, environment, hormones, and sleep quality.
• Energy burned through non-exercise activity: influenced by health, energy
status, stress, hormones, body size, occupation, leisure activities, and genetics.
• Energy burned through metabolizing food: influenced by macronutrient
composition, what time you eat, and how processed the food is.
Equipped with an understanding of what influences energy in and energy out, you now
know that the energy balance equation is much more complex than it seems. You can use
your knowledge of these influences to explore and experiment with different strategies
that manipulate energy in or energy out factors. For example, Impulse Resistance Train-
ing would control the energy in part of the equation, and the 3P Method would ramp up
energy out factors. Regardless, the complexity of these influences should not scare you.
It should encourage you to take advantage of the many ways you can affect your energy
balance. Knowing what’s in your control and what’s not will help you devote your energy
to what matters and save energy on what doesn’t.

Energy is your capacity for doing work. Sleeping, moving, metabolizing food, and even
thinking all require energy. You have great control over where you get that energy and
how you utilize it. You have the power to manipulate the simple energy balance equation,
mainly through movement and nutritional interventions. On the surface, energy balance
can seem like a basic concept: energy intake minus energy expenditure. The truth is that
several factors influence both sides of the equation, making this simple equation much
more complex. You must recognize the factors that influence energy in and energy out to
make informed decisions that align with your overall health and wellness goals. The more
knowledge you have, the more you can leverage the vast technology and data landscape
available today. This way, the information can be a tool in your toolbox instead of your
sole source of direction. Energy comes and goes in life. The more you understand and
regulate this energy flow, the better you can live.
MACRONUTRIENTS: CARBS, PROTEIN, AND FATS
As the name implies, macronutrients are specific nutrients needed in significant quanti-
ties by the body to maintain its structure, functions, and many processes. Macronutrients
include carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Your body either can’t make or can’t make
enough of these essential nutrients to function optimally. This means that getting these
macronutrients from different foods and drinks is vital to survival.
Macronutrients are broken down into smaller molecules, which are used throughout the
body for various purposes. Primarily, carbohydrates get broken down into glucose, fats
into fatty acids, and proteins into amino acids. These molecules have several critical roles
to play in keeping you alive and healthy. You don’t eat specific molecules or nutrients;
you eat foods that are a collection of molecules packaged in particular ways. The most
natural and whole foods you eat are a mixture of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and
other micronutrients.
Macronutrients don’t just provide energy. They help create enzymes, maintain cell health,
provide structure, and transport molecules. No one molecule is overwhelmingly more
important than the others, and all have significant roles to play. Although your body can
adapt to having no or very low levels of certain macronutrients like carbohydrates, this
can be very hard to sustain.
In this section, I will unpack each macronutrient so you can understand what functions
they serve in your body and which foods contain each macronutrient in the highest

quantity. Highlighting the importance of each macronutrient will provide further context
as to why they are critical to your health and wellness. It’s important to understand that
there is no perfect macronutrient split and that everyone’s needs will differ based on
myriad factors. The information provided in this section will allow you to personalize
your approach and make calculated, well-informed nutritional decisions.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates come in many different shapes and sizes. Carbohydrates are your body’s
primary energy currency. There are simple and complex carbs. Simple carbs include
monosaccharides like glucose, fructose, galactose, and disaccharides like lactose, malt-
ose, and sucrose. In most cases, these simple carbs are easily digested, absorbed, and
metabolized, and can spike blood glucose levels quickly.
Complex carbs include the polysaccharides starch, fiber, glycogen, and cellulose. These
complex carbs are digested more slowly or sometimes not at all, and have a slower, less
immediate effect on blood glucose. There are other types of carbs out there, but these
are the most important. Carbohydrates go way beyond just providing energy. They spare
protein metabolism, aid in lipid metabolism, and help regulate your body’s fluctuating
energy needs.
MAIN FUNCTIONS
• Energy: Glucose is the preferred energy source for many parts of your body,
including your brain. Glucose is stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver for
later use when you need energy for exercise or fasting.
• Digestion: Fiber is a carb that the body can’t digest, so it passes through the body
undigested and promotes healthy bowel movements. Fiber can also curb hunger
by making you feel full and helping regulate blood sugar.
SOURCES
• Whole grains: rice, quinoa, oats, farro, buckwheat, and barley

• Vegetables: sweet potatoes, beets, peas, spinach, brussels sprouts,
starchy vegetables
• Fruits: mangoes, pineapples, bananas, dates, and apples

• Beans and legumes: beans, lentils, and chickpeas
• Dairy products: milk and yogurt
Proteins
Every cell in the body contains protein. Proteins are the building blocks of the human
body and have several vital functions. Proteins are made up of twenty-one different types
of amino acids. You have nonessential, essential, and conditionally essential amino acids.
Your body can make some of the nonessential amino acids, but your body cannot make
essential amino acids and needs to get them from food. The conditionally essential amino
acids are ones that your body can make, but it can only sometimes make them effectively
and efficiently. Your body also has branched-chain amino acids, which are stored directly
in the muscle and aid in muscle buildup and breakdown. You have thousands of proteins
in your body that all serve different purposes. While protein also provides some energy,
the main functions of proteins include growth, repair, maintenance, immune function,
hormone production, and nutrient transportation.
MAIN FUNCTIONS
• Structure: Amino acids provide structure for your body’s cell membranes, bones,
organs, hair, skin, and nails.
• Build and repair: Amino acids are the building blocks for muscle proteins,
skeletal and connective tissue, neurotransmitters, enzymes, hormones, transport
proteins, and immune system chemicals within your body. They are also used to
repair and construct tissues and muscles.
• pH balance: Amino acids help maintain a proper acid-base balance with-
in your body.
SOURCES
• Poultry: chicken and turkey

• Eggs: egg yolks and whites
• Red meat: beef, lamb, and pork
• Seafood: salmon, tuna, cod, and shellfish
• Dairy products: milk, yogurt, and cheese

• Beans and legumes: beans, lentils, and chickpeas
• Nuts and seeds: almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseed, chia seeds
• Soy products: tofu, edamame, and tempeh
• Protein powder: whey, casein, and pea protein
• Other sources: bone broth and collagen
Fats
Fats are massive sources of energy and support several different cellular functions.
Beyond keeping you warm, fats provide structural support, facilitate the transportation
and absorption of molecules, and produce critical hormones. There are several kinds
of fats, including saturated, unsaturated, and trans. Saturated fatty acids don’t have
double bonds between their individual carbon atoms, while unsaturated fatty acids have
at least one double bond in the fatty acid chain. Saturated fats are usually solid at room
temperature and from animal sources, while unsaturated fats are typically liquid at room
temperature and from plant sources. Trans fats are made by heating liquid vegetable
oils in a process called hydrogenation. Unsaturated fats can be further broken down
into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, categories which include omega-6 and
omega-3 fatty acids. Your body cannot make omega-6 and omega-3 on its own, so you
must get these from dietary sources. I will discuss the different fat types and their effects
on health, but the bottom line is that fats are essential and serve many roles in protecting
and regulating the human mind and body.
MAIN FUNCTIONS
• Cell and brain structure: Fats make up essential components of cell mem-
branes and form your brain tissue. 60% of your brain’s total weight is fat.
• Energy: Fat is the most energy-dense macronutrient. Fat is a vast energy source
used during long bouts of aerobic exercise, fasting, and caloric restriction. Fat is
stored throughout your body as an energy reserve.
• Transportation and absorption: Fats help transport and promote the ab-
sorption of fat-soluble molecules throughout the body.
• Protection: Fat insulates and protects your organs.
• Hormones: Fats help make and regulate your hormones.

SOURCES
• Nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds,
and pumpkin seeds, as well as nut and seed butter
• Fatty fish: salmon, sardines, and anchovies
• Dairy products: full-fat yogurt, cheese, and cream
• Eggs: egg yolks and whites, but the yolks are more fat-dense
• Soy products: tofu, edamame, and tempeh
• Olives: fresh olives and olive oil
• Avocados: fresh avocado and avocado oil
• Coconuts: fresh or dried coconut, and coconut oil
• Cacao: dark chocolate
Macronutrients are crucial in regulating and sustaining a plethora of functions in your

body, from maintaining structure with proteins to protecting the body with fats. In
addition to the work each of these macronutrients does on their own, they also work in
harmony to carry out various tasks throughout your body. These are nutrients that, in
most cases, you can’t go without. Unfortunately, while macronutrients are essential, not
all sources of macronutrients are healthy. Natural, non-processed whole foods usually
contain a healthy mix of macronutrients packaged and delivered to your body in a bal-
anced and healthy way. Later in the chapter, I will discuss the healthiest food sources of
macro and micronutrients and how best to incorporate them into your diet.
Nutrition is a powerful lever in changing your mental, physical, and emotional states.
Knowing what your food does at a cellular level will give you a greater appreciation for the
food you consume. Food does not just contain energy; it has the nutrients that help you
grow, repair, protect, and regulate your bodies. Nourishing that body with fresh, natural,
and non-processed macronutrients provides a foundation for a healthy body and life.
MICRONUTRIENTS: VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Micronutrients are dietary elements needed in smaller quantities than macronutrients to

sustain and regulate various physiological processes in the body. Several micronutrients
are classified as vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, myconutrients, and zoonutrients.
Your body needs these nutrients in varying quantities to function and prevent disease.
Vitamins are organic molecules made by plants and animals that can be broken down
in your body. Minerals are inorganic molecules found in soil and water that cannot be

broken down and are absorbed by plants or eaten by animals. Phytonutrients are found
in plants, myconutrients are found in fungi like mushrooms, and zoonutrients are found
in animal-derived foods.
For the most part, your body cannot produce micronutrients, so they must be obtained
through diet and supplementation. When you eat plants or animals, you consume many
nutrients that they produce or absorb from soil, water, and sunlight. The power of micro-
nutrients cannot be understated as they are involved in nearly every major system in your
body. They are critical to staying healthy and fighting disease; without them, you can face
severe and life-threatening conditions. Getting the full complement of micronutrients
in your diet is paramount because each micronutrient plays a specific role in your body.
These nutrients don’t provide you with energy directly, but they help you utilize it. While
macronutrients provide energy, micronutrients help you extract, use, and regulate energy
along with many other processes. The Micronutrient Tables located in the Educational
Resources section will give you an overview of vitamins, minerals, and other micronu-
trients so you know where to find them, understand their various benefits, and avoid
deficiency or toxicity risks.
Micronutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and other compounds, are needed for nearly
every biological process in your body. These complex compounds work synergistically to
help you stay healthy. Too much or too little of a single compound often leads to dysfunc-
tion. Although these compounds don’t directly give you energy, they are vital to survival.
Micronutrients are categorized in various ways based on how they are absorbed in your
body, the amount you need, and their original sources. Since micronutrients are absorbed
and metabolized differently, it’s important to note that your body might not fully use what
you eat. This is why it is crucial to get these micronutrients from varied food sources.
The healthiest food sources of micronutrients are minimally processed whole foods like
colorful fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, and
whole grains. This list, along with the chart in the Educational Resources section, is not
an exhaustive list of food sources. Your needs and preferences will vary based on your age,
gender, activity level, genetics, environment, and many other factors. To find what’s right
for you, consult a professional, get your blood analyzed, or check out the latest dietary
guidelines listed in the Educational Resources section.
Having optimal micronutrient levels in your body will help you function at the highest
level. You leave yourself susceptible to sickness, disease, and disorder without the proper
micronutrient balance. I will talk more about how you can track, measure, and analyze

your micro and macronutrient levels later in this chapter, and I will also discuss when
and if supplementation is needed. Micronutrients are everywhere, in soil, water, plants,
and animals. Find the best sources and amounts for you to ensure that every process in
your body runs harmoniously.
HYDRATION: WATER AND FLUID BALANCE
Water is vital to life. It is the foundation of our planet, covering 70% of the earth’s surface.
Every cell and chemical reaction in your body relies on water. It makes up 50% to 70%
of your body and plays a part in virtually every system you can think of (MFMER 2022).
It’s no secret that you need water not just to be healthy but to survive. Without water,
your body would shut down organ by organ after a few days. Luckily, you get water from
various sources to maintain equilibrium.
Your body has some complex systems for controlling water and overall fluid balance. Your
kidneys filter all the water in your body and eliminate waste and toxins. With each beat of
your heart, your kidneys receive 20% of your blood, and pump and filter over 200 liters of
fluid per day (CDC 2022). Your body also uses electrochemical gradients and hormones
to maintain optimal fluid concentrations inside and outside its cells. These processes
help you maintain your fluid balance, which is how water is distributed throughout your
body tissues, or the relationship between fluid in and fluid out. Your fluid in comes mostly
from food and drink, while your fluid out happens through respiration, sweating, and
excretion. This fluid balancing act is performed mostly by the kidneys and is crucial to
regulating the many internal processes in the body.
Water is a solvent, a transporter, a lubricant, a temperature regulator, and a protector

of your body. You need adequate water each day to function normally, but your fluid
balance and overall health are also affected by electrolytes, glucose, and other nutrients.
This is where hydration, which is the process of absorbing and replenishing water and
electrolytes in the body, is sometimes misunderstood. The real goal of proper hydration
is to achieve a fluid balance that is conducive to optimal health, not just survival. Most
people get adequate water intake each day. Your body is well equipped with elaborate
mechanisms that sense water levels. When blood volume is low, thirst is triggered, and
you seek out water. You excrete water when you have too much, and you get thirsty if
you don’t have enough, so for a person with healthy kidneys, dehydration is rare. Where
many fall short is not water loss but overall fluid imbalance.

To maintain optimal hydration, you need water, glucose, electrolytes, and many other
nutrients. Glucose is needed for energy and to replenish glycogen stores. Electrolytes are
key minerals that modulate the electrochemical balance in your cells. They help water
flow into and out of your cells and ensure that the concentration of fluid stays regulated
both inside and outside the cell. Everything from brain health to muscle contraction to
nerve conduction depends on electrolytes.
Your body’s mechanisms for sensing electrolyte balance are not as strong as the ones
for water, although electrolytes are critical. Electrolytes come mostly from your diet and
can also be excreted when levels are too high, but when your body’s electrolytes are low,
it pulls these minerals from your blood and bones, causing other issues. Thus, many are
susceptible to fluid imbalance and osmolarity trouble, which can lead to a host of issues.
People generally know that hydration is critical, but they fail to understand that the
hydration equation is water plus electrolytes.
While dehydration (not getting enough fluid or losing more fluid than you take in) can be
rare in healthy individuals, it can be a chronic problem for many others. There is a slight
difference between dehydration, which technically refers only to the loss of water without
the loss of electrolytes, and volume depletion, which refers to a reduction of extracellular
volume plus the loss of electrolytes. Another factor to consider is tonicity, which is
basically the difference in concentration between solutions. Tonicity plays a massive role
in hydration status because water follows the concentration gradient, moving from low
concentrations to high concentrations. Your body (especially your kidneys) constantly
monitors and maintains water and electrolyte equilibrium. Your body senses changes
in plasma osmolality and releases diuretic and antidiuretic hormones to modulate your
water levels. Your nutritional choices and hydration habits are essential in preventing
water loss and fluid imbalance.
Dehydration to the tune of just 2% of your body weight can impair cognitive function
(Carroll 2018). People with mild to severe dehydration or volume depletion can suffer
from fatigue, low blood pressure, headaches, muscle cramps, disordered eating, and
decreased performance. You can exacerbate these effects depending on what you eat and
drink and how much you move. These consequences can also be affected by temperature
and humidity. Thus, your hydration needs depend on these factors, as well as your body
size, age, and immune health.
Sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and glucose are some of the major
players in fluid regulation. You can get these necessary nutrients from healthy food
sources like fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, many people think they need to get

electrolytes and glucose from sugary sports drinks or highly concentrated intravenous
solutions. These calorically dense and highly concentrated drinks are often unnecessary
and can negatively affect hydration and overall health. Unless you are participating in
extremely intense, long-duration exercise or you are severely dehydrated, you should
stick with water as much as possible. General recommendations state that adult men
need about three liters of water per day, while women need about one and a half to two
liters per day. You usually get about one liter of water from your food intake, which leaves
a liter or two left for you to get through drinking fluids (CDC 2022). This is where the
famous eight eight-ounce cups per day recommendation comes from.
It’s important to note that there is very little research to back up this eight-cups formula.
General recommendations are a great starting point, but to understand your specific
needs, you should consider your environment, activity level, and body size. A quick and
easy way to calculate your recommended daily water intake is to take half your body
weight in pounds, and drink that number of ounces of water per day.
Most people grossly overestimate their hydration needs, especially when it comes to
glucose and electrolyte depletion in relation to exercising. Drinking water is probably the
best option if you are not doing intense exercise bouts lasting over two hours, in extreme
heat and humidity, or already in a severely dehydrated state. If you are, assess your needs
or consult a professional to find the right balance of water, glucose, and electrolytes for
you. Hydration status can also be affected by alcohol, caffeine, and dietary intake, so
make sure you are considering those things as well.
While not often talked about, getting too much water (causing hyponatremia or low
sodium) is also possible. Although this is rare and usually only seen in endurance athletes
and hospital patients, it emphasizes the role of electrolytes and overall nutrient balance
in optimal fluid balance. Monitor your hydration status and check with a professional
if needed or if any of the extreme scenarios are possible for you. What’s important is
understanding that hydration isn’t just about water, but about fluid balance.
Below, I’ve listed some practical strategies you can use to build up your hydration habits.
Additional key definitions can be found in the Educational Resources.
BENEFITS OF OPTIMAL HYDRATION
• Regulates body temperature

• Keeps joints lubricated

• Prevents infections
• Aids in digestion
• Normalizes blood pressure
• Delivers nutrients to cells
• Improves sleep quality
• Enhances cognition and mood
• Aids electrical signaling
• Improves energy
• Reduces muscle cramps and headaches
• Improves skin health
WAYS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR HYDRATION
• Monitor your hydration levels by tracking urine frequency, urine color, sweat,
bloodwork, and subjective energy levels.
• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
• Make hydration a game or challenge, by yourself or with friends and family.
• Keep a water bottle with you and keep it filled throughout the day.
• Adjust and adapt your fluid needs based on your environment, focusing on tem-
perature, humidity, etc.
• Adjust and adapt your fluid needs based on your age, body size, and activity level.
• Monitor your caffeine and alcohol consumption and adjust hydration hab-
its accordingly.
• Set reminders in phone alerts, post-it notes, and apps to help you stay hydrated.
• Drink water and electrolytes upon waking up since the body loses lots of fluids
during sleep.
• Drink water before eating and don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink water,
because hunger is often disguised as thirst.
• Add natural, non-processed, calorie-free flavoring to your water if needed for taste
• Look for signs of dehydration and volume depletion like fatigue, low blood pres-
sure, headaches, muscle cramps, disordered eating, and decreased performance.
• Drink the number of half your body weight (in pounds) in fluid ounces per day.
Again, this is a general starting point, and you can adjust your needs accordingly.
• Unless your exercise is intense, of long duration, or in extreme heat, drink only
water, or water and electrolytes.
• Replace glucose as needed but avoid processed and sugary beverages and
sports drinks.

• Avoid overhydration by getting adequate electrolytes and watching for symp-
toms: cloudy thinking, nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, spasms, cramps,
and headaches.
NUTRITIONAL FRAMEWORKS
As you’ve learned in this chapter, the nutrients you eat profoundly influence every system
in your body and can affect your mental, physical, and emotional well-being. How you in-
teract with food and the control you develop over your nutritional choices will affect many
aspects of your life. Building a strong relationship with food and a wealth of knowledge
about optimal eating habits will allow you to thrive in different environments. With the
right nutritional framework, you can manage your weight, shift your body composition,
decrease your disease risk, and perform and feel your best. The framework I provide
covers four things related to your eating behaviors and choices: What, When, How, and
Why you eat or don’t eat. Together, these four variables have a powerful influence on your
health, wellness, and performance. Most widely popularized diets and nutrition plans
manipulate one or several of these variables in some way.
Having insight into all four variables and the system to manipulate them when appro-
priate is a game-changer—no more yo-yo dieting or guessing regarding your nutrition. I
will review each variable below to give you necessary knowledge that you can then pair
with proven strategies and practices to create some structure around your nutrition.
Understand that I want to provide the best resources and several different approaches
so that you can identify what works best for you.
Nutrition should be personalized and flexible, but structured. The more you know about
the field of nutrition, the more you can test, measure, and implement different strategies
in your life that will help you reach your desired objectives. You will also learn more about
yourself, your preferences, and what you can sustain in the long term. With this section,
you will be empowered by having the knowledge and tools necessary to manipulate and
utilize the four variables so you can take full control of your nutrition and your well-being.
What We Eat (Or Don’t Eat)
What we eat is the obvious thing people think of when they think about gaining or losing
weight and the quality of their diet. In previous sections, I covered the many different

nutrients your body needs to function, but you don’t eat nutrients alone; you eat foods.
These foods contain various amounts of these nutrients that are absorbed and utilized
by the body at varying levels. Your health depends on the nutrients you absorb from
food. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in some cases), what you eat doesn’t always directly
translate into what you absorb, making the foods you choose that much more important.
Whether it’s for health or personal reasons, people use several different approaches to
manipulate what they eat or don’t eat. Most boil down to specific dietary or nutrient
restrictions. Restricting different macronutrients, food groups, or animal products is
the strategy that most common diets elicit. Keto, paleo, vegan, and vegetarian diets are
all based on what you cannot eat or should not eat large amounts of.
Limiting your options can make food choices easier and provide clarity. It can also give
you a set of guidelines that help you stay on track in new environments. Although this
strategy is one of the most widely used, dietary restriction isn’t for everyone. Many people
get bored when options are limited, or they feel too restricted. Also, just because options
are limited doesn’t mean you can’t eat too much or eat the wrong thing within the right
diet. There is plenty of unhealthy vegan food and processed vegetarian food out there.
When trying dietary or nutrient restriction, make sure to find what you can do consistently
and personalize it to your needs and preferences.
Another way to alter your nutrition is to base your diet on what you add instead of what
you restrict. This strategy flips the common conception of diet by looking at it from the
perspective of addition, not subtraction. Adding nutrients or foods into your diet can help
you escape the mindset of deprivation. With diets based on addition, the idea is to crowd
out the unhealthy foods you eat by slowly introducing healthy ones. The subtraction by
addition method can help you adjust your diet without causing too much disruption.
With most nutrition behaviors, it’s easier to sustain adding something than removing
something. Both restriction and addition can be effective strategies for changing body
composition and improving your health.
I want to provide you with information on all the different approaches and strategies
so you can figure out and execute the one that’s just right for you. Also, know that these
approaches can be combined to match your preferences. Maybe you will restrict sugar but
add more vegetables, or restrict fried foods and add more water. Regardless, the approach
should be specific to your budget, environment, preferences, and goals.
Dieting is the practice of managing the consumption of food and drink with the intent
to lose, gain, or maintain weight. Several diets are based on ethical or religious beliefs,

specific ingredients or foods, specific disease prevention, and various fads or practices.
Below are some of the more popular diets and dietary tools.
DIETS
• Popular diets: Vegan (no animal products), Vegetarian (no meat or fish),
Pescetarian (no meat), Mediterranean (eat like people who live by the Mediter-
ranean sea), Paleo (eat like Paleolithic hunter-gatherers), Low-carb (keto, Atkins,
etc.), Low-fat (Ornish, McDougall, etc.), Raw (only raw foods), Liquid (mostly
liquid and soft foods), and Detox
• Ingredient-specific diets: Gluten-free, sugar-free, lactose- or dairy-free, nut-
free, egg-free, and soy-free
• Religious diets: Halal and Kosher
TOOLS
• Subtraction by addition (crowding out): Adding healthy foods into your

diet to crowd out the less healthy foods.
• Setting your guidelines: Whether it’s addition or restriction, having a set of
rules to follow helps you stick with your nutritional regimen.
• Adjust to your environment: Make choices that best suit your health and
well-being depending on the context and situation.
• 80/20 method: Eat healthier foods and make sound choices 80% of the time.
Leave the other 20% of the time for satisfying cravings and accounting for other
random occasions like travel, social events, work events, etc. You can adjust the
percentages based on your lifestyle, e.g., 90:10 or 70:30.
When We Eat (or Don’t Eat)
Until recently, when you eat wasn’t thought about much as a lever of nutrition. Most
people have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and eat snacks in between. If you wanted to be
healthier, you’d simply change what you ate, or you’d eat less. But emerging evidence and
a fast-growing interest have formed around when we eat. Fasting, time-restricted feeding,
and nutrient timing have become widely popularized, and for good reason. The concept
is to not eat for extended periods, or to restrict your eating to specific time windows.

This time restriction has benefits beyond reducing calories consumed. Limiting your
consumption to particular times or fasting for extended periods can reduce disease risk,
stimulate autophagy (the cleaning out of damaged cells), improve gut health, and boost
immune health. Fasted states can also activate key pathways that promote longevity. This
makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, since early humans were hunter-gatherers
who likely adapted to going for long periods without food. Thus, our brains and bodies
evolved to become incredibly efficient in times of famine.
Today, food is for the most part readily available, and we eat when we are hungry, bored,
tired, sad, and happy. Constant eating throughout the day can cause inflammation and tax
key organs like the liver and the pancreas. Many cells in our bodies have unique circadian
rhythms, so that food can be digested, absorbed, and metabolized differently depending
on the time of day. Hormonal and immune changes that vary throughout the twenty-four-
hour day can profoundly affect your metabolic health. While normal diets and scientific
research focus on eating less or eating healthier, time restriction has quickly become a
popular option for people seeking weight loss and trying to avoid metabolic syndrome.
That said, time-restricted eating or fasting can take some time to get used to and can
be hard for some to implement initially. As mentioned before, your body is governed
by different circadian rhythms, so it can be challenging to eat, exercise, or sleep outside
the normal windows that your body is used to. Your schedule, activity level, sleep, envi-
ronment, and current diet will influence how easy or hard it is to execute this approach.
Like the other approaches mentioned throughout this section, be sure to find what’s best
for you. Below are some of the different, widely used, and researched time restriction
strategies. Understand that hunger is just a signal. How you react to that signal can help
teach your body to shift or adapt to the state you want it to be in.
The definition of fasting is very inconsistent and can constitute a range of protocols. The
benefits of time-based restriction can change depending on whether you do zero-calorie
or reduced-calorie, the amount of time you restrict your intake, and the type of foods you
allow or don’t allow during your restriction.
TYPES OF TIME RESTRICTION OR FASTING
• Time Restriction Eating/Feeding (TRE or TRF): Limiting eating to a

specific window or time frame
• Intermittent Fasting: Undergoing an extended fast at a particular frequency
(often used interchangeably with TRE or TRF)

• Overnight Fasting: Not eating between dinner and breakfast the next day (most
people do this unconsciously)
• Alternate-Day Fasting: Doing a fasting protocol every other day (also called
alternate-day caloric restriction)
• 5:2 Fasting: Five days of the week eating normally, then two days doing a fasting
protocol or caloric restriction
• Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD): Trademarked protocol of a reduced-calorie fast
• Prolonged Fasting/Multiple-Day Fasting: Several days of reduced or
zero calories
• Religious Fasts: Eating is restricted during specific times according to various
religious practices
TOOLS
• Eight-hour eating window: Based on numerous studies, eating within an

eight-hour eating window has been shown to lead to better health outcomes.
• Pre-sleep/post-wake eating: Not eating within two to three hours of your
bedtime and holding off on eating until an hour after you wake can help with sleep,
digestion, and extending your fasted state from overnight.
• Curbing hunger: Water, electrolytes, green tea, and lemon or lime juice can
help you stay hydrated and curb hunger during fasting periods.
5 MAJOR BENEFITS OF FASTING (TWENTY-FOUR PLUS

HOURS WITH ZERO CALORIES)
• Can stimulate autophagy

• Can delay aging and activate longevity pathways (See Educational Resources for
specific pathways)
• Can improve metabolic health (blood pressure, blood sugar, inflammatory mark-
ers, and cholesterol)
• Can induce weight loss (visceral fat loss)
• Can aid in preventing diseases like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc.

How We Eat
The amount we eat and drink has, without a doubt, been on the rise in America. There’s
a clear portioning problem throughout the food industry. Portion sizes in America have
nearly tripled over the past twenty years, contributing to the rise in obesity among other
diseases (NHLBI 2013). Big Gulps, supersized meals, and endless buffets are customary
in most restaurants and fast-food places.
We don’t just eat a lot; we eat fast, we eat while distracted, we eat while driving, and the
list goes on. There is no shortage of problems surrounding how much we eat and how we
eat. Nutritional interventions that aim to tackle this issue are usually centered around
caloric restriction and specific eating practices. Many eating practices manipulate the pace
and manner in which you eat, while caloric restriction is as simple as it sounds, limiting
the number of calories you take in during a given period.
Although it can be challenging, caloric restriction is relatively straightforward: just eat

less. To restrict calories, you must first track how many calories you consume, which can
be a laborious process. Most people rarely pay attention to the precise amount they eat,
and portion sizes are hardly ever exact. Despite these drawbacks, caloric restriction is
a proven way to lose weight and control the “calories in” portion of the energy balance
equation. Like time restriction, caloric restriction gives you flexibility regarding what you
eat, which can be helpful. What’s important to note is that with caloric restriction and all
other types of restriction, you want to ensure your restriction doesn’t result in malnutri-
tion. Your body still needs the necessary nutrients to function correctly. Depending on
the foods you choose, you can still achieve this with reduced caloric intake.
Another approach to how you eat is changing your eating practices. The speed at which
you consume your food, the location, the social environment, and even how you think
about food can affect your digestion, absorption, and metabolism. This is often over-
looked, but it can contribute significantly to your health and wellness. No matter the
food or the environment, you can almost always control how you eat and how much you
eat. It can be challenging to break away from certain habits in some cultures, like always
finishing your plate or eating until there are no leftovers. The goal is to bring awareness to
your eating practices so you can make changes as needed. It won’t always be perfect, but
the more you observe and alter your approach to how you eat, the better off you will be.
If you are looking to gain weight or muscle, you will need to reverse your approach and
consume additional calories. This may seem like an easy task, but you should still be
conscious of how to go about doing this. Depending on the goal, you should add specific

foods to your diet while manipulating your eating practices. This can be just as difficult
for your body as restriction since you are taking it out of equilibrium. Regardless, the
main point is that you should be paying more attention to how you eat and how much
you eat to make sure it aligns with your health goals.
Below are some resources to consider when thinking about how and how much you eat.
We are fighting an uphill battle regarding portion sizes and eating hygiene in America.
Still, I am optimistic that with the right knowledge and tools, people will make more
informed decisions about how they consume food in any given situation. Below, I have
defined caloric restriction and given you a toolkit for how to utilize caloric restriction and
build specific eating habits for weight loss or weight gain.
Caloric restriction is a reduction in energy intake relative to what your usual intake
level is. It can also be described as reducing food intake without incurring malnutrition.
When restricting calories, consider your specific goals, level of tolerance, environment,
and food options.
TOOLS
• Meal prep and pre-portioning: One of the best ways to ensure that you are
eating the correct amount is to meticulously prep your meals and pre-portion
them. This can be done using a scale, a meal service, or through careful and
measured preparation.
• Record and plan your meals: Recording your food and drink intake is a quick
way to assess how much you are consuming. With this knowledge, you can plan
your meals before the week begins to avoid decision fatigue. Having a general
idea of what you will eat for each meal will help you avoid extreme hunger and
impulsive decisions.
• Stay hydrated and educated: Staying hydrated is a solid way to curb unneces-
sary eating, since hunger is often disguised as thirst. Educate yourself on reading
nutrition labels and portioning your food properly.
EATING PRACTICES FOR WEIGHT LOSS
• Eat slowly and mindfully: Eating this way gives your body the opportunity to
properly digest, absorb, and metabolize your food. It also gives your body time
to signal when it is full.

• Eat until 80% full: This will help you avoid unnecessary overeating, and will
give your body adequate time to process the food and signal when you are satisfied.
• Don’t drink your calories: Many people underestimate the number of calories
they get from drinks like soda, juices, smoothies, milkshakes, and other drinks.
Try to stick to water, tea, and black coffee to avoid adding unnecessary calories
to your diet.
• Record your intake: Recording your dietary intake will give you a clearer
picture of the amount, size, and timing of your meals. With this information, you
can get a better understanding of where to cut back and where to add.
EATING PRACTICES FOR WEIGHT GAIN
• Eat quickly and more frequently: Eating quickly allows you to eat additional
calories before your body can catch up and signal that you are full. Eating more
frequently will help you spread out your caloric intake, keeping your body in an
anabolic state.
• Eat until full or slightly overfilled: This can be uncomfortable for some,
but it is quite the norm for most Americans. Eating until you are full or slightly
overfilled can help you inch closer to a caloric surplus.
• Increase healthy snacking: Finding healthy and calorically dense snacks to eat
throughout the day can help you add calories to your diet. Try adding nuts, seeds,
protein shakes, or smoothies to your meals throughout the day.
• Meal prep: Prepping your meals is a great way to control the amount of food
you eat. It also makes food easier to consume when it is already prepared for you.
Why We Eat (Or Don’t Eat)
Why we eat or don’t eat can be a complicated question. We certainly eat for energy and
survival, but there’s more underneath the hood regarding our hunger levels. The “why”
behind our eating behaviors greatly influences the other three variables: what, when,
and how. In other words, our psychology can heavily influence our eating choices and
behaviors.
Your first interaction with food is in your thoughts; this sets off a cascade of hormones,
neurotransmitters, and signals throughout your body. Your body was designed to take
in, metabolize, and store nutrients so it could move to find more food. Even when you’re

not thinking about food, your brain and body can cue you to start contemplating when
and where your next meal will be. You are constantly inundated with triggers and cues
that can set off hunger signals or shut them down. This includes everything from external
cues like TV commercials, social media ads, billboards, and food around the house to
internal signals like salivating, thirst, and stomach growling. Out of sight and out of mind
can be nearly impossible when it comes to food.
Internally, your appetite is tightly controlled by various hormones. Even with these
hormones regulating appetite, you still have the power to ignore them with top-down
control. Beyond hormones and signals, your eating behaviors are also anchored to specific
emotional, mental, and physical states. Your appetite can change dramatically when you
are tired, stressed, happy, sad, nervous, excited, or exercising.
So what do you do with all this information? To start, you can observe the different
signals, triggers, and cues you encounter and label them. Simply understanding that
these are just signals and that you still have the ultimate control gives you the power to
make smart food choices. The more you track and identify the triggers in your internal
(mental) and external (physical) environment, the easier it will be to eliminate or enhance
them. Building the right environment (which I will cover in the Core Four: Lifestyle
chapter) makes choices simpler and helps you consistently identify cues. Internally, this
could mean developing a healthy relationship with food or establishing the right mindset
around food choices.
Externally, there are many things you can do to develop healthy eating habits. You can
increase the number of healthy signals in your physical environment, avoid advertising,
and eliminate everything that might lead to unwanted and unhealthy choices or behaviors.
Although you encounter thousands of ads on a day-to-day basis, you choose a lot of
the information you consume. Like information, you can choose what foods you make
visible in the kitchen or what foods you make hard to reach. The bottom line is that there
are several different ways to manipulate your environment and your thoughts to better
match your goals.
Whether you want to eat more, eat less, or eat more healthily, you must know the dif-
ferent reasons behind your eating habits. To consistently make the best choices, you
must understand that your eating behaviors are heavily tied to your mental, emotional,
and physical state. Equipped with this understanding, you can put yourself in the best
situations to succeed with your nutritional choices. Many other influences affect why we
eat or don’t eat. Below, I will cover some of the main factors in the “why” of eating. Use
them to your advantage to build the proper mental and physical environment for success.

The more you notice, track, and adapt to these different cues, triggers, and signals, the
more you control your eating behavior. With this awareness, you can build the right
environment, eliminate unwanted cues, enhance healthy eating practices, and properly
regulate your nutritional choices regardless of your physical, mental, or emotional state.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT YOUR DESIRE TO EAT
• Internal hunger cues: Stomach growling, low energy, shakiness, headaches,

fatigue, irritability, and problems focusing.
• External hunger cues: Advertisements, social media, smelling or talking about
food, seeing people eating, and seeing specific items or foods in your environment.
• Psychology influences: Stress, perceived control, mindset, self-esteem, sleep,
and emotional state (bored, angry, sad, happy, nervous, etc.).
TOOLS
• Environmental Scan: Check your physical environment. What people, places,

things, and information can you change to make your environment more condu-
cive to success?
• Out of sight, out of mind: Also known as “in view = easy to pursue,” this in-
volves removing the things from your environment that will hinder your progress
and make the desired outcome clear and easy to execute.
• Mindset check: Ask yourself why you are hungry. How much do you want to
eat or drink? How do you want to feel before and after you eat or drink? Are you
hungry or just masking a specific emotional, mental, or physical state? What is
this food or drink for?
Nutrition is a massive pillar of health and wellness. Food is not just an energy source;
it is medicine required for vitality. There are many things to consider when using this
medicine we call food. The proper type, timing, and dosage of this medicine is essential
in changing or optimizing your health. Understanding the four nutrition variables allows
you to construct your own customized nutritional framework.
Building a nutritional framework that fits your lifestyle is necessary if you want to reach
your goals and live a healthy life. The four variables of What, When, How, and Why can
all be regulated and manipulated to suit you. Each lever is powerful on its own but works
better when paired with another. Personalize your approach, explore different options,

and experiment to find what’s ideal for you. The strategies and diets above can lead to
staggering health benefits when used correctly.
Dietary restriction, time restriction, and caloric restriction (or surplus) can be used for
weight management, body composition changes, performance gains, or overall mainte-
nance. Understanding physiological and psychological cues can boost your awareness,
allowing you to regulate your nutritional choices. No matter what your nutritional goals
are, these are the factors to analyze if you wish to achieve them. As you create your nutri-
tional framework, think about these factors and how you can individualize your approach.
PERSONALIZED NUTRITION
When it comes to nutrition, there is no magic bullet. No perfect diet, nutrient breakdown,
or food combination will solve everyone’s health problems. If anyone tells you that there
is, you should be very skeptical. Many people know what generally constitutes a healthy
diet. The problem lies in translating that knowledge into sustainable action. The media
bombards us with endless options of what to do, and many of us are left struggling to
figure out how to do it properly.
Although there are some fundamental truths and bedrock strategies for optimizing your
nutrition, you need to be specific and cautious about generalized nutritional recommen-
dations. Popular diets that are marketed as being for everyone seem to change every
few years. Even our government and dietary guidelines can miss the mark from time to
time. Specific foods or macronutrients get victimized, new experts pop up, and new food
products get made. This cycle repeats every few years despite mountains of evidence
showing that a variety of non-western diets produce healthy, long-lived individuals. Most
are based on eating less, eating mindfully, and eating real, often planted-based food.
People often view nutrition and specific foods as “good” or “bad.” In reality, nutrition
runs on a spectrum. Foods, choices, and behaviors can be better or worse for someone
depending on the person and the context. Sticking to whole, natural, and plant-based
foods is the best place to start if you want to err on the “better” side of the spectrum.
As François de La Rochefoucauld said, “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is

an art” (Agyei 2016). The first step in personalizing your nutrition is to recognize your
nutritional landscape, gather information, and determine what changes need to be made.
This section gives you practical nutrition information that you can apply to your unique

situation in the most intelligent manner. Information is based on research, data, and the
best available evidence. Information can be integrated with your preferences and applied
in a way that fits your lifestyle. Information can help you make better, more informed,
and personalized choices regardless of the scenario.
Nutritional knowledge is power. With that power, you can confidently and consistently
make the best decisions. Like any other behavior change, the keys to your personalized
nutritional journey lie in the Foundational Principles. Education, exploration, experi-
mentation, execution, and evolution are how you ensure true individualization. We are
always learning, combining science and experience. There is a lot that is still unknown
regarding nutritional science. Thus, you should constantly update, test, and question
your views and practices based on the best available evidence.
Below, I will break down what we do know when it comes to all things nutrition. What
causes disease, and what prevents it? Which foods and nutrients are considered “healthy,”
and which are “unhealthy”? What are the most important topics when it comes to nutri-
tion? Where can I find trusted, reliable nutrition information? How can I build healthy
and sustainable nutritional habits? As we dive into these questions, understand that there
is no one-size-fits-all answer. You must learn the fundamental truths of nutrition based
on proven research and established data. This way, you can personalize your approach
to match your wants, needs, and goals.
Personalized nutrition is not based on one philosophy, principle, or method. Personalized

nutrition is the application of various philosophies, principles, methods, and knowledge
that best match the individual. Whoever the person, whatever the goal, and no matter
the context, you can learn to make better nutritional choices. Use this section as a guide
to build nutritional autonomy and navigate the nutritional landscape.
Disease Promoting Versus Disease Preventing
Several different properties, reactions, processes, and molecules can affect the body.
Below, I’ll examine factors that promote disease and others that prevent it. Note that there
will be variation depending on the person, the environment, and the level of exposure,
which can change the magnitude of the effects.

DISEASE PROMOTING
Chronic inflammation: Inflammation is a part of the body’s healing process. Your

immune system fights infection, injuries, and other toxins, and this natural process is nec-
essary and protective when acute. Chronic inflammation, however, is when these defenses
keep mobilizing unnecessarily, causing disease and dysfunction throughout your body.
Foods that cause inflammation: processed meat (hot dogs, sausage, etc.), fried foods,
refined sugar, and carbs (white bread, pastries, soda, sugary drinks), alcohol, cooking
and vegetable oils (corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, and peanut), and margarine.
DNA damage: DNA damage is an abnormal change in DNA structure, which causes
problems in its replication, coding, and function. This leads to abnormal or defective cells
that can be harmful to every cell in the body if they are not killed. (Chronic inflammation
often causes DNA damage).
Foods that cause DNA damage: sugary foods (cakes, candy, soda), red and processed
meat (deli meats, hot dogs, bacon), cooking and vegetable oils (corn, canola, sunflower,
safflower, and peanut), and fried foods.
Free radicals: Free radicals are unstable atoms, molecules, and ions that are extremely
chemically reactive. These molecules are made during metabolism and can cause disease
and worsen the effects of aging if they build up.
Foods that increase free radicals: red and processed meats (deli meat, hot dogs, etc.),
cooking and vegetable oils (corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, and peanut), alcohol, and
refined sugar and carbs (white bread, pastries, soda, and sugary drinks).
High blood sugar and glycation: High blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, is when too
much sugar (glucose) is circulating in the blood without enough insulin. Insulin helps
bring glucose into cells and keeps it from circulating in the blood. Insulin dysfunction
is the cause of type 1 and 2 diabetes. Glycation is when sugar molecules bind or stick
to proteins or fats in the body. When this happens in the blood, these molecules are
called advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which can harm cell function and cause
many diseases.
Foods that lead to the formation of AGEs: red meat, certain cheeses, fried eggs, butter,
cream cheese, margarine, mayonnaise, cooking and vegetable oils (corn, canola, sun-

flower, safflower, and peanut), fried foods, highly processed foods, and foods cooked
at high heat.
High cholesterol: Your body needs cholesterol to build healthy cells. If cholesterol
levels get too high, this can increase your heart disease and stroke risk. High cholesterol
can lead to the creation of fatty deposits in your blood vessels. These fatty deposits can
limit blood flow through your arteries.
Foods that cause high cholesterol: dairy products, trans fats, red and processed meats,
fried foods, refined sugar, refined carbs, eggs, and shellfish.
Plaque buildup: Plaque can build up in your teeth, brain, and arteries, causing harmful
effects. Dental plaque and tartar erode your teeth and gums; amyloid plaque (misfolded
proteins) cause Alzheimer’s, and plaque buildup in your arteries causes atherosclerosis,
leading to heart disease and stroke.
Foods that cause plaque buildup: red and processed meats (deli meats, hot dogs, etc.),
eggs, dairy products, refined sugars, and carbs (white bread, pastries, soda, and sugary
drinks), processed foods, and alcohol.
High blood pressure: High blood pressure, or hypertension, is when your blood
pressure reaches or exceeds 130/80. The high pressure of blood against your arterial
walls can cause many dysfunctions, most notably heart disease.
Foods that cause high blood pressure: excess salt and high-sodium foods, trans fats,
processed meats, canned foods, vegetable oil, and fried foods.
Carcinogens: A carcinogen is a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue.

Carcinogens can damage DNA and many other metabolic processes in the body, causing
disease, cancer, and worsening the effects of aging.
Top carcinogenic foods: Processed and red meat, alcohol, salted fish, sugary drinks, and
soda, processed foods, fried foods, overcooked foods, dairy, and refined sugar and carbs.
Infections and food poisoning: An infection is the establishment of one or more

pathogenic agents or microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, or fungi in or on the body.
Food poisoning is an illness caused by eating contaminated food or toxins. Infections and
food poisoning can be extremely harmful and even fatal if untreated.

Foods that can cause infections and food poisoning: raw or rare meat, poultry, fish,
shellfish, eggs, or foods that may contain them, as well as raw sprouts such as alfalfa,
bean, clover, and radish.
DISEASE PREVENTING
Antioxidants: Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation and protect human
cells from the harmful effects of free radicals.
Foods containing the most antioxidants: berries, other fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, seeds,
vegetables, and dark chocolate.
Phytonutrients: Phytonutrients, or phytochemicals, are chemical compounds pro-

duced by plants. These compounds have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In ad-
dition, they can enhance immunity, repair DNA damage, and detoxify carcinogens. There
are thousands of different phytonutrient compounds. Common types of phytonutrients
include polyphenols (flavonols), terpenoids (carotenoids), and thiols (glucosinolates).
Foods containing the most phytonutrients: colorful fruits, vegetables, spices, and herbs.
Anti-inflammatory: When a substance or treatment has anti-inflammatory properties,

it reduces inflammation or swelling. As mentioned above, chronic inflammation can cause
a whole host of problems in the body.
Anti-inflammatory foods: berries, nuts, olive oil, tomatoes, dark leafy greens, green tea,
and fatty fish.
Autophagy: Autophagy translates to self-eating. This is the body’s way of cleaning out
damaged cells to regenerate new and healthy cells. This process helps rid the body of
waste and keeps your DNA stable within a cell. This can help decrease the effects of aging
and inflammation in your body.
Foods that stimulate autophagy: coffee, green tea, turmeric, ginger, Ceylon cinnamon,
ginseng, garlic, Chaga and reishi mushrooms, pomegranate, and elderberries. Autophagy
is also stimulated by fasting, exercise, and ketosis.
Longevity genes and pathways: Longevity genes are a collection of genes essential in
organizing proteins and recruiting enzymes that repair broken DNA. These genes can slow

and even reverse the effects of aging, helping you fight disease and live longer. Several
important cell regulators and key pathways are also related to metabolism, growth, and
survival. See Educational Resources for types of longevity genes and pathways.
Foods that help stimulate longevity genes: cruciferous vegetables, dark leafy greens,
nuts, seeds, berries, beans, mushrooms, seaweed, and green tea. Longevity genes and
pathways are also activated by fasting, exercise, and cold exposure.
Blood pressure and blood sugar regulation: Both blood pressure and blood sugar
regulation are highly complex processes involving several systems and organs in the
body. Making sure these levels stay regulated is paramount to your health and wellness.
Foods that help regulate blood sugar and blood pressure: dark leafy greens, berries, citrus
fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, fatty fish, and eggs.
Anti-cancer properties: Cancer defines a group of diseases involving abnormal or

uncontrolled cell growth that can destroy your body’s tissues and spread rapidly. Several
foods can kill abnormal cells, prevent uncontrolled growth, and promote healthy cells.
Foods with anti-cancer properties: dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, berries,
beans, nuts, seeds, green tea, tomatoes, fatty fish, and oats.
Lower cholesterol: Cholesterol is a type of fat made by the liver and ingested in food.
As mentioned above, you need cholesterol to build healthy cells, but too much can be
detrimental to your health, causing heart disease.
Cholesterol-lowering foods: whole grains, nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocados, fruits, soybeans,
non-starchy vegetables, and fatty fish.
Immunity boosting: Your immune system protects you from foreign invaders and
helps you recover from injury. You can boost your immune system through lifestyle and
nutrition changes to help prevent infections and disease.
Immunity-boosting foods: blueberries, dark leafy greens, citrus fruits, sweet potatoes,
fatty fish, ginger, turmeric, garlic, mushrooms, and dark chocolate.

HEALTHIEST FOODS
The foods and food groups listed here are some of the healthiest and best-researched on
the planet. They offer a wealth of nutrition and can help stave off disease while boosting
performance. Add fresh, natural, local, and plant-based foods to your diet, and you will
reap endless benefits.
Fruits
• Berries: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, goji berries, rasp-

berries, acai berries, barberries, and mulberries
• Melons: watermelon, cantaloupes, honeydew melons, and winter melons
• Citrus: lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, and kumquats
• Tropical: pomegranates, mangoes, papayas, avocados, bananas, pineapples,
guavas, star fruits, kiwis, and passion fruits
• Pomes: apples and pears
• Drupes: cherries, dates, peaches, apricots, olives, and coconuts
Vegetables
• Greens: spinach, kale, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, arugula, beet greens, turnip
greens, mustard greens, and collard greens
• Cruciferous: broccoli, bok choy, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflowers, water-
cress, and sprouts
• Root: potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, radishes, sweet potatoes, and
celery roots
• Alliums: garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, chives, and scallions
• Mushrooms: Button, oyster, shiitake, portobello, and cremini
• Other vegetables: pumpkins, asparagus, celery, cucumbers, squashes, zucchinis,
bell peppers, artichokes, corn, okra, snap peas, tomatoes, eggplants, jalapenos,
green beans, and sea vegetables
Herbs and Spices
• Herbs: cilantro, thyme, parsley, basil, mint and peppermint, rosemary, sage, dill,
fennel, oregano, coriander, and tarragon, and bay leaves
• Spices: turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, cloves, curry powder,
fenugreek, ginger, mustard powder, nutmeg, paprika, pepper, and saffron

Beans and Legumes
• Black beans, red beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), butter beans, cannellini
beans, edamame, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, split peas, miso, lentils,
and soybeans
Whole Grains
• Oats, barley, quinoa, brown rice, millet, rye, wild rice, and whole wheat pasta
Nuts and Seeds
• Nuts: almonds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts,

macadamia nuts, and pecans
• Seeds: flaxseed, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, and
sesame seeds
• Oils: olive, coconut, avocado, flaxseed, and walnut
• Beverages: water, coffee, and tea (black, white, green and matcha, chamomile,
chai, jasmine, lemon balm, and peppermint)
LESS HEALTHY FOODS
The foods and food groups mentioned in this section have been linked to the disease-pro-
moting properties discussed earlier. While there certainly may be nutritional benefits gained
from some of the foods listed here, they have been listed as less healthy compared to the
healthy foods mentioned above. Consuming these foods in moderation and sticking to fresh,
natural, minimally processed, and locally sourced ingredients will help you get the most
nutritional benefits you can from these foods, and minimize their disease-promoting effects.
• Red meat: beef, lamb, bison, goat, veal, venison, and pork
• Poultry: chicken, turkey, duck, quail, and goose
• Dairy: milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, and cream
• Eggs
• Fish: anchovies, bass, bluefish, carp, catfish, char, cod, flounder, haddock, hal-
ibut, herring, mahi-mahi, mackerel, sardines, salmon, trout, tilapia, and tuna
• Crustaceans: crab, crayfish, lobster, prawns, and shrimp
• Shellfish: abalone, clams, conch, mussels, octopus, oysters, scallops, sea
snails, and squid

• Other: caviar, roe, and surimi
POTENTIALLY HARMFUL FOODS
The foods, ingredients, and processes mentioned below are things you should try to
avoid as much as possible. There is very little nutritional value to be gained from the stuff
mentioned in this section. Managing the production and consumption of these foods
and drinks is paramount in improving America’s health. The harmful effects produced
in the body by added sugars, refined grains, oxidized oils, and processed and fried foods
can be very detrimental to your health. Although many of these compounds aren’t even
classified as foods, they can be located on nutritional labels and ingredient lists, so be on
the lookout for some of the names below. To protect yourself from the harmful effects
of these foods and food-like substances, make sure that your encounters with them are
few and far between.
• Beverages: alcohol, fruit juices, soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, powdered
drink mixes, and sugary coffees
• Oils: soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil,
sesame oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, and hydrogenated oils
• Artificial ingredients and additives: high-fructose corn syrup, guar gum, so-
dium nitrate, monosodium glutamate, artificial food coloring, artificial flavoring,
artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose, sodium benzoate,
xanthan gum, yeast extract, and potassium bromate
• Refined carbohydrates and sugars: white bread, white flour, bagels, waffles,
pastries, pasta, breakfast cereals, white rice, pizza, cakes, cookies, crackers, pie,
candy, and chips
• Processed foods: deli meats, sausages, packaged snack foods, breakfast cereals,
candy, microwave meals, and certain cheeses
• Fried foods: fast food, fried chicken, french fries, fried pickles, fried fish, and
onion rings
HEALTHY EATING, SHOPPING, AND PREPARATION TIPS
Nutrition shouldn’t have to be complicated. Thousands of healthy foods can be eaten,

purchased, and prepped in various ways. Some of the key elements of building a healthy,
nutritional foundation are laid out below. How you shop, prep, cook, and eat your food

can have a significant influence on its nutritional content as well as its taste. These quick
tips give you a practical guide you can follow when making these crucial decisions.
• Variety: Ensure you buy and eat various fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans,
grains, herbs, and spices. This ensures that you will get a wide range of nutrients
from multiple sources. Thousands of nutrients are spread across thousands of
foods, so your options of combinations are virtually endless.
• Colorful: Color is not only indicative of flavor, but also indicative of antioxidant
content. The more colorful the fruit or vegetable, the more phytonutrients it
contains. The colors themselves are powerful nutrients, like lycopene (red), and
anthocyanins and resveratrol (blue and purple).
• Organic: Organic means producing foods without pesticides, fertilizers, and
other artificial agents. Since pesticides are potent chemicals used to kill bugs and
weeds, it’s probably best to stay away from them. When you buy organic, you are
decreasing your exposure to dangerous chemicals.
• Local: Buying local not only supports your community, but it supports good
health. The less distance your food travels, the more nutrients it will contain. When
you buy locally, you are getting fresher foods, which can make all the difference
in taste, quality, and nutrient content.
• Cooked versus raw: There is no perfect answer for raw versus cooked food.
Both offer benefits and drawbacks depending on the food and the context. Cooking
can destroy nutrients, but also bring some out. Cooking can also kill harmful
bacteria and make foods easier to chew and digest. On the other hand, raw foods
can contain more fiber and intact enzymes. Do your research, but concerning
healthy foods, whatever preparation gets you eating more of them is a good option.
• Fresh: Buying fresh food is vital when it comes to nutrient content. Most foods
lose many nutrients and flavors as time goes on. Freezing, packaging, and pre-
serving foods generally leads to a less healthy product.
• Minimally or non-processed: The less altered a food product is, the less
processed it is. Finding non-processed food is almost impossible unless you have
your own garden or farm. You should strive to eat foods in their most natural
form and avoid foods that have been heavily altered from their original state. For
instance, choose apples over apple juice and grapes over grape jelly.
• Meal preparation: Preparing your meals means you control precisely what
ingredients you use. You can control the amount of food being made, the cooking
method, and the ingredients involved in each meal you prepare. Take matters into
your own hands whenever you can.
• Fewer ingredients: When buying food products, the fewer ingredients, the bet-
ter. Even better than that would be only one ingredient, which is just the produce

itself. Healthy foods come prepackaged by nature with all the right nutrients in
the proper amounts.
• Heat exposure: High-heat cooking can not only destroy nutrients, enzymes,
and vitamins, but it can also reduce water content and form AGEs. Be sure to cook
with light heat when you have to, and use oils that are safer and more stable when
heated, like olive, avocado, and coconut.
• Whole foods: Buying and eating whole foods is crucial in getting the full comple-
ment of nutrients. Most plant-based foods have high concentrations of nutrients
in their peels, skin, or other outer layers. Eat as many parts of each natural food
product as possible (within reason) to benefit from the whole food.
• Plant-based: Plant-based simply means coming from plants. Fruits, vegetables,
nuts, seeds, grains, beans, oils, and legumes are all foods that come primarily from
plants. As Michael Pollan said, “If it comes from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a
plant, don’t” (Pollan 2009).
FINDING RELIABLE NUTRITION INFORMATION
If you have access to the internet, there is endless information at your fingertips. When
used correctly, this can be a fantastic resource for valuable, reliable, and practical infor-
mation. Since the amount of information on the internet is so vast, you must use extreme
caution in finding what you need. Have a system for searching, reviewing, and validating
information. This will help you home in on what matters to you. Once you understand
how to find reliable information, then you can shift your focus to how to test, analyze,
and apply it. Here are a few things to consider when you build your system for finding
reliable information on any topic.
• Sources: Where is the information coming from? Who do they reference? Are
those references valid sources?
• Date: Ensure the information is relevant and up to date.
• Authors: Consider the authors’ or sources’ background and affiliations to ensure
they are credible and unbiased.
• Peer-review: Peer-reviewed information has to go through a relatively regulated
and stringent evaluation process, and is the best place to start when looking for
reliable and accurate information.
• Meta-analysis: Meta-analysis combines the results of multiple sources that
address the same question to provide an overview of the information across all
sources. This is an easy way to get a lot of information on a topic in one place.

• Skepticism: Always cross-reference and cross-verify your research to ensure you
are getting quality information. Don’t trust just one source; find multiple sources
and studies that confirm the hypothesis.
• Trusted resources: Use trusted resources that are regulated and reputable
so you don’t have to do more work to figure out if the information is reliable.
Check out the Educational Resources section, which lists some of these trusted
resources for you.
• Filtering: Use filters to find what’s relevant to you and weed out useless informa-
tion. Be specific in your search and clear in your direction and relevant hypothesis.
• Bias and influence: Ensure the source provides clear and unbiased information
that isn’t geared toward persuasion. Often the people who fund research can have
a heavy influence on its results. The food industry is littered with research from
big corporations looking to sell more of their product or dispel negative claims.
Also, watch out for your personal bias. You will always find answers, but make
sure you ask the right questions.
Everyone is unique in their nutritional needs, environment, and preferences. Your

nutritional choices and behaviors should reflect those criteria. Although healthy diet
guidelines might seem simple, that doesn’t always mean they are easy to implement.
Eating plant-based can be harder if you live in a food desert. Not eating out can be tough
if you constantly travel for work. What works for me might not work for you. This is why
you must personalize your approach and build your nutritional foundation based on
trustworthy, up-to-date information, sustainable practices, and various healthy food
options. Personalized nutrition involves:
• Understanding the fundamental truths.

• Recognizing the changes you need to make.
• Applying evidence-based strategies in your life.
It takes time and commitment to carry out the Foundational Principles to figure out which
foods and nutrients you respond to and can seamlessly integrate into your lifestyle, as
opposed to taking the path of least resistance. Fortunately, now that you are equipped with
the knowledge and resources gained from this section, you can forge your own nutritional
path that fits the specific journey you’re on. Start with the basics: eat more plant-based
foods, drink more water, and cook your own meals. Then, personalize according to your
objectives.

OTHER NUTRITION TOPICS
Nutrition is a vast field with thousands of topics yet to be fully explored. To say we have
more to learn about nutrition is an understatement. We have barely scratched the surface
when it comes to the chemical diversity present in our food. There is plenty of nutritional
dark matter (as Harvard scientist Albert-László Barabási calls it), but that doesn’t mean
you can’t take advantage of what you know while continuing to learn more (Lawton 2022).
Although there is much to learn, we have come a long way in our collective nutrition-
al knowledge. Every day, we learn about nutrients, processes, and interventions that
can help prevent disease and boost health. This knowledge is fueling several different
products, supplements, and research opportunities in the field of nutrition. In this final
section, I’ll briefly cover some popular topics in the world of nutrition, diving into cate-
gories like nutrition tracking, performance nutrition, and gut health. I’ll also discuss the
quickly growing field of epigenetics and the 70-billion-dollar industry of supplementation
(Fortune Business Insights 2022).
Exploring these topics will expand not only your nutritional knowledge but your nu-
tritional toolbox. What’s even better than having the nutritional tools and resources is
knowing how to properly utilize them in your specific life context. Gaining this under-
standing allows you to be your own coach, conduct your own research, and make your
own decisions regarding nutrition. I have covered the fundamentals in prior sections, but
I’ll dive into some advanced topics and strategies that can supplement what I’ve already
covered. Use the information and tools in this section to continue educating, exploring,
experimenting, executing, and evolving on your nutrition journey. It’s not just about
what you know but what you do with what you know. Take this knowledge and let it fuel
action toward a healthy, high-performing life.
Nutrition Tracking
To make significant changes in your nutrition, you must acknowledge your starting point
and track your progression. You can’t change what you don’t measure, so the more data
you gather, the easier it will become to recognize what you need to adjust. You can do
this objectively through apps, devices, and bloodwork, or subjectively through journaling
and questionnaires. Ideally, you should be able to focus on consuming healthy food and
forming good habits without adding extra stress with tracking metrics. With that in
mind, consider the cost-to-benefit ratio concerning different nutrition tracking methods
and how you utilize them. Tracking alone can be a very powerful motivator because the

heightened awareness created by monitoring your nutrition will help you identify areas
of potential change.
On the other hand, tracking can become a deterrent if you don’t choose the correct
method. Regardless of the method, you should evaluate your nutrition regularly. Find
what works best for you, then do your best to personalize your chosen method. The name
of the game is sustainability, so be sure to choose a method that you can do consistently.
Though not an exhaustive list, below you can find various ways you can track, measure,
and analyze your nutritional status.
• Apps: Several apps can help you track and analyze your food intake, like MyFit-
nessPal and Lifesum.
• Gadgets: Some high-tech gadgets can help you assess your glucose levels, hy-
dration, sleep, heart rate, or calories burned, which can correlate with nutrition
and recovery. Some examples of these are continuous glucose monitors (CGMs),
hydration patches, and fitness watches, rings, etc.
• Food journaling: Tracking your food intake by writing down everything you
consume is a great way to improve your diet. Unfortunately, it’s not always prac-
tical to write down everything you eat, so it can be hard to sustain. Try it out for
a week or a month and evaluate the results. You can also take pictures of all your
meals to document them.
• Hand portions: Using hand portioning is a great way to ensure you are eating
proper portion sizes. Using your hand, you can break down proper protein, carb,
and fat portion sizes. For example, one palm for one protein serving, one fist for
one vegetable serving, one cupped hand for one carb serving, and one thumb for
one serving of fat. This can be a quick and efficient way to gauge and control how
much you eat.
• Calorie counting: Calorie counting can be done through apps, hand portions,
journaling, or weighing your food. This involves meticulously tracking your food
intake to get an accurate sum of your total energy consumed in a meal, day, or
date range. This can be a great option for people with very specific goals and
commitments, but it can be laborious to keep up.
• Anthropometric measurements: Measuring your body can offer helpful
feedback related to nutritional interventions. Using weight, body measurements,
and even progress photos can be great motivators. Be careful not to become too
attached to a number or a goal, and try to shift your focus to progressing and
building healthy, sustainable habits.
• Bloodwork: Bloodwork can give you valuable insight into your nutritional
health. A typical blood panel measures blood glucose, cholesterol, vitamin levels,

mineral levels, hormone levels, and blood pressure. This data can give you insight
into whether you need to make changes. If you can, get multiple measurements
to compare so you avoid reacting to anomalies.
• Nutrition labels: Nutrition labels provide a snapshot of a food’s or drink’s
nutrients and ingredients. This can help you make better choices when com-
paring different products, and it can help you determine the proper quantity to
eat or drink. Below, I’ll go over how to read a nutrition label properly. Note that
the healthiest foods have no nutrition label or only one ingredient, like fruits,
vegetables, herbs, and spices.
BREAKING DOWN A NUTRITION LABEL
1. Start with serving the information. Note the size of a serving and how many
servings per container. This is not a recommendation, but rather an estimate of
how much of the product people typically consume at one time. Check the number
of calories per serving and per container. Note how much energy you are getting
from one serving.
2. Check the nutrients and identify which ones you want to limit or increase. Nu-
trients to limit: trans fats, saturated fats, added sugars, and sodium. Nutrients
to increase: calcium, choline, dietary fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, and
vitamins A, C, D, and E.
3. Check the Percentage of Daily Value. This is the percentage of each nutrient in
a single serving, based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet. Nutrients you want to limit
should be less than 5%. Nutrients you want to increase should be more than 20%.
Remember to take your specific caloric and nutrient needs into consideration.
4. Check ingredients. These are listed in descending order by weight, so the label will
list the largest quantities first. Usually, the fewer ingredients, the better. Look for
whole foods in the ingredients list.
5. Other things to look out for: Sugars have many different names in ingredient lists;
beware. Watch out for misleading terms like light, reduced, low calorie, low fat,
low carb, no added sugar, organic, multi-grain, natural, gluten-free, and zero trans
fat (could still contain up to 0.5g). Do your research even if you see these claims.
Watch out for serving size as it is usually much smaller than what people consume
in one sitting. Lastly, avoid hydrogenated oils, artificial ingredients (ingredients
you can’t pronounce), and additives.

Microbiome and Gut Health
Gut health and the gut microbiome have been all the rage over the last decade or so. The
gut microbiome refers to all the microorganisms in the digestive tract. From bacteria to
fungi to viruses, trillions of microbes inhabit your digestive tract and play a crucial role
in your health. Everyone’s gut microbiome is different. Your DNA differs by less than
1% from the next person, and the human genome contains twenty-four thousand genes
(NLM 2021).
Meanwhile, the gut microbiota contains over nine million genes, and the difference in
your gut bacteria compared to other people can go up to 30%, depending on the person.
The hundred trillion bacterial cells that make up your overall gut and skin microbiome
outnumber the total of your human cells (NLM 2021). The microbiome is fascinating in
its complexity; it has a mind of its own called the enteric nervous system. The phrase “I
have a gut feeling” is not far off when you consider that there are chemical connections and
communication between the gut and the central nervous system in what’s referred to as
the gut-brain axis. The vagus nerve allows for constant contact between the brain, heart,
and gut, and sends signals to regulate vital internal processes like heart rate, respiratory
rate, and digestion. This chemical network impacts your emotional and mental state and
is involved in creating neurotransmitters like serotonin. Beyond that, your digestion,
immune system, heart health, and brain health are affected by your microbiota.
The bacteria that inhabit your gut can be harmful or protective, and the foods you eat
play a massive role in developing a healthy and balanced gut microbiome. Poor nutrition,
excessive alcohol consumption, and infections can cause imbalances that lead to leaky
gut syndrome. A leaky gut occurs when there is permeability (tears, holes, or cracks)
in your intestinal lining, allowing toxins, bugs, and partially digested food into your
bloodstream. Dysbiosis (imbalance) in your gut bacteria may play a role in mental health
disorders, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, store fat,
and regulate blood sugar.
On the other hand, a healthy and diverse gut microbiota supports energy production,
reduces inflammation, strengthens your gut barrier to prevent leaky gut, and boosts
your immunity. You must nurture your gut microbiome through proper nutrition and
by avoiding unnecessary antibiotics. These microbes can work for you, digesting fibers,
killing harmful bacteria, and improving your brain health. They can also work against
you by contributing to weight gain, chronic inflammation, poor blood sugar regulation,
and mood disorders. There is still a lot to discover about the gut microbiome and how

you can leverage it. In the meantime, to promote a healthy gut microbiome that works
for you, not against you, check out the tips and strategies below.
How to Build a Healthy Gut Microbiome
• Eat fermented foods like miso, kefir, tempeh, pickles, sauerkraut, and kombucha
• Eat foods that contain resistant starches like bananas, oats, beans, brown rice,
potatoes, and lentils
• Eat foods that contain prebiotics and fiber like fruits, vegetables, seeds, and
whole grains
• Reduce your intake of artificial sweeteners
• Take probiotic supplements that contain bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bi-
fidobacterium
• Avoid high-sugar and high-fat diets, as well as processed foods
• Limit antibiotics, which kill both good and bad bacteria; NSAIDs (non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs), which damage the lining of the gut wall; and PPIs
(proton-pump inhibitors)
• Eat a wide variety of plant-based foods
• Limit chronic stress and overtraining
• Beware of frequent travel and jet lag
• Get enough movement and sleep
Acid-Alkaline Balance
Your body has many things to regulate, including body temperature, heart rate, blood
pressure, breathing, and pH balance. Few people are familiar with their pH balance, or
how it affects their health. Your pH value is a measure of acidity or alkalinity in your body.
Acidity and alkalinity are measured on a scale of 1–14. 0.0–6.9 is acidic, 7.0 is neutral,
and 7.1–14.0 is alkaline (basic). Generally speaking, you should be more alkaline, but
some organs, like your stomach, are very acidic because of your stomach acids, which
break down food.
The different foods you eat, the unwanted stress you encounter, your exercise, and your
hydration status can impact your acid-alkaline balance. A highly acidic internal environ-
ment can be harmful to many tissues and organs. When it becomes too acidic, your body
pulls minerals and nutrients from your tissues to balance things out. Your blood usually
hovers around a pH of 7.36–7.44, which is slightly alkaline. Distilled water is neutral at

a pH of 7.0, and sodas are usually acidic with a pH of 2.0–3.0 (Hamm, Nakhoul, and
Hering-Smith 2015). Your body runs a tight ship regarding your blood pH because if it
moves out of its normal range, it can be fatal. This is rare but possible with starvation,
dehydration, ketoacidosis, and excessive alcohol intake.
Acidic foods like processed foods, meats, sugar, and dairy can cause systemic inflam-
mation, irritation, and excess acid buildup (high-heat cooking also acidifies foods).
Luckily, your body is incredibly efficient at filtering and excreting acids via your lungs,
skin, kidneys, and urine. The foods you consume play a role in this balancing act. For
the most part, fruits, vegetables, and plant-based foods tend to be more alkaline. Citrus
fruits, some whole grains, and some fruit juices can be acidic, causing tooth decay and
digestive issues if eaten in excess. This doesn’t mean that you should never eat acidic foods
or that you should only eat alkaline foods. You must be conscious of the ratio of acidic to
alkaline foods you consume. Most research points to a 3:1 ratio as a healthy balance of
alkaline to acidic foods, but find what works best for you.
Overall, the research is mixed regarding the short-term and long-term effects of consum-
ing more acidic versus alkaline foods. Many alkaline-based diets tout their tremendous
benefits. More research is required to understand if these benefits are due to alkalizing
effects. The bottom line is that eating more alkaline foods is generally a good strategy
since most fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, beans, nuts, and seeds are more alkaline.
Your pH balance is tightly controlled across your many organs and tissues. You can help
this regulation by cutting back on processed foods, reducing unwanted stress, limiting
alcohol, and smoking, and eating more raw fruits and vegetables.
Nutrition for Performance, Longevity, or Aesthetics
When it comes to your nutrition, understanding your goals is paramount. Do you want
to be faster, stronger, or perform better in your sport? Do you want to reach a particular
body composition goal for a competition? Do you want to live as long and healthily as
possible? Each one of these questions requires a different nutritional approach. Although
there is some overlap, eating for performance, aesthetics, or longevity will require unique
strategies that will vary depending on the person and their context. This is why nutrition
is personal.
On the other hand, sticking to a strict diet might be best for long-term health, but it can
lead to short-term dissatisfaction. The first step is figuring out your priorities, and then
you can shape your nutrition around your specific goals and lifestyle. When thinking

about your nutrition, you should always strive for the healthiest approach, regardless of
which category you are going for. It is also perfectly normal to combine some strategies
from each category, or to periodize your nutrition, meaning that you go through different
phases where your focus or goals change.
The bottom line is that to maximize any category, you must sacrifice the other two to some
degree. Very seldom can you optimize all three categories to their highest levels. With
your nutrition, focus on what matters most to you and maintain healthy foundational
principles. Below, I’ve listed some nutritional strategies and interventions to consider
within each category.
PERFORMANCE: GET FASTER, STRONGER, AND PERFORM

BETTER
• Periodizing nutrition: adjusting nutrition in cycles to achieve specific perfor-

mance milestones
• Nutrient timing: eating foods at specific times to achieve a desired outcome
• Manipulating macros: adjusting your protein, fat, and carb consumption for a
specific performance benefit
• Regulating hydration: making sure you are getting the proper amounts of elec-
trolytes and water at the right times
LONGEVITY: LIVE LONGER AND HEALTHIER
• Fasting or using time-restricted eating (see Nutritional Frameworks)

• Plant-based dieting
• Eating polyphenols like resveratrol, quercetin, genistein, epigallocatechin gallate
(EGCG), berberine, and curcumin
• Taking longevity supplements like NMN, NAD+, and Metformin
• Using strategies that activate or deactivate specific longevity pathways (Insu-
lin-like IGF-1, AMPK, mTOR, sirtuins, and Nrf2)
• Restricting calories (see Nutritional Frameworks)
• Low carb dieting: eating a diet low in carbohydrates and managing your blood
sugar levels

AESTHETICS: ACHIEVE A SPECIFIC BODY COMPOSITION OR
APPEARANCE
• Maintaining a strict caloric deficit or surplus (see Nutritional Frameworks)

• Periodizing nutrition
• Restricting nutrients (see Nutritional Frameworks)
• Regulating protein intake: limiting or tightly controlling your protein intake for
a specific goal
• Modulating or restricting your water intake for a specific goal
Epigenetics
Which is more important, nature or nurture? Genetics or environment? It’s an age-old

question. Over the last fifty or so years, we have figured out that it is not a matter of one or
the other, but rather a combination of both. The field of epigenetics is relatively new but
has changed how we view adaptation and evolution. Epigenetics studies how a person’s
behavior and environment can alter how their genes work. It is incredible that we have
so much control over our gene expression. We used to think that the genetic cards we
were dealt could only have one biological result. We now know that the way we play the
cards can produce wildly varied results, and we can no longer solely blame “bad genes”
for our problems.
Your choices, behaviors, and environment can determine which of your genes are turned
off and which are turned on. Up to 80% of gene expression can be explained by behaviors
and environment alone, meaning you can alter the DNA you were born with (Fischer et al.,
2021). This is especially important when it comes to nutrition. The nutrients you consume
can have a direct impact on your genetic expression. Foods and bioactive compounds can
act directly on your genome, protecting, altering, or modifying it.
Common epigenetic changes like DNA methylation can influence things like protein
production, gene function, and overall health. To ensure you are fostering the right genetic
environment, you must make the best nutritional decisions to support your epigenome.
Your choices influence the genes of tomorrow, not just for yourself, but for your offspring.
The good news is that you are not always at the mercy of your DNA. Certain genetic
predispositions and factors are out of your control, but few outcomes are inevitable. The
emerging field of nutritional epigenetics offers hope to anyone looking to make significant

health changes. We are just beginning to understand the interactions between our genes
and diet. And although diet is a massive lever for altering gene expression, several other
lifestyle factors (which I will cover later on) also play significant roles. What matters is
that every person on this planet has a degree of control over their genetic expression
that makes them who they are. No longer is it an argument of nature versus nurture or
genetics versus environment. It is a harmonious interplay between both, which ultimately
shapes your health. Through sound choices, healthy behaviors, and creating optimal
environments, you can play your cards right, no matter what genetic hand you’re dealt.
Supplementation
The first thing to address about supplementation is what supplementing really means.
Supplementing, by definition, is the process of adding something to complete a thing,
supplying a deficiency, or reinforcing or extending a whole. What this means is that
supplementing is not a replacement or substitution. Supplementing should be exactly
what it sounds like: a supplement to healthy behavioral and nutritional choices. Before
considering supplements, one should always start with a healthy diet, daily movement,
proper recovery, and lifestyle changes. Supplementing is highly inefficient without
taking care of the basic building blocks of health. Supplements can’t fix a bad diet or
unhealthy choices. As mentioned before, there is no magic pill or quick fix that will solve
all your problems.
All that being said, supplements can be helpful for those who can’t get all the quality
nutrients they need through food. Getting the full complement of vitamins, minerals,
nutrients, and enzymes the body needs from food alone is becoming harder due to the
nature of our food industry. Our soil is less rich, our foods are nutrient-deprived from
processing, and access to healthy food options can be limited. Fruits, vegetables, herbs,
spices, nuts, seeds, and legumes are still the best way to satisfy your nutrient needs, but
when you fall short, supplements can fill that nutritional gap.
Nature perfectly prepackages all the nutrients you need better than any lab could. Vir-
tually every supplement on the market comes from a plant or animal source. A natural
food source of a nutrient is not the same as a synthesized supplement or isolated form of
that nutrient. Natural foods come with hundreds of thousands of different nutrients that
your body digests, absorbs, and metabolizes much more effectively than supplements.
Still, supplements have their place and can provide nutritional benefits, especially in a
country where deficiencies are commonplace for the average American. Check with your

doctor or get bloodwork done to see where you might be deficient or where you might
have a surplus when it comes to essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
Identifying your nutritional state should always be the first step before diving into the
supplement world. If you have tried to satisfy your nutritional needs through natural foods
and behavioral interventions but still fall short, supplementing may help you. As always,
do your research and use extreme caution when searching for what’s right for you. The
supplement industry is booming with products promising to solve every problem you
can think of. Be diligent when navigating the supplement market. Below, I summarize
some of the best practices in supplementation and discuss some common deficiencies.
Remember, supplements should support a healthy diet; they should not replace it. Plants
are nature’s pharmacy and provide all the nutrients one could ever need, so start there,
and if you absolutely must, turn to supplements to fill the gaps.
SUPPLEMENTATION BEST PRACTICES
• Try natural, plant-based foods first

• Consult a physician
• Get your blood analyzed professionally
• Check for interactions with medication
• Identify optimal dosage and absorption strategies
• Check safety guidelines and regulations
• Do your research (see Finding Reliable Nutrition Information)
COMMON NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES
• Vitamins D, B12, A, C, B9 (folic acid), and B6 (pyridoxine)

• Minerals: iron, iodine, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc
• Enzymes: proteases, lipases, and carbohydrases
• Probiotics: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium
• Essential fatty acids: Omega-3s
• Protein
Nutrition is the foundation of your mental, physical, and emotional health. A healthy
and balanced diet can combat the worst diseases and cure the most challenging ailments.
Optimal nutrition is paramount since what you eat makes up who you are down to the

cellular level. Your body does an incredible job of extracting what you need from food and
utilizing it to balance your internal environment and ensure your survival.
Every aspect of nutrition makes a difference in your health. Each person’s nutritional
framework and diet will differ based on myriad factors. Find what works best for you
and use the Foundational Principles to ignite and sustain change. Educate yourself on
the different nutritional frameworks, best practices, and healthiest foods. Explore your
current nutritional status and investigate various strategies to enhance and personalize
your diet. Experiment with and manipulate what, when, how, and why you eat to match
your lifestyle and goals. Execute a nutritional plan centered around various healthy, fresh,
whole, organic, and colorful foods that prevent disease and promote vitality. Evolve and
personalize your approach as you gain more knowledge about nutrition and take the
necessary steps to adjust your journey.
Do your research and stay up to date on the latest nutritional information. The nutritional
landscape is constantly changing, so you must adapt and stay current. Know that when it
comes to your nutrition, it won’t always be perfect, and that’s okay. The dose makes the
poison, meaning that eating poorly one time won’t ruin an otherwise healthy diet. Bad
ingredients and foods in small amounts are not the end of the world if healthy foods and
ingredients are the staples of your diet. You should strive for consistency over perfection,
sustainability over immediacy, and progressive change over quick fixes. Each nutritional
choice directly influences the health, wellness, and longevity not just of yourself but this
planet. To change the world’s health, we must start by optimizing our own nutrition, one
person at a time.

Core Three: Recovery
Recovery is where restoration, adaptation,

and transformation occur.
—Kyle Gonzalez
Recovery is at the foundation of every aspect of health and wellness. Your body works
twenty-four seven to regulate and maintain thousands of complex processes that keep
you functioning. To fire on all cylinders day in and day out, you require various recovery
mechanisms. All the different organs and organ systems must be precisely managed,
or else dysfunction occurs. Proper recovery facilitates this careful management of your
internal state and ensures equilibrium throughout your mind and body.
How you breathe, the amount and quality of sleep you get, how you train, what you eat,
and how you deal with physiological and psychological stress greatly influence your health
and wellness. Many people are oblivious to the power of proper recovery and neglect
these key facilitators. Avoiding the basics is a recipe for injury, sickness, and fatigue.
Recovery should be methodically planned and personalized, just like your nutrition and
movement. It should be seen as a staple when it comes to health, wellness, performance,
and longevity. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case for most Americans.
According to the CDC, a third of adults in America don’t get enough daily sleep, and over
fifty million people suffer from sleeping disorders. Furthermore, an estimated 30%–50%
of adults regularly breathe through their mouths, and 61% of adults report mouth breath-
ing during sleep. The CDC also states that almost 60% of Americans live with pain. These
are just a few signs that show how unappreciated recovery truly is (CDC 2022).
Aches, pains, and injuries are hallmarks of poor recovery. Pile on excessive sitting, inactiv-
ity, and inadequate nutrition, and you have a recipe for inevitable breakdown. We breathe
through our mouths too often. We don’t get enough quality sleep each night. We train
in an all-or-nothing fashion. We consume foods that do more harm than good. We are
constantly busy and stimulated. All these things compound each other, and disease strikes
before you know it. It’s time to start redefining and prioritizing recovery in America.

You could eliminate most of your unwanted stress, disease, and dysfunction with quality
sleep, proper breathing, and optimized nutrition alone. Throw in daily movement and
adequate light exposure and you have the infrastructure to thrive. The cornerstone of any
health and wellness program should be recovery. Everything we do relies on it. When we
recover well, we live well, and we can get the most out of ourselves every day.
In this chapter, I’ll detail what goes into optimal recovery. I’ll break down the seven Rs
of recovery, which outline some of the body’s primary mechanisms for recovery. I’ll
cover homeostasis and allostasis, models that explain how your body deals with change
and maintains equilibrium. I will also explore some simple yet proven strategies that
enhance your body’s ability to adapt and return to a balanced or improved state of mind,
health, and strength. I’ll discuss different recovery methods that are often neglected or
misused, but offer immense benefits to your overall health and wellness when incorpo-
rated appropriately.
Some recovery topics I’ll delve into include sleep, breathing, temperature, light exposure,
immunity, compression, active recovery, and massage. Each one of these methods has its
merits, but understanding how to get the most out of each one and which to prioritize can
amplify your ability to recover and perform. I cover how to objectively and subjectively
measure your recovery so you can adjust and adapt accordingly. People often mistake
overtraining for under-recovering, or spend too much time focused on complex recovery
strategies without taking care of the fundamentals.
There has been a boom in the recovery space over the last ten to fifteen years which has
brought several recovery-centered gadgets, apps, and products to market. While these
products can be helpful, most won’t do much good if you aren’t managing your eating,
breathing, exercise, sleep, and stress. Recovery is deeply intertwined with nutrition
and movement behavior, so this chapter will build on the previous two. If you learn
to prioritize and optimize your recovery, you can reduce your disease risk, boost your
performance, and promote your vitality.
Remarkably, your body adapts, regulates, and maintains thousands of complex processes
at rest throughout the day. The easier you make these jobs for your body, the more you can
maximize your health and performance. The more time and energy you put into recovery,
the higher your quality of life. So ask yourself: Are you taking your recovery seriously?

HOMEOSTASIS AND ALLOSTASIS
Before I dive into recovery strategy, it’s helpful to understand the basic principles and
history of physiological regulation, control, and modulation. A lot goes on underneath
your skin. Your physiology, or bodily functions, are effectively maintained across several
synchronized systems. You can consciously and unconsciously adapt to internal and
external conditions through learning, conditioning, and complex feedback mechanisms.
These processes have evolved greatly over time, and many scientists have gone to great
lengths to describe how these intricate physiological systems are regulated. In this section,
I will explore some of the different theories and models of physiological regulation,
control, and modulation so you can start to unpack the basic principles of recovery.
If you have ever taken a class related to biology in your lifetime, you’ve probably heard the
term homeostasis. Claude Bernard and later Walter Cannon were the pioneers who first
described and then coined the term homeostasis, which refers to the collective activity
of your bodily systems and their ability to monitor and protect vital life parameters from
harmful deviation. Your body’s steady physical and chemical state promotes natural
resistance to any diversion from optimal conditions.
This internal equilibrium ensures optimal functioning and is achieved through various
regulatory mechanisms and negative feedback loops. Like a thermostat, your body has
preset homeostatic ranges that it must constantly stabilize. To survive, your body must
closely regulate temperature, fluid balance, pH, blood sugar, and mineral levels. Fortu-
nately, your body can adapt to changes in your internal and external environment and
bring things back to normal. Anything that moves the body out of its preset range elicits a
signal that leads to corrective responses. Homeostasis has been the basis for physiological
regulation since the nineteenth century. In recent history, the definition of homeostasis
has been stretched and altered by many, and the term has been used loosely to describe
non-homeostatic processes. This has given way to a new model and term used to describe
physiological regulation and control.
In this context, regulation involves the detection of deviations in the body that trigger
responses to bring about stability. Conversely, control refers to either preemptively
activating or deactivating responses that regulate or stabilize a variable, or reversing a
perturbation that has already occurred and been detected. Thus, regulation is a more
passive or reactive state, and control is a more anticipatory or proactive state. This
brings us to the newer model called allostasis, which includes and is built on top of the
homeostasis model. Peter Sterling and Joseph Eyer created the allostasis model in 1988.

Allostasis refers to the process by which organisms must be adaptive and able to change
the levels of various regulated parameters to adjust to new or changing environments. If
homeostasis means stability through consistency, then allostasis means stability through
variation. This model states that there is no set, invariant point for vital parameters, and
things can change under various circumstances. For example, your heart rate and blood
pressure have different optimal ranges when you sleep versus when you exercise.
Your body can gain more efficient and anticipatory responses through learning and con-
ditioning based on experience. This regulation is carried out mainly by your brain, which
can effectively activate and deactivate different mechanisms to maintain homeostasis
through change. Through allostasis, your body implements a feedforward model that
seeks to minimize errors, anticipate your needs, and make calculated trade-offs. Your
body uses homeostatic mechanisms and negative feedback control to correct errors that
still occur.
The problem today is that your brain and body face several artificial and psychological
stressors that have never existed in evolutionary history. Traffic jams, unhealthy foods,
relationship problems, and drug abuse all create an allostatic load. This cumulative
burden from chronic stress and life events can cause significant wear and tear on the
regulatory systems in your brain and body. Homeostasis and allostasis are models
critical in understanding how your brain and body regulate, control, and modulate your
physiological responses. These models lay the foundation for every recovery mechanism.
Whether achieving a state of equilibrium or facilitating a process of adaptive change based
on your environment, your brain and body are well equipped to survive and maintain
your well-being across many situations. With this background established, I will dive
into the specific processes that make up recovery.
SEVEN RS OF RECOVERY
It’s no secret that recovery is an essential yet often overlooked component of health and
wellness. The term recovery is used in the Core Four to describe how your body manages
and adapts to all types of stress so you can return to a normal or enhanced state of mind,
body, and health. Stress comes in many shapes, including mechanical, metabolic, oxi-
dative, emotional, and environmental, among many others. This stress can be beneficial
and necessary for adaptation, but when these stressors are compounded or chronic, they
cause extensive issues across different bodily systems.

Take care of the basics. Recovery should be your focus regarding overall well-being,
whether it’s a good night’s sleep, nasal breathing, stress management, proper nutrition,
or adequate hydration. Your recovery can involve recovering from a workout or recovering
from the workday. Regardless, it is important to understand how your body recovers
so you can present your best self every day. In this section, I’ll discuss the different
processes throughout your body that maintain order and function. You are constantly
putting your body through wanted and unwanted stress that alters your health. If not
regulated correctly, this stress becomes chronic and can wreak havoc on your body.
Chronic inflammation, fatigue, hormonal imbalance, and decreased immunity are some
of the many consequences of inadequate recovery.
Forming recovery habits isn’t always the first place people look when they think about
their health and wellness, so building awareness of its importance is crucial. The truth
is, the best recovery habits are often unglamorous and straightforward. Unfortunately,
straightforward doesn’t always mean easy. Baseline knowledge of how your body handles
stress will help you explore and execute a plan that optimizes your recovery. Below, I’ll
go through some of the major recovery processes your body facilitates when faced with
stress, whether from exercise, work, relationships, unhealthy nutrition, injury, or other
lifestyle factors.
The seven Rs of recovery encompass the main mechanisms that recharge your mind,
body, and health. There are thousands of recovery mechanisms throughout your body,
but these are some of the most important for health and wellness. The effectiveness of
these mechanisms is predicated on how much time and energy you put into your daily
recovery. Knowing what’s happening under the hood helps you meet your recovery needs,
which makes your vitality inevitable.
Replenish Energy and Nutrient Stores
Energy in your body is stored as adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. ATP can be generated
from food molecules and is stored mainly in the muscles, liver, and fat cells. These
stores can be depleted by prolonged and intense exercise, starvation, and chronic stress.
Nutrients like vitamins and minerals can also be depleted when your body is faced with
chronic stress, which can cause health issues. It’s essential to adequately replace those
nutrients and energy stores through personalized nutrition and proper light exposure.
These energy sources can come from carbohydrates, fats, or proteins paired with adequate
water and electrolytes. This will help prevent fatigue and mood disruptions, enhance
mental acuity, and boost subsequent performance.

Repair Damaged Tissues
Muscle tissue gets broken down via mechanical stress from intense training. Rest and
proper nutrition after intense training can help shift your body into a more anabolic
(building up) state where you can repair tissues and adapt to training or stress. Addi-
tionally, too much metabolic stress from prolonged or intense training without proper
recovery (which can lead to the buildup of metabolites like lactate and H+ ions) can
cause inflammation and fatigue. There is also oxidative stress, which can damage cells
and cause chronic and systemic inflammation. As mentioned in the Core Two: Nutrition
chapter, chronic inflammation can damage your cells, proteins, and DNA, contributing
to the effects of aging. This puts your body in a catabolic (breaking down) state, wherein
you constantly release stress hormones. Without proper recovery, your body might stay
in this state for too long and continue to break down muscles and other structures and
processes. Staying on top of your recovery allows you to repair damaged tissue and build
new tissue.
Remove Chemical Waste
Exercise, poor nutrition quality, and other kinds of stress can produce metabolic waste
products that your body must clean up. These waste products, including carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, phosphates, sulfates, urea, and ammonia, can accumulate and cause trouble
across many systems. The kidneys, lungs, liver, as well as the circulatory, immune, and
lymphatic systems work to filter the body of harmful or simply useless waste. Exercise,
proper nutrition, nasal breathing, and adequate sleep all promote the natural removal
of these waste products through various mechanisms.
Restore Hormonal and Fluid Balance
Hormone and fluid levels can vary significantly between different people. Restoring
homeostasis is always the goal of your body, and the amount of work it has to do depends
on the duration, intensity, and type of stress you encounter. The constant release of stress
hormones can negatively affect not just your physiological state but also your emotional
state. Hormones constantly fluctuate, but getting adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition
is vital to helping your body restore hormonal balance. I have already touched on the
importance of fluid balance and how dehydration and fluid volume depletion can harm
your brain and body. Overall, make sure to hydrate properly and get your electrolytes.

Reduce Physical and Mental Fatigue
Unwanted stress in all its forms can cause mental and physical fatigue, especially when it
is chronic. Fatigue is characterized by constant mental or physical tiredness or weakness.
Lack of sleep, heavy or prolonged exercise, jetlag, and heavy meals can cause fatigue.
Without proper recovery, fatigue will hit harder and last longer, preventing you from
performing subsequent tasks. Your memory, mood, learning, and decision-making will
suffer if you do not give your body time to recover adequately. When it comes to fatigue,
sufficient sleep, optimized nutrition, and a healthy exercise regimen can help by acting
on your brain and body in many different areas.
Rebuild New Tissue
As mentioned earlier, muscles and other tissues can get broken down and damaged by
various mechanical and oxidative forms of stress. When recovery is optimal, your body
can regenerate new tissues using proteins, nature’s building blocks. Your body recycles,
replaces, and restores billions of cells daily. If you don’t eat the right things or get enough
sleep, you could be blunting your ability to rebuild new tissue. This leaves your body bro-
ken down, making you more susceptible to injury and sickness. Your nutrition and sleep
quality are two of the main factors driving tissue regeneration. Still, recovery can help
you adapt to training and other stressors so you can develop a stronger, healthier body.
Regulate Inflammation and Immunity
Inflammation is your body’s response to microbial, autoimmune, metabolic, or physical

distress. Like stress, inflammation can be beneficial when acute and detrimental when
chronic. Acute inflammatory responses are used to fight off foreign invaders, help heal
injuries, and trigger adaptations. On the other hand, chronic inflammation is the root
of many diseases and autoimmune disorders. Unwanted and prolonged stress, poor
nutrition, and lack of sleep can lead to an overactive immune system and an imbalance
of the body’s inflammation and anti-inflammation responses. Optimal recovery allows
for proper coordination of your body’s defense mechanisms. The various organs, cells,
and proteins that make up your immune system protect your body from all types of harm.
When your recovery is optimal, you get sick less often, have more energy, and bounce
back from injury quicker. When your recovery is not optimal, you are prone to fatigue,
infection, gut issues, mood disruptions, and disease. This is why you must take care of

sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress management to reap the benefits of a robust
immune system and a well-regulated inflammatory response.
Recovery is a complex process that encompasses virtually every physiological system.

When prioritized, recovery enhances your health, wellness, longevity, and performance.
It is not the flashiest or most headline-grabbing topic, but it sits at the center of your
well-being. Your body does incredible things to make sure you can manage the many
stressors you encounter on a day-to-day basis. These seven Rs of recovery provide a
glimpse into how your body facilitates that process.
Your daily habits and lifestyle choices greatly influence how well your body’s recovery
mechanisms operate. Sleep, nutrition, movement, breathing, and mindfulness shape
your recovery status. The following sections review these foundational recovery methods
and explore newer, emerging methods. Having a baseline knowledge of your recovery
mechanisms will help you promote and enhance these processes. You can then pair
this understanding with different recovery methods and tools, which I will cover next.
Knowing the what and the why behind recovery puts you in a position to understand the
how, so you can leverage various recovery techniques and staples. You can personalize
and optimize your approach to recovery, which will ultimately enhance your state of mind,
body, and well-being. Master the basics, and your body will reward you.
SLEEP
You can’t discuss recovery without talking about sleep. Sleep is a fundamental part of
human evolution that you simply cannot live without. Like thirst, hunger, and the desire
to reproduce, sleep is an essential biological drive. This mysterious biological process has
shaped our species and many others in the animal kingdom. Every living organism on
the planet partakes in some form of sleep. It impacts every organ, system, and process
in the brain and body. There’s a reason why you spend a third of your entire life asleep.
Having so much of your life dedicated to sleep begs the obvious question: Why do we
sleep? There are some excellent, complex answers to this question, which you can inves-
tigate yourself by checking the Educational Resources section. However, in this section I
will briefly cover why we sleep, the main factors that determine sleepiness and wakeful-
ness, sleep architecture, chronotypes, sleep culture, and the four pillars of healthy sleep. I
will also discuss the endless benefits of optimizing your sleep, the harmful consequences
of poor sleep hygiene, and practical sleep strategies. Sleep is the infrastructure that all

other recovery methods build upon. Without proper sleep, you simply can’t live, function,
or perform at your highest level.
Why We Sleep
Sleep is the holy grail of recovery. Every central system and organ in your body is en-
hanced by sleep and harmed by lack of sleep. When you are asleep, your body performs
a plethora of complex tasks to combat the stresses it accrues when you are awake. While
the exact purpose of sleep is unclear, many biological processes rely on sleep. For starters,
you sleep to restore energy, organize, and consolidate information, cleanse your brain
of toxic waste, build new connections, repair cells, release hormones and proteins, and
regulate several bodily functions. And this just scratches the surface. Your brain function,
immunity, weight management, energy conservation and metabolism, heart health, and
mood are all predicated on your sleep health. It is helpful to break down the basics so
you can understand how and why you sleep. Learning about the determinants of sleep,
sleep architecture, and sleep chronotypes will equip you with the knowledge necessary
to optimize your sleep habits.
Factors That Determine Sleepiness or Wakefulness
Your sleep is governed by two independent factors: circadian rhythm and sleep pressure.
These two factors don’t have much to do with each other, but they have everything to do
with your sleep. Circadian rhythm is a roughly twenty-four-hour cycle (twenty-four hours
and fifteen minutes, to be exact) that helps your body regulate many internal processes,
including the sleep-wake cycle. This cycle coordinates several mental, physical, and
behavioral functions throughout the body using environmental cues like light, eating,
and movement.
The master controller of your circadian rhythm is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
This tiny group of neurons sits at the base of the brain and generates hormonal and
neural signals to regulate different bodily functions. This nucleus communicates with
several brain regions and uses light information to synchronize your body clock. One of
the critical regions the SCN communicates with is the pineal gland, which facilitates the
release of the vital hormone melatonin. Melatonin helps regulate the timing of sleep by
signaling to the body that it is time for sleep (melatonin does not significantly affect the
actual generation of sleep). Melatonin is inhibited by light and stimulated by darkness.
Regardless of light or darkness, your body’s circadian rhythm also keeps time preferences

for various functions, including hunger, body temperature, hormone production, and
metabolic rate.
Every cell and organ follows a circadian rhythm, and every person has a unique twenty-
four-hour rhythm. Different zeitgebers (environmental cues) can help entrain these
rhythms and reset your brain. The circadian rhythm is just one half of the equation for
sleep. The other half is sleep pressure.
Sleep pressure is the increasing desire to sleep caused by the buildup of adenosine in
the brain. This accumulation of adenosine can interfere with cell receptors, which can
inhibit neural activity and lead to drowsiness. Throughout the day, your body breaks
down and metabolizes adenosine triphosphate (ATP), leaving you with much leftover
adenosine. After about twelve to sixteen hours, this excess adenosine piles up, causing
a signal in your brain that leads to increased sleep propensity. Caffeine can block this
signal by binding to adenosine receptors in the brain, which tricks you into feeling alert
while adenosine builds up. When the caffeine wears off, cleared by the liver, the adenosine
floods back into the brain at a very high concentration, leading to the infamous caffeine
crash. Your circadian rhythm and sleep pressure can ebb and flow, but they are usually
in sync. These two factors, paired with different environmental cues, help determine
your sleep-wake dynamic.
Another factor in the sleep-wake dynamic is your chronotype. Your chronotype is your
body’s natural inclination to sleep at a particular time. We all know night owls or early
risers. Not everyone’s twenty-four-hour rhythm is the same, and your chronotype is
strongly tied to genetics. Around 40% of people are morning types or early risers, 30%
are evening types or night owls, and 30% fall somewhere in between. It is essential to
recognize that everyone’s chronotype varies, and shifts can occur as you age. Regardless,
understanding your chronotype can have a massive impact on your sleep health, as well
as your appetite, mood, exercise, and body temperature.
Assess your regular sleep and wake-up times or take a self-assessment questionnaire to
determine your chronotype. Whether you are a night owl, an early bird, or somewhere
in between, knowing your chronotype is critical to your productivity, creativity, energy
levels, and sleep health.

Sleep Architecture
Sleep architecture refers to your sleep patterns’ basic structural organization and cycles.
Not all sleep is equal, so understanding sleep architecture is critical. There are two main
types of sleep: non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) and rapid eye movement sleep
(REM). NREM sleep can be broken down further into stages one through four, based
on depth of sleep. Stages one and two are generally characterized as “light” sleep, and
stages three and four are generally characterized as “deep” sleep. REM sleep is charac-
terized by fast, multi-directional eye movements and more chaotic brain activity. The
gold-standard criteria for identifying the different sleep stages are brainwave activity, eye
movement, and muscle activity (usually measured via polysomnography). Sleep can be
self-identified through a loss of external awareness and a sense of time distortion. As you
sleep, your body cycles sequentially through each of the stages and types of sleep. These
ninety-minute ultradian cycles start with NREM sleep stages one and two, progress to
stages three and four, and finally end with a transition to REM sleep.
Interestingly, these cycles change in proportion of NREM to REM sleep as the night
progresses. In the early part of the night, these ninety-minute cycles are dominated by a
higher proportion of NREM sleep, but as the night turns to morning, REM sleep starts
to take over as the primary portion of the cycles. This asymmetrical pattern means that
staying up too late or waking up too early can impact different types of sleep, leading to
various issues depending on your chronotype.
Both NREM and REM play essential roles in your overall sleep health. Different brain
waves also characterize your sleep architecture. Brain wave activity is highly variable
during NREM and REM sleep. Brain waves are generally deep, slow, and reliable during
NREM sleep, lasting around two to four seconds per wave. During REM sleep, brain wave
activity is quicker, more sporadic, and more dynamic, resembling waking brain wave
activity. This is why REM sleep is sometimes called paradoxical sleep, since your body
is sleeping but your brain is more awake than ever. Brain wave activity can even be 30%
higher in REM sleep than when awake! REM sleep is also where vivid dreaming occurs.
These two contradictory stages of sleep have equally essential but distinct benefits in the
brain and the body. Below I will briefly review each.
BENEFITS OF NON-RAPID EYE MOVEMENT SLEEP
• More restorative, and where traditional recovery happens, usually in stages

three and four

• Recovery consists of repairing and rebuilding tissues and strengthening the
immune system
• Weeds out and removes unnecessary neural connections
• Stores and consolidates memories in a process like a memory file transfer from
the hippocampus to the cortex
• Cross-communicates across different parts of the brain
• Stores and strengthens new learning, facts, and skills
• Activates the glymphatic system, the waste removal system in the brain
BENEFITS OF RAPID EYE-MOVEMENT SLEEP
• Helps build and strengthen neural connections

• Fosters innovation and creativity by facilitating relationships between random
ideas and brain areas
• Integrates new ideas with past experiences
• Helps with emotional and social regulation as well as mood disorders
Sleep Culture
There is no denying that sleep is paramount in our lives and health. Over millions of
years of evolution, sleep has stood the test of time. But as we have gotten smarter, our
sleep culture has lagged. In our education systems, our athletics, and our workforce,
sleep fails to be prioritized. Most schools start too early, from elementary to high school.
These early start times can decrease the amount of REM sleep the students get, which
can cause emotional and mood disturbances.
At the college level and beyond, medical students and nurses work insane shifts that
make it impossible to build good sleep habits. The same goes for those who have rigid
shift work schedules and graveyard shifts, who constantly battle to get healthy sleep. We
need to do more to educate people and build systems that allow better sleep for those
who participate in them. Our business leaders, educators, and health care system must
make the necessary changes to shift the sleep culture in America. We as individuals can
do our parts, but modern society makes this difficult.
“Sleep is for the weak” or “I’ll sleep when I die” are common phrases people use to show
their work ethic. Those who prioritize sleep are often seen as lazy or not dedicated. Truth-

fully, these phrases completely miss the mark when you consider the benefits that healthy
sleep provides, as well as the detriments not sleeping can cause. Long work hours, early
start times, and crazy shifts lead to disrupted sleep patterns. The adverse effects can be
wide-reaching, increasing risk of disease, illness, and mood disruption while decreasing
productivity and creativity. Medical errors, drowsy driving, and other workplace mistakes
can all result from lack of sleep. The more we can prevent these unnecessary mishaps,
the better off we will be as a society.
Fortunately, a recent surge in sleep technology and wearable health technology have made
sleep tracking more accessible. These devices and technology can give you insight into
your sleep patterns and architecture, allowing you to adjust your habits as needed. Several
sleep tools have made it easier to create the right sleep environment. The tools and tech-
nology are great, but to get healthy sleep, you must take care of the four pillars of sleep.
FOUR PILLARS OF HEALTH SLEEP
1. Regularity: The consistency of your sleep schedule

2. Continuity: How many times you wake up or how fragmented your sleep is
3. Quantity/Duration: The total amount of sleep and the amount of sleep
in each stage
4. Quality/Depth: Brain wave activity, or electrical signature and sleep architecture
BENEFITS OF SLEEP
• Boosts cognitive function: memory, learning, alertness, productivity, creativity,

and decision-making
• Reduces stress and enhances mood
• Recalibrates emotional brain circuits
• Boosts the immune system
• Protects heart health by lowering blood pressure
• Balances metabolic state by regulating blood sugar levels
• Regulates appetite, helping to control weight
• Helps maintain a healthy microbiome
• Boosts athletic performance and overall recovery
• Increases lifespan

CONSEQUENCES OF POOR SLEEP
• Weakens immune system

• Increases risk of Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and
certain cancers
• Disrupts blood sugar regulation
• Leads to weight gain and poor appetite control by increasing hormones that
make you hungry
• Increases inflammation and oxidative stress, which can lead to the buildup of
plaque-like amyloid and tau in the brain
• Can exacerbate all major psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety
• Increases the chance of accidents in the cases of drowsy driving, falls, etc.
• Lowers your sex drive by decreasing testosterone
• Decreases mood regulation and cognition as in memory, problem-solving ability,
concentration, and processing speed
• Shortens lifespan
STRATEGIES FOR BETTER SLEEP
• Regularity: Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, plus or minus
thirty minutes, even on weekends.
• Continuity: Avoid things that might fragment your sleep like alcohol, caffeine,
and drinking water close to bedtime.
• Quantity/Duration: Give yourself at least an eight-hour sleep opportunity.
• Quality/Depth: Create the right sleep environment and sleep in line with
your chronotype.
• Temperature: Your core temperature needs to drop two to three degrees before
you fall asleep, so keep it cool in your bedroom.
• Blue light: Limit blue light before bed and dim as many lights as you can once
the sun goes down. Blue light suppresses melatonin which you need to fall asleep.
• Sunlight: Wake up with the sunlight and get adequate sunlight throughout the
day to regulate and set your circadian rhythm.
• Food and drink: Don’t eat or drink too close to bed. Indigestion can disrupt
sleep and fluids can cause frequent urination.
• Exercise: Stay active but try not to exercise too close to bedtime, since exercise
increases body temperature.

• Relax: Limit unwanted cognitive strain close to bedtime and try a calming activity
before you go to sleep. Avoid work, complex tasks, problem-solving, etc. Try
reading, light music, meditation, or a hot bath or shower.
• Routine: Have a bedtime routine. This cues the body to prepare for sleep.
• Naps and coffee: Avoid caffeine and nicotine after noon and naps after 3:00 p.m.
• NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest): This is a practice that helps you get into a
relaxed and restorative state while the mind is still awake. NSDR protocol usually
follows two steps: a self-induced state of rest followed by a period of directed,
intense focus.
• Alcohol: Alcohol sedates you, but sedation is not sleeping. It fragments sleep,
impairs your breathing, cuts your REM sleep, and keeps you in a light sleep state.
• Bed use: Don’t lie in bed unless you are sleeping or napping, and don’t lie in
bed awake for too long. This will make your body associate your bed with sleep.
• Comfortability: Having a comfortable bed, mattress, pillow, and cover set can
enhance sleep.
• Devices: Leave gadgets and devices out of the bedroom to avoid sleep distractions
and blue light.
• Darkness and noise: A dark, noiseless bedroom makes it easier to fall asleep,
though some people like white noise and a little light.
• Medicine: Avoid any medication that might disrupt or delay sleep.
• Supplementation: Consult with a professional and consider supplementation
if you have tried the strategies above to no avail. Some supplements to try are
Melatonin, glycine, valerian root, magnesium, L-theanine, lavender, tryptophan,
and ginkgo biloba.
• Sleep disorder strategies: Common sleep disorders include sleep apnea,
insomnia, and narcolepsy. Use the strategies above or consult with a professional
if you have or suspect that you have one of these disorders.
Sleep ranks high on the list of things you can’t live without. Without sleep, you could only
survive ten days. This shows how essential sleep is to your overall health and wellness.
Sleep is a basic human need and drive that affects every system, organ, and cell in your
body. Get too little sleep, and you deteriorate at every level. These effects don’t always
manifest physically or right away, but the cumulative effect of bad sleep habits can be
detrimental.
You think, act, feel, and live better when fully rested. This zero-cost, all-encompassing
health booster is one of the most effective levers for improving well-being. As Matthew
Walker says, “We sleep to cure ourselves from the damage of wakefulness,” (Walker 2017).
All the stress and strain placed on your body physically and mentally is healed through

sleep. If we as a society can learn to harness the superpower of sleep, we can start to help
shift health in America.
BREATHING
The human body can survive for a month without food, a week without sleep, and a couple
of days without water, but only minutes without oxygen (the record for breath-holding
is twenty-four minutes). That should tell you everything you need to know about how
important breathing is to your health and survival. Breathing gives you life. Every system
in the body relies on oxygen to function correctly. Breathing allows you to send oxygen
throughout the body to different cells, which need a steady supply to produce energy. Your
breath synchronizes your nervous, cardiovascular, circulatory, and respiratory systems.
Breathing also rids your body of waste products and toxins that can cause harm when
they accumulate over time.
The simple act of breathing can change your physiology and psychology immensely. How
you breathe can be highly influential in your health and wellness and can lead you down a
path of vitality or deterioration. In this section, I will go over this underappreciated pillar
of health and the role oxygen plays in supporting your life and planet. I’ll examine many
aspects of breathing, including inhaling, exhaling, mouth versus nose breathing, slow
versus fast breathing, oxygen versus carbon dioxide, breathing techniques, and I’ll give
you a brief history of the evolution of breath. Your respiratory system works non-stop
twenty-four seven to keep you functioning day in and day out. The more you can do to
breathe properly, the easier things will become for every system in your body. So, take a
deep breath and let’s dive in.
You take around 25,000 breaths a day (Nestor 2021). Most of these are unconscious
breaths facilitated by your autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system
consists of the sympathetic “fight or flight” and the parasympathetic “rest and digest”
nervous systems. Under normal and healthy circumstances, these two systems work in
balance with each other. They work to maintain homeostasis in several different bodily
functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion. Uniquely, while breathing is
mostly an unconscious act, it can be consciously controlled. This ability to consciously
control your breath allows you to manipulate your physiology in myriad ways.
You can alter and even control other autonomic or unconscious bodily functions using
your breath as a catalyst. Your breathing patterns can modulate your body temperature,

heart rate, blood pressure, and stress response. When you breathe in, your diaphragm
contracts and moves down, which allows your lungs to expand and fill up with oxygen.
That oxygen is offloaded from the lungs to red blood cells, which deliver that oxygen to
different organs and tissues for energy. As you burn energy, carbon dioxide is produced as
a waste product that must be removed. This carbon dioxide is shuttled back to the lungs
by the red blood cells. When you exhale, your diaphragm relaxes, which causes the lungs
to shrink, expelling the carbon dioxide.
Gas exchange is a complex chemical and mechanical process that happens thousands of
times a day. Your body’s carbon dioxide and oxygen levels regulate your breathing. Both
are essential, and neither can get too high or too low. When you sleep, exercise, or activate
your stress response, your energy needs change, which in turn changes your oxygen
needs. This is why when you exercise, you breathe more and your heart rate increases.
Your body is working to bring in more oxygen with each breath, and the increase in your
heart rate gets that oxygen to the necessary tissues faster.
Each organ and tissue has different energy and oxygen needs. For example, remember
that the brain is only 2% of your body weight, but consumes around 20% of your body’s
oxygen supply. This highlights the importance of every breath you take and the measures
your body takes to ensure that each organ gets the proper oxygen supply. The presence
of oxygen has allowed humans and other life forms to develop a highly efficient energy
production system, which has shaped our evolution. Unfortunately, in recent history, we
have heavily polluted our air, shrunken our nasal cavities, weakened our face structure,
destroyed many oxygen-supplying trees and plants, and become chronic mouth breathers.
All these factors add up to a litany of environmental and health problems. As James
Nestor, author of the book Breath says, “humans are the worst breathers in the animal
kingdom,” (ibid.). Let’s look at how we can change that, one breath at a time.
Oral Breathing Versus Nasal Breathing
Ancient cultures viewed breathing as a sacred practice and a powerful tool for mediating
psychological and physiological responses. Breathing through the mouth was frowned
upon and actively prohibited in some cases. Humans are designed to breathe through
their noses. Over the years, structural changes to the human face and nasal construction
have turned many into chronic mouth breathers. Around 40% of the population suffers
from chronic nasal obstruction, and over half the US population habitually breathes
through their mouths. This is concerning, considering the downstream effects associated
with chronic mouth breathing.

Nose breathing, on the other hand, can be a breath of fresh air for your body. Your nose
processes the air you breathe differently than your mouth. These differences, multiplied
by thousands of breaths per day, can enormously impact your health. Below, I’ll go over
the consequences of chronic mouth breathing as well as the advantages of nose breathing.
After that, I’ll take you through different techniques, strategies, and tools you can use to
optimize your breathing and shift back to how humans were designed to breathe.
CONSEQUENCES OF CHRONIC MOUTH BREATHING
• Impaired sleep and sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia, and snoring
• Dry mouth, tongue, lips, and throat, which can cause throat and ear infections
• Dehydration
• Elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature
• Decreased cognition
• Facial deformities, including narrowed mouth, jaw, and face
• Periodontal diseases like cavities and gingivitis, crooked teeth, malocclusion,
and bad breath
• Poorer quality of life
ADVANTAGES OF NASAL BREATHING
• Breathing filtered, temperature-controlled, and humidified air as it filters

through the nose
• Increased nitric oxide production, which improves blood flow and oxygen circu-
lation, and reduces inflammation
• Increased oxygen uptake
• Harmful substance sensitivity through smell
• Stress reduction and relaxation
• Improved sleep health
• Increased cognition
BREATH OPTIMIZATION TOOLKIT
• Take slow, deep, long breaths through the nose during everyday life. This should
work out to five and a half to six breaths per minute.

• Prolong and increase exhales when you want to relax or reduce stress. This will
reduce your heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature.
• Increase inhales when you want to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and
increase your heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature.
• Increase diaphragmatic breathing or “belly breathing.” This involves fully engag-
ing the stomach, abdominal muscles, and diaphragm when breathing, which can
strengthen the diaphragm and help fill the lungs more efficiently.
• Use orthopedic devices to widen your mouth and airways.
• Use breathing measurement devices to help give you specific insight into
your breathing.
• Use mouth tape to avoid mouth breathing.
• Avoid polluted air and breathe fresh air in nature.
• Breathe through the nose as much as possible. It’s okay to breathe through the
mouth during intense exercise or when you have nasal congestion.
In evolutionary terms, the smell is our oldest sense. Throughout our history, humans have
long cherished the power of breath. In recent history, we have not only made it harder
to breathe, but we have polluted the very air we take in. A whopping 80% of people don’t
breathe properly, and around 90% breathe polluted air (Nestor 2021). This epidemic is
a potent but silent one that affects millions.
You may not be able to control the air pollution in your environment all the time, but
your breathing is something you can change. Taking as many slow, deep nasal breaths
as possible protects your body and boosts your health and wellness. You can reduce
stress levels, exercise more efficiently, sleep better, digest your food better, increase your
immune function, and improve your quality of life when you breathe correctly. You can
use this incredible recovery tool every day, free of cost. Never underestimate the healing
power of breath. Breathing connects your mind and body, allowing you to control many
aspects of your physiology and psychology consciously. When you harness and hone this
ability, you unleash a vitality superpower.
LIGHT
Light is the fuel that gives life to everything on our planet. Without light from the sun, all
plants, animals, and life forms would cease to exist. We often overlook sunlight’s vital
role in the survival and regulation of virtually everything on our planet. Beyond allowing

us to see, sunlight provides energy to plants that produce the air we breathe through
photosynthesis.
Things like gravity, ocean cycles, magnetic fields, and climate are also dependent on
sunlight. The sun, which is basically a massive ball of energy, has helped sustain the earth
for billions of years. Light has guided and entrained us throughout the millions of years
that humans have existed. From sunlight to fire to candles to the abundance of artificial
light we see today, light has evolved as we have. Light now comes in various forms and
intensities and has far more complicated environmental impacts on us as a species.
Your biology is closely linked to the natural rhythms of light. Your light-viewing behavior
and light exposure can profoundly influence your health and well-being. In this section,
I will explore light and all its complexities. I’ll cover what light is, its various types, and
how your body processes, absorbs, and utilizes light energy. Additionally, I’ll discuss the
potential dangers associated with certain types of light, and how you can leverage them
to maximize your health. The timing, type, intensity, and duration of light exposure can
make all the difference in the world. If you want to significantly enhance your quality
of life and recovery capacity, you must learn to properly harness this invaluable energy
source that sustains the planet.
Light has many uses in the modern world. We use it for photography, electronics, and
to illuminate our homes. Light powers the world we live in. So what exactly is light?
Light is energy; specifically, light is electromagnetic radiation, or waves. Light consists
of photons—particles of light—or bundles of electromagnetic energy called radiation.
Photons of light act as both particles and waves, and can be classified into seven different
categories based on their wavelengths and frequencies. The seven categories include radio
waves, which have the lowest frequency and longest waves, microwaves, infrared light,
visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays, which have the highest frequency
and shortest waves. These types make up the electromagnetic spectrum.
Now that you understand what light is and its different types, it’s important to know
how humans process, use, and absorb light so your light exposure habits can be better
informed. Light is unique in that it can penetrate deep down into various body parts,
impacting organs, tissues, and even individual cells. Different wavelengths of light affect
multiple tissues and organs in your body, changing how they function (for better and
sometimes for worse).
Light is mainly processed and absorbed through your eyes and skin. Light is a com-
municator of your external environment, and your eyes and skin help transmit that

communication as a signal to your internal environment. You have photoreceptors in
your eyes called rods and cones that absorb light energy of different wavelengths, and
your skin has melanocytes that absorb light. As mentioned before, different types of
light can alter your cell functions. Exposure to too much or too intense light can cause
DNA damage. Conversely, not getting enough light exposure can lead to hormonal and
structural dysfunction.
As discussed in the sleep section, your body uses light (among other things) to entrain and
sync its circadian rhythms. In the brain, your SCN plays the role of conductor, generating
neural and hormonal activity that helps regulate many different bodily functions in a
twenty-four-hour cycle. As the SCN carries out this role of central regulator, it gets exter-
nal signals from the light coming into your eyes. Light is the primary signal that entrains
your rhythms, but eating and activity can also play roles in altering your body clock.
Another key player that light modulates is melatonin. Many people think of melatonin
as only relating to sleep, but melatonin has many different powerful effects throughout
your body. Beyond helping your body respond to light and darkness, melatonin levels can
influence body temperature, immune function, reproductive health, and bone mass. It’s
essential to be cautious if you plan to supplement with this powerful hormone.
Before I dive into some of the specifics around light optimization, it’s critical to differ-
entiate natural and artificial light, as well as discuss the varying effects these lights can
have when they hit your eyes, skin, hair, nails, and other cells. Light intensity, commonly
measured in lux, can also influence its effects on your body. For reference, a candle one
meter away gives off one lux of light. A smartphone’s light can range from 1–15 lux,
indoor lighting can emit 100–250 lux, and office lighting gives off 300–500 lux. On a
cloudy day, you can still get up to 1,500 lux outside; on a sunny day, direct sunlight can
give you up to 100,000 lux.
Artificial light is a static spectrum of light, meaning that its colors don’t change over time.
It is composed of visible, ultraviolet (UV), and infrared light. Natural light contains a
dynamic, full spectrum of visible light along with UV and infrared light. Visible light—like
blue and red light—as well as portions of the spectrum invisible to the naked eye—like
ultraviolet and infrared light—can impact several biological reactions across different
cells. Your skin produces vitamin D using ultraviolet light. Your eyes take in light to help
send electrical signals to the SCN and other brain areas to control your body’s rhythms.
Even your cellular functioning can be controlled by light.

You must find a healthy balance of light exposure from artificial and natural sources.
There are health problems associated with both too little and too much light exposure.
Knowing the proper type, duration, source, and intensity of light exposure can be hugely
beneficial. Below is a guide to help you navigate your light exposure, avoid the dangers,
and maximize the benefits.
LIGHT EXPOSURE BEST PRACTICES
• View bright light (preferably sunlight) after waking up. This sets your body’s
rhythms and increases alertness.
• To get adequate daily sunlight, expose your skin and eyes (indirectly) to at least
ten to thirty minutes of sunlight each day, preferably earlier in the day. Adjust the
recommended amount of sunlight based on your age, where you live, the time of
year, and your skin tone (darker skin tones need more sunlight).
• Reduce or dim lights in the evening or after sunset. This helps get your body
ready for sleep.
• Reduce blue light exposure before bed, as blue light can suppress melatonin.
• Avoid light exposure from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. to optimize sleep.
• Avoid tanning beds and too much direct sunlight on your eyes.
• Wear hats, sunscreen, and sunglasses if you have sensitive skin or eyes, or if you
plan to stay in the sun for extended periods.
BENEFITS OF ADEQUATE DAILY SUNLIGHT
• Boosts vitamin D levels, which is essential for bone, blood, and immune health.
• Improves mood, pain tolerance, and overall psychological well-being by increasing
serotonin and dopamine.
• Improves sleep health by helping set your circadian rhythms.
• Enhances productivity and focus through better sleep and circadian rhythms.
• Can improve skin, hair, and nail health by increasing their rates of turnover.
• Can boost the immune system by activating the spleen to release infection-fight-
ing chemicals.
• Can increase testosterone.

DANGERS OF TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE SUNLIGHT
• Skin damage from sunburns, rashes, and skin cancer.

• SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, in which too little sunlight affects your mood.
• DNA damage, in which too much direct sunlight can negatively impact cellu-
lar functioning.
• Eye damage, in which too much direct sunlight can damage your retinas.
• Immune system suppression can result from both too much and too little sunlight.
• Dehydration and heat stroke from too much sunlight.
Regarding light optimization, context is everything and everyone is unique. Finding the
Goldilocks zone in your light exposure can unlock considerable vitality. This free and
abundant resource has become increasingly underutilized in recent years. Artificial lights
and screens dominate our lives, while natural light takes a back seat. We must transition
back to a healthy and balanced integration of light into our lives so we can live better and
recover optimally.
Light has powered this world for millions of years, giving life and vibrancy to our planet.
Harnessing this energy source has allowed plants and animals to thrive. You too can use
this incredible power source to fuel vitality in your own life. Get outside, go on a hike,
and connect with nature. You’ll find, as Aaron Rose once said, “In the right light, at the
right time, everything is extraordinary” (Aalaap 2020). Remember, that includes you.
IMMUNITY
Your immune system works twenty-four-seven, battling foreign invaders and responding
to physical insults and injuries. This defense system includes the complement system,
lymphatic system, white blood cells, antibodies, spleen, thymus, skin, and bone marrow.
This sophisticated network of cells, proteins, tissues, and organs works to keep pathogens
out and fight them if they get into your system.
Things like bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites are always lurking on the surfaces
you touch, the air you breathe, the food you eat, and the water you drink. Fortunately,
when healthy, your immune system can identify what’s harmful and what’s helpful, or
what’s foreign and what’s domestic. When it encounters something that doesn’t belong,
the immune system quickly activates its defenses and sends specialized cells to destroy
the intruder.

Your movement, nutrition, recovery, and lifestyle habits significantly impact the efficiency
and effectiveness of your immune system. Genetics can also play a role in specific allergies
or autoimmune disorders, which is when the body’s immune system attacks healthy cells.
Still, when you don’t take care of those health factors, your immune system can become
compromised and even turn on itself. Through sickness, injury, and infection, you count
on your immune response to bring you back to health and strength. Your job is to protect
yourself from unnecessary pathogens and bolster your body’s defensive mechanisms by
living a healthy lifestyle.
In this section, I’ll go over how the immune system works, its main layers of defense, and
the overall immune response. I’ll also discuss what can negatively impact the immune
system and what you can do to make yours strong and healthy. We don’t often think
about the immune system unless something goes wrong. This intricate system is hard
at work every day, fighting pathogens and helping you recover. Maintaining your body’s
defenses is key to protecting your health and wellness. The less you are sick and injured,
the more you can accomplish.
To boost your immune system, you must first know how it works. Several different cells,
proteins, tissues, organs, and systems work together to prevent harmful invaders and
detect and kill pathogens. The immune system comprises two separate parts that work
closely together: the innate, or general, immune system and the adaptive, or specialized,
immune system. The innate immune system consists of your skin, mucous membranes,
and several defense cells and proteins. This is your body’s first line of defense, and it uses
a rapid and nonspecific response to fight foreign substances and injury.
Your skin provides a physical barrier that blocks invaders from getting directly into your
body. The mucous membranes (mouth, nostrils, eyes, ears, digestive system, and genitals)
filter or trap foreign substances. It is imperative to maintain healthy mucous membranes
throughout the body. You need these mucosal layers to be permeable to the good stuff
and a trap for the bad stuff. I talked about the gut microbiome in Core Two: Nutrition,
but it bears repeating that you must promote and keep all of your microbiomes healthy.
Your body contains several chemical substances like sweat, tears, stomach acid, and urine
that help flush out toxins. The mechanism by which the innate immune system works
involves marking or tagging foreign substances with complement proteins, and then
attracting other immune cells to the site via cytokines. This flood of immune cells cause
swelling, heat, and reddening: inflammation. These immune cells include neutralizing
scavenger cells and killing cells like macrophages. This is a fast response that generally
happens within one to four hours.

All these immune cells and proteins work together to battle the foreign invader. The
adaptive immune system is called upon if the innate immune system cannot destroy
it. The adaptive immune system is made up of lymphocytes and antibodies, which are
proteins that counteract and neutralize antigens. It is slower to respond but more precise
in its execution. This system must first identify the foreign substance so it can target the
invader or antigen type. Once identified, specialized T (thymus) and B (bone marrow)
lymphocytes work to destroy the invaders. B lymphocytes can create antibodies that help
neutralize the invaders and call for help from other proteins and immune cells.
The adaptive immune system’s beauty is that some T and B lymphocytes turn into
memory cells that can “remember” specific invaders and toxins. If these same invaders
come back, your system is ready with antibodies. This is the basis of immunity and is
how vaccines work. Although the innate and adaptive immune systems usually work in
harmony to fend off harmful toxins, sometimes the body can attack itself or overreact
to non-threats. Autoimmune diseases are ones wherein the body destroys or attacks its
healthy tissues. You can genetically acquire these diseases or disorders, or they can be
developed through various lifestyle factors.
Allergies are another kink in the immune system where the body reacts abnormally
to things that are typically harmless to most people. Different foods, dust, pollen, and
medicines can cause minor or life-threatening allergic reactions in people with specific
allergies. Your immune system can be very sensitive to physical, mental, and emotional
states. The vagus nerve connects the brain and the immune system, helping to mediate
the immune response and your overall metabolic state. This connection means that your
psychological state can influence how your body’s immune system responds. People are
not far off when they say you can “worry yourself sick.”
Now that you are familiar with the immune system and its specific mechanisms, I will
dive into how you can further protect yourself and enhance your immunity. You should
think about bolstering your immune defense before you are sick or injured. Prevention
is preferred over curing or treating something. To get sick, your immune system must be
compromised, and you must be exposed to a pathogen. Sickness and injury are inevitable
parts of life, but they don’t have to be common occurrences or major setbacks.
Below, I’ll go over how you can avoid harmful pathogens and eliminate specific behaviors
and activities that can compromise your immune system. Then I’ll identify ways you
can boost your immune system to make sure you are protected from harmful bacteria,
viruses, fungi, and infections. You can’t always avoid sickness or injury, but you can build

your defenses and bounce back quickly when you recover properly and have a healthy
immune system.
WAYS TO AVOID PATHOGENS
• Wash your hands often with soap and water.

• Avoid touching your eyes, face, or mouth too much.
• Practice food safety by cleaning, cooking, and eating foods properly.
• Cover your mouth when you cough and try to avoid the coughs of others, which
is how most common colds are contracted.
• Clean and disinfect commonly used surfaces.
• Get vaccinated.
• Avoid sharing personal items.
• Practice safe travel habits.
• Avoid touching wild animals.
• Use antibiotics only when necessary.
• Wear a face mask.
• Practice safe sex.
• Be cautious in hospitals.
THINGS THAT CAN NEGATIVELY IMPACT IMMUNITY
• Poor sleep quality and quantity

• Mental distress
• Lack of sunlight
• Air travel
• Low intake of fruits, vegetables, and fiber
• Micronutrient deficiencies like Vitamin D, Zinc, and Vitamin A
• Mouth breathing
• Low carbohydrate and protein intake
• High fat intake
• Overtraining or no training
• Poor hygiene
• Alcohol and smoking
• Dehydration
• Certain medications

IMMUNITY-BOOSTING TOOLKIT
• Nasal breathing
• Proper immunonutrition
• Adequate sleep
• At least ten to thirty minutes of sunlight a day
• Healthy gut microbiome
• Reduction of unwanted stress
• Regular exercise
• Adequate hydration
• Supplementation as needed
• Heat and cold therapies
• Maintenance of a healthy weight
• Avoiding processed foods and refined sugars
• Staying connected with friends and family
The immune system is the unsung hero of the body and protects you from harm night
and day. You must take the necessary steps to assist in this defense of your health and
wellness. A compromised immune system affects each of the Core Four in different,
negative ways. Your performance drops, you lose your appetite, don’t sleep well, breathe
harder, and become more lethargic. Conversely, if you are proactively cultivating good
habits in each of the Core Four categories, you will strengthen your immunity. You can
exercise more, sleep better, breathe more freely, and accomplish much more with a
healthy immune system.
TEMPERATURE
Temperature is one of your body’s most essential and tightly regulated variables. To
function, your body must keep your internal or core temperature generally between 97°F
and 99°F (98.6°F or 37°C is average) (Osilla, Marsidi, and Sharma 2022). Maintaining
your core body temperature in this narrow range is called thermoregulation. Thermo-
regulation is essential to your survival because of the frequently changing conditions you
live in. Your body carries out several self-regulating mechanisms to maintain equilibrium
regardless of external temperature.
Although your body tries to maintain this rigid core body temperature range, there can be
considerable variation depending on the time of day, specific body part or system, what

you eat, your age and gender, sickness, and exercise, among other factors. Your body is
constantly adapting based on these different factors, so in a way, thermoregulation is
homeostatic and allostatic in nature. You need to maintain a general set temperature to
survive, but you do have a degree or two of flexibility. Pun intended.
In this section, I’ll dive deep into the temperature stimulus and how you can leverage it
to recover faster and improve your health. I’ll explore specific thermoregulatory mech-
anisms, how temperature differs throughout your body, and how you can use measures
like deliberate heat and cold exposure to manipulate your body temperature beneficially.
Most people have a vague understanding of temperature and its effects on their bodies.
Temperature modulation is at the core of many behavioral adaptations from fevers
to shivering to sweat. In recovery, temperature is as critical as any variable regarding
exercise, sleep, immunity, metabolism, and regulation of various bodily functions.
We have long known that temperature regulation is vital to our survival. We are now
learning that we can use deliberate measures to harness the power of acute temperature
change to enhance physical and mental health. Understanding temperature, thermoreg-
ulation, and your body’s response to thermal changes will give you actionable knowledge
you can deploy to improve your well-being. This knowledge will provide the base for many
versatile tools and protocols you can use. So let’s dive into the details.
Most of the time, you don’t consciously think about regulating your temperature. Your
brain and body work around the clock to maintain a healthy temperature regardless
of what’s happening outside. This is especially true for your core temperature, the
temperature of your internal organs or deep tissues, which is critical to your survival.
Your peripheral or shell temperature refers to the temperature of your skin, limbs, and
subcutaneous tissues. Your shell temperature fluctuates greatly, but your brain and
body go to great lengths to ensure that your core temperature stays in that cozy range
of 97°F–99°F. Women usually run hotter than men, and younger people tend to have
higher temperatures than older people.
Your body temperature changes over the course of the day, starting cooler and heating
up as the day goes on, before dropping again as you sleep. Your immune system, as well
as how you eat, move, breathe, and sleep, can adjust your temperature. Even with all
these competing factors and parameters, you can keep your core temperature steady
because a specific area in the brain acts as an internal thermostat. This brain region is the
hypothalamus, or more specifically, the preoptic area of the hypothalamus.

This internal thermostat in the hypothalamus receives information via temperature
sensors on your skin and throughout your body. These sensors send signals related to
temperature change to the hypothalamus, which sends signals to either heat up or cool
down back out to your body. The preoptic area in the hypothalamus can trigger autonomic
mechanisms like shivering to heat up or sweating to cool down. It can also divert blood
away from your skin toward vital organs, or ramp up specific hormone secretion. All these
thermoregulatory efforts allow you to adapt to changing environments. The good news
is that most of these mechanisms are autonomic, meaning you don’t have to think about
them; they just happen. Since you are often not in temperature-controlled environments,
this subconscious control is essential to daily functioning.
You also utilize behavioral mechanisms to regulate or change your core and shell tem-
peratures. Putting on or taking off clothing, huddling around others, and seeking sunlight
or shade are ways you can manage your temperature. Your body is constantly generating
heat internally via energy production, which allows you to be comfortable and more
effective at cooler temperatures. About 20% of the energy you eat gets used, while the
other 80% is given off as heat. One of the most efficient ways you get rid of heat is through
specialized portals in your hands, feet, and face. These portals are on what’s called gla-
brous skin and are specifically located on the palms of your hands, the bottoms of your
feet, and the upper part of your face.
Through these hairless skin surfaces, blood flows directly from arteries to veins in arte-
riovenous anastomoses (AVAs). These bypass the normal blood paths from the heart to
arteries to capillaries to veins. Glabrous skin offers an efficient and highly effective way to
cool or heat the body. Beyond the glabrous skin portals, there are deliberate measures you
can take to heat or cool your body to recover faster, boost your metabolism, and improve
your mental and physical performance.
These methods include exercise, which can induce serious heat production and other
health-enhancing effects discussed in Core One: Movement. Breath work can also serve
as a temperature modulator through conscious control of inhalation and exhalation
patterns. Deliberate heat and cold exposure have been used for many years and are now
rising in popularity in the recovery industry. Other variables that can alter body tempera-
ture include nutrition, NEAT, and sleep. Many of these variables modulate temperature
subconsciously, but other variables can be used deliberately to incite specific temperature
changes. It’s important to determine what’s deliberate when considering some of these
recovery methods. Deliberately doing something in pursuit of a specific goal can have a
different physiological and psychological impact on you, as opposed to engaging in these
recovery strategies accidentally or without planning.

Your mindset greatly determines certain variables’ influences on your body. When per-
formed correctly, safely, and under the best conditions for your specific needs, deliberate
temperature manipulation can offer unique health benefits. Below, I’ll discuss some of
those benefits and dissect the relevant mechanisms of action. Everyone’s age, gender,
genetics, and tolerance are different, so you must use these methods accordingly. These
interventions are smaller pieces of a larger recovery and health puzzle, and they will mean
nothing if you don’t care for the foundational pieces: sleep, breathing, nutrition, light,
immunity, and stress tolerance. Whether heating up or cooling down, your body is an
adaptation machine, so check out the information below to learn how you can leverage
specific protocols to power valuable adaptations.
DELIBERATE COLD EXPOSURE PROTOCOLS
• For cold water immersion, try ice baths and cold showers. For other cold exposure
methods, try cryotherapy, icing, or being outside on a cold day with minimal
clothing. Cold water immersion tends to be the most effective in eliciting the
benefits listed below.
• At least ten to fifteen minutes per week, split into two to four sessions. The tem-
perature should be between 30°F and 55°F.
• Morning or early afternoon, ideally not before bed.
• Post-exercise if you want to reduce soreness, but not if you wish to strength-
en adaptation.
BENEFITS AND MECHANISMS
• Boosts metabolism and burns fat by burning more calories overall.

• Increases brown fat activity. Brown fat is composed of metabolically active fat
cells that have mitochondria and burn calories, as opposed to white fat, which
just stores energy.
• Stimulates shivering, which in turn activates brown fat thermogenesis.
• Increases mental resilience through strengthened stress tolerance.
• Reduces inflammation through decreasing inflammatory cytokines.
• Increases performance, focus, and alertness through raised catecholamines.
• Reduces soreness by reducing creatine kinase, which is a biomarker for mus-
cle breakdown.

DELIBERATE HEAT EXPOSURE PROTOCOLS
• Try dry or wet saunas, hot baths, sweatsuits, or being outside on a hot day with
minimal clothing.
• At least sixty minutes per week, five to twenty minutes per session. The tempera-
ture should be between 175°F and 210°F.
• Doing this method post-exercise can be beneficial.
• Make sure to replenish fluids. Drink sixteen ounces of liquid for every ten minutes
of heat exposure.
BENEFITS AND MECHANISMS
• Increases blood flow and cardiovascular function by increasing heart rate, stroke
volume, plasma volume, and vasodilation, which aid in clearing waste and sup-
plying nutrients to muscles.
• Increases number and activity of heat shock proteins, which help rescue and
prevent misfolded proteins.
• Increases hormones like growth hormone, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopa-
mine, and endorphins.
• Boosts metabolism, which increases the conversion of white fat to brown fat.
• Reduces pain by modulating endorphin and dynorphin activity.
• Detoxifies through sweat and increased blood flow.
Temperature manipulation can be an extremely effective tool when used correctly. It

can also be dangerous when misused. If you choose to explore and experiment with
deliberate cold and heat exposure, consult with a professional and ease your way in. A
little bit goes a long way; more isn’t always better with these methods. As mentioned
before, your age, gender, genetics, and tolerance should be considered when developing
your practice. What you have access to might differ, so make the best and safest choice
with what you’ve got.
My aim in this section is to open a new door for you in the recovery realm. Temperature
has always been of the utmost importance, but we are just now learning how to leverage it
for health, longevity, and performance. The deliberate stress induced by heat and cold can
significantly boost your recovery if appropriately implemented. It’s incredible how tightly
controlled your internal environment can be despite oscillating external conditions.

Your temperature has the power to change your physical, mental, and even emotional
states. Luckily, the human body is a regulation and adaptation machine that protects you
without you even thinking about it. If you can consciously control these specific behaviors
centered around recovery, you can achieve something beyond adaptation: optimization.
RECOVERY LEVELS
Recovery is a hot topic these days, with various companies, products, and services pop-
ping up and promising to enhance your ability to return to an optimal state of mind
and body. People nowadays are taking a closer look at the benefits of adequate sleep,
breath work, proper nutrition, and optimal light exposure in their recovery. Beyond that,
many folks are turning to gadgets, garments, and other tools to facilitate their recovery
routines. The growing appetite and emphasis on improving recovery are encouraging,
but sometimes the hierarchy of methods needs to be corrected.
While many are jumping at the chance to try the newer technologies, complex services,
and fancy tools, the key to optimal recovery lies in the basics. The way I see it, recovery
has three different levels: foundational, significant, and accessory. The foundational
level includes the essential recovery staples of sleep, stress management, nutrition, and
breathing. These form the base on which all other recovery strategies depend. These are
the big rocks that have the most impact on your capacity to recover. If these methods
aren’t correctly taken care of first, adequate recovery isn’t possible.
The next level is the significant level, which comprises critical recovery variables and
methods that can profoundly influence recovery. Your overall movement and training
plan, body temperature manipulation, and light exposure all carry significant weight
in your ability to enhance various aspects of recovery. Although your body can recover
without complete optimization of these methods, you should manage these variables
closely. Optimization at the significant level makes foundational-level recovery more
manageable and effective.
Lastly, the accessory level includes the nonessential and ancillary recovery methods.
Massage, acupuncture, percussive therapy, compression, and muscle rollers fall into this
category. After the foundational and significant recovery levels have been adequately
accounted for, you should consider these methods. You can leverage the accessory level
to squeak out additional, incremental recovery gains. You should always seek to optimize

the first two levels before proceeding further, but you can certainly use the accessory level
to supplement your recovery.
This section will go over methods that can give your recovery an extra boost. Many
emerging companies and organizations in the recovery space offer products and services
at each of the three recovery levels. Your priority should be to develop and optimize at
the foundational and significant levels, then use the accessory level to supplement as
needed. Keep this hierarchy in mind when you think of recovery, and take care of the
essentials first.
RECOVERY LEVELS
• Foundational: Essential recovery methods and variables with the most signif-
icant impact, like sleep, stress, breathing, nutrition, and immunity.
• Significant: Important recovery methods and variables with significant im-
pact, like overall movement, training plan, temperature manipulation, and
light exposure.
• Accessory: Nonessential and ancillary recovery methods and variables with
varying impact, like massage, acupuncture, compression, percussive therapy,
muscle rollers, stretching, blood flow enhancers, sensory deprivation tanks, laser
therapy, and electrical muscle stimulators.
COMMON ACCESSORY RECOVERY METHODS
• Massage: Massage is soft tissue manipulation. Massage is a commonly pre-

scribed method for reducing stress, muscle soreness, and pain. It has been shown
to reduce inflammation by lowering levels of inflammation-causing cytokines
while also increasing blood flow and mitochondria, which help with cellular func-
tion and repair. A gentle massage can be a great recovery tool to ease mechanical
stress, reduce pain, and even provide emotional benefits.
• Acupuncture: Acupuncture is a technique in which practitioners stimulate
specific points on the body, usually using thin needles inserted through the skin.
Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years to ease pain, relieve headaches,
and promote emotional well-being. Acupuncture can stimulate the central nervous
system by releasing chemicals with healing capabilities. If you want to try this
recovery method, find a licensed professional and consult with your doctor first.

• Compression: Compression and compression garments reduce the swelling
of stretched-out veins and promote better blood circulation. This strategy can
reduce muscle vibration and oscillations, easing pain and soreness. The increased
blood flow helps tissues get more nutrients and decreases lactic acid buildup.
Several types of compression clothing like sleeves, boots, and other garments are
used for recovery. For more information on correct use, be sure to consult with
a professional.
• Percussive therapy: Percussive therapy is a technique designed to treat soft
tissue pain using a massage gun that delivers intense pulses and vibrations,
which can penetrate deep into the tissue of your muscle. Percussive therapy aims
to prevent tightness, reduce soreness, improve range of motion, and speed up
muscle recovery. Percussive therapy has been recently popularized and is a fairly
new recovery tool. If you use percussive therapy, make sure you are familiar with
the right protocol and device for your specific needs.
• Muscle rollers: Muscle rollers work by applying pressure, which helps bring
blood to specific areas and helps break up muscle adhesions. Often called
self-myofascial release, this therapy can provide temporary relief and offer small
physiological benefits. Muscle rollers or foam rollers have been shown to release
muscle tension, relieve muscle soreness, and improve blood flow, flexibility, and
range of motion. However, this can be temporary or simply heavily dependent on
your use. This recovery method is a relatively cheap and efficient option, but the
physiological effectiveness and impact are low in the long term. Ensure you have
proper guidance when using muscle rollers to avoid injury and get the best results.
• Stretching: Stretching is when your muscle fibers and tendons are put into a
lengthening position. The benefits of stretching include increased range of joint
motion, decreased muscle tightness, increased muscle length, reduced pain,
and improved circulation. Stretching is one of the most prescribed methods for
relieving muscle soreness. Although there are various types of stretching, static
stretching, which is what most people do, is not very effective in reducing injury or
muscle soreness. However, flexibility training is vital to movement and recovery.
Implementing the correct type of stretching at the right time can make all the
difference in its effectiveness.
Recovery is a multifaceted process that you must consciously plan for and work on. It may
involve increasing activity in some areas and decreasing activity in others. Either way,
you will need a proper understanding of how to manipulate the correct variables. The
recovery levels presented in this section are a framework for prioritization. You should
constantly evaluate how you can best enhance your mind and body’s ability to deal with
and return from stress.

The stress you encounter daily is wide-ranging and unique to you. Thus, your recovery
strategies should be personalized and prioritized based on your specific needs and
preferences. The three recovery levels offer you a starting point. It would be difficult to
give you an all-encompassing list of everything that affects recovery, but I hope these
levels help distill the main factors. Things like your social life, environment, injuries, and
medications can also play a role in your recovery.
Another crucial factor concerning recovery is the placebo effect. I will discuss the placebo
effect in Core Four: Lifestyle, but to briefly summarize, believing that something is helping
you recover can positively impact its effectiveness. This is something to keep in mind when
it comes to the recovery methods you choose. You should always take care of the essential
aspects of recovery first, no matter the stressor. That said, just because something is at
the accessory level doesn’t mean it can’t have a significant impact. Belief effects are real,
and expectations and engagement can make all the difference in recovery outcomes.
Ultimately, your mindset during your recovery can be your most powerful recovery tool.
RECOVERY INDICATORS AND MEASUREMENT
Recovery is your ability to constantly adapt to your changing internal and external
environment. You place a tremendous amount of stress on your mind and body each
day. When your overall stress load exceeds your recovery capacity, you see a decrease in
performance and health. We use several objective and subjective measures to understand
how the body recovers. Using these measures, you can adjust and implement the recovery
mechanisms above to return to a baseline or enhanced physical, mental, and emotional
state. This allows you to perform at your best and consistently maximize your everyday
potential.
The information, strategies, and tools in this section are meant to be a guide to help you
optimize your recovery. To do this, it’s helpful to first establish a baseline knowledge
of how to measure and track your recovery. You can’t impact what you don’t measure,
so knowing what to measure and how will give you an advantage. Understanding and
tracking your recovery state will allow you to alter and optimize your behaviors accord-
ingly. In this section, I’ll go over key recovery indicators and break down the critical
objective and subjective recovery measures you can use to help you better understand
your recovery state.

Heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV), inflammatory markers, body temperature,
and grip strength can provide concrete insight that can lead to more informed recovery
decisions when interpreted correctly. Unfortunately, objective measures like these aren’t
always accessible. Many require advanced technology or blood testing for accurate and
reliable measurements. In that case, subjective measures like your mood, sleep quality,
energy and fatigue levels, and rate of perceived exertion play significant roles in assessing
your recovery status. In fact, subjective measures often trump objective measures here.
How you perceive and feel about your recovery status can be a powerful modulator of
your physiological state.
Regarding recovery, you should use the best and most effective methods tailored to your
specific needs and life. You also need to consider both physiological load (physical stress)
as well as psychological load (mental stress) to determine the right action plan for you.
Whether objective or subjective, incorporating some form of assessment of your recovery
can be critical in finding the right balance. Although ongoing recovery assessment can be
helpful, it’s also important not to get too attached to the evaluation and measurement of
recovery. If you do, your perceptions, behaviors, and mindset can become distorted based
on data that isn’t always indicative of your recovery status. Ultimately, it’s all subjective
in the end. No watch, app, or device should solely dictate your choices.
No matter how you approach recovery or what measures you use to assess it, the bottom
line is that recovery should be planned and personalized to meet your unique needs. This
means understanding where you are starting so you can chart a course toward where you
want to go. I’ve talked about what goes into a healthy recovery practice. Below are some of
the recovery indicators and measurements you can use to gauge your recovery status and
make choices that support your health, wellness, longevity, and everyday performance.
Proper recovery takes time and energy. But the more time and energy you put in, the more
time and energy you will get so you can enjoy a healthy mind, body, and life.
Recovery Indicators and Measures
OBJECTIVE
Muscle breakdown: Creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase are common biomark-
ers used to measure breakdown in the muscle. Generally, the higher the levels of these
two biomarkers, the higher the muscle damage. Note that muscle damage isn’t always a
bad thing. It’s only when you don’t recover properly that it’s a problem.

Inflammatory markers: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a biomarker for systemic inflam-
mation. CRP is nonspecific and can be raised by several factors and stressors. There are
other markers of inflammation in the body, like erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)
and procalcitonin (PCT), for example. Like muscle breakdown, inflammatory markers
are not always a bad sign. It depends on how long they are present and the context of
their presence. Most of these inflammatory markers, including CRP, can be measured
in a blood test.
Blood glucose: As discussed earlier, this is the amount of sugar in the blood. Hemo-
globin A1C is a test that measures average blood glucose over three months. Fasting
glucose is usually measured after an overnight fast. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs)
can give you more frequent daily readings. Dysregulated blood glucose can be a sign of
inflammation and other issues.
Hormone Levels: Testosterone, T3, cortisol, and catecholamines are all used as bio-
markers for stress load. These can be measured in blood, saliva, or urine, which can give
you insight into how your body handles different stressors.
Sleep: Sleep can be used to gauge recovery in several ways. Sleep architecture, overall
quality, quantity, regularity, and consistency can all be used as a proxy to measure stress
levels. Sleep can also be measured subjectively; see below.
RHR/HRV: Resting heart rate (RHR) is the number of heartbeats per minute at rest.
Measuring your RHR when you are relaxed, sitting, or sleeping can indicate your fitness
level and sometimes your overall stress level. Generally speaking, the lower your RHR,
the better, but this is only sometimes the case. Heart rate variability (HRV) is the constant
variation between each heartbeat. This measure is linked to activity in the autonomic
nervous system and can reveal how your body responds to illness, travel, training, and
other stresses. Higher HRV usually means that the body has a strong ability to tolerate
stress, or is recovering well from previously accumulated stress.
Blood pressure: Blood pressure is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls
of blood vessels and is measured with a sphygmomanometer. Pressure is created by
the heart pumping out blood, and higher stress levels usually result in elevated blood
pressure. In some cases, this results in low rebound pressure as well.
Grip strength: Grip strength measures the maximal force and tension produced by
the forearms, which is used to gauge muscular strength. This is a quick, easy, and highly
effective way to measure daily strength, readiness, and recovery.

CO2 tolerance test: A carbon dioxide tolerance test measures your body’s ability to
offload carbon dioxide. You do this test by taking four full breaths; at the end, or top, of
the fourth inhale, start a timer and exhale as slowly as possible. Stretch out the exhale for
as long as you can and record the time when you have no air left. Generally, the longer
you exhale without swallowing or holding your breath, the lower your sensitivity to stress.
Urine: Urine output and the contents of your urine can be used to measure your recovery
status (See Educational Resources).
Temperature: Body temperature can tell you a lot about your overall recovery status.
The stability and regulation of your body temperature are indicators of good health, since
your body temperature constantly rises and falls throughout the day.
Respiratory rate: Respiratory rate is the average number of breaths you take per
minute. Generally, the lower your respiratory rate, the better. If it is higher than usual,
it signifies that your body is dealing with stress.
Technology and wearables: Several wearables have technology that can help you
track, assess, and monitor your recovery status using some of the measures above. These
can be powerful tools that give you deep insight into your biometrics, but understand
that they are simply a tool in the toolbox and are not the end-all and be-all of objective
recovery measurement.
SUBJECTIVE
Energy levels: Your energy level is a combination of your stamina, strength, and
enthusiasm at a given moment. Your energy will fluctuate throughout each day due to
your circadian rhythm, but consistently low energy can signal poor recovery.
Activity level: How active you are every day can be a subtle way to determine your body’s
recovery status. Assessing your workout quality day by day can also be a great proxy for
recovery measurement. Usually, when your body is run-down, your activity, performance,
and overall energy expenditure falls. Your activity level and workout quality can also be
measured objectively; see above.
Mood: Your mood is how you feel temporarily. Like energy, mood levels can fluctuate
depending on the time of day, but if you are in a bad mood for a prolonged period, this
can signify that you are not adequately recovered.

Cravings: Cravings are potent desires for something. Intense cravings (usually for
energy-dense, hyper-palatable foods) can indicate dysregulated recovery.
Rate of perceived exertion: Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a proven way to

measure the intensity of an activity. Measuring your RPE can easily determine subjective
feelings of effort during bouts of activity.
The human body is incredibly resilient. You battle thousands of internal and external
threats and stressors each day. Over millions of years, we have developed mechanisms to
help us survive and thrive on this beautiful planet. You harness energy from the food you
eat, the air you breathe, and the light that shines down on you. You fight off harmful bac-
teria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, and cultivate your bacterial colonies. Your brain and
body regulate hundreds of complex processes simultaneously to keep you alive and well.
Unconsciously and consciously, your mind and body work to keep you protected and
healthy despite the many stresses you undergo. You can modulate different variables
to adapt to your environment through homeostatic and allostatic mechanisms. You can
synchronize your body’s intricate systems through learning and conditioning. Addition-
ally, you possess the power to deliberately control various aspects of how you recover,
which can boost your overall health.
From sleep to breathing to light to temperature, you have countless tools. How you ap-
proach your recovery affects everything you do. Physiologically and psychologically, you
can set yourself up not just to manage stress, but to use stress to your advantage. When
you recover well, the possibilities are endless. You have the energy to get the most out of
each day. The strength to tackle any problem. And the power to push toward your best
self. When you take care of your body, it takes care of you. Your movement and nutrition
habits are vital, but they mean nothing if you don’t recover properly. Recovery lays the
foundation for life. It should be planned, personalized, and prioritized as such. You have
unique recovery needs depending on your life’s changing circumstances. Understanding
those needs and addressing them is how you make meaningful changes.
Use the Foundational Principles to guide your recovery journey. Educate yourself about
recovery and what it means to you. Explore different recovery methods at the various
recovery levels. Experiment with the different practices and strategies across several
categories to optimize your recovery. Consistently execute at each recovery level and
implement the behaviors that best suit your goals and lifestyle. Evolve your recovery
practice as you learn more about yourself and your preferences and become more exposed
to the world of recovery.

It’s liberating when you have the health and energy to live each day the way you want.
When recovery is done right, you return to a normal state of mind, health, and strength.
With the information in this chapter, you can surpass ordinariness and supercharge your
recovery, enhancing your state of mind, health, and strength. You will be able to do more,
be more, and achieve more when you optimize your recovery. Think about all you could
accomplish with the “more” you are granted.

Core Four: Lifestyle
Love the life you live and live the life you love.
—Bob Marley
Lifestyle is the force that connects everything you do. Influenced by countless factors,
lifestyle is how you live. It reflects who you are or who you want to become. It encompasses
the thoughts, choices, and behaviors you carry out daily. Your lifestyle drives the success
or failure of the other three elements of the Core Four. Your actions and habits build your
thoughts, knowledge, and ultimately, your life choices. Several components go into how
you live your life. Some are under your control and some are not.
Free will isn’t always as free as you think it might be. Influences from your genetics and
environment constantly steer you in different directions. Although you can’t control
everything that happens to you or every situation you find yourself in, you can choose
how you respond. Your mind is the most powerful tool of all.
You can harness the power of your mind to combat unwanted stress, lack of motivation,
or poor habits. When channeled correctly, your mind can set you on a path of growth,
development, and fulfillment. Unfortunately, when left uncontrolled, your mind can be
a source of distress. According to The American Institute of Stress, about 77% of people
experience distress that affects their physical health, and 73% have distress that impacts
their mental health. Distress affects all populations regardless of age, gender, ethnicity,
and religion (AIS 2022).
With the pandemic, the rise of social media, and the shift toward remote work, you may
face new challenges and sources of distress. Your lifestyle habits mean more than ever for
your personal and professional lives, especially as your productivity and motivation are
tested daily in this new world. Gallup estimates that around 70% of people are disengaged
at work (Harter 2022). But the blame does not entirely lie with your job, the pandemic,
or anything else. It is up to you to create the right environment, make the right choices,
and cultivate healthy habits that are conducive to the life you want to live.

This is no easy task, but it starts with something called the discovery phase. In this phase,
you explore different things, build new relationships, and gain new knowledge. This
helps you define your mission (your Why) and channel your energy into purpose-driven
causes. A healthy mind and body will help you succeed regardless of what your pursuits
are. Every step of the journey, personally and professionally, involves prioritizing and
eliminating the unnecessary to clear space for the meaningful. The same applies to your
health and wellness. Without direction, you aimlessly float through life on autopilot,
taking the path of least resistance.
Unconscious decisions and going through the motions can destroy your drive, happiness,
and health. It’s not necessarily about reaching a destination; it’s about being better
than you were yesterday. It’s less about figuring out how the world can serve you and
more about how you can serve yourself and in turn, the world. Aligning your thoughts,
choices, and behaviors into habits that reflect the best version of you is what makes a
healthy lifestyle. This takes a lot of hard work, motivation, and discipline, but the result
is having a life worth living.
This chapter explores how you think, live, and act daily. I’ll start by looking at stress, the
stress response, and emotions. This lays the foundation for how you shape your mindset,
which I also cover in this chapter. You must train your mind like any other muscle in
the body, and in this chapter, I’ll give you tools and strategies to access different brain
and body states so you can be more mindful in your life. Getting a handle on stress
and your mindset is a full-time commitment that involves self-discipline and support.
This process can be made simpler by creating an environment that fosters growth and
development, which will make decision-making frictionless. This will allow you to focus
on what truly matters during your journey. Managing your time, support system, and
goals can be complicated, so I’ll explain how you can simplify the process and become
more productive. It’s not always about taking action; inaction, where needed, can be just
as valuable for progression.
You may often spend your time thinking about the past or the future instead of fully
engaging in the present. Many people today coast through life not knowing what they are
capable of. Many people do not have the motivation to pursue their dreams. With this
chapter, I hope to help shift that narrative so that you can find purpose, build healthy
relationships, channel your passions, and achieve more. Figuring out how to unlock and
leverage your mental capacity and build healthy habits is invaluable in providing clarity
in your life.

This chapter is about finding the different secrets and paths that lead to a healthy lifestyle.
Life will always present you with obstacles, but you have the power to use challenges,
adversity, and setbacks as lessons—as fuel for your fire. Exploring your lifestyle and what
affects it is an everyday task. The first step to actual change is to commit to finding ways
to improve how you think, live, and act.
Living a healthy life is not a phase, fad, or hobby; it’s an everyday dedication. It’s a lifestyle,
one that is unique to you and one that only you can live. You can bring happiness to
fruition when you nurture healthy relationships, discover what holds you back, and clarify
your purpose, because happiness is not something you achieve but something you live. It
won’t always be perfect, but that’s the beauty of it. A healthy lifestyle looks different for
everyone. It’s a never-ending journey of growth, development, and improvement. You
can always learn. You can always search for ways to be better. The only way you can fall
short is if you fail to try.
STRESS
Stress is misunderstood. The word “stress” has taken on many meanings and has been
used as an umbrella term to describe different phenomena. People say “don’t stress” or
“stress kills,” but many don’t know the term’s origins or what it represents. The term
stress was first coined (in the medical sense) by Hans Selye, who is considered the father
of stress research. His pioneering work in the field included defining stress as the body’s
nonspecific response to any demand for change. He also created a model for the stress
response called the general adaptation syndrome, which is characterized by three stages:
the alarm phase, the resistance phase, and the exhaustion phase. Selye linked stress to
disease and conducted hundreds of studies to understand the stress response. Thanks to
his work, we know now that chronic stress can be deadly, but not all stress is bad stress.
As you navigate this section, it’s essential to understand some critical points about stress:
• Stress, as Selye determined, is a general, nonspecific response, meaning that the

same physiological response is mobilized whenever homeostasis is disrupted, no
matter the disruption.
• There are two types of stress that Selye describes: eustress, which is stress that
has a positive effect on you, and distress, which is stress that has a negative ef-
fect on you.

• There is a difference between stressors and stress responses. The actual or per-
ceived threat to an organism is referred to as the stressor, and the response to the
stressor is called the stress response.
• The length of time you experience stress and the stressor’s context can signifi-
cantly alter its effects on your health. However, chronic stress can cause a whole
host of issues.
• How you perceive the stress you encounter can profoundly alter the impact of
stress on your body’s physiology and psychology.
In this section, I will review these points so you can start to discover the specifics of your
stress response, identify everyday stressors, and learn how to combat or promote different
types of stress. Stress is like change; without it, you can’t grow, but with too much of it, you
can lose control. The more you know about the stress response, the more prepared you
will be to adapt to it or embrace it when necessary. It’s not about eliminating all stress,
but managing distress and boosting eustress when you can. This way, you can use stress
to grow and promote a healthy lifestyle.
Stress is a powerful modulator of various aspects of your lifestyle. Whether you perceive
stress as good or bad can drastically change your mental, physical, and emotional states.
To understand stress, it’s helpful to start by breaking down stress, stressors, and stress
responses. Stress can be any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psycho-
logical strain or tension. A stressor is a thing that causes the state of strain or tension. The
stress response is a generalized reaction in the body that helps mobilize other systems.
This reaction is carried out by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), specifically the
sympathetic branch of the ANS.
The sympathetic nervous system activates your body’s “fight or flight” response, while the
other branch of the ANS, the parasympathetic nervous system, mobilizes the “rest and
digest” response. These mechanisms are generally hardwired and autonomic, meaning
they are involuntary or happen unconsciously. Your sympathetic nervous system jumps
into action when homeostasis is disrupted or a threat is perceived. Your body secretes
specific hormones and neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, epinephrine, and cortisol.
These activate certain systems in your body that bias you toward movement and focus
while shutting down other systems. This allows you to mobilize energy, narrow your focus,
evaluate your environment, and deal with threats or disruptions. From an evolutionary
standpoint, the stress response is meant to be acute and self-limiting. Once you have dealt
with the stressor, your parasympathetic system helps calm you down and restore balance.
This response has been a key survival mechanism for millions of years. The problem is

that the stress response is generic. Regardless of the stressors, which could be physical
or psychological, your body activates the same stress response.
As we have evolved as a species, we have created many psychological stressors that have
turned this acute response into a prolonged state. What helps us in the short term can be
detrimental when chronic. Not only do we have new stressors, but how we perceive and
deal with stress has changed greatly over the years. We are losing our ability to control and
turn off this potent response, which has wreaked havoc on the health of millions of people.
The stress response breaks down into two categories: acute or short-term, and chronic
or long-term (there is also episodic and medium-term stress, but I will focus on acute
and chronic). Each can affect your health and wellness differently. It’s important to note
that other factors like your environment, genetics, and perception can also alter the effect
and magnitude of your stress response. Short-term stress, which can last from seconds to
hours, is marked by the release of epinephrine and cortisol, which activate the immune
system, sharpen your cognition, narrow your focus, and increase your heart rate to get
more blood flow and energy to your muscles. These effects can be beneficial, especially
if the stress is deliberate, like exercise or cold exposure.
When stress is beyond your control, you must be able to notice your stress response and
work to calm it or turn it off completely through various mechanisms. Actively placing
yourself into stressful states can increase your capacity for stress, or your stress threshold,
thus making you more comfortable with heightened stress levels. When controlled
properly, medium-term, or acute episodic stress could be useful here in your stress
adaptation strategy. Training for an event, writing a book, or doing a fast can all be forms
of medium-term stress that can increase mental and physical resilience. You can learn to
mitigate and control your stress response, no matter the situation.
On the other hand, chronic stress, which lasts from months to years, can have deleterious
effects on your health regardless of whether it is deliberate or not. Chronically elevated
blood pressure, heart rate, and alertness can be a recipe for disaster, especially when you
add hormonal disruption. As Robert Sapolsky explains in his book Why Zebras Don’t
Get Ulcers, glucocorticoids like cortisol can wreak havoc on the body when chronically
elevated. People who chronically activate their stress response can face severe negative
effects on their sleep, aging, metabolism, immunity, reproduction, and memory. Al-
though glucocorticoids aren’t all bad (they are commonly used for anti-inflammatory or
immunosuppressive purposes), they can seriously damage your body if stress levels are
consistently high. This can disrupt your chemical processes, damage cells in your brain,
and cause overall degeneration throughout your body.

As Sapolsky eloquently explains in his book, you create and deal with chronic psycho-
logical stress on a day-to-day basis that other animals (like zebras) do not. Often, these
stressors don’t warrant the activation of the stress response, but your brain doesn’t know
any better. Stress is stress, no matter the origins (Sapolsky 2004). You may stress over
countless things, from traffic to social media to relationships. These stressors constantly
activate your supposedly short-term stress response, turning it into a prolonged state
of breakdown that ultimately leads to disease and dysfunction. Luckily, you can learn to
control your stress response by practicing stress management techniques and cultivating
eustress to improve your health and well-being. Below, I’ll go over some of the strategies
and techniques that promote health by using stress to your advantage.
FACTORS THAT CAN INFLUENCE STRESS
• Sense of control
• Predictability and expectations
• Social support
• Outlets of frustration
• Mindset and cognitive flexibility, or coping styles
• Genetics
• Socioeconomic status and environment
• Context
• Upbringing
• Stress threshold, or how easily you get stressed
STRESS MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT
• There are many strategies and techniques for managing stress in your life, so don’t
limit your options to this list. Find what works for you. Remember, stress itself
isn’t a bad thing; chronic distress is.
• Exercise and movement: improves sleep and enhances mood by increas-
ing endorphins.
• Deep breathing and breathwork: relaxes the body by increasing oxygen flow
to the brain, which calms the nervous system. A “physiological sigh,” a double
inhale followed by a long exhale, can reduce immediate stress and anxiety.
• Meditation and mindfulness: lowers stress, anxiety, and chronic pain; and
improves sleep, energy levels, and mood.

• Healthy eating: boosts the immune system, enhances mood, and lowers
blood pressure.
• Sleep: increases cognitive function in memory, learning, and decision-making,
enhances mood, boosts the immune system, reduces blood pressure, controls
blood sugar levels, and regulates appetite.
• Sunlight: increases vitamin D production and improves mood by increas-
ing serotonin.
• Yoga: promotes blood flow and circulation and lowers anxiety.
• Social connection: curbs distress and enhances mood whether the connection
is with people or animals.
• Laughter and humor: modulates stress, mood, and energy levels.
• Journaling: relieves stress through regular, therapeutic practice.
• Music: relieves stress through regular, therapeutic practice.
• Gratitude: shifts your perspective and allows you to reduce distress by show-
ing appreciation.
• Getting help: supports and enhances your own stress-reducing efforts. Don’t
be afraid to talk to a friend, a family member, or a doctor.
• Being in nature: calms the mind and body.
• Deliberate heat and cold exposure: builds your stress tolerance and over-
all resilience.
• Designing your environment: promotes stress-free living.
• Supplementation: mediates stress through specific compounds. Consult with
a professional and try behavioral interventions before trying supplements.
From an evolutionary standpoint, stress and the stress response have been vital to our
survival as humans. As we have progressed as a species, our stressors have changed,
causing us to activate our stress responses for countless reasons. This adaptive survival
mechanism designed to be used intermittently is now being triggered more frequently
and for more extended periods. Although you are not always in control of the stress you
encounter, you can regulate how you respond and react to stress.
With the knowledge in this section, you can be better prepared to manage your stress,
leverage it, and deliberately cultivate eustress. There is a concept in science called “horme-
sis,” which refers to a biological response in cells and organisms that helps them adapt
to moderate (usually intermittent) stress. In layman’s terms, this can be expressed as
the saying, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Fasting, exercising, and cold and
heat exposure are perfect examples of this concept. When appropriately utilized, these
practices and other hormetic stressors can stimulate robust cellular pathways that boost
your overall health and longevity.

Additional stressors like a first date, a roller coaster, or a fun challenge are forms of
short-term eustress that you seek out. When activated and regulated correctly, these
stressors can have a wealth of health benefits in cognitive function, pain perception, and
immunity. The bottom line is that not all stress is bad. We all deal with all types of stress
and stressors every day. Everyone differs in how they respond to both physiological and
psychological stress. Understanding the stress response gives you the upper hand when
dealing with and balancing the stress in your life. Your genetics, environment, and overall
perception of stress can play a role in how stress affects you.
The tools above can help you control the controllable, no matter the situation. Whether
it’s breathing, exercising, or going on a walk in nature, find what strategies work for you
and use them when needed. It can be hard to control your mind when stressed, so look
to your body for help with stress mitigation. Stress is inevitable and stress is necessary,
so you should be embracing and harnessing it. Pull the right levers, and you can reduce
distress while promoting eustress. As Sapolsky says in his book, “we humans have invent-
ed many stressors in life, but hopefully, we are smart enough also to overcome them,”
(Sapolsky 2004).
MINDSET AND MINDFULNESS
The mind is an extremely powerful tool. You are constantly scanning, interpreting, and
sensing your surroundings. How you view and react to the world can significantly affect
your health and wellness. We all see the world through different lenses. That lens is your
mindset. Your mindset is how you make sense of not just the world but yourself.
According to Stanford professor and mindset researcher Dr. Alia Crum, your mindset
“are core beliefs or assumptions we have about a domain or category of things that
orient us to expectations, explanations, and goals” (Huberman 2022). Your mindset
heavily influences your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The good news is that you
can consciously and deliberately change your mindset, adjust your beliefs, and manage
your assumptions.
In this section, I will go over the different types of mindsets, the effects they can have,
and how to adopt the right attitude. Changing your mindset is no easy task. We all have
deep-rooted beliefs and interpretations of our realities. Becoming more aware of your
thoughts, emotions, and behaviors on a daily and minute-to-minute basis is the first step
toward change. This is where mindfulness comes into play.

Mindfulness is a blanket term used to describe being fully present and aware of where
you are and what you are doing and feeling. You cultivate mindfulness when you turn
your focus inward and avoid being overly reactive to outside stimuli. People think of
meditation or breath work when they think of mindfulness practices, but you can be
mindful while brushing your teeth or washing dishes. Getting in tune with your senses,
watching your thoughts, and noticing your emotions can alter your brain and body states.
When used correctly, mindfulness practices can reduce stress, help you focus, and even
change your brain structure. Understanding your mindset and how to be more mindful
can transform your health physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you can learn to slow
down and harness the power of your mind, you can conquer whatever comes your way.
To start this journey through the mind, let’s explore mindset’s dynamic force.
Your mindset consists of how you see the world and your established attitudes that help
you make sense of it. Not only do mindsets change from person to person, but they also
change depending on the context or situation. Your mindset is your subjective perception
of objective reality. How you see something is relative to you and might not be the same
as the next person. Your mindset is influenced by your upbringing, cultural background,
peers, people you admire, and conscious choices. These things can drive the development
of your mindset, impacting your behavior and interactions with the people and world
around you.
Although you can’t control all the factors that influence your mindset, you do have the
ability to change and improve it. The first step to mindset improvement is to become
aware of the different types of mindsets. Another Stanford professor and pioneer in her
work on mindsets, Dr. Carol Dweck, defines two mindsets: a growth mindset and a fixed
mindset. I discussed these concepts in Vitality Concepts: Mental Models, but to review,
someone with a growth mindset views intelligence, talent, and overall ability as traits that
can be learned and developed over time through effort and persistence. Someone with a
fixed mindset views these traits as set in stone, unchangeable over time. These mindsets
shape how you face challenges, learn, and grow.
In her landmark book, Dweck outlines how these mindsets come about, identifying some
key factors that play a significant role in early development of growth or fixed mindset
(Dweck 2006). These factors include how you are praised, how you deal with setbacks,
how you are labeled, and how you approach learning. She mentions that mindsets are
a product of both nature and nurture, and that these factors profoundly influence your
development. Although these mindsets are molded during childhood, they can be altered
and refined at any age.

To create a growth-friendly environment, you must first make it free of judgment and
encourage learning as an ongoing process. You should avoid praising people solely
for talent or labeling people as talented or naturally intelligent. Instead, you should
praise people for their effort or perseverance in the work that got them to where they
are. Setbacks must be embraced and treated as opportunities to learn. In learning, you
should also emphasize understanding, not memorization. Whether you are on your own
journey or helping shape someone else’s, you should keep these things in mind to ensure
you cultivate the right mindset throughout the process. The stronger your mindset, the
easier your decisions become.
Not only are your choices affected by your mindset, but your health and physiology can
be changed based on your beliefs. Dr. Alia Crum describes this phenomenon as “belief
effects.” This is similar to the placebo effect, which is when there are improvements in a
person’s mental or physical health after taking a placebo, or “dummy” drug or treatment,
showing that their positive beliefs caused positive physiological or psychological changes.
Likewise, there is also the opposing nocebo effect, which is when negative thoughts can
negatively impact health after administration of a “dummy” drug or treatment. This shows
that your mindset alone can increase or decrease the effectiveness of a treatment or drug.
This effect doesn’t just apply to treatments or drugs: Dr. Alia Crum has conducted some
excellent studies showing that how you view stress, exercise, and nutrition can all alter
the actual effects of these things on your physical and mental health.
Below, I’ll go over how you can cultivate the right mindset to help you become successful.
The principles below will help guide you in your decision-making and behavior. It won’t
always be perfect. Your mindset is malleable and can differ depending on the context
or environment. You can have a fixed mindset in one situation and a growth mindset in
another. You can view stress as enhancing in one situation and crushing in another. This
is normal, but the goal is to work toward becoming aware of your mindset and asking
yourself, “Is this helpful or harmful in this given context?” Even labeling or naming your
fixed mindset, as Dweck recommends, can be an excellent strategy for breaking free of
it. Your mindset is how you interpret your environment. When you combine a healthy
mindset with strong habits and behaviors, you make the path to vitality much clearer.
FIVE CORE FOCUSES:
• Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t

• Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have
• Focus on the present, not the past or future

• Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t
• Focus on who you want to become, not a goal you want to achieve
FIXED VERSUS GROWTH MINDSET 1
Fixed mindset
Intelligence is static, which leads to the desire to look smart and a tendency to:
• Avoid challenges
• Get defensive or give in easily
• See effort as fruitless
• Ignore useful negative feedback
• Feel threatened by the success of others
• As a result, a person with this mindset may plateau early and achieve less than
their full potential.
Growth mindset
Intelligence can be developed, which leads to a desire to learn and a tendency to:
• Embrace challenges
• Persist in the face of setbacks
• See effort as a path to mastery
• Learn from criticism
• Find lessons and inspiration in the success of others
• As a result, a person with this mindset may reach an even higher level
of achievement
STEPS TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET
• Awareness: Be aware that you have mindsets and that beliefs are just filtered
expectations, simplifications, and interpretations of reality. Embrace your fixed
mindset so you can work on changing it.
1 Adapted from Mindset, by Carol Dweck

• Assess: Answer the following questions honestly. What are the effects of your
different mindsets? Are they helpful or harmful? What triggers your fixed mind-
set? How do your mindsets make you feel? Are the different mindsets beneficial
or detrimental to yourself and the people around you?
• Adapt: Seek out or visualize ways you can adopt a more useful mindset. Develop
a plan of action and commit to growth. It takes time, energy, effort, and support
to achieve and maintain a new mindset, so be patient.
• Embody: Take actions and develop behaviors that will help you build your growth
mindset. Label and call out your fixed mindset moments and work on them.
Continue to learn and educate yourself on mindsets and how you can cultivate the
ideal mindset for yourself and those around you. Pass on your knowledge to others.
• Quick tips: Face your fears, challenge yourself and your beliefs, watch or listen
to others whom you admire, get support, learn from everything and everyone,
change your self-talk, shift your perspective, set your priorities, write out your
thoughts, create the right environment, and know your Why.
Mindfulness and different mindfulness practices have been growing in popularity across
the US. This wasn’t always the case. Around forty years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn popularized
the concept of mindfulness in the Western world. Although mindfulness can be traced
back to Buddhist teachings thousands of years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn was the first academic
to recognize the power of mindfulness in stress reduction. He eventually headed up a
stress reduction center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he
developed a course called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). This was the
start of mindfulness practice in Western culture, and it has helped people in all types of
areas. So what exactly is mindfulness?
The American Psychological Association defines mindfulness as “a moment-to-moment

awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state
and not a trait. While it might be promoted by certain practices or activities, such as
meditation, it is not equivalent to or synonymous with them” (APA 2012). Jon Kabat-Zinn
defines mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present
moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Booth 2017). Both these definitions are centered around
attention or awareness, focus on the present moment, and non-judgment. Mindfulness
helps you stay grounded where your feet are.
As mentioned in the APA definition, mindfulness is not a specific practice. You can be
mindful of breathing, eating, listening, walking, reading, writing, etc. For example, a
particular practice like meditation is just a way to express mindfulness. As you navigate
your health and wellness journey, you should stop and check in with yourself from time

to time. With all the chaos of the outside world, you need to be able to find solace within
yourself. This is not easy or intuitive for everyone. The beauty is that you can practice
mindfulness at any time.
Maintaining your attention and focus and cultivating an awareness of your surroundings
creates an environment where you can channel your thoughts, feelings, and emotions to
curb stress and anxiety no matter the situation. This is the cornerstone of mindfulness.
Below, I will give you different tools to explore mindfulness in your own way. As for the
health and wellness benefits of mindfulness practices, there can be strong positive effects.
Research has exploded with studies showing benefits like reduced stress, improved
memory, improved sleep, and reduced emotional reactivity, all linked to using different
mindfulness protocols. These are all incredibly promising, but since the field is still
young and mindfulness practices are still being fleshed out, you should be sure to do
your own research.
The goal of mindfulness is to bring attention to your present state. For some, this can be
frustrating or anxiety-inducing, so it’s essential to find what works for you and to test the
different methods listed below. If you are looking for a way to regulate your emotions,
build mental resilience, avoid getting distracted easily, and stay grounded in the present,
then these mindfulness practices could be for you. We all could benefit from slowing down
from time to time in our fast-paced world. From social media to work to relationships,
we have so many things we tend to do in our separate worlds. Sometimes it pays to take
a break from all those things to focus on what matters: you.
Note that mindfulness can take many shapes and forms. Simply bringing nonjudgmental
awareness and attention to any action can be mindfulness. Keep this in mind as you
navigate your journey.
MINDFULNESS TOOLKIT
• Body scan: Tuning into your body and reconnecting to your physical self
involves trying to notice any sensations you’re feeling throughout your body
without judgment.
• PMR: Progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and relaxing different
muscle groups to reduce stress and anxiety. It can help reduce tension and bring
awareness to your body.
• NSDR: Non-sleep deep rest, or yoga nidra, can be a powerful way to achieve deep
relaxation and slow down your brain frequency.

• Senses check: Going through all five of your senses (hearing, taste, smell, touch,
and sight) and paying attention to incoming stimuli.
• Self-talk: The way you talk to yourself and use your inner voice can promote or
hinder mindfulness.
• Meditation: Training your attention and awareness by focusing your mind on
a particular object, thought, or activity helps you achieve a mentally clear and
emotionally calm and stable state.
• Walks: Walking without electronics or walks in nature can be incredibly useful
for mindfulness and connecting with yourself.
• Apps: There are many apps and products that promote mindfulness practices
like breath work, meditation, and yoga nidra.
• Breathing practices: Breath work can be a great way to bring attention inward
and slow things down.
The brain is the most complex system in the known universe. This incredible three-pound
organ, made up primarily of fat and water, controls every central process in the human
body. Your brain, or your mind, creates mental maps of the world. Everyone’s maps differ
based on their environment, experiences, relationships, and choices. We might all see the
same things, but we don’t always perceive them in the same way. Your perceptions, beliefs,
and attitudes can even distort what you think you see. This is the power of your mind.
Your psychology is deeply intertwined with your physiology. Your thoughts, emotions,
choices, and behaviors can drive various health outcomes. It’s crucial to consistently
combine a strong mindset with healthy behaviors so you can form lifelong habits and
make more informed decisions without friction. If friction does arise, use the mindfulness
practices above to center yourself and focus on the present moment. The more in touch
you are with your inner state—your thoughts and emotions—the easier it will be to control
your choices. In a world with endless outer noise, inner silence can be essential. You can
learn to focus on what matters to you when you have inner solitude.
International lecturer and author Joe Dispenza says “where we place our attention is
where our energy goes.” Where your focus goes, your feelings follow. So where do you
want your energy and focus to go? The answer will look different for everyone, but if you
can identify where you might be “leaking” energy, you can start to reallocate it to the
things that matter. With a greater understanding of mindsets and mindfulness, you can
begin to adapt how you perceive and experience your outer and inner worlds. You can
build a path toward growth and development not just in your mindset, but in your life.
Your body will follow if you can train and control your mind properly. A healthy mind
plus a healthy body equals a happy life!

EMOTIONS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotions are at the center of everything we think and do. Every behavior, every decision,
and every relationship involves emotion. The term emotion originally comes from the
French word “émouvoir” which translates as “to stir up.” Emotions can be stirred up by
or cause different physiological, behavioral, and cognitive changes. These changes and
emotional states have been essential to the survival and evolution of the human race.
Although there is much debate about emotions from different psychologists, neuro-
scientists, philosophers, and sociologists, there is no debate that emotions are highly
influential in the human experience. Most agree that emotions are a psychophysiological
state involving three components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and
a behavioral or expressive response.
What brings about that state? Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman explains that most
of the research points to three things that make up your emotional experience: your level
of autonomic arousal, or where you lie on the scale of alertness to calmness, valence, or
the positive or negative value of the experience, and interoception versus exteroception,
which is whether you are focused internally or externally (Huberman 2022). Although
it’s not an exhaustive list, these continuums form the basis for how you experience and
predict things in your world through emotion.
Theories that explain what emotions are, how they are made, and how they operate are
abundant. Most of these theories overlap in some areas. This section will provide you
with a broad overview of several theories so you can develop your understanding of
emotions. With this knowledge, you can start to recognize and master your emotional
states. Your emotions can affect a lot of what you think and do and how you experience
life. The theories range from evolutionary to cognitive to cultural to physiological to
neurological. There is a lot of controversy surrounding how emotions are made, but you
can still act today with what we know now. Emotions are complex, but the more you can
understand and identify them, the easier it will be to manage them, control them, and
channel them in a positive direction. When you master your emotions and beneficially
leverage them, you can improve your health and overall quality of life. This forms the
basis of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage your emotions to
relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges,
and defuse conflict. Someone who is emotionally intelligent can recognize the emotions
they are experiencing, regulate them, and act or not act productively. This is no effortless
talent, but fortunately, you can practice it. When it comes to success and achievement,

people used to only worry about IQ, but now we know that emotional intelligence (EQ or
EI) might play an even more prominent role than IQ. Combine that with your personality,
and you have the whole picture of an individual. IQ + EQ + Personality = Whole Person.
In this section, I will provide you with an unbiased view of emotions, emotional intelli-
gence, and actionable knowledge. I will cover the brain’s involvement in processing and
conveying sensory and emotional information, some proposed theories of emotions and
overall brain structure, and I will break down different emotions (or emotional states),
personality traits, and components of emotional intelligence.
Although many of these topics are disputed among scientists, an impartial view of all
the information and ideas can be valuable to your overall understanding of emotion.
Equipped with this wide-ranging knowledge, you can learn how best to master your own
emotions while being more aware of the emotions of others. Emotional health is a crucial
part of your overall health picture. When you are emotionally healthy, you have a high
degree of agency over your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. You can learn new things,
understand others, and act in service of your goals. When you aren’t emotionally stable,
your judgment is impaired, you can make poor choices, and you can damage relationships.
You will inevitably face challenges on your health and wellness journey. Your ability to
handle your emotional state and interact with others will be crucial to your success in
overcoming challenges and mitigating stress. Emotions have been and will continue
to be a mighty force that is widely debated. If you want to use this force constructively,
you must understand and recognize the many theories and applications of emotion
science. Like Mavis Mazhura says, “emotions can get in the way or get you on the way”
(Goodreads 2022).
Your brain processes incredible amounts of information each day. You collect and filter
sensory information from the world around you. All this information is communicated
throughout your body through electrical signals. Your brain doesn’t just collect informa-
tion; it is also an elaborate prediction machine. It builds maps of your world, coordinates
bodily functions, houses your consciousness, stores memories, and adapts and changes
based on your experiences. These things are carried out collectively by different core
systems in your brain.
Some believe that distinct areas and pathways in the brain correspond to specific actions
or functions. Others believe in degeneracy, the idea that different structures can perform
the same functions or produce the same outcome. Regardless, years of research have
identified particular areas in the brain involved with specific actions and, in some cases,

emotional states. You might already be familiar with brain areas that are primarily
involved with different emotional states. For example, the amygdala is widely associated
with fear, pleasure, and anger. The prefrontal cortex is associated with logical thinking
or top-down control, which is the use of context and general knowledge to interpret and
react to sensory perceptions. You may also recognize other areas like the insula, the
hippocampus, and the hypothalamus. Some of these areas are thought to be part of the
limbic system, which governs behavioral and emotional responses, but this is widely
debated. While many of these areas are involved with emotion at some level, the truth is
that these pathways are highly complex and interconnected.
Most emotions don’t have a single, distinct fingerprint. Even behavioral expressions
of emotions can vary greatly. You can cry when you are happy, which is different from
crying when you are sad, scared, or excited. This is just an example of the complexity of
emotions. The emotional system is intricate, and all emotions influence your perceptions,
actions, and choices. But what exactly are emotions? How do they come about? What
brain structures control them? And why do you have them? Many pioneers have analyzed
these questions from varying perspectives to try and provide plausible answers. There
are several thought-provoking theories surrounding emotions, their origins, and their
influences. Though these theories have changed and been challenged over the years, they
have shaped our understanding of emotions.
From Charles Darwin to William James, many scientists have taken a stab at assessing
the role of emotions. Darwin claimed that emotions exist because they serve an adaptive
and evolutionary role, helping us increase our chances of survival. William James (along
with Carl Lange) proposed that an external stimulus leads to a physiological reaction,
and your emotional reaction depends upon how you interpret those physical reactions.
Many other theories emerged until Paul D. MacLean proposed the triune brain theory in
the 1960s, which expressed that the brain consists of three distinct parts that had evolved
over time, just as humans had. MacLean defined the three parts as the reptilian complex
(basal ganglia), the mammalian complex (limbic system), and the homo sapien complex
(neocortex). Each complex or brain is viewed as an independently conscious structure,
sequentially added to the forebrain in the course of evolution. The basal ganglia are in
charge of your primal instincts, the limbic system is in charge of your emotions, and the
neocortex is responsible for rational thought. The idea was later popularized by the book
The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. The triune brain is still widely accepted by many
today, but is now being disputed in the neuroscience community. One of the biggest
leaders of this charge is Lisa Feldman Barrett, who wrote the books How Emotions Are
Made as well as Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. In these books, Barrett breaks
down how the brain is an intricate network that predicts everything you do. Her theory

of emotion states that the brain’s instances of emotion are constructed predictively in
the moment, as needed. In her book How Emotions are Made she says “In every waking
moment, your brain uses past experience, organized as concepts, to guide your actions
and give your sensations meaning. When the concepts involved are emotion concepts,
your brain constructs instances of emotion” (Barrett 2017).
No matter which emotional theory you subscribe to, we can all agree that emotions
are important, and regulation of your emotions is better for your health and wellness.
Emotions are a key aspect of every decision you make, thought you have, and behavior
you carry out. They impact how you see the world and how you experience it. Despite the
importance of emotions, there is still a great deal of mystery surrounding why they occur
and how they are made. These theories will continue to change and evolve as time goes
on. As you learn more, you can continue to build on your understanding of what causes
these feelings and explore how they affect you.
Your emotions constantly change and adapt to help you understand and interpret the
world around you. One of the ways you engage in this process is by labeling your emo-
tions with words or behaviors. Emotional states can be expressed with high granularity,
often changing from person to person depending on culture or context. However, most
emotional states break down into five core feelings.
According to Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Greaves in their book Emotional Intel-
ligence 2.0, these core feelings are happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and shame. Every
emotion you experience stems from those five, depending on the intensity of the emotion
(Bradberry and Greaves 2009). Understanding your various emotions is a step toward
managing them and boosting your emotional intelligence. Leveling up your emotional
vocabulary is another way to properly express and communicate your emotional state
to others and yourself.
Another quality that impacts the way you think and act is your personality. Like your
emotions, your personality traits can be boiled down to five core qualities. Even though
there is some debate, the “Big Five” personality traits of openness, conscientiousness,
extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, often identified by the acronym OCEAN,
are the most commonly accepted. Each trait is expressed at different levels of intensity in
every individual. Both personality traits and emotional intelligence are influenced by your
childhood experiences, environment, and genetics. Although personality and emotional
intelligence are generally stable over time, they can be changed and improved. Like any
other skill, making meaningful changes takes practice and commitment.

At the end of this section, I will provide resources to assess and enhance your personality
traits and emotional intelligence. Understand that exploring personality and emotional
intelligence is not about perfection; it’s about constant progression and finding ways
to better serve yourself and others. Everyone is different and sees the world through
their unique lens, so learning about emotions and personality traits allows you to better
navigate your internal environment and your interactions with others.
The last quality that impacts your thinking and acting is your intelligence quotient, or IQ.
Your IQ represents your cognitive intelligence and is measured by an IQ test. This test
usually assesses your ability to collect and apply knowledge and skills, and ultimately
determines a person’s reasoning ability. IQ tends to be more rigid in terms of changeabil-
ity, but some studies have shown that you can boost your intelligence through different
brain-training exercises. The bottom line is that emotional intelligence, personality, and
IQ all influence how you feel, think, and act. These three qualities, shaped by nature and
nurture, form who you are and how others perceive you. One of the three, emotional
intelligence, has recently emerged as a strong predictor of success in the workplace,
relationships, and life satisfaction. In the last part of this section, I will review the different
components of emotional intelligence, then give you tools to boost your EQ.
Emotional intelligence is widely recognized as a key performance indicator and predictor

of success. The term emotional intelligence was coined by Peter Salovey and John D.
Mayer in 1990. It was described as “a type of social intelligence that involves the ability
to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them,
and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Mayer & Salovey 2002).
Author Daniel Goleman later popularized the term in his book Emotional Intelligence
in 1995. Add to that the work of Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Greaves and their
books The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book and Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and
you have a widely publicized concept. The emphasis of these books is that emotional
intelligence, rather than cognitive intelligence, is the driver of success. In both books,
the authors talk about the interaction between the quick-acting “emotional brain” and
the methodical “rational brain,” the importance of emotions, and the four key areas that
make up emotional intelligence (Bradberry and Greaves 2005, 2009). While the idea of
an emotional and rational brain has been disputed, the importance of emotions and the
four key components of emotional intelligence are widely accepted.
The four components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-management,

social awareness, and relationship management (or social skills). These components
build on each other and form the foundation for several critical life skills. Self-awareness
involves understanding your own emotions. According to Bradberry and Greaves, it is

“your ability to accurately perceive your own emotions at the moment and understand
your tendencies across situations,” (ibid.). Self-awareness is the foundational component
of emotional intelligence and the skill upon which the other three rely heavily.
Next is self-management, which is how you manage and regulate your emotions. The
authors explain self-management as “your ability to use your awareness of your emotions
to stay flexible and direct your behavior positively, managing your emotions and reactions
to people,” (ibid.). Your self-management skills are how you act or choose not to act in
response to your emotions.
The third component is social awareness, which shifts the focus to your interactions with
other people. This concept is defined as how you understand and empathize with other
people’s emotional drives. This is described in Emotional Intelligence 2.0 as “your ability
to accurately pick up on emotions and other people and understand what is going on with
them. Perceiving what other people think and feel even if you do not feel the same way,”
(ibid.). Social awareness is characterized by listening and observing.
Lastly, the fourth component is relationship management or social skills. This is “your
ability to use your awareness of your own emotions and those of others to manage
interactions successfully,” (ibid.). Handling other people’s emotions is crucial in effective
communication and conflict resolution. These skills are tested in our day-to-day lives at
work, in relationships, and in social gatherings. Developing each component can help
not only with your emotional intelligence, but with your overall health and wellness.
Emotional intelligence is the base for many other skills and can improve stress levels,
productivity, and motivation. If you recognize your emotions and become aware of what
causes them, you can leverage them to reach your goals. It’s not always easy to balance
what you think, feel, and do, but when you hone the four components of emotional
intelligence, you can achieve harmony. Emotional intelligence can be a superpower or
a hindrance. By using the strategies and tools below, you can develop your emotional
intelligence so you can master your emotions, control your behavior, and build strong re-
lationships.
WAYS TO REGULATE EMOTIONS
• Movement: Exercise regularly, like doing yoga or going for a swim.

• Nutrition: Eat healthily, stay hydrated, and take any necessary vitamins, min-
erals, and supplements.

• Recovery: Get adequate sleep and natural light, practice breath work, meditate,
and use deliberate heat and cold exposure.
• Social connection: Connect with family, get a pet, volunteer, or go out
with friends.
• Nature: Take a hike, go on walks, stargaze, or watch the ocean waves.
• Environment: Eliminate clutter, design your ideal environment, and be inten-
tional about the information you consume.
• Mindset: Build your growth mindset, shift your perspective, and use the Five
Core Focuses in the Mindset section.
QUICK STRATEGIES TO MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS
• Senses check: Go through all five of your senses: hearing, taste, smell, touch,
and sight.
• Change of scene: Change your location or situation.
• Count it out: Count to three, five, or ten, then respond or act.
• Recognize and categorize: Identify, label, then categorize your emotions so
you can spot them again and understand their triggers.
• Regulate, don’t eliminate: Accept and regulate your emotions; don’t try to
eliminate them.
• Express yourself: Write out your thoughts, talk to someone, and speak your
mind when appropriate.
• Three deep breaths: Take three deep breaths through your nose.
• Improve your emotional vocabulary: Categorize your sensations and feel-
ings in greater detail.
• Take action: Move your body, smile, get your blood flowing, and release tension.
STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF EQ
• Self-awareness: Identify your triggers, observe your behavior, improve your

emotional vocabulary, seek challenges, assess yourself when things are good
and bad, keep a journal and write out your emotions, hone your values, and
seek feedback.
• Self-management: Practice breath work, get adequate sleep, laugh often,
manage your time and commitments, use the Five Core Focuses, seek support,
make a to-do list, allow yourself time to deal with difficult situations, and practice
positive self-talk.

• Social awareness: Pay attention to body language and facial expressions, be
punctual, listen to understand and not just to respond, people-watch, practice
reading the room, use people’s names when you can, ask questions, practice small
talk, and practice putting yourself in other people’s shoes.
• Relationship management (social skills): Ask questions, have tough con-
versations, acknowledge other people’s feelings, practice empathy, take criticism
and feedback well, give good criticism and feedback, build trust, be honest and
open, show that you care, match your intentions with your actions, give truthful
compliments, cultivate humor, and practice active listening.
Emotions are complex. Scientists have yet to figure them out fully. But we know they can
drive us to act, distort our thinking, and help us interact with our environment. There’s
no doubt that we wouldn’t be around today if we didn’t have emotions. When it comes to
emotions, the goal is not to suppress them but to leverage them. When you do, you can
learn new things, understand others, and navigate the world successfully.
Your health and wellness journey will inevitably include a broad spectrum of intense emo-
tions that drive good and bad choices. No matter which emotional theory you subscribe
to, it’s helpful to learn how to decipher them. Your brain is wired to mix the emotional
with the rational. The more you train your emotional intelligence, the easier it will be to
slow down and make intelligent decisions for yourself and the people around you. You
must first take care of the foundational pillars of emotional regulation to get the most out
of every day. Then you can utilize the strategies above as a guide to build your emotional
health practices.
It’s also important to understand that emotions and emotional intelligence are but a
piece (a big piece) of the pie when it comes to how you think, feel, and act. You must
also consider that your cognitive intelligence and personality make up the other main
components of your emotional identity. Identifying your IQ score and where you fall on
each “Big Five” personality trait continuum can provide a more holistic picture of your
entire self. These three components are critical to who you are. Everything from your
childhood experiences to your environment to your genetics can profoundly influence
your personality, emotional intelligence, and IQ.
Despite these influences and the relative stability of these traits throughout your life, you
can still change and develop these qualities, especially regarding emotional intelligence.
With the resources provided in this section, you can practice the four components of
emotional intelligence. Increasing your emotional intelligence can significantly affect
your performance across several domains and improve your overall quality of life. Your

emotional health is a primary driver of your overall health. Developing emotional health is
the key to better behavior, thoughtful decisions, and stronger relationships. We don’t have
all the answers yet regarding emotions, but we know that they are massively important
to the human experience. The more you learn, the closer you can get to truly mastering
your emotions and, in turn, your overall well-being.
MOTIVATION AND DRIVE
What motivates you? What drives you to be better, stronger, healthier, and more fit?
The answers to these questions will look different depending on whom you ask. We all
have superficial drives and motivations to become healthier versions of ourselves. But
what happens when you peel back the layers of those drives? When you dig deep into
the core of what makes you want to be better, you uncover the actual fuel that feeds your
intrinsic motivation.
When intrinsically motivated, you do something for internal rewards, not external ones.
You are doing something because of its inherent satisfaction rather than for an external
reward or to avoid punishment. You live in a world where extrinsic motivation is all you
see and know. The pressure is immense to look and act a certain way, but what happened
to just being healthy and living the type of lifestyle that allows you to give more to life and
those around you while getting joy and fulfillment out of it?
Unfortunately, we need to catch up on how to build this precious intrinsic motivation

regarding our health and wellness. Many people fall victim to superficial external things
like quick fixes, instant gratification, and immediate rewards. We rely on motivation
outside of ourselves instead of inside, and when it runs out, we jump to another source,
sucking the life out of it. We seek external motivation from finite sources instead of
tapping into our infinite source of internal motivation. We have an internal furnace that
wants nothing more than to be used. The fire inside us is ready if we are willing to light it.
In this section, I’ll help you light that fire by diving into how you can build intrinsic
motivation, find your Why, and use passion to your advantage. I’ll also look at the brain’s
reward system, the molecule that modulates motivation, and some basic biological drives.
Motivation and drive don’t always have to be intrinsic. You can draw inspiration from
things or people outside of yourself, or use them as a starting point while you figure out
how to get your fire burning. However, the goal is never to depend solely on them.

Whatever the case, you should always return to your inner focus if you want to make
meaningful lifestyle changes. This internal focus allows you to push when motivation is
high and when motivation is low. To show up when you don’t feel like it and make the
right decision even when you are fatigued. To live a healthy lifestyle day in and day out,
you can’t rely on motivation to find you. You must take action to fuel your fire. Once the
fire is lit, it takes discipline and strong habits to keep things burning, even when things
get tough. This section will give you the information and tools to light your fire and keep
it burning.
Humans have several biologically hardwired drives. This includes our desire to eat, drink,
sleep, reproduce, and survive. These primitive drives govern your basic behavior on a
day-to-day basis. Over thousands of years, these drives have evolved as we have evolved as
a species. You have a built-in reward system in your brain that drives your decisions and
primes you to seek out behaviors to satisfy basic needs. This made sense when resources
were scarce and survival wasn’t guaranteed.
With primitive needs not being as big a concern in the modern world, we have started to
create a new realm of desires and needs. We have an overabundance of resources, and
survival isn’t something we worry about as much, compared to early times. Now, we are
motivated in a multitude of ways, internally and externally. Drives like the desire to find
meaning in life, epistemic curiosity, and healthy living can be just as powerful as those
primal needs in cultivating intense intrinsic motivation. Unfortunately, society has also
over-indexed extrinsic motivational factors like beauty, fame, power, pleasure, and
wealth. This has thrown our reward system out of whack.
To take back control of your reward system and develop motivation intrinsically, you
have to start with a basic understanding of the brain molecule that drives it all: dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain involved in everything from learning
to pleasure. Often thought of as “the pleasure molecule,” dopamine is the molecule of
anticipation. Dr. Anne Lembke stated on the Huberman Lab podcast, “Dopamine is about
wanting, not having” (Huberman 2022). Dopamine is about pursuit, and more precisely,
the pursuit of outward goals and wants.
This one molecule that can govern your levels of attention, focus, and overall motivation
is heavily modulated by intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. When you know a reward is
coming, dopamine spikes. It is further increased if you get a bonus reward that you weren’t
expecting. This is called reward prediction error. The anticipation of a reward and the
idea of the pursuit of getting it can drive you to move and act. Many factors influence your
baseline dopamine levels, including sleep, nutrition, stress, drugs, and genetics. The goal

is not to have constantly high dopamine, but to have regulated dopamine levels so you
aren’t riding a dopamine roller coaster. This can be a delicate balancing act.
When dopamine is high, you are on top of the world and feel like you can accomplish
anything. When dopamine is low, you feel lethargic and unmotivated. To fully leverage
dopamine, you must find natural ways to boost it through healthy habits and rewards.
Things like a nutritious diet, exercise, and quality sleep raise your dopamine levels to the
right degree, allowing them to return to baseline normally. When dopamine is attached
to the right experiences and behaviors, you will seek out those experiences and behaviors
more. Unfortunately, the opposite can also be true, which is why dopamine is associated
with addiction and depression. Social media, pornography, and drugs are prime examples
of activities that can cause irregularly high spikes in dopamine.
After the big spike, when the experience is over or has worn off, dopamine can drop below
baseline levels, increasing your pleasure threshold. Then, it can become harder to reach
your initial baseline and derive pleasure from your pursuits. It’s best to exercise caution
when using artificial methods to raise dopamine. So-called “dopamine stacking,” where
you combine multiple dopamine-boosting behaviors to increase motivation and drive,
can also be counterproductive if you rely too much on external tools. For example, some
people need loud music, pre-workout supplements, and a workout partner to exercise,
but what happens when you forget your headphones or don’t have your pre-workout or
workout buddy? The bottom line is that you should aim for the minimal effective dose of
dopamine if you want to build strong habits and intrinsic motivation.
Regarding health and wellness, you can use this reward system and molecule to your
advantage. To do this, you must first seek to regulate and monitor how you stimulate
dopamine. You don’t want your dopamine levels to be too high or too low for too long. If
you can learn to control your dopamine release naturally, you can harness the power of
your brain’s reward system to unlock new levels of focus, drive, and motivation. Below,
I’ll cover some dopamine optimization strategies.
DOPAMINE OPTIMIZATION TOOLKIT
• Behavioral interventions: Practice movement or exercise, get direct sunlight

for ten to thirty minutes every day, take a cold shower, avoid bright lights around
bedtime, and get adequate sleep.

• Nutritional interventions: Avoid artificial sugars and excessive sugar, eat tyro-
sine-rich foods, ingest caffeine, avoid melatonin supplements, and explore dopa-
mine supplements, but be careful with dosage and supplementation dependence.
• IIA rewards system: IIA stands for Intrinsic, Intermittent, and Appropriate.
When thinking about ideal rewards, make sure they follow the guidelines below.
◊ Intrinsic: Rewards that last the longest and have the most significant
effects are tied to purpose, mastery, autonomy, and enjoyment.
◊ Intermittent: You should use rewards intermittently to ensure that they
still carry meaning and that you will keep striving for more. If you reward
yourself all the time, then rewards are no longer enticing.
◊ Appropriate: Rewards should be appropriate for what you are trying to
accomplish and should not counteract your progress.
• Dopamine fasting: Eliminate major dopamine-boosting activities, foods, or

supplements for an extended period to reset your baseline dopamine levels. Going
without your phone, coffee, Netflix, or other dopamine boosters can be a great
test, but make sure it isn’t counterproductive.
Dopamine is a powerful modulator of motivation. It shapes how you perceive the outside
world, your goals, and your capabilities. When leveraged correctly, this incredible mol-
ecule can be used to fuel positive, goal-directed behavior. You can build your dopamine
optimization strategy by using the tools above and by developing an understanding of
dopamine and how it works. Dopamine and motivation go hand in hand, so use it to your
advantage to help drive intrinsic motivation.
How do you build intrinsic motivation? The recipe looks different for everyone, but there
are some key ingredients that you can benefit from. Whether at work or on your health
and wellness journey, you should always examine your motivation if you want to put your
best foot forward. The right motivation can make the difference between progression and
stagnation. Daniel H. Pink explains in his book Drive that intrinsic motivation depends
on three essential elements. Although he is talking about the drive for workplace success,
his theory also applies perfectly to health and wellness (Pink 2011).
The three elements are:
• Autonomy: the desire to direct your own life.

• Mastery: the urge to make progress and get better at something that matters.

• Purpose: the yearning to do what you do in service of something larger
than yourself.
These three ingredients are essential to intrinsic motivation. Autonomy is significant

because if you are not the driver of your change, you are most likely relying on something
or someone else. The more control you have over your journey, the easier it is to hold your-
self accountable and adapt as needed. Mastery is a natural human instinct. Most people
want to get better, faster, stronger, healthier, and feel tangible progress. Improvement
in any area can significantly boost your motivation to keep pushing and to raise the bar.
Lastly, Purpose is one of the most significant pieces of the motivation puzzle. What are
you trying to accomplish, and why? The process becomes more palatable if you have the
right reasons for changing. This illustrates why finding your Why is so vital.
Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, outlines in his book that you need to have the
clarity of why, the discipline of how, and the consistency of what. This formula will lead
you to keep showing up every day despite less-than-ideal conditions. Your habits will
become more powerful than your environment and will push you forward regardless of
the circumstances (Sinek 2011). Finding this clarity of why is the first step.
Why do you want to live a healthy lifestyle? Why do health and wellness matter to you?
What would being healthier mean to you? What would a healthy lifestyle unlock for you?
Use these questions and the Why Prompts from Vitality Concepts to hone your Why.
Your Why can change and adapt throughout your journey, but it should be something
you can measure, something specific to your life, and something that moves you, men-
tally and physically. As mentioned earlier, the how becomes irrelevant when you know
your Why. Your passion for this Why will carry you through your ups and downs. But
remember that with clarity of why, you must also determine the discipline of how and
the consistency of what.
Passion and inspiration are great, especially when internally driven, but things won’t al-
ways be roses and daisies. Passion, defined as a “strong and barely controllable emotion,”
(Oxford Languages 2022) can be a double-edged sword that works for you in some cases
and against you in others. Many say to “follow your passions,” but you don’t often hear
about how to do this in a productive manner. You can’t let passion blind or bind you. If
you don’t develop passion for the right reasons or channel it correctly, it can be short-lived
and cause you to burn out. You also don’t want your passions to be too attached to external
causes like money, power, fame, beauty, and pleasure, which will end up controlling you.
This leads to the hedonic treadmill, the human tendency to pursue one pleasure after

another once happiness returns to its baseline. Being caught in this cycle will leave you
with constant mood and energy fluctuations.
In the book The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, they explain that
the two types of passions you should avoid are external-rewards-driven passion and
fear-driven passion, which are both forms of obsessive passion. On the other hand, you
can reach new heights when you cultivate what they call harmonious passion, which is
when you become passionate about an activity just for the sheer joy of doing it. Below, I
will give you the formula to develop, channel, and control your passions correctly, so you
can focus intrinsically and persevere.
RISKS OF UNCONTROLLED PASSION
• Burnout
• Regret
• Hedonic treadmill
• Becoming tied to external rewards and validation
• Unhappiness or loss of joy
• Destructive addiction
BUILDING, CHANNELING, AND CONTROLLING YOUR

PASSION
• Manage or lose expectations. Focus on effort and progression and be careful with
how you define success.
• Be curious. Give yourself permission to explore without boundaries. Don’t be
afraid to fail and ask questions.
• Find activities that check the boxes of intrinsic motivation: Autonomy, Mastery,
and Purpose.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Going all in leaves you vulnerable, whereas
building over time is sustainable. Be patient and trust the process instead of trying
to do it all at once.
• Detach achievement, success, and identity from your passions. Channel your
energy toward what you can control, and don’t let your passions drive your life.
• Practice self-awareness. Check in with yourself and evaluate your pursuits to
ensure you are on the right path. When planning, assess where you are and how
best to move forward.

• Develop a drive from within. Focus on the process of getting better and embrace
challenges.
Building inner focus through intentional, steady action fosters patience, purpose, and
persistence that will help you create proper adaptations and healthy habits. Passion plus
persistence equals possibility, and persistence comes from taking action over and over,
which is the cornerstone of motivation.
You will have setbacks, bumps in the road, and days when you’re not feeling it, but that
is when discipline, persistence, and habits must save the day. The ability to show up in
the face of adversity is crucial to success. Taking daily action toward your goal is the best
thing you can do to build motivation. My close friend and mentor, Josh Bonhotal, always
preaches that “showing up is a skill,” that must be trained daily.
Your willpower is a muscle that fatigues if you don’t use it, making it harder to do what
you want to do when you want to do it. You strengthen this willpower muscle by simply
showing up, and usually you find that the rest is not so bad. An object in motion stays in
motion, and an object at rest stays at rest. It’s like pushing a snowball down a hill: once
it gets rolling, it picks up momentum and energy along the way. I always say “just show
up and see what happens.”
Just by showing up, you conquer the imagined fear, anxiety, or resistance holding you
back in the first place. The other cool thing about training the skill of showing up is that
it gets easier as you go. Showing up the first time is hard. Showing up the tenth time is
more manageable but still difficult, but showing up the two hundredth time…is second
nature. So whether it’s your workout routine, nutrition plan, sleep schedule, or breathing
practice, show up each day with a purpose, and you’ll turn actions into habits. When you
do that, motivation will flow like a river.
Below are some frameworks and strategies to help you take the first step and kick your
drive into high gear. I will also provide an adversity toolkit so you can be prepared for
inevitable roadblocks and setbacks.
THE IDEA TO ACTION FRAMEWORK
• Identify a behavior: Attach purpose, meaning, and identity to this behavior.

Write it down, think it through, and be specific. Where can this behavior or habit
fit into your day?

• Break it down: Think about what you would need and where you would need to
start to sustain this behavior. Break it down into consistently actionable chunks.
Start small. You should be able to execute your starting behavior with 100%
confidence.
• Make a commitment: Commit to yourself first. Prioritize your behavior and
eliminate as many doubts as possible. For an added boost, make a public com-
mitment so you can further increase your accountability.
• Take action: Show up every day. Be clear in your commitment but flexible
in how you get there. Adjust as needed but always try to keep the momentum
moving forward.
VITALITY CONCEPTS FOR DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING

MOTIVATION
• 3P Method
• Why Prompts
• Mental Models
• CHANGERS Framework
• Comfortability Continuum
ADVERSITY TOOLKIT
• Fail fast and forward: Learn from but don’t dwell on failures. Fail by taking
action instead of failing by inaction.
• Don’t break the streak: Try not to let failures stack up. It’s easier to push
through a hard day than to start back up after stopping.
• Know your purpose: Why are you doing this? Keep your reasons at the front
of your mind.
• Plan proactively: Set expectations ahead of time and identify potential road-
blocks so you don’t get caught off guard.
• Control the controllables: You can control your mindset, attitude, and efforts,
but there will still be many things outside of your control. Understanding this
will help you manage expectations, control your emotions, and accept that not
everything will be perfect.
You will always benefit from intrinsic motivation when it comes to health and wellness.
Many people believe they need to find motivation, or be inspired to do something. Exter-

nal motivation is short-lived, unreliable, and out of your control. It won’t always be there
to save the day. The truth is that you have all the tools for motivation within you already.
The single most reliable way to build and maintain motivation is to act. Action should
precede motivation, not the other way around. It’s about seeking less externally and
exploring more internally. Taking action is something you control no matter the circum-
stance. It helps you break down mental barriers and learn more about yourself. It builds
confidence and allows you to decrease the friction of starting the next time around. Pair
that discipline with harmonious passion, a clear purpose and Why, dopamine optimiza-
tion, and mastery will come.
Progression is the name of the game, not instant gratification or a quick fix. You should
leverage your brain’s reward system to build healthy habits and emphasize effort. It’s
about enjoying the journey, not reaching a destination. Your health and wellness can
always be improved, enhanced, and evolved to better suit your day-to-day needs. Keep-
ing your focus on the process, being your best every day, and embracing the inevitable
setbacks are critical to your growth.
You must adapt your path and develop an internal drive that you can call on in times
of need. In this section, I covered many topics that will help you develop a baseline
knowledge of the levers that affect motivation. With that knowledge, you can move
forward by applying strategies in a way that makes sense to you, taking what you know
and translating it into what you do.
You are driven by several different factors. Motivation can be complicated. Dopamine
rises and falls. Passion is a double-edged sword. External motivation comes and goes.
You can’t wait for motivation to find you; you must take action and create your own
motivation.
PRODUCTIVITY
In our chaotic world, learning to be efficient and, more importantly, effective with your
time, attention, and energy can be a superpower. Productivity is a coveted skill that can
change your life in the modern world. A productive lifestyle means maximizing your
output (the work you produce) and managing your input (the things you consume).
We are overloaded with information from work, email, relationships, social media, and
television on a day-to-day basis. Focusing on what matters and being effective can be

challenging for people amidst the noise. But, like any skill or ability, you can train yourself
to be more productive. You can use different tools and strategies to develop your time
management, prioritization, and organization skills.
In this section, I’ll discuss how to become more efficient and effective by breaking down
the basic principles of productivity, from identifying what matters to reinforcing your
values, eliminating distractions, and promoting deep work. Leveling up your productivity
will help you add more value to your own life and the lives of those around you. It’s not
just about working smarter over harder; it’s about knowing when to work smart, when
to work hard, and when to do both.
You will face many situations where you’ll need to prioritize ruthlessly and avoid procras-
tination. Given the situation, you will need to say no relentlessly and constantly analyze
what is most important for your health, wellness, and longevity. Your time, attention,
and energy are valuable resources you must guard, manage, and use wisely. Mastering
these three resources unlocks your productivity so you can do more with less and take
your health and wellness to another level.
Productivity is a term frequently thrown around in economics and the workplace. Com-
panies, teams, and organizations push to produce goods and services efficiently and
maximize their output. Individually, productivity is key if you want to sustain a healthy
lifestyle. So what is the secret to being productive? Despite what you might have heard,
there is no one secret. Productivity is the result of many different factors that are all
connected. These factors include your prioritization, focus, environment, organization,
time management, and the actions you take regarding each. Most productivity issues fall
into one of these categories, so if you can be proficient in these five, you will be well on
your way to boosting your efficiency and effectiveness.
I will go through each category, highlighting ways you can improve as well as things to
avoid. You can apply the information, strategies, and tools across several domains: on
your health and wellness journey, at work, or with any company, team, or organization
you might be involved with. So let’s break down each critical productivity factor.
It’s helpful to start with prioritization. Prioritization is simply deciding the relative
importance or urgency of something. Knowing what is most important to you and what
you want to accomplish sets the stage for everything else. Thinking about what you do
is often just as important as doing it. Although you shouldn’t get stuck in the thinking
phase, you should ensure that you are emphasizing the right things at the right times.
Prioritization means saying yes to the important and no to the unimportant.

Think back to your values and your Why and let that guide your decisions. It’s much easier
to prioritize your time, energy, and attention when you have a meaningful purpose. There
are several methods and tools you can use when it comes to prioritization, but one of my
favorites is the 80/20 rule, or the Pareto principle. This principle states that around 80%
of outcomes come from 20% of causes. Determine the factors most responsible for success
and then focus on them to improve results. Directing your time, energy, and attention
to the 20% of things that move the needle most will help you focus. When it comes to
health and wellness, there is a lot of information out there. Most of it boils down to a few
key behaviors like exercise, sleep, nutrition, and stress management. Prioritize these big
rocks, and the little rocks will be easy to add in.
Next up is focus. Focus is the art of concentration and is closely related to prioritization.
When you focus on things, you bring your attention and interest to them while trying to
eliminate all distractions. In Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, he talks about the ability to
focus in a distracted world. He calls deep work a “state of distraction-free concentration
that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value,
improve your skill, and are hard to replicate,” (Newport 2016). We spend much of our
time doing what he calls “shallow work,” which he defines as logistical, cognitively unde-
manding tasks often performed while distracted (ibid.). This hampers your productivity
along with your capacity to learn and develop appropriately. High-quality work comes
down to a simple equation of time spent multiplied by intensity of focus. For better health
outcomes, you should increase time spent on improving your well-being, or increase the
intensity of your focus on it. Simple as that. To enhance your ability to focus, you need to
build routines, eliminate distractions, and create the right environment.
The next category is environment. Your environment is the mental and physical space in
which you work. We’ve talked about the environment several times in this book, but in the
case of becoming more productive, you must always ask this question: Are you creating
an environment conducive to what you are trying to accomplish? Constructing your ideal
environment can reduce friction when making tough decisions. Want to spend more time
reading? Keep more books around. Want to eat less junk food? Don’t keep junk food in
your house. Want to run more? Join a running group. You free up mental and physical
energy when you carefully craft the conditions you want. This creates a space where
you can think less, reduce cognitive load, and help foster good habits. Creating the right
environment preserves your willpower and sets you up for success. Willpower is like a
muscle: it can fatigue when you overuse it. We are all influenced by our environments,
so try to surround yourself with the right people, places, things, and information to help
you live a healthy lifestyle.

The next category is organization, which is all about creating an efficient and orderly
approach to tasks. It’s about tracking and logging what you have done and need to do.
We all have many tasks in our day-to-day lives. How do you organize those tasks? To-do
lists, sticky notes, and phone and computer apps are all common methods people use
to capture and coordinate their tasks. Even writing things down or listing things out
can act like a brain dump that declutters your mind. When you clear the words, tasks,
and thoughts out of your mind and get them down on paper (or a screen), you can start
approaching things with more clarity and order.
Organization and the process of clearing things out also means closing loops. This means
finishing conversations and tasks and tying up loose ends. Finish what’s undone, because
being aware of incomplete tasks takes up precious mental space and energy. Concerning
your health and wellness, being organized is huge. It can save you valuable time, reduce
stress, and keep your attention where it needs to be. When your space, time, and tasks
are disorganized, they can wreak havoc on your life. An efficient workflow and a constant
capture system (CCS) can boost your productivity in every category. Getting organized is a
sign of self-respect. Every five minutes spent organizing is worth an hour of productivity.
The last productivity factor is time management. In his book The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People, Stephen R. Covey eloquently but simply sums up time management
in a single phrase: “Organize and execute around priorities,” (Covey and Covey 2020).
Time management is a mixture of organization, focus, and prioritization. Time manage-
ment comes down to attention and energy management. Most people spend their time
working mindlessly on shallow or nonurgent tasks. People confuse being busy with being
productive. You might say you don’t have time for daily movement, nutrition, or sleep,
but you spend hours each week on social media or watching TV.
Time management first requires you to do a time check or time audit. First, you must un-
derstand where your time is going, and then you can identify areas you want to improve.
Once you have documented where your time goes, you can start to craft your schedule.
Want to spend less time on social media? Put limits on phone usage. Want to check your
email less? Put a limit on how many times you can check your email per day.
Along with setting up your rules, using planners or calendars can be helpful. Many people
schedule using Google Calendar or have notebooks where they write things down. Use
these to plan so you can be proactive instead of reactive. Going into your day without a
plan is a surefire way to be unproductive. People’s tasks constantly switch (going from
email to Slack to social media to TV and so on), and it’s easy to believe that everything
deserves a rapid response.

The struggle with distractions is unrelenting. Unless you make a concerted effort to
protect your time, it will be wasted in various forms. The Eisenhower Matrix is an amazing
tool that can help you prioritize, focus, organize, and manage your time. This visualiza-
tion tool categorizes tasks in a four-quadrant decision-making square, sorting tasks by
whether they are important or unimportant, and urgent or nonurgent. Depending on
which square the task falls into, you either do it right away, decide on the right time to
do it, delegate it, or delete it.
Urgent Nonurgent
Important Do Decide
Unimportant Delegate Delete
This creates an easy-to-follow system of accountability. Breaking things down, writing

things out, and putting things you need to do on your main calendar makes decision-mak-
ing less mentally taxing. You are more likely to do these tasks when they are on the
calendar or the to-do list. Time management is about spending time on the front end to
free up time on the back end. When you regulate your priorities, focus, and energy, you
can move from managing your time to truly optimizing it.
When it comes to living a healthy and happy lifestyle, you must protect your time, atten-
tion, and energy at all costs. These limited resources can become depleted if you don’t
use them correctly. Productivity is all about working smarter and valuing your time. To
do that properly, you must incorporate one last point about productivity. It might sound
counterintuitive, but taking more downtime, both structured and unstructured, can
benefit your productivity.
Your days are filled with making decisions, working, exercising, family commitments,
media consumption, relationships, and so much more. You take on a significant mental
and physical load in your busy life each day. Your brain is a processing machine that
takes in lots of input while generating endless output. This can be exhausting. Downtime
is about powering down and reducing that input and output. It’s about recharging your
batteries and creating a space where you can truly turn off. It’s still important to be

strategic with where and when you schedule downtime. Your schedule should reflect
your values. If you want to be healthier, it is up to you to create the right environment,
eliminate distractions, and prioritize what matters. Below are some productivity strategies
and tools to help you on your journey.
PRIORITIZATION
• Eisenhower Matrix: Classify tasks according to their importance and urgency,

then assign the appropriate corresponding action (Do, Decide, Delegate, or Delete)
to each task.
• Most Important Task (MIT): Identify your most important task and do it
without interruption until complete. Then, repeat.
• Bucket method: Put tasks into categories, or buckets, to help organize and
prioritize them.
• Rule of Three: Focus on your three most important goals each day or week.
• Say no: Say no to the unimportant more often so you can say yes to the important
more often.
• 80/20 rule (Pareto principle): 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes,
so determine the factors that are most responsible for success and focus on them
to improve results.
FOCUS
• Pomodoro technique: Continuously alternate focusing for twenty-five minutes

with not focusing for five minutes.
• Kanban board: Makes workflow visible and provides clarity.
• Screen time limits: Set time limits on your phone, computer, TV, apps, etc.
• Music: Playing specific music can help you get into a focused state.
• Nutrition or supplementation: Eating specific foods or taking certain sup-
plements (like caffeine) can help you enhance your focus.
ENVIRONMENT
• See Core Four: Lifestyle, Environment

ORGANIZATION
• Constant Capture System (CCS): Have a reliable place to store information

that’s not your own mind.
• Closing loops: Tie up loose ends and finish tasks right away instead of letting
things linger.
• To-do lists: Write out what you have to do for the day, week, or month.
• Eliminate clutter: A clean environment will reduce mental clutter and enhance
your focus on what matters.
• Have an agenda: Plan out your day ahead of time.
TIME MANAGEMENT
• Time audit: Track where your time is going so you can manage and adjust it
accordingly.
• Time integrity: Be punctual; respect your own and other people’s time.
• Break big goals into smaller ones: Tackle small chunks of tasks. Don’t try
to finish everything at once.
• Stick to a schedule: Put things on your calendar for visibility and accountability.
• Time blocking: Block off time for things that are important to you and use that
time for its intended purpose.
• Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
Being productive can set you apart in an increasingly distracted world. Society tends to
emphasize being busy over being effective, which causes you to spend your days doing
shallow tasks that have little impact. When it is time to do the things that matter, you are
drained from answering emails, browsing social media, and being constantly “on.” Your
willpower becomes depleted and your decision-making becomes impaired. You have to
manage your input and output to take your days back. As Cal Newport says, you have to
drain the shallows so you can concentrate on living healthier and adding real value to
whatever you take on.
To regain control over your productivity, you must prioritize relentlessly, focus on what
matters, create the right environment, stay organized, and manage your time well. Clarity
about what matters provides clarity about what does not. When you recognize your values,
set limitations, create healthy habits, and take some downtime, you free up mental and
physical bandwidth to improve yourself. In his book The Power of Less, Leo Babauta

talks about limiting yourself to the essentials in business and life (Babauta 2019). The
process is as simple as identifying what is essential to you and eliminating everything else.
Unfortunately, in today’s society eliminating everything else can be a big task. Your
time, attention, and energy are constantly being pulled in different directions. Using the
information and strategies from the sections on Motivation and Drive and Productivity,
you can ensure that these valuable resources are channeled correctly. Productivity is a
skill, one that can and should be trained if you want to be healthy and reduce your stress.
According to Newport, the law of productivity states that high-quality work is the product
of time spent multiplied by the intensity of focus (Newport 2016). If you can master the
five key productivity factors, you can gain more free time and focus more intensely. Think
about all you could accomplish with extra time and energy.
HAPPINESS, FULFILLMENT, AND JOY
What does happiness mean to you? Ask ten different people and you’ll probably get ten
different answers. The dictionary definitions of happiness are simple, ranging from “the
state of being happy” to “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment” (Oxford Languages
2022). In the positive psychology field, happiness is defined as being your subjective
well-being or SWB. Society tries to paint a picture of what it means to be happy, but
happiness is particular to each individual. This creates much debate among researchers
and philosophers who want to land on an objective definition of happiness. Most agree
that it plays an important role and significantly impacts our lives.
From these definitions, we can gather that happiness can be felt or shown, meaning it can
be both an internal and external experience. Happiness is a fleeting and changeable state
of being, not a trait or destination you reach. Happiness is a primary emotion that can
range from contentment to elation, depending on the intensity of the feeling. How you
express and experience happiness is based heavily on a mixture of nature and nurture.
In this section, I’ll review some of the critical ingredients of happiness, like what it feels
like to be happy, why happiness is important, and how to transcend happiness to find
true joy and fulfillment. Your happiness has much to do with your values, perspective,
genetics, and environment. When you experience more happiness, you can accomplish
more and serve others. When you understand the importance of happiness, you can help
yourself and others achieve this state more often. You can also develop your personal
definition of what being happy means. This way, you can not only be happy but fulfilled.

This is what it’s all about: finding meaning, satisfaction, and purpose in your life. Society
can place more emphasis on external success over internal happiness and fulfillment,
depending where you look. Money, fame, power, pleasure, and material possessions are
not guaranteed to bring you joy. While external success can be essential, it doesn’t always
bring happiness. Living a life rich with meaning and purpose brings success, so you don’t
have to chase it. Dale Carnegie says, “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is
wanting what you get” (Goodreads 2022). If you can learn to shift your perspective and
value the right things, you can live a joy-filled life. Let’s dive into how you can take steps
toward happiness, fulfillment, and true joy.
To start exploring the journey to happiness, fulfillment, and joy, you must first understand
these terms. A little background on each word will help you recognize and encourage
these qualities in your life. Happiness can be seen as hedonic or eudaemonic. Hedonic
happiness is characterized by experiencing more pleasure and less pain, and is composed
of an affective component (emotional reactions) and a cognitive component (beliefs,
perceptions, and judgments). Eudaemonic happiness is more attached to pursuing and
attaining purpose, meaning, challenge, and personal growth. Eudaemonic happiness is
based on reaching and operating at one’s full potential. While research and theories on
happiness are scattered, one thing is clear: being happy is good for mental, physical, and
emotional health.
Fulfillment is predicated on living a meaningful and purposeful life. Fulfillment is about

satisfaction, not necessarily happiness. It’s about finding meaning and purpose and
living in complete alignment with your values. When you are fulfilled, you are not at the
mercy of your wants and desires, and you feel like you are getting everything you need
out of life. Use the Why Prompts and the Five Core Focuses to hone your purpose and
life satisfaction.
Joy is a stronger, more intense, but less common feeling than happiness. Joy is about
selflessness, personal sacrifice, connection to others, and morality. While happiness can
be characterized as a temporary or fleeting state that many base on external circumstances
and express outwardly, joy can be seen as a lasting state based on inner peace, content-
ment, and self-realization. Joy is the byproduct of living a moral and just life. Although it
is debatable, many classify joy as an inner feeling and happiness as an outward expression.
You seek, pursue, and can even create happiness, but joy is a purposefully made choice.
Joy doesn’t always result in happiness, and happiness doesn’t always bring joy. You can
experience joy through ups and downs, regardless of the circumstances.

Happiness, fulfillment, and joy are all distinct but interrelated. You should avoid getting
caught up in the semantics of these terms and keep striving to bring these qualities to
fruition in your life. All of these terms are heavily debated and defined in many different
ways, but having a baseline knowledge of the core aspects of each can help you promote
and develop these qualities. Now that you understand these terms, you can start identi-
fying their importance to your health and well-being.
One thing is sure: happiness, fulfillment, and joy positively affect your quality of life. The
critical thing to remember is that each of these qualities is subjective, so their meanings
will depend on the person feeling them. One person’s dream is another person’s night-
mare, and one person’s pain is another person’s pleasure. You must also remember that
accomplishments, material things, and fame don’t lead to lasting feelings of happiness,
fulfillment, or joy. While they can provide a temporary burst of positive energy, it is
usually short-lived and followed by an even greater feeling of want. These things cannot
intrinsically give you all that you desire. You should focus on your values, perspective,
relationships, and purpose, instead of external experiences. You can better manage your
emotions, wants, and expectations when you live a life predicated on moral values and
a meaningful purpose.
You may have heard the common phrase “expectation is the thief of joy.” This doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t have goals, but you also shouldn’t attach your sense of meaning
or happiness to those goals. Life satisfaction is a function of expectation. The less you
desire, the more satisfied you become with what you have. In his book From Strength
to Strength, Arthur C. Brooks talks about satisfaction as an equation: what you have
divided by what you want. He suggests that readers manage their wants and build a
wants-management system to avoid jumping from one thing to the next. In addition to
wants management, Brooks mentions that the three “macronutrients” of happiness are
enjoyment, a sense of purpose, and satisfaction. Cultivating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle
requires understanding these key ingredients and gaining knowledge of where and how
you can find them (Brooks 2022).
When your values are aligned with your purpose and you focus on the present and what
you have, you can start to see the positive effect of this effort across your health, work,
and relationships. People who are happy and fulfilled in life have reduced stress, anxiety,
and anger levels. They also find more relationship success in friendships, marriages, and
in their workplaces. People are more likely to volunteer and donate more when they are
happier. You can also spark these feelings organically through healthy behaviors. When
you exercise more, eat healthily, and sleep better, you naturally boost your happiness

levels and you are more likely to encourage others to partake in these behaviors. Happy
people are also more productive, creative, and optimistic.
No matter your definition of happiness, it’s clear that living a happy, joyful, and fulfilled
life benefits your health, wellness, and performance. What’s also clear is that your values,
mindset, relationships, and behaviors play massive roles in developing these qualities. It
is estimated that about 50% of happiness and life satisfaction is linked to genetics, another
10% is related to external events, and the remaining 40% is attributed to intentional
activities. That’s a massive amount of influence that you hold over your happiness. How
you use that 40% and your chosen intentional activities are entirely up to you.
Happiness will always be a mixture of nature and nurture. When you focus on the key in-
gredients of purpose, satisfaction, enjoyment, values, and relationships, you can manage
and cultivate your ideal external and internal environments for happiness, fulfillment,
and joy to shine through. Happiness is results (or reality) minus expectations. If you
can learn to expect less and live more (and live healthfully), you can have happiness
in abundance. Below, you’ll find a list of the key ingredients in cultivating happiness,
fulfillment, and joy, and tips on how to apply them.
HAPPINESS
• Factors that can influence happiness: Sleep, exercise, nutrition, light ex-
posure, social connection, work, physical health, space for creativity, freedom of
choice, and opportunity.
• Ingredients of happiness: Purpose, or having a sense of meaning in life;
satisfaction, or reward for a job well done or for achieving a goal; enjoyment, a
sustained and healthy feeling of pleasure; values, the things that you believe are
important in the way you live and work; awareness, a combination of acceptance,
autonomy, and presence; and relationships, or strong bonds built through mean-
ingful time with others.
• Abundance versus scarcity mentality: An abundance mentality is believing
there are enough resources to go around. A scarcity mentality is defined by feel-
ings of competition and lack. Shifting from a scarcity or zero-sum mindset to an
abundance mindset can free you from feelings of disappointment or inadequacy.
• Things to avoid getting attached to: Money, power, fame, pleasure, and
material things. Pursuit of these things will shift you toward a scarcity mentality.
They are short-lived external sources that don’t provide lasting intrinsic happiness.

FULFILLMENT
• Why Prompts
• Wants and expectations management: Reduce your wants and lower
your expectations.
• Five Core Focuses
• Define: Define what brings you meaning and purpose without getting too at-
tached to achieving specific success in that area.
THE EIGHT PILLARS OF JOY
• Perspective: Observe things through a wider lens and focus on the present.
• Humility: If you feel like you are better than others, you’ll never be able to find
joy. Work on eliminating this kind of thought from your daily interactions.
• Humor: Relieve hard feelings and put people at ease.
• Acceptance: Life has challenging moments, some of which you won’t have
control over. Practice living with this expectation.
• Forgiveness: Move on from the past and enjoy the present.
• Gratitude: Being more grateful for what you have and taking nothing for granted.
• Compassion: Practice reciprocal altruism by helping others.
• Generosity: Spend time on others’ happiness and assisting others in
feeling happy.
TIPS FOR LIVING A HAPPY, FULFILLED, AND JOYOUS LIFE
• Be in service: Give back, help others, and lend your time, energy, and resources
to great causes.
• Find purpose: What brings you meaning? What would you die for? Align your
life toward those things.
• Take care of your health: When you are healthier you are happier.
• Foster social connection: Build strong relationships and enjoy time spent
with others.
• Contemplate mortality: Death is what gives life meaning, so become familiar
with the concept.
• Love: Find opportunities to receive and give love as much as possible. Love is
the fuel for happiness.

Happiness, fulfillment, and joy are often used interchangeably to describe various aspects
of our emotional and life experiences. Society sometimes persuades us to believe that
these qualities can be reached or achieved through success, accomplishments, and
material things. The truth is that these qualities are developed internally and expressed
externally. You don’t find happiness; you create it. You choose to live a joyful and fulfilled
life by shifting your perspective and carrying out behaviors that align with your values
and purpose.
Using this knowledge and the resources provided above, you can transform your mindset
to focus on the controllable and accept what you cannot change. Managing your expec-
tations, creating sound principles to live by, and establishing solid relationships can put
you on the path to life satisfaction.
You are happier when you are healthier, plain, and simple. Beyond that, your happiness,
fulfillment, and joy can be contagious, encouraging others to feel and act more positively.
Taking care of your health and wellness serves as a bridge to a better quality of life for
yourself and those around you. When you are happy and healthy, you can help others and
give back, perpetuating joy and fulfillment. This altruistic lifestyle will give you meaning
and connect you to other people.
You must follow your values if you seek self-realization. The famous psychologist William
James says, “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without
action” (Goodreads 2022). Regardless of your actions, you will face many ups and downs.
Happiness, joy, and fulfillment are more about perceiving, accepting, and managing the
lows, not about chasing the highs. The lows ultimately give meaning to the highs. Death
gives life meaning, you can’t have pleasure without pain, and you can’t have happiness
and joy without suffering. It’s not about avoiding all suffering, but finding meaning and
purpose through it.
Controlling your internal environment allows you to embrace suffering and sacrifice and
see it as a path to true joy. When you choose to live a healthy lifestyle, you take positive
steps on that path. Whatever happiness, fulfillment, and joy mean to you, know that they
are a choice, a direction, and a commitment to inner peace, positivity, contentment, and
a life worth living. Life is not about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself, so what
will you create?

ENVIRONMENT
Environment is a topic that has popped up in several parts of this book. The importance
of your environment in your health and wellness cannot be understated. Let’s start by
looking at the basic definition of an environment: “the circumstances, objects, people,
or conditions by which one is surrounded” (Merriam-Webster 2022). I like to think of
environment as internal (everything within or inside of you) and external (everything
around you). Every area of your life is affected by your internal or external environment.
Both areas play roles in your thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors. You can get even
more granular when you think about your mental, physical, physiological, emotional, and
social environments. The bottom line is that your life is centered around these different
environmental categories and how you navigate and construct them.
All these kinds of environments fall into the two original buckets: internal and external.
While you don’t always control your external (physical) environment, you do have the
ability to exercise control over your internal (mental) environment. Mastering your
internal environment is the secret to proper growth and progression. Your mind is the
most fantastic tool you can use to successfully navigate the world of health and wellness.
In this section, I will discuss the different environments and explore how to create optimal
internal and external environments. When you do this, you preserve your willpower,
reduce stress, and you can achieve your goals in disciplined and sustainable ways. You
should do everything in your power to decrease friction between having a plan and taking
the necessary action to accomplish it. Your thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors play
vital roles in overcoming whatever environments you find yourself in. With willpower
being such a limited resource, you should rely on habits to avoid depleting it so you can
save it for when you need it.
In most cases, your environment will trump your willpower, goals, and priorities. This
means the foundation of successful and sustained behavior change lies in constructing
and optimizing your internal and external environments. The places you go, the people
you hang around, the things you do, and the information you consume reflect the changes
you want to make. You must be willing to acclimate, be proactive, and surround yourself
with the right influences.
To adapt and thrive, you must be willing to change your external environment along with
your perception and behavior. Continuously assessing and adjusting your environment
will make it easier to incite meaningful change, build strong habits, and stay disciplined.
This harmony between your internal and external environments will allow you to create

positive energy and momentum that bias you toward progression and growth. If you’re
only as strong as your environment, then it’s your job to construct the most robust
environment possible. This section gives you some of the necessary tools to evaluate,
modify, and build your ideal conditions for a healthy lifestyle.
Success in all areas of life is dependent on your environment. Your mindset, thoughts,
and perceptions, which make up your internal environment, help you make sense of your
surroundings, direct your intentions, and make decisions. Your external environment,
made up of your physical surroundings, either facilitates or inhibits your decisions
and behaviors. To succeed on your journey and achieve your goals, you must focus on
improving your internal and external environments. Having the right mindset or strong
willpower can help you beat adverse external conditions in the short term, but this can
be hard to sustain in the long term.
Similarly, having the perfect external conditions but the wrong mindset is no recipe for
success. Working on both sides of the environment equation is vital. When designing your
environment, it’s best to start with an inside-out approach. Focus on what you can control
first, which is your internal environment. Assess and align your values, perspectives,
emotions, and motivations with your ultimate mission. This will allow you to develop a
growth mindset and build willpower.
Resilience and perseverance are essential qualities necessary for progression, growth,
and consistency. With the right mindset, you can overcome obstacles and setbacks on
your road to better health and well-being. Your thoughts and emotions affect and often
translate into actions and behaviors. This can have positive or negative ramifications, so
make sure you are nourishing a healthy mental state.
Use the previous sections in the Lifestyle chapter to clarify your purpose, master your
emotions, channel your passions, and increase your mental clarity and strength. Imple-
menting the various tips, tools, and strategies this chapter covers can help you build an
adaptable yet disciplined internal state. Lastly, be cognizant of what information you
consume, as this can significantly impact your mental and emotional state. Where your
attention goes, energy flows, so make sure your energy is flowing in the right direction.
Everything from the media you consume to the books you read to the people’s opinions
you value can influence your internal environment. Protect it at all costs and feed it the
information it needs to help you live a healthy lifestyle. Once you have taken care of your
internal environment, it’s time to address your external environment.

Your physical surroundings and relationships are incredibly influential. Although you
are rarely in full command of your external environment, you must manage what you
do have control over. Even subconsciously, you can be influenced by your external
environment, causing you to behave in specific ways. The four main categories you must
regulate are the people, places, things, and information you interact with. For starters,
the people you hang around can significantly impact your decisions and how you think.
Jim Rohn famously said, “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time
with” (Groth 2012). Are you surrounding yourself with people who are helping or hurting
your progression? Your social environment heavily influences your thoughts and habits.
Groups and relationships that reinforce your desired behaviors make it easier to live a
healthier lifestyle. Take a look at the people you admire and those you interact with daily.
Then, assess whether the influence of people you interact with is positive or negative.
Next are the places you live or spend time in, which also profoundly impact your choices
and overall lifestyle. Does where you spend your time align with who you want to be?
Going out to bars every weekend won’t help you reduce drinking. On the other hand,
spending more time at the gym can help you build your exercise habit. Places can be
triggers for thoughts and behaviors. Whether those places cause healthy or unhealthy
decisions should factor into how frequently you go there. If those places are either work
or home, then figure out ways you can physically modify the environment to be more
conducive to the lifestyle you want.
Next are the things you buy, own, or keep around. These can also affect your life positively
or negatively depending on the item and its context. With things, it’s about keeping
negative influences out of sight and out of mind. If you don’t want to eat junk food, then
don’t buy junk food. Want to reduce your screen time? Then set limits on your devices,
turn off your phone when you want to be productive or focus, and cancel unnecessary sub-
scriptions. The opposite applies when it comes to encouraging positive behaviors. Want
to read more? Keep more books around you. Want to eat more vegetables? Keep fresh
vegetables in your home. Many of us have more things than we need and could benefit
from reducing our belongings. The fewer options you have and the more straightforward
and simple decisions become, the easier it is to make the right ones. Things can help or
hurt you. Your job is to constantly scan your environment to ensure you are eliminating
the harmful and doubling down on the helpful.
Last is the information you consume. You are inundated with information each day.
Some you consume by choice, some not. Some is important, some is irrelevant. Some
is constructive, some is destructive. You need to make sure you are filtering what you
consume to match the life you want to live. This can be challenging in today’s society, but

it’s not impossible. You choose where you browse on the internet, what you watch on TV,
and how much you use social media. There is great information out there if you can cut
through the clutter. Regardless, know that the information you consume can shape and
guide your thoughts, choices, and perceptions. Navigating the information landscape is
a dangerous game that must be played with caution.
Constructing your external environment around these four categories gives you a basic
framework to follow. When used correctly, they all compound each other. Hanging out
with the right people, being in the right places, keeping the right things around, and con-
suming the correct information can help you make good decisions and reinforce strong
habits. When you surround yourself with negative people, places, information, and things,
you are forced to rely on willpower, a limited resource, to avoid bad habits and choices.
It is your job to ensure that your environment is rarely an obstacle. You must work to
create an internal and external environment that will help you trigger desired behaviors
while decreasing friction that prevents you from taking action. You are the architect of
your environment at work, at home, and in your relationships and mind. It is your job
to design your external environment to fit your specific needs while simultaneously
cultivating an internal environment that prepares you for anything. Healthy living
becomes simpler when your mindset, environment, and behavior are all in sync. If you
are a product of your environment, why not make it more conducive to success?
STRATEGIES TO OPTIMIZE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
• External environment scan: Examine the four main categories (people,

places, things, and information) in depth and assess whether they are helping or
hurting you. Eliminate the harmful and enhance the helpful. Don’t become the
product of a bad environment.
• Internal environment training: Use strategies like Impulse Resistance
Training, the Comfortability Continuum, and the tools covered in the Stress and
Mindset sections to build mental resilience, control, and strength. Using willpower
should be a viable option you can call on in times of need.
• Out of sight, out of mind: Also known as “In view, easy to pursue.” Remove
things from your environment that will hinder your progress. Keep items that will
make your desired outcome clear and easy to execute.
• Declutter and eliminate nonessentials: It’s easier to focus on the important
when the unimportant is removed. Optimize your surroundings by clearing away

the unnecessary, thus reducing your options and making decision-making easier.
Decluttering will also enhance your sense of clarity and direction.
Your environment is undoubtedly one of the biggest influences on your success. Inter-
nally, you must work to build a strong mindset and perspective that focus on what you
can control. Developing your mental state will help you manage emotions, reduce stress,
make informed decisions, and persevere in facing challenges. It will also bias you toward
positive action in the direction of your goals. You can more effectively navigate your
external environment when you are strong internally.
Unfortunately, overcoming adverse external conditions can be draining even when things
are internally solid. Your willpower, energy, and overall motivation can take a severe hit
if you don’t take the time to audit and assess your external environment. The people,
places, things, and information you surround yourself with can be the difference between
success and failure or good and bad decisions. When crafting your external environment,
make sure you set yourself up for success by making healthy choices easier and unhealthy
decisions harder. Remember that your environment affects you even at the subconscious
level through thoughts, various triggers, and habits.
Consciously constructing your ideal mental and physical conditions can help you reduce
and even avoid negative influences. The resources and strategies provided in this section
can help you identify, evaluate, and improve the different environments in your life.
From your relationships to the places you live to the information you consume, you are
always influenced by your surroundings. Optimizing your environment is an everyday
job. When done correctly, this job provides a valuable key to unlock a healthier lifestyle.
HABITS AND GOAL SETTING
Habits dominate your life. 40% to 50% of your daily actions are actually habits. Think
about all the habits that make up your day-to-day life. Everything from brushing your
teeth to taking a shower to tying your shoes you do mostly without having to think about
it. Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subcon-
sciously. A habit can be adaptive or maladaptive and come in the forms of an action, a
routine, or a lifestyle. Habits are the main reason humanity has survived thousands of
years. From an evolutionary standpoint, if we had to think about every action we took,
we would not have made it very far as a species. Habits are a necessary adaptation that
has allowed us to evolve.

Today, we look at habits as ways to achieve long-term goals, as opposed to the short-term
survival goals of early humans. Your brain constantly looks for ways to save energy and
effort by turning repeated actions and routines into habits. The more habits you create,
the more efficient your brain can be. This allows you to focus less on the basics while you
learn and create. Understanding the fundamentals of how to build, break, and replace
habits is crucial to sustaining any type of meaningful behavior change.
This section looks at where habits originate, the different components of habits and
habit formation, how to create healthy habits, and how to avoid unhealthy ones. The
information in this section has been popularized by the books The Power of Habit by
Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear. These two books provide detailed
breakdowns of habit formation as well as practical frameworks and strategies to help
you turn knowledge into action.
Habits are vital in helping to solve problems and efficiently achieve goals. Concerning your
health and wellness, it’s helpful to combine specific goals with structured habits. While
goals aren’t always necessary, they can be a powerful motivator that provides direction.
Goals can help you build your vision, but it’s habits that will help you execute it. Many
people who misunderstand goals spend too much time focusing their efforts on planning
them instead of pursuing them. In this section, I will also demystify goals and goal setting
and explain how goals can be both helpful and restrictive when it comes to your lifestyle.
I will also provide a framework and a set of best practices to help you set, assess, and
achieve productive goals. Goals and habits feed off each other, especially when they are
tied together with strong values and a sense of purpose. Knowing who you want to be
and how you want to live can make healthy choices easier to identify. You don’t always
need to set goals to see the results of living healthily.
Forming habits is a necessary part of progression, growth, and evolution. To make and
sustain healthy behavior changes, you must establish strong habits that align with your
ultimate health and wellness mission. James Clear sums it up nicely: “You don’t rise to
the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems (daily habits),” (Clear 2019).
Your systems and frameworks, not your goals, make or break you in the long run. Goals
can motivate you to start, but ultimately, your habits will help you build and sustain a
healthy lifestyle.
Since habits make up so much of your life, it’s valuable to understand where your habits
originate in the brain and how they form. Knowing basic neuroanatomy can provide
further context of several factors that influence habit formation. Your brain has highly
complex and interconnected networks that help you navigate the world. You have brain

areas that control automatic behaviors like breathing, heart rate, and reflexes. You also
have intricate systems that express and regulate emotion.
Toward your brain’s center, there is a golf-ball-sized set of subcortical nuclei called the
basal ganglia, to which neuroscientists have traced habit-making behaviors. The basal
ganglia are associated with various functions but are mainly connected to procedural
learning, or the process of acquiring, recalling, carrying out, and storing patterns or
habits. The basal ganglia are interconnected with various brain areas from the brainstem
to the cerebral cortex. This is why habits can be formed without conscious thought. It is
also why you can use higher brain structures like the cerebral cortex—which deals with
language, memory, reasoning, and thought, among other things—to create, replace, or
eliminate specific habits.
The brain is constantly pushing for efficiency, which is why habits emerge. When you
perform specific actions repeatedly, the brain downloads and stores these patterns within
the basal ganglia like software downloaded onto a computer. Then, you can seamlessly
run these programs without re-downloading (thinking about) them whenever you want
to perform a particular action. This frees up energy to pursue other actions and routines.
Through positive and negative reinforcement, your brain can cement certain behaviors.
Habits get formed and solidified through what’s called the habit loop. Charles Duhigg
describes the habit loop as “a neurological loop that governs any habit. The habit loop
consists of three elements: a cue, a routine, and a reward,” (Duhigg 2014). While Duhigg
states that the craving drives the loop, James Clear adds craving as a fourth element to
the habit loop, making it cue, craving, response (routine), then reward. The cue is the
trigger that kicks the brain into automatic mode, telling it which habit (program) to run.
Cues come in many forms, but the most common triggers include time, location, emo-
tional state, people around you, and your last action. The craving is the anticipation of
the reward. This is driven by the molecule dopamine. When dopamine rises, so does
your motivation to act. Next is the routine; this is the behavior or the habit itself. You can
complete routines consciously or subconsciously. Habits typically start as a conscious
action performed regularly. After a while, they can become automatic. Last is the reward,
which is the positive feedback that closes the habit loop. This is the brain’s positive
reaction to the automatic behavior, which tells the brain that the routine is something
worth remembering. The reinforcement from the reward makes you want to seek out
the cue again, firmly cementing the habit. This cycle plays out across several different
areas in your life.

The habit loop can be positive or negative. In a negative example, boredom (cue) leads
to you seeking something to do (craving), so you take out your phone (routine), go on
social media, and look at Instagram (reward). In a positive example, you leave your gym
clothes out the night before an early workout so when you wake up and see the gym
clothes (cue), that makes you remember that you want to go to the gym (craving), which
then makes it easy for you to go to the gym (routine). You feel great after you finish the
workout (reward). Many habits are subtle to start with but compound over time. Your
job is to ensure you create the right environment, identify triggers, and manage your
rewards to cultivate the proper habits.
Habits are the foundation of sustained behavior change. The key is to establish strong
habits to change the right behaviors that align with who you want to be and the life you
want to live. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do; therefore, excellence is
not an act but a habit” (Goodreads 2022). If you can master the art of building healthy
habits, you can accomplish great things.
Now that you know where habits originate, why they are formed, and what they consist
of, let’s talk about habit optimization. Understanding that all habits serve either a good
or bad purpose is critical. Eating ice cream whenever you are sad might not be the best
habit, but it provides momentary pleasure when you are down. Habits are formed to
solve problems that in most cases are tied to your basic human needs or drives. Your
brain just wants to do less work and be as efficient as possible in ensuring your survival
and keeping you happy.
In our world of abundance, things like food and entertainment are more accessible than
ever. We are biased toward instant gratification, which can reinforce our behaviors.
Rewards are the primary way habits are reinforced, but other things like strength and
immediacy of feedback, beliefs, and repetition can solidify habits. Unfortunately, with
good habits like going to the gym more frequently, feedback can be more delayed and
the rewards are less noticeable in the short term.
In contrast, bad habits like eating junk food provide immediate feedback and reward. In
addition to the difference in the timing of feedback, there is also a difference in the cost
of good and bad habits. Going to the gym requires energy and willpower for benefits in
the future. Eating junk food requires little to no energy but ends up costing you in the
future. You can’t always see the benefit or detriment of your habits right away, which is
why habits that offer strong, immediate, and direct feedback along with big rewards and
a low cost are usually the ones that get perpetuated.

To optimize your habits, it’s important first to create the right environment and condi-
tions. Internally, you must attach meaning to your habits, tying them back to your Why,
values, and purpose. Your habits should be steps toward who you want to become. Exter-
nally, you must surround yourself with the right people, places, things, and information
to trigger your desired behavior.
Along with your environment, it’s beneficial to focus on keystone or essential habits at
the foundational level that require little to no willpower or persuasion. Making habits
simple, small, and easy to execute in the beginning is a great way to ensure consistency.
Once you establish the simple and easy habits, you can ladder up to more complex ones.
Building keystone habits will help you establish a routine before you try optimizing it.
Trying to make massive behavior changes rarely works in the long term and usually leads
to early burnout in the short term.
You must also make sure the habits you want to develop are fun and rewarding. It’s much
easier to hit the gym if you have a fun class you love to attend, and it’s much easier to read
more if you pick books that intrigue you. When it comes to rewards, the first step is to
ensure the reward is appropriate and in line with where you are trying to go. Rewarding
yourself with a donut after a run when you’re trying to lose weight is not the best idea.
Make sure your rewards align with your mission. For more information on rewards, refer
to the IIA Rewards framework in the Motivation section.
As you establish your habits, be aware that they can also become less interesting when
they become routine. This is why it’s important to find different ways to adapt your habits
and your environment as you go. Doing this ensures that they can continue to drive the
behaviors you need for a healthy lifestyle. Having an accountability system and developing
new goals along the way can help you stay disciplined.
The road to building healthy habits will not always be perfect. On this journey, failure is
bound to occur, but with failure comes understanding. The key is to learn from failure
and identify patterns so you can ensure they don’t happen over and over again. You
should constantly evaluate why you do what you do and assess whether it is helping or
hurting your growth.
When you recognize bad habits, you should eliminate, cut back, or replace them. This
process consists of flipping all the steps of building healthy habits. You should make bad
habits hard, complex, and unrewarding. It’s about increasing the friction of every step
in a bad habit and making sure your environment reflects your desire to curb it. The
people, places, things, and information around you should discourage these habits from

progressing. If a habit doesn’t align with your values, purpose, or identity, you should
reevaluate it.
You won’t be able to stop all bad habits, but with the proper accountability system, you
can develop a healthy ratio of good to bad habits. You don’t always consciously know when
you are building habits, but you can work at identifying and adapting habits. Habits can
make you more efficient and effective. Understanding the ins and outs of habits allows
you to gain control over the different habits that dominate your life. With the right habits,
you can live a healthier and happier life.
Below is a complete guide to habit optimization, including a breakdown of the habit loop,
strategies for creating healthy habits, and frameworks for building and breaking habits
from Atomic Habits and The Power of Habit.
HABIT LOOP BREAKDOWN
• Cue: The trigger, which kicks the brain into automatic mode.
• Craving: The anticipation of the reward.
• Response: The behavior or habit itself.
• Reward: The positive feedback that closes the habit loop, otherwise known as
the brain’s positive reaction to automatic behavior.
HABIT OPTIMIZATION TIPS
• Quick tips: Start small and simple, know your Why, reward yourself following the
IIA— intrinsic, intermittent, and appropriate—principles, keep the end in mind,
write down your observations, create the right environment, build accountability,
and support systems, and make your habit-forming public and fun.
• Reminders:
◊ Evaluate the cost of your habits and the immediacy and strength of
their feedback.
◊ All habits serve a purpose.
◊ You must establish a habit before you optimize it.
◊ As habits become routine, they become less interesting, so adapt your
routines as needed.
◊ The habits you build should align with the person you want to become.

◊ Keystone habits can help you build a foundation.
◊ Belief is a powerful tool, so believe first, then achieve.
◊ Habits can change.
◊ Failure is essential in understanding patterns.
◊ Make sure failures don’t become habits (don’t let failures stack up).
◊ Use the Goldilocks principle for sustaining habits: don’t make them too
hard, and don’t make them too easy.
ATOMIC HABITS FRAMEWORK (BUILDING AND BREAKING HABITS)
Build a habit
• Make it obvious
• Make it attractive
• Make it easy
• Make it satisfying
Break a habit
• Make it invisible
• Make it unattractive
• Make it difficult
• Make it unsatisfying
THE POWER OF HABIT FRAMEWORK
Charles Duhigg’s golden rule of habit change: you can never truly extinguish bad habits;
you can only change them.
Build or break a habit
• Identify the routine: This is the behavior you want to change.

• Experiment with rewards: Rewards satisfy cravings, so test to see which
cravings are driving your routine by experimenting with different rewards. How
do these rewards affect your behavior or routines?

• Isolate the cue: Almost all habits fall into five categories: location, time, emo-
tional state, other people, and immediately preceding action. Write down what
you are doing or feeling when you feel a habitual behavior become triggered.
• Have a plan: What are your implementation intentions?
Goals are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can help you build momentum,
guide your focus, and give you a sense of direction. On the other hand, they can kill cre-
ativity, give you a ceiling, create anxiety, and bias you toward momentary or short-term
success over long-term progress. It’s not necessarily the goals themselves that determine
whether they are productive or not, it’s about how you use them and the meaning you
attach to them.
Most of the time, your goals are outcome-based and heavily influenced by your environ-
ment and what you think you should do. This directs your attention and energy toward
reaching the goal instead of the process of getting to it. The problem with focusing on
the outcome is that you may often use quick-fix or unsustainable strategies to try and
achieve specific goals. This frequently happens in the health and wellness realm. People
go on crazy, unsustainable diets to achieve a certain weight or train hard for a particular
race or event. When they achieve that goal, they are left to wonder what’s next, and they
tend to revert back to the same habits they previously had.
When you shift your focus to the process and systems instead of outcomes, you create
an environment conducive to continued growth and progression. You also detach your
happiness and self-worth from specific results or the lack thereof. The truth is that most
people have the same goals. Most people want to look, feel, and live better. Most sports
teams set out to win a championship, but only one team wins. It’s evident that goals alone
don’t bring success or results. People live healthily and teams win championships because
of their processes, systems, habits, and discipline.
This doesn’t mean goals are useless; they are only a piece of the puzzle. Goals are the
building blocks, and habits are the foundation of long-term success and sustainability.
Again, James Clear says it perfectly: “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The
purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking
is goalless thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of
endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, your commitment to the
process will determine your progress,” (Clear 2019). Goals can be a helpful strategy and
planning tool that you can use within a more extensive system.

Most of the time, human behavior isn’t reactive; it’s predictive. Goals provide you with di-
rection, momentum, and focus in the short term. By contrast, your habits and dedication
to the process bring you long-term growth and development. It’s best to control what you
can, focusing on habits over outcomes and building systems that utilize goals as needed.
Below, I’ll go over the pros and cons of goals and best practices in using goals.
PROS AND CONS OF GOAL SETTING
Pros
• Can provide focus, direction, and motivation

• Can help you understand your priorities and measure progress
• Can give you a sense of satisfaction
• Can help you be more productive
• Can help you plan ahead
• Can keep you accountable
Cons
• Can kill creativity

• Can create unwanted pressure, expectations, and stress
• Can shift your focus to outcomes and things outside of your control
• Can increase feelings of competition, comparison, and failure
• Can give you a ceiling
• Can make you obsessive about the wrong things
GOALS BEST PRACTICES
• Break goals down into smaller digestible parts: What can you do repeat-
edly with 100% confidence? Start there.
• Prioritize: Make sure you don’t set too many goals. Focus on setting the
right goals.
• Goals should align with who you want to become: Think identity over
specific outcomes.
• Assess and evaluate your goals often: Goals should be fluid and change as
you change. Goals should also hold you accountable.

• Goals are a tool in the toolbox: Goals are not the end-all and be-all of health
and wellness. Use goals as milestones, not destinations. Use goals to build mo-
mentum to start, but form habits to sustain behaviors.
• Goals should be SMART: Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, and time-bound.
• Write out your goals but focus on action: Come up with a timeline and plan
of action, but don’t get stuck planning and forget to pursue.
OKR (objectives and key results) is a goal-setting framework widely used in business to
define measurable and meaningful goals and track outcomes. Objectives are significant,
concrete, and clearly defined goals. Key results are the measurable success criteria used
to track the achievement of those goals. Although goals are not always necessary, they
can be beneficial when structured correctly and used in the proper context.
The OKR framework can provide structure and clarity when you consider what you truly
want to achieve within the many different categories of health and wellness. This frame-
work can keep you accountable; it narrows your focus and helps you measure progress.
With OKRs, both the objectives and key results must be personalized and measurable.
You should be able to rationalize why you set a specific goal and define what success
looks like to you. As mentioned above, goals should be identity-driven and aligned with
your priorities.
When determining your key results, there should be no gray areas. They should provide
a healthy challenge. A good rule of thumb is that you should only be achieving critical
results at a 70% rate. You should reevaluate your key results if you achieve a success rate
consistently higher or significantly lower than 70%. Creating your goals this way will give
you direction and help you stay motivated. This framework lets you keep tight feedback
loops aligned with what’s important to you.
When choosing and tracking goals, you should focus more on the process and actions you
need to take, rather than their results. You should understand why each objective and
its key result are essential. It should be about who you want to become, not just about
getting to a destination. OKRs will help you take positive steps toward optimizing health,
wellness, and performance.
Below are some examples of how to structure your OKRs based on the Core Four.

OKR EXAMPLES
Movement
• Objective: Get 10,000 steps a day.

• Key Results: Take two fifteen-minute walks per day, don’t sit for longer than an
hour at a time, take 50% of your meetings while walking, use the stairs instead of
the elevator, and park further away when you go places.
Nutrition
• Objective: Eat more vegetables.

• Key Results: Meal prep every Sunday, put a serving of veggies in your morning
smoothie, buy five different vegetables every week, eat only vegetables as your
weekday snacks.
Recovery
• Objective: Get at least seven hours of sleep every night.

• Key Results: Establish and set alarms for bedtime and wake-up time, eat dinner
before 7:00 p.m., turn off lights by 10:00 p.m. each night, and read before bed.
Lifestyle
• Objective: Limit screen time.

• Key Results: Set screen and app limits, avoid watching TV during the workday,
limit social media to thirty minutes a day, go on two walks per day, and read one
book per week.
Your lifestyle is woven together by how you think, act, and feel daily. It is driven by your
emotions, stress, environment, habits, mindset, and other forces. How you live directly
reflects who you strive to be. You don’t control the cards you are dealt, but you do control
how you play those cards. Your genetics can predispose you to certain traits and behaviors,
but you have the power to change the expression of those genes. We are plagued as a
country by chronic stress and mental illness. People are coasting through life with no
motivation or desire to take control of their health.
Fortunately, lifestyle shifts in your belief systems, perspective, and behaviors can dra-
matically change how you experience the world. You see things through your unique

lens, which can shape your thoughts and actions. Developing a growth mindset and
controlling your emotions through mindfulness practices can help you see acute stress
as a benefit while avoiding chronic stress. You should focus on how stress can enhance
your life instead of degrading it.
Like stress, your emotions can be a powerful modulator of your life and moment-to-mo-
ment states. You deal with stress and emotions every day. Your quality of life will greatly
improve when you channel these psychological and physiological responses in the right
direction. Leveraging your emotions and relationships with others can set you up for
success. You don’t always know what will come next, but you can prepare how you will re-
spond. Your mind is a prediction machine powered by both primitive and modern desires.
Potent brain chemicals like dopamine can reinforce behaviors and lead to motivation.
Your motivation to live a healthier life can be naturally stimulated through action. Action
should always precede motivation and can serve as a much more dependable and potent
resource than any external source. Your sense of purpose, harmonious passion, dopamine
control, autonomy, and mastery are all critical ingredients in building your intrinsic
motivation. When you are motivated, you are more productive. In today’s world, the skill
of productivity is getting harder and harder to come by.
Your productivity playbook should combine prioritization, focus, environment, orga-

nization, and time management. Hone these skills and learn how to be more efficient
and, more importantly, more effective. A productive life is healthy, especially when you
clearly understand your Why. Several factors can influence your subjective well-being
and happiness, but your happiness ultimately boils down to how much satisfaction,
enjoyment, and purpose you have.
Living a moral life marked by compassion, gratitude, humility, and purpose, as well as
focusing on the present moment, can bring joy and fulfillment to each day. Becoming
the best version of yourself requires you to continuously shift your perspective, edit your
beliefs, and upgrade your identity. Living in line with who you want to become requires
a conscious effort when you design your internal and external environment. A robust
mental state lays the foundation of your internal environment, but all the willpower and
discipline in the world can’t overcome a poor external environment.
You must be meticulous when you choose the people, places, things, and information
around you, because these things will put you in the best position to succeed. When you
do this, healthy habits can emerge and harmful habits can be avoided. Your habits make

up almost half of your daily actions, so knowing how to build and break habits is essential.
Having suitable systems and processes in place helps you sustain progression.
Unfortunately, many people still rely heavily on outcome-based measures they can’t
always control. Specific outcomes and goals can be excellent in the proper context or
the short term, but for continued growth and fundamental lifestyle changes, your focus
should be on daily habits. Goals are for planning while habits are for executing the plan.
Small changes done consistently can lead to significant results. In this chapter, you have
all the information, skills, and strategies you need to empower you to take control of
your lifestyle.
Lifestyle is the connecting force that binds together the rest of the Core Four pillars of
health and wellness (Movement, Nutrition, and Recovery). The more you can align your
thoughts, behaviors, and feelings with your values, paradigms, and purpose, the easier
it will become to live a genuinely healthy and happy life. You must be willing to explore
within yourself, challenge assumptions, accept what you cannot change, and let your
purpose drive your pursuits. Every experience is an opportunity to learn, and life grants
you many experiences. Use them to grow continuously. Life is about the journey, not the
destination. It’s about progression, not perfection. It’s about constantly working toward
the best version of yourself and being better than you were yesterday.

A Final Word on Consistency
When it comes to achieving most things worth striving for, the difference between success
and a lifetime spent wondering “what if” is consistency. Reaching the pinnacle of your
profession, creating your masterpiece, or shedding a few stubborn pounds isn’t a matter
of flipping a switch or catching a lucky break. It’s about putting in sustained, disciplined
effort over time so you can succeed when it counts.
Though it’s easy to understand consistency on a basic level, applying a consistent effort
day in and day out can feel daunting. Just look at the fact that 80% of people who set
New Year’s resolutions give up by the start of February. You know what you need to do.
You know why it matters to you. What you don’t always know is how to keep doing what
it takes long enough to see the results you want.
So what’s the reason for this consistency conundrum? Whether on TV or social media,
you don’t have to look hard for examples of people pushing for fast results with minimal
effort. Even if you see through the fad diets, miracle cures, or wacky exercise gadgets,
it’s still all too easy to absorb the belief that any plan that doesn’t deliver visible results
in weeks or even days isn’t worth your time.
While it’s obviously important to make sure any program is properly oriented toward
your goals, the harsh truth is that most of the time, it’s not the plan that fails—it’s the
person who fails to adhere to the plan. There’s often more than one contributing factor to
inconsistency, and sometimes one issue can lead to another. It may start as impatience
with slow progress, but without the right frame of mind, a good support system, and the
flexibility to push past excuses, it’s all too easy to feel like putting in consistent effort is
more trouble than it’s worth.
So what does it take to make steady progress toward your goals? What does real consis-
tency look like? And how can you create the right set of circumstances to set yourself up
for sustainable success? Those are all questions I’ll answer below as I discuss all things
consistency. By the end of this section, you’ll understand not only the benefits of a
consistent approach to health, performance, and longevity, but some of the subtle ways
you can break down bad habits, excise your excuses, and put your mind on a consistent
path to wherever you want to go.

THE MANY MEANINGS OF CONSISTENCY
Consistent habits are built step by step. Here, I break down the various definitions of
consistency so you can understand its component parts. From Dictionary.com:
1. Steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, or form (Dictionary.com 2022).
◊ Achieving consistency starts by operating with a vision in mind. Es-

sentially, it’s the same process as making a New Year’s resolution, but
you should make it as actionable as possible. In the case of health and
wellness, your guiding principle can be as straightforward as “working
out and eating right will take me to where I want to go with my fitness.”
Choosing your principle is easy, but adhering to it can be a real sticking
point. Steadfast adherence to that guiding principle can mean taking the
time to work out even on busy days or staying on top of your nutrition
even when travel might offer an excuse.
2. Agreement, harmony, or compatibility, especially correspondence or uniformity

among the parts of a complex thing (Dictionary.com 2022).
◊ Consistency is also about making sure your efforts are harmonious and
compatible with your goals, so that each individual action is part of a
uniform effort that moves you toward what you’re after, especially with
something complex like health and wellness. Even though you may feel
like you’re performing consistently just by going through the motions of
going to the gym, real consistency means making sure that what you do
actually fits with what it takes to get results. No matter what route you
choose to take, a well-rounded plan will not only help you attack your
goals from every angle, but will also keep things fresh so you can keep
coming back to what works.
3. The condition of cohering or holding together and retaining form; solidity or

firmness (Dictionary.com 2022).
◊ As that third definition suggests, consistency centers on retaining your

form to stay solid and hold firm. In practice, that means flexibility is your
friend. Achieving true consistency isn’t a matter of just doing anything
and expecting to get to where you want to go. It means controlling what
you can control and doing something even when it feels like your circum-

stances are against you. It might mean sneaking away to the hotel gym to
squeeze in a few lifts while traveling, or making the best food choices out
of whatever’s available rather than using your perceived lack of control as
an excuse to go crazy at the buffet. You don’t need to be perfect to make
progress. Sometimes consistency is about maintaining momentum rather
than making huge leaps. Over time, building healthy habits will sustain
you regardless of your environment.
AVOIDING THE INPUTS FOR INCONSISTENCY
Now that you know a little bit more about the (literal) defining characteristics of consis-
tency, it’s worth exploring some of the ways people can fall short. The most important
thing to remember is that inconsistency isn’t a character flaw or a fixed state. Often, it’s
just a product of poor planning or an unhelpful frame of mind. And as you’ll see, a few
subtle tweaks to your approach or your mindset can be all it takes to cultivate sustainable
health and wellness habits you can be proud of.
Don’t want too much too fast. Meaningful success almost never happens overnight.
If it only took days for everyone to achieve their health and wellness goals, gyms wouldn’t
sell monthly memberships. Don’t look for the mirror or scale to validate your efforts just
days after you’ve begun. Instead, celebrate little milestones along the way and know that
the results will eventually follow if you accept and embrace consistency.
Avoid instant gratification. As Isaac Newton famously declared, an object at rest

tends to remain at rest. While that law of motion can’t totally explain evolutionary
psychology, it does speak to your brain’s tendency to lead you toward simpler, more im-
mediate pleasures and away from harder work whose rewards are often more distant and
abstract. Staying consistent means keeping that desire for instant gratification in check by
keeping longer-term rewards in mind. True, life would hardly be worth living if you had
to sacrifice everything you enjoyed in service of your health and wellness routines. But if
you indulged your every whim, you wouldn’t even have enough time to work toward your
goals, to say nothing of how some instantly gratifying activities can move you in the wrong
direction. By keeping your eyes on the bigger prize—and responsibly celebrating small
victories along the way—it’s easier to become an object in motion that stays in motion.
Choose a direction you can focus on. Moving consistently without any kind of
direction or specific destination in mind might make for a fun road trip, but it’s not a
formula for turning your daily efforts into something greater. Even with a deep reserve

of willpower, not knowing what you want to achieve or what you should do to get there
will eventually wear anyone down. Why put in a sustained effort if you don’t know how
to define success? Why keep working toward a far-off goal if you don’t have a reliable
map for how to get there? Yes, flexibility is a component of consistency on a day-to-day
basis. But that flexibility has to exist within the framework of what you want to achieve
paired with your plan for arriving at that goal over time.
It’s not all about “all or nothing.” Enthusiasm is the fuel that can help kick-start
a consistent habit. But staying in overdrive twenty-four seven won’t propel you to your
goals faster. In fact, it’ll put you on a fast track to crash and burn. This is where thinking
about the meaning of consistency from a different angle is useful. Don’t just think about
it in terms of putting in regular work. Think about moving forward at a pace that you
can realistically maintain over time. Listen to what your body’s telling you, especially as
you’re starting a new routine, and know that pushing too hard too quickly can only lead
to diminishing returns over time. Know that making consistent progress means regularly
making time for proper rest and recovery, too.
Don’t go it alone. Starting something new on your own and sticking to it can be tough.
Who do you turn to for advice or motivation? Who’s keeping you accountable? Who will
help you celebrate your wins? While no one can do the work for you, sticking with a habit
and making steady progress is a whole lot easier with someone in your corner who can
talk you out of giving up.
Take away your temptations. Just as you can benefit from the right kind of support,
the wrong kind of influences can knock you off your stride. Beyond letting people in your
life know about your goals and spending your time with people who understand what
your goals mean to you, think about the temptations you keep around. What short-term
pleasures can you live without to make long-term gains?
Don’t make your mind your enemy. The surest way to fail to achieve something is to
tell yourself you can’t do it. With a negative frame of mind, you end up diminishing your
accomplishments as you get going. You can even stop yourself before you start. Counter
your negative assumptions about health and wellness by giving things a try and seeing
what actually happens. Celebrate even the smallest moments of progress. By getting your
mind on your side, you’ll start to believe in ways that power consistent action.

TAKE YOUR FIRST STEPS TOWARD CONSISTENCY
Every successful quest for consistency has one thing in common: action. You could
spend all the time in the world setting yourself up for success and getting into the right
frame of mind. But without taking action, your habits aren’t habits: they’re just ideas,
or empty promises.
That can seem daunting, but the thing to remember is that action isn’t all or nothing.
You shouldn’t feel like you have to achieve the ultimate result with your first step, and
you shouldn’t spring into action without a plan. Think of developing consistency as
strengthening a muscle. You (probably) can’t curl a hundred pounds if you’ve never picked
up a dumbbell before, and feeling like you need to lift that much weight right away will
set you up for failure. But by choosing a goal, breaking it into smaller steps, and keeping
at it over time, you’ll eventually reach a point where what once seemed difficult suddenly
feels a whole lot easier.
While taking action may be the first visible step toward establishing consistency, it will
be more meaningful—and ultimately lead to success—if you lay the groundwork first. Use
the Ideas to Action Framework from the Motivation and Drive section to get you started.
There will never be a perfect time to do this, but checking a few of these things off the list
will make the leap from idea to action a little less daunting.
EXPLORING THE KEYS TO CONSISTENCY
Action is one part of the equation for consistency, but repetition is the multiplier. When
you repeat a single action dozens or hundreds of times, the product of that action is
much greater. Here are some smart steps you can take to start turning a single act into
an easy-to-follow habit.
Build your willpower muscles to exercise self-control. Willpower is a muscle.

Every time you do hard things you know you need to do, that muscle gets a little bit
stronger. Over time, you’ll gradually feel more comfortable being uncomfortable, and
you’ll develop a sense of internal motivation that reframes how you think about the actions
you once wanted to avoid. This will not only help you keep your eyes on the prize when
obstacles are in your path; it will help you develop a sense of resilience that will serve
you well in other areas of life.

Become a product of the right environment. There’s immense value in surround-
ing yourself with the right people, places, things, and information that can make being
consistent a frictionless experience. Connecting with a group of like-minded people can
boost motivation and keep you accountable. Scanning your environment to eliminate
bad influences and add in good ones can reduce the mental effort it takes to pursue your
goals. Consuming the right information helps guide you while avoiding distractions helps
you stay focused. All these things help in making something a consistent part of your life.
Prioritize progress over perfection. Consistency is about the unwavering pursuit of

your goals through persistent, repeated action. However, it’s unrealistic—not to mention
undesirable—to expect that you’ll complete the exact same action in the exact same way
every single day. Once you acknowledge that obstacles and setbacks are part of your
journey, you will free your mind to think more flexibly about what you can do to keep
moving forward. Ask yourself: Given my present circumstances, what’s the next right
thing to do? It’s easier to find a way to do something that creates or sustains momentum,
rather than waiting around for the perfect set of circumstances.
Spot your roadblocks and move around or through them. Flexibility helps you
deal with things you can’t control, but a little foresight and planning can go a long way
toward avoiding some of the obstacles that might derail you. For example, do you have
any upcoming travel that would force you to change your choices? Successfully working
around less-than-ideal circumstances can actually strengthen your commitment to con-
sistency by showing you how adaptable your habit is in a variety of challenging situations.
Control what you can control: your effort. While the goal that inspired your
consistent habit should be defined by measurable results, that doesn’t mean that you will
see results after every action. In fact, sometimes the lack of outcome after an action can
feel discouraging if it’s the only way to judge success. Unfortunately, you can’t control
whether an action creates an immediate, positive result. To counter this feeling, you
should control and measure your effort. It sounds cliché, but trusting the process will
serve you well. Consistently put one foot in front of the other. Even if your path involves
an occasional detour, you’ll be surprised at where you end up.
Celebrate your success the right way. Consistency requires certain sacrifices, but
your journey shouldn’t feel like a long slog to some distant goal. To stay motivated, take
honest stock of your progress. If you’ve hit some of the milestones you laid out when
you formed your plan, don’t be afraid to celebrate them, as long as your reward doesn’t
undo your progress. Sometimes, that extra bit of short-term motivation can make all the
difference when the going gets tough, or when that bigger goal starts to feel out of reach.

Have a short memory for your setbacks. No matter how much you plan ahead,
some obstacles will inevitably sneak up on you. Unexpected setbacks happen. When they
do, the best way forward is to learn from them without dwelling on them. One mistake or
one bad day won’t define you. It’s how you bounce back from it that will.
Now that you have some practical tools to get started, avoid drop-off, and stay consistent,
the only thing left to do is to put them to use. Whether it’s getting more steps in, eating
less junk food, or getting eight hours of sleep, set yourself up for success by following
the key steps above. Whatever it is you want to achieve, remember that oftentimes, the
difference between success and failure is consistency. If you start thinking about the
downside of action, think about the cost of inaction. No first step is too small, as long as
it’s a step forward. Pick a direction, keep showing up one day at a time, and you’ll start to
pick up the momentum that will help you create sustainable, lasting changes.

Conclusion
Health is vital to every aspect of our lives. Without mental, physical, and social well-being,
we can’t enjoy life’s numerous joys. Without our health, we are restricted in what we do,
how we do it, and when we can do it. Often, we don’t truly come to appreciate our health
until it’s compromised. We start working out after we get out of shape, we go on a diet
after we gain weight, and we start prioritizing sleep after we notice our energy slumping.
When it comes to health, we are generally reactive, not proactive, and it’s not from lack of
knowledge. Most people have a good sense of how to improve their health: eat vegetables,
exercise more, get more sleep, and get enough sunlight. We know what’s right and wrong
and what needs to be done from a health standpoint. But time and time again, we fall short
in execution. We are in a health epidemic—a global crisis—that is largely preventable.
Obesity, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and many other ailments are taking the lives
of millions of people every year. The physical, emotional, social, and financial damage
these diseases and conditions cause is enormous.
If we don’t take control of our health and wellness, these illness rates will continue to
rise, money will continue to be spent, and lives will continue to be lost. Thanks to modern
medicine, we live longer lives, but these extra years are spent battling disease, taking
various pills and treatments, and barely hanging on. Sadly, the onus is on us to change
these realities. Society does not make it easy to make the right, necessary, and healthy
choices. Our environments are filled with quick fixes, shortcuts, misinformation, and
false promises. Being healthy in today’s society feels like going against the grain.
Fortunately, you and I have the power to do and be better for ourselves and our families,
friends, communities, and society. We can flip the script and change our country’s
health narrative. It all starts with you. You now have a comprehensive guide to health
and wellness optimization. A mini health and wellness encyclopedia that allows you
to participate actively in your journey instead of being a passive bystander. You have a
framework to learn, grow, and develop.
When you educate yourself with the right information, you can better explore your
landscape and options. With your health and wellness, you should take a personalized
approach and empirically test things instead of automatically believing conventional
wisdom. You can experiment to figure out what works and what doesn’t, what you can
sustain and what you can’t. Once you know what works, you can relentlessly implement
Conclusion 243
and execute your plan to achieve great results. Lastly, you must continuously evolve on
your journey by reviewing, reflecting, and revising to ensure that you align your values
and purpose with your thoughts and behaviors.
With this information, you can answer the question posed at the book’s beginning: What
does being healthy mean to you? It’s a question only you can answer. It’s a question you
must continuously explore.
Every single person on this planet is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all health plan out
there. Through nature and nurture—environment and genetics—we all experience the
world differently. The Vitality System allows you to see your health and wellness through
your own lens so you can change what matters to you in the most effective way possible.
The Vitality System gives you the power to be a reality architect, creating your new reality
based on the knowledge and experience you gain.
A Chinese proverb sums it up perfectly: Give a man a pole and he’ll catch a fish a week.
Tell him what bait to use, and he’ll catch a fish a day. Show him how and where to fish and
he’ll have fish to eat for a lifetime. The Vitality System doesn’t just provide information.
It empowers you to use the information, and supplies the frameworks, strategies, and
principles you need to take control of your health and wellness, ignite meaningful change,
and inspire others while achieving your own fulfillment. My goal, as creator of The Vitality
System, is to have you apply, share, and build on this knowledge, test the strategies, and
implement the principles.
We discover possibilities by doing. Be clear about where you want to go on your journey,
but be flexible in how you get there. Progress won’t always be linear. There will be many
peaks and valleys on your path, and many successes and failures. Use failure as feedback
and let challenge be the fuel for positive change. Do this, and you will be ready to take
on the health and wellness world with newfound courage and confidence. The road to
vitality is a special one, and your capacity for learning, development, progression, and
growth is endless. I hope you explore your path to vitality.
If we want to change the state of health and wellness in this world, we must start with
ourselves. It’s our job to be the change we wish to see in the world. I always say that the
best way to predict the future is to create it.

The Vitality Pledge
To kick-start or build upon your health and wellness journey, I encourage you to take the
Vitality Pledge. This pledge is designed to help you apply what you have learned from
the book. The Vitality Pledge consists of choosing one action or behavior related to each
of the Core Four and implementing it daily for thirty days. The action can be whatever
you like, as long as it’s beneficial to your journey and personalized to you. Below, you’ll
find examples of actions for each of the Core Four that you can use as inspiration for
your own Vitality Pledge. The goal is to pick behaviors that will support your growth and
progression, empowering you to build healthy habits, ignite meaningful change, and take
control of your health and wellness. So take the Vitality Pledge and get started today!
Movement
• Get 10,000 steps each day

• Don’t sit for more than eight hours a day
• Thirty minutes of exercise a day
• Five minutes of stretching each day
Nutrition
• Try a new vegetable or fruit every week

• Drink half your body weight in fluid ounces of water each day
• Avoid sugary beverages or alcohol for a month
• Meal prep once a week
Recovery
• Get seven to nine hours of sleep each night

• Get ten to thirty minutes of sunlight each day
• Take five-minute breaks at work each day
• Incorporate a heat or cold exposure protocol twice a week
Lifestyle
• Journal daily to reflect or to brain-dump

• Read for fifteen minutes each day
The Vitality Pledge 245

• Meditate for five minutes each day
• Limit screen time to a specific amount each day
Tips and Strategies for Your Vitality Pledge
• Print it and display it somewhere you’ll see frequently

• Take the pledge with someone else and hold each other accountable
• Start small and build up with your actions or behaviors
• Post your pledge on social media

Educational Resources
VITALITY SYSTEM QUICK REFERENCE
Mission Statement: Empower people to take control of their health and wellness, ignite
meaningful change, and inspire others while reaching their own personal fulfillment.
Foundational Principles
The Foundational Principles provide structure for your journey. Each of the five phases
is essential and lays the groundwork for making, sustaining, and advancing significant
and impactful behavior changes.
• Education—Baseline Knowledge: Education is the process or acquisition of

awareness, skills, habits, values, and knowledge.
• Exploration—Strategic Planning and Awareness: Exploration is the act
of searching for the purpose of discovering information or resources.
• Experimentation—Test, Measure, Analyze: Experimentation is the action
or process of trying out new ideas, methods, or activities.
• Execution—Implement and Achieve: Execution is carrying out or putting
into effect a plan, order, or course of action.
• Evolution—Review, Refine, Adapt, and Transform: Evolution is the
gradual development of something from a simple form to a more complex one.
Vitality Concepts
ASSESSMENTS
Assessments will help you evaluate specific aspects of your health and wellness. You
should use assessments to collect information, analyze data, and interpret different
situations so you can make the healthiest, most sustainable decisions for yourself.

• Why Prompts: Why Prompts are a set of questions and strategies to help you
find, adjust, or clarify your Why to create a path toward a healthy, fulfilling, and
enjoyable life.
• CHANGERS Framework:
C: Choices are the decisions or selections you make when faced with multiple
possibilities.
H: Habits are regular routines or behaviors that tend to occur subconsciously.
A: Awareness is the state of being conscious of something, or having knowl-
edge of or perceiving a situation or fact.
N: Novelty is the quality of being new, original, or unusual.
G: A goal is the object of a person’s ambition or effort. It is an aim or de-
sired result.
E: Your environment comprises the circumstances, objects, people, or condi-
tions you are surrounded by.
R: Readiness is the state of being fully prepared for something, or the willing-
ness to do something.
S: Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their capacity to execute the
behaviors necessary to achieve specific outcomes.
• Comfortability Continuum: The Comfortability Continuum is a theory for

understanding the optimal comfort level needed for meaningful change. This
assessment involves figuring out the correct balance between getting out of your
comfort zone and sticking with what you know.
• Triple R Report: Reviewing is assessing or examining something with the
intention of instituting change if necessary. Reflection involves thinking deeply
and carefully about something. Revision is about making changes or alterations
in light of further evidence to improve or correct something.
BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES
Behavioral Strategies are practical approaches to sustainable behavior change. They are
the ultimate tools for promoting learning and progression toward a desired behavior.
• 3P Method: The 3P Method is a quick but versatile process used when building
a habit, establishing a goal, or trying to accomplish something. The 3Ps stand for
Prioritize, Plan, and Pursue.

• Impulse Resistance Training: Impulse Resistance Training is a strategy de-
signed to strengthen willpower and self-discipline by repeatedly and deliberately
resisting urges to do unwanted behaviors.
MENTAL MODELS
Mental models are a collection of different concepts, ideas, and paradigms that can
broaden your scope of perceptions and behaviors.
• Active Open-Mindedness: Viewing your knowledge as a collection of hypoth-

eses that need testing.
• First Principles Thinking: Actively questioning every assumption you
have about a problem or scenario, then creating new solutions and knowledge
from scratch.
• Lateral Thinking: The indirect and creative approach to solving problems,
typically by viewing the issue in a new and unusual light.
• Sampling: The idea of trying out several different things to gain a breadth of
experience before narrowly focusing on one thing.
• Association: Association is the ability to connect ideas from unrelated fields
or places.
• Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck defines people with growth mindsets as “people
that believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication
and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point,” (Dweck 2006).
• Network of Expertise: Collecting and organizing several different perspectives
from experts or trusted sources to supplement and enhance your understanding
of a given topic, idea, or problem.
• Context-Dependent Analysis: Evaluate and adjust your behavior based on
the situation to ensure that you make the best decision for your overall health
and wellness.
THE CORE FOUR
The most significant factors related to health, wellness, performance,

and longevity.
• Movement • Recovery
• Nutrition • Lifestyle

TABLES, DEFINITIONS, AND FURTHER
INFORMATION
Movement
MOVEMENT ASSESSMENTS
Evaluate your movement quality using the exercises below.
Bodyweight Squat
1. Start standing with feet just outside shoulder-width apart, arms down, and
good posture.
2. Bend your knees to sit down as low as possible, trying to maintain good posture.
3. Lift your arms to parallel with the ground while sinking down.
4. Rise back into the starting position.
Optimal: Femur at or below parallel to the ground, torso and tibia are parallel, knees
track in line with or just outside of ankles, neutral spine throughout, arms parallel to the
ground, and feet pointing forward.
Suboptimal: Heels rise, excessive forward-leaning torso, knees are valgus (caving
inward) or varus (bowing outward), feet turn out, femur doesn’t reach parallel to ground,
lower back rounds or arches, and arms don’t reach parallel to ground.
Split Squat
1. Start standing with feet shoulder-width apart, both hands on hips, and good posture.
2. Take a comfortable step back into a split stance with feet one stride’s length apart.
3. Maintaining good posture, bend knees and sink until the back knee hovers right
above the ground.
4. Rise back up from the split stance, keeping hands on hips, and return to start-
ing position.

Optimal: Balanced step back, both feet point forward, front heel stays on the ground,
front knee tracks over the front ankle, back knee hovers over the ground without touching,
both knees bent at near-ninety-degree angles at end position, and torso remains upright.
Suboptimal: Unbalanced step back, feet turn inward or outward, front heel rises, front
knee caves inward or bows out, bent knees can’t obtain ninety degree angles, and excessive
forward lean or side bending.
Hurdle Step
1. Start standing with feet shoulder-width apart, both hands on hips, and good posture.
2. Bring one leg out to the side of the body, trying to get femur parallel with the
ground while tibia remains perpendicular.
3. Slowly bring that leg around so the knee points forward, keeping femur parallel
to the floor until you are in a marching position.
4. Lower that leg and return to the starting position.
5. Repeat with the opposite leg.
Optimal: Balanced single leg stance, femur parallel with the ground, ankles, knees, hips,
and shoulders remain stable throughout, and torso remains upright.
Suboptimal: Loss of balance in single-leg stance, femur unable to reach parallel with
the ground, loss of alignment or stability in the ankles, knees, hips, or shoulders, and
excessive forward lean or side bending.
Bent Over YTW
1. Start standing with feet shoulder-width apart and good posture.

2. Bend forward from the hips to position upper body approximately parallel to
the ground.
3. While bent forward, lift arms into a Y position, then lower them down.
4. Repeat, making a T with arms out to the sides, then a W with bent arms.
5. Return to starting position.
Optimal: Hinge at the hips, shins remain vertical, upper body at or close to parallel with
the ground, arms in line with the head and spine for the Y, T, and W, neutral spine, and
ankles, knees, and hips remain stable throughout.

Suboptimal: Squat instead of hinge, shins not vertical, upper body unable to reach
parallel with the ground, arms unable to be in line with head and spine on the Y, T, or
W, rounding or arching of the spine, and loss of stability in the ankles, knees, or hips.
Push-up and Modified Push-up
1. Start in a high plank position with hands directly below shoulders and lower body
resting on the balls of the feet (for a modified push-up, start with knees on the
ground and neutral spine).
2. Slowly move the body down as a unit. Get as close to the ground as you can without
touching it and maintain a neutral spine.
3. Push back up to starting position while maintaining a neutral spine.
Optimal: Hands facing forward, neutral head and spine, whole body moves as a unit,
controlled descent until chest is right above the ground, controlled ascend back to starting
position, and elbow at or below a forty-five degree angle to the body.
Suboptimal: Hands flare out or drift inward, hips dip or butt rises, the body doesn’t
move as a unit (spine lags), uncontrolled descent, inability to return to the starting
position, and elbows flare out.
Bird Dog
1. Start in a quadruped position with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
2. Keeping the spine neutral, fully extend diagonally opposite arm and leg (e.g., right
arm and left leg) until parallel to the ground.
3. Return to the starting position while maintaining a neutral spine and repeat with
other side.
Optimal: Knees directly under hips, hands directly under shoulders, neutral spine
throughout, opposite arm and leg reach full extension while parallel to the ground, and
balance and stability maintained throughout.
Suboptimal: Knees can’t remain or start under hips, hands can’t remain or start under
shoulders, can’t maintain neutral spine, opposite arm and leg can’t reach full extension,
can’t maintain balance or stability throughout.
Hip Lift

1. Start by lying on your back with knees bent at about ninety degrees and heels
driven into the ground.
2. Fully extend hips up into a “bridge” position and hold, maintaining a neutral spine.
3. Return to starting position.
Optimal: Hips reach full extension, neutral spine, and knees maintain ninety-de-
gree angles.
Suboptimal: Inability to raise hips off the ground, hips cannot reach full extension,
excessive arch or rounding of the spine, and knees can’t maintain ninety-degree angles.
7 MOVEMENT PATTERNS
MOVEMENT
DESCRIPTION PRIMARY MUSCLES USED MOVEMENT EXAMPLES
PATTERN
Push Pushing a load away from your Pecs, Triceps, Deltoids Chest Press, Push-up, Tricep
body, or pushing your body Dip
away from an object or surface
Pull Pulling a load toward your Lats, Rhomboids, Biceps, Rowing, Pull-up, Lat Pulldown
body, or pulling your body Posterior Deltoids
toward an anchored point
Squat Bending knee and hip to lower Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings Bodyweight Squat, Weighted
your body down Back or Front Squat
Lunge Stepping forward, backward, Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings Reverse or Forward Lunge,
or to either side with one leg Lateral Lunge
and lowering down while the
other leg remains stationary
Hinge Tilting your torso forward Glutes, Hamstrings Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift,
by bending at the hips with Glute Bridge
maximal hip bend and minimal
knee bend
Rotation Twisting or turning to produce Obliques, Rectus Russian Twist, Woodchop,

or resist force Abdominis, Transverse Plank Variations
Abdominis

Gait or Carry Motions to propel the body Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings, Walking, Jogging, Running,
forward, requiring multiple Calves Farmer’s Carry
other movement patterns
TYPES OF EXERCISE
• Endurance: the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.
◊ Aerobic exercises: brisk walking, swimming, running, and cycling are

activities that increase your heart and breathing rate.
◊ Anaerobic exercises: high-intensity interval training (HIIT), weight
lifting, sprinting, and jumping are shorter, more intense bouts of activity
that break down glucose for energy without oxygen.
• Strength: Strength or resistance exercises are activities designed to improve

muscle strength.
• Balance and Stability: Balance and stability exercises are activities that enhance
proprioception and coordination. They also prevent falls by strengthening and
stabilizing muscles in your core, legs, and back.
◊ Balance: yoga, tai chi, Pilates, plyometrics, heel-toe walks, and eyes-
closed balancing.
◊ Stability: static, dynamic, and reactive exercises, DNS (Dynamic Neuro-
muscular Stabilization), planks, rotations, bridges, and Pallof presses.
• Flexibility and Mobility: Flexibility and mobility exercises are activities where
you deliberately stretch or flex different muscles or muscle groups to improve
elasticity and muscle tone.
◊ Stretching: static, dynamic, active, passive, and ballistic exercises, PNF

(proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation), and myofascial release.
◊ Mobility: CARs (Controlled Articular Rotations), yoga, and Pilates.

INJURY PREVENTION
• Warm-up exercises: high knees, butt kicks, tin soldiers, scoops, world’s greatest
stretch, bodyweight squats, lunge reaches or rotations, A-skips, B-skips, high
planks, jumping rope, light walking, and jogging.
• Cool-down activities: static stretching, light walking and jogging, light yoga,
elevating legs while lying down, controlled breathing, and meditation.
RESOURCES
“The 4 Most Important Types of Exercise”
• https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/the-4-most-important-
types-of-exercise
“Four Types of Exercise Can Improve Your Health and Physical Ability”
• https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/four-types-exercise-can-improve-your-health-
and-physical-ability
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

Basic Anatomy and Physiology
Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body and
Your Life by Mark Verstegen and Pete Williams
Type of Exercises | Athletic Performance | Exercise Prescription
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by
Alex Hutchinson
Athletic Performance | Energy Expenditure
Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence by Gary Mack with David Casstevens
Athletic Performance | Health Benefits of Movement
Age Later: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity by Nir Barzilai
with Toni Robino
Health Benefits of Movement

The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becom-
ing Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
Health Benefits of Movement | Exercise Prescription | Athletic Performance
Becoming A Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury,
and Optimizing Athletic Performance by Kelly Starrett with Glen Cordoza
Movement Assessments | Injury Prevention | Types of Exercise
Life Force: How New Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine Can Transform the Quality
of Your Life & Those You Love by Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis
Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That is Revolutionizing Sports

by Marc Bubbs
Athletic Performance | Health Benefits of Movement
Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding by

Daniel E. Lieberman
The New Health Rules: Simple Changes to Achieve Whole Body Wellness by Frank
Lipman and Danielle Claro
Health Benefits of Movement | Types of Exercise | Exercise Prescription
Strength Training Anatomy by Frédéric Delavier

Basic Anatomy and Physiology | Exercise Prescription | Types of Exercise
Yoga Anatomy: Your Illustrated Guide to Postures, Movements, and Breathing Tech-
niques by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews
Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists by

Thomas W. Myers

Nutrition
MICRONUTRIENT TABLES
Vitamins
SOLUBIL-
VITAMIN BENEFITS FOOD SOURCES TOXICITY DEFICIENCY
ITY TYPE
Vitamin A Fat • Important for vision, • Retinols (liver, • Nausea, • Vision issues,
soluble bone growth, organ eggs, fish, dairy headache, acne, dry eyes,
function and immune • Carotenoids fatigue, and skin
function (red, yellow, dry skin,
and orange dizziness
vegetables) • Hypervita-
• Dark leafy greens minosis (from
excessive
supplemen-
tation)
Vitamin B1 Water • Helps convert food into • Beans and • N/A • Rare (beriberi,
(Thiamin) soluble energy Legumes confusion,
• Nerve function • Whole grains memory loss)
• Meats
Vitamin B2 Water • Needed for energy • Dairy • N/A • Rare (damage

(Riboflavin) soluble transfer, cell function, • Dark leafy greens to membranes,
metabolism anxiety, loss of
• Whole grains
appetite)
• Eggs
Vitamin B3 Water • Helps with DNA repair, • Whole grains • Usually • Rare (pellagra,
(Niacin) soluble DNA construction, and • Meat, pork, fish, comes from dementia,
cell signaling poultry excess sup- diarrhea)
• Maintain health of plementation
• Mushrooms
skin, nerves, digestive (nausea,
system liver toxicity,
headache)
Vitamin B5 Water • Helps form fatty acids, • Eggs • Rare • Rare (tingling
(Pantothenic soluble neurotransmitters, • Yogurt (Nausea, feet)
hormones, and heartburn,
acid) • Mushrooms
acetylCoA diarrhea)
• Avocados
• Fish

Vitamin B6 Water • Helps form neurotrans- • Legumes • Neurological • Confusion, de-
(Pyridoxine) soluble mitters, hormones, and • Potatoes symptoms pression, anemia,
red blood cells and anxiety
• Fish, pork beef
• Spinach
Vitamin B7 Water • Helps convert food • Nuts • Rare, unless • Dry skin, depres-
(Biotin) soluble into energy, synthesize • Mushrooms excessively sion, nausea, and
glucose supplement- hair loss
• Eggs
• Helps DNA replication ing
• Spinach
and transcription
• Dairy
• Beans and
legumes
• Sweet potatoes
Vitamin B9 Water • Used in new cell and • Beans and • Can mask • Anemia, low white
(Folate) soluble protein creation, fetal legumes Vitamin B12 blood cell count,
development • Leafy greens deficiency weakness, and
and broccoli or low birth weight
asparagus
• Beef
• Liver
Vitamin B12 Water • Helps form and • Dairy • N/A • Neurological

(Cobalamin) soluble maintain new cells and • Fish problems, loss of
DNA synthesis appetite, fatigue,
• Beef (liver)
and depression
Choline Water • Aids in nutrient • Eggs • Hypotension • Muscle and nerve

soluble transport and building • Meat damage
cell membranes • Cognitive
• Fish
• Used to synthesize problems
• Beans and
acetylcholine • Liver and kidney
legumes
disease
• Tomato products
• Peanuts
Vitamin C Water • Helps build • Colorful fruits and • Diarrhea • Poor wound
(Ascorbic soluble neurotransmitters and vegetables • Kidney healing and
collagen • Citrus stones dental health
acid)
• Protects cells from free • Organ meats • Scurvy
radicals
Vitamin D Fat • Aids in immune • Sunlight (not a • Fluid • Low bone density,
(Chole- soluble function, bone food but should imbalance tooth decay
growth, calcium, and be your main • Loss of • Rickets
calciferol/
phosphorus absorption source) appetite,
Calciferol)
• Fortified dairy nausea,
products vomiting
• Fish • Muscle weak-
• Eggs ness and
joint pain
• Mushrooms

Vitamin E Fat • Stabilizes unstable • Nuts and seeds • Impaired • Muscle weakness
(Tocopherol/ soluble molecules (free • Avocado blood clotting • Impaired vision
radicals) (interferes
Tocotrienol) • Dark leafy greens • Movement and
• Helps cell signaling with
coordination
vitamin K
• Aids in immune issues
metabolism)
function
Vitamin K Fat • Used in blood clotting, • Leafy greens • Negating • Excessive

(Phyllo- soluble cell signaling, bone • Cruciferous anticlogging bleeding or
development vegetables effect of hemorrhaging
quinone/
blood thin- • Anemia
Menaqui- • Dairy
ners
none) • Soybeans
• Meat
Minerals
AMOUNT
NEEDED:
MACRO
MINERALS BENEFITS/ INVOLVED IN FOOD SOURCES TOXICITY DEFICIENCY
(LARGE)
OR TRACE
(SMALL)
Calcium Macro • Helps form bones and • Dairy • Nausea or • Poor bone
(most teeth • Dark green vomiting metabolism
common • Aids in muscle contrac- vegetables • Constipation • Low blood
mineral in tion, nerve impulses, • Beans • Kidney pressure
and hormone secretion problems • Muscle stiffness
the body) • Nuts and seeds
and cramps
• Fish
Chloride Macro • Maintains electro- • Found in almost • N/A • Rare (only occurs
chemical gradient every food in excessive fluid
(fluid balance) • Sodium chloride loss)
• Digestion and (salt)
absorption • Processed foods
Chromium Trace • Maintains blood sugar • Nuts • DNA damage • Rare

levels • Beef (industrial
• Aids in fat metabolism exposure)
• Broccoli
• Mushrooms
• Cheese
• Potatoes

Copper Trace • Free radical scaveng- • Cacao (dark • Nausea and • Anemia
ing (antioxidant) chocolate) vomiting • Low white blood
• Synthesis of • Liver • Liver cell count
neurotransmitters and • Beans and damage
myelin legumes
• Helps make red blood • Mushrooms
cells
• Nuts and seeds
Iodine Trace • Forming thyroid • Iodized salt • Impaired • Burning mouth,

hormones and thyroid • Saltwater fish and neurological throat, stomach
regulation seafood development • Enlarged thyroid
and growth
• Dairy
• Thyroid
• Eggs
dysfunction
Iron Trace • Heme (plant) and • Red meat • Nausea and • Most common
nonheme (animal) • Poultry vomiting deficiency in the
help form hemoglobin, • Increased world
• Eggs
myoglobin, and red disease risk • Anemia
blood cells • Whole grains
(cancer, • Low immunity
• Making up • Dark leafy greens heart
proteins, enzymes, and • Beans and disease,
hormones legumes neurode-
• Seeds generative
diseases)
Magnesium Macro • Needed for chemical • Beans and • Low blood • Muscle cramps or
reactions in the body legumes pressure twitches
• Aids in muscle • Dark leafy greens • Weakness or • Abnormal heart
contraction, blood • Cacao (dark sleepiness rhythms
clotting, and blood chocolate) • Nausea
pressure regulation
• Whole grains
• DNA and protein
• Nuts and seeds
synthesis
• Potatoes
Manganese Trace • Helps metabolize ami- • Tea • Rare • N/A

no acids, cholesterol, • Whole grains (industrial
carbohydrates exposure)
• Nuts
• Cacao (dark
chocolate)
• Peppers
• Onions and garlic
• Dark leafy greens
Molybdenum Trace • Helps with carbon, • Legumes • Rare • Increased uric

nitrogen, sulfur, and • Almonds and acid levels
drug metabolism peanuts
• Potatoes
• Green vegetables
• Oats

Phosphorus Macro • Helps with bone • Beans and • Rare • Rare (except
and cell membrane legumes with severe
structure • Nuts and seeds malnutrition)
• Aids in hormone and • Cheese
enzyme production
• Fish
• Buffers acid and helps
• Beef
with cell signaling
• Eggs
Potassium Macro • Maintains electro- • Meat • Tingling • Cardiac

chemical gradient • Dairy or muscle arrhythmia
(fluid balance) weakness • Muscle cramps
• Beans and
• Aids in enzyme activity legumes • Nausea and • High blood
vomiting pressure
• Fruits
• Vegetables • Kidney stones
and bone loss
• Whole grains
Selenium Trace • Helps to neutralize • Brazil nuts • Skin • Excess oxidation

unstable molecules • Seeds problems, • Problems with
(antioxidant) brittle hair, skeletal and
• Eggs
• Aids in thyroid and nails connective tissue
• Whole grains
regulation • Fatigue and growth
• Fish and seafood nervous
• Meat system
abnormal-
ities
Sodium Macro • Maintains electro- • Salt • Increased • Headache,

chemical gradient • Canned foods fluid volume cramps, fatigue,
(fluid balance) and edema and disorien-
• Processed foods
• Absorbing chloride, • Nausea, tation
amino acids, glucose vomiting,
and diarrhea
Sulfur Macro • Maintains acidbase • Garlic and onions • N/A • Rare (unless on
(third balance • Cruciferous very low protein
most • Contained in important vegetables diet)
abundant amino acids • Meat
mineral in • Collagen synthesis • Eggs
the body) • Seafood
Zinc Trace • Helps form many • Beans and • Nausea and • Delayed growth
enzymes, proteins, legumes vomiting and sexual
and cells • Whole grains • Abdominal maturation
• Aids in immune • Nuts and seeds pain • Low immunity
function, reproduction, • Blocking • Hair loss, vision
• Seafood
and neurological copper impairment, and
function • Meat
absorption loss of appetite
• Mushrooms

Phytonutrients, Myconutrients, and Zoonutrients
NUTRIENT TYPE SOURCE BENEFITS/FUNCTIONS COMPOUNDS
Phytonutrients Plants Help scavenge free radicals (antioxidants) Thousands of known phytonutri-
-Aid in DNA repair, hormone function, immune ents like carotenoids, flavonoids,
function, and lowering inflammation and resveratrol
Myconutrients Fungi Help scavenge free radicals (antioxidants) Thousands of known myconutri-
-Aid in DNA repair, hormone function, immune ents in mushrooms and algae
function, and lowering inflammation
Zoonutrients Animals Aid in suppressing tumor growth, brain Carnitine, creatine, carnosine,
function, muscle growth, and preventing and conjugated linoleic acid
oxidation and glycation (CLA)
HYDRATION (WATER AND FLUID BALANCE)
You can measure hydration and fluid balance through things like urine osmolarity, urine
color (generally, the darker your urine, the more dehydrated you are, although evidence
is not very strong for urine color as a proxy for hydration), urine frequency (if you have to
pee shortly after drinking water, then your body is telling you that you have enough water),
electrolyte levels (through blood work or sweat monitors), and overall performance and
energy. Although none of these methods are a perfect science, they can offer key hints
and insight into your hydration and fluid balance.
Key Hydration Definitions
• Hydration: the process of absorbing and replenishing water and electrolytes

in the body.
• Dehydration: the loss of total body water, resulting in hypertonicity.
• Volume depletion: a reduction in extracellular fluid volume plus a loss
of electrolytes.
• Electrolyte: important minerals in your blood and other body fluids that carry an
electric charge and dissociate in water, like sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride,
magnesium, and phosphorus.
• Intracellular water: water inside the cell (two thirds of total body water).
• Extracellular water: water outside the cell (one third of total body water).
• Osmolarity: the measure of a solution’s concentration expressed as the total
number of solute particles per liter.

• Tonicity: the measure of the concentration (effective osmotic pressure) gradient.
◊ Isotonic: concentration outside the cell is the same as inside the cell.
No water would flow into or out of the cell, and the cell’s volume would
remain stable.
◊ Hypotonic: lower concentration of a solution outside the cell. Water
would flow into the cell, and the cell would gain volume.
◊ Hypertonic: higher concentration of a solution outside the cell. Water
would flow out of the cell, and the cell would lose volume.
NUTRITIONAL FRAMEWORKS
• Eating practices for weight loss: Use smaller plates, put down utensils after
every bite, eat without distraction (no TV or Netflix), chew more, stay hydrated,
stick to one serving, drink water before and during meals, eat at a proper table,
plan meals ahead of time, eat whole, less-processed foods, eat fewer salty and
sugary foods, and pre-portion meals.
• Eating practices for weight gain: Use bigger plates, drink your calories, record
your intake, and eat more nutrient-rich, whole, less-processed foods.
• Hormones that regulate appetite and satiety: Insulin (inhibits hunger),
leptin (stimulates hunger), ghrelin (inhibits hunger), CCK (inhibits hunger),
GLP-1 (inhibits hunger), and ILP-5 (stimulates hunger).
PERSONALIZED NUTRITION
• Types of longevity genes and pathways include Sirtuins, APOE, FOXO3, CETP,
M-Tor, and AMPK.
RESOURCES
Dietary Guidelines for Americans

https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov
SuperLife: The 5 Simple Fixes That Will Make You Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome
by Darin Olien
Personalized Nutrition | Hydration | Acid-Alkaline Balance

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Nutritional Frameworks | Personalized Nutrition
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan

Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive by Max Lugavere and
Paul Grewal
Personalized Nutrition | Macronutrients | Micronutrients
The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform Your
Health from Morning to Midnight by Satchin Panda
Nutritional Frameworks | Energy Balance | Digestion Absorption and Metabolism
The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living
a Good Life by Timothy Ferriss
Nutritional Frameworks | Personalized Nutrition | Supplementation
Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food by Catherine Shanahan with
Luke Shanahan
Personalized Nutrition | Energy Balance | Nutritional Frameworks
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease
by Michael Greger with Gene Stone
Personalized Nutrition | Nutritional Frameworks | Epigenetics
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan

The Science and Technology of Growing Young: An Insider’s Guide to the Breakthroughs
that Will Dramatically Extend Our Lifespan…and What You Can Do Right Now by
Sergey Young

Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To by David Sinclair and Matthew
D. LaPlante
The New Health Rules: Simple Changes to Achieve Whole Body Wellness by Frank
Lipman and Danielle Claro
Recovery
BREATHING
Various strategies for improving your breathing health
• Alternate nostril breathing

• Resonant (coherent breathing)
• Buteyko breathing
• Tummo (Wim Hof)
• Sudarshan Kriya
• Yogic breathing
• Box breathing
• 4-7-8 breathing
• Breath-hold walking
• Physiological sighs
• CO2 tolerance test (See Recovery Indicators and Measurement)
LIGHT
Other Forms of Light Therapy
• Red light, or low-level, light therapy

• Blue or green light therapy
• Infrared light therapy
• Ultraviolet light therapy (UVA or UVB)
• Full-spectrum light therapy

• Sauna light therapy
• Laser treatments
• Note these are newer and emerging therapies, so use extreme caution if trying or
consulting with a professional.
RESOURCES
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

Breathing
The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing That Will Revolutionise
Your Health and Fitness by Patrick McKeown
Breathing
The Breathing Cure: Develop new Habits for a Healthier, Happier, and Longer Life
by Patrick McKeown
Breathing
The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time by Arianna
Huffington
Sleep
The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It by W. Chris Winter
Sleep
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
Sleep
Becoming A Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury,
and Optimizing Athletic Performance by Kelly Starrett with Glen Cordoza
Recovery Levels
Sleep | Breathing | Recovery Indicators and Measurement

Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn From the Strange Science of
Recovery by Christie Aschwanden
Recovery Levels | Recovery Indicators and Measurement | Temperature
Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That is Revolutionizing Sports

by Marc Bubbs
Recovery Levels | Recovery Indicators and Measurement | Immunity
Lifestyle
EMOTIONS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
There are hundreds of types of personality tests out there. Do your research and find
what works best for you.
• Personality Test: The Big Five (OCEAN)

• Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Tests
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Tests
RESOURCES
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

Mindset and Mindfulness
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
Habits and Goals Setting
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by
James Clear
Habits and Goals Setting
From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the
Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks
Happiness | Fulfillment and Joy

The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and
in Life by Leo Babauta
Productivity
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Habits and Goals Setting | Why Prompts
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Productivity
The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the
Benefits of an Unbalanced Life by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness
Motivation and Drive
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Motivation and Drive | Happiness | Fulfillment and Joy | Why Prompts
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Greaves
Emotions and Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
by Robert Sapolsky
Stress
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Change Maker by John Berardi

Happiness | Fulfillment and Joy | Comfortability Continuum | Why Prompts
Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
Motivation and Drive | Comfortability Continuum

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for
Lasting Fulfillment by Martin E. P. Seligman
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E. P. Seligman
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
by Timothy Gallwey
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

Stress | Mindset and Mindfulness | Happiness | Fulfillment and Joy
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Mindset and Mental Models
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Productivity
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Environment | Mental Models
The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and
Creativity by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by the Dalai Lama, Desmond
Tutu, and Douglas Abrams

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
by Michael Easter
Mindset and Mindfulness | Comfortability Continuum | Happiness | Fulfill-
ment and Joy
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less
Time by Brian Tracy
Productivity
Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It by Ian Leslie
Motivation and Drive | Happiness | Fulfillment and Joy
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel
van der Kolk
Stress
Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter

Your Mind, and Focus on the Present by Nick Trenton
Mindset and Mindfulness | Happiness | Fulfillment and Joy | Stress
How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
by Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson

GENERAL RESOURCES
Websites
• https://examine.com/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• https://www.mayoclinic.org
• www.nih.gov
• www.cdc.gov
• www.fda.gov
• www.healthfinder.gov
• https://medlineplus.gov/
• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health
• https://www.nature.com/
• https://www.science.org/
• https://www.cell.com/
• https://www.nejm.org/
• https://jamanetwork.com/
• https://www.thelancet.com/
• https://nutritionfacts.org/
• https://www.nutrition.gov/
• https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/
• https://thevitalitysystem.co/
Podcasts
• Huberman Lab Podcast by Andrew Huberman

• The Drive by Peter Attia
• The Mindset Mentor by Rob Dial
• FoundMyFitness by Rhonda Patrick
• Lifespan by David Sinclair
• The Matt Walker Podcast by Matthew Walker
• The Model Health Show by Shawn Stevenson
• NutritionFacts by Michael Greger
• On Purpose by Jay Shetty

• The School of Greatness by Lewis Howes
• The Rich Roll Podcast by Rich Roll
• The Genius Life by Max Lugavere
• Mind Pump by Sal Di Stefano | Adam Schafer | Justin Andrews | and Doug Egge

Acknowledgements
Writing this book was one of the most simultaneously challenging and gratifying things
I’ve done in my entire life. The process was laborious and took countless hours. What
started as a simple idea to help a few people morphed into a complex project to try and
change the lives of hundreds, thousands, and even millions. Looking back, I wouldn’t
change a thing. I am elated to continue my mission of empowering people to take control
of their health and wellness, and to live with a sense of vitality. The journey is far from
over and I hope reading this book is as life-changing for you as making it was for me. This
book is the product of many great people coming together to help me bring my mission
to life. Without the people below, this book wouldn’t have been possible. I am eternally
grateful to each of them, so join me in thanking the people that helped me create and
execute this vision.
Thank you to the brilliant minds who influenced the ideas in this book and inspired me
to share them with the world: Adam Grant, Alex Hutchinson, Alia Crum, Andrew Hu-
berman, Andy Galpin, Angela Duckworth, Anne Lembke, Arthur Brooks, Atul Gawande,
Cal Newport, Carol Dweck, Catherine Shanahan, Charles Duhigg, Christie Aschwanden,
Dale Carnegie, Daniel Gilbert, Daniel Goleman, Daniel Kahneman, Daniel Pink, Darin
Olein, Darren Hardy, David Epstein, David Goggins, David Sinclair, Eckhart Tolle, Gene
Stone, Gray Cook, Ian Leslie, James Clear, James Nestor, Jay Shetty, Jean Greaves, Jocko
Willink, Joe Dispenza, John Bernardi, Johnathan Haidt, Jordan Peterson, Kevin Kelly,
Layne Norton, Leo Babauta, Lex Fredman, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Malcom Gladwell,
Marc Bubbs, Mark Manson, Mark Verstegen, Martin Seligman, Matthew Walker, Max
Lugavere, Mchael Pollan, Michael Greger, Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, Nick Trenton, Peter
Attia, Richard Feynman, Robert Cialdini, Robert Greene, Robert Sapolsky, Ryan Holiday,
Satchin Panda, Sergey Young, Simon Sinek, Stephen Covey, Steve Magness, Steven
Pressfield, Tim Ferriss, Tim Grover, Timothy Galloway, Tony Robbins, Travis Bradberry,
and Wendy Suzuki.
A special thank you to Ceileigh Mangalam who guided me through the editorial process
and helped me bring this book to life. Also, major thanks to Morgane Leoni for the book’s
amazing interior and exterior designs. Additionally, I’d like to thank Tim Nelson for
assisting me with the A Final Word on Consistency chapter.
I’d be remiss not to mention my family and close friends who supported and encouraged
me every step of the way. Those people include my mother Ola Gonzalez, my sister
Acknowledgements 273
Rian Gonzalez, my brother Corey Gonzalez, my future mother-in-law Dawne Ward, my
best friends Jannik Eckenrode, Lars Eckenrode, Victor Brew, and one of my mentors
Josh Bonhotal.
Lastly, to my rock, my fiancée, Courtney Ward, thank you for your unwavering love,
support, and contribution on this journey. This book doesn’t happen without you. Excited
for the next one with you by my side!

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About the Author
Kyle Gonzalez is a highly educated and experienced inte-

grative health and wellness professional. Following a
successful career as a Division I basketball player, Kyle
earned multiple certifications (NSCA, NASM, Precision
Nutrition, FMS, and RPR) within the performance, health,
and wellness fields before getting into coaching. After
obtaining his Master’s Degree in Kinesiology, he gained
experience across several different domains, including
teaching at the graduate level, personal training, develop-
ing performance coaches, and serving as the director at
several prominent gyms. He has worked with and learned from clients ranging from
professional athletes to high-level executives, elderly clients to youth students, and even
Hollywood stars. His work has been featured in Men’s Health, The Washington Post,
NBC News, Extra, Real Simple, and Prevention.com. He is the creator of The Vitality
System, an educational platform that helps people take control of and optimize their
health and wellness, build sustainable habits, and create lasting change. He is the Head
of Content at a fast-growing human performance and supplement start-up, Momentous,
based in Park City, Utah. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his fiancée.
About the Author 281

Let’s Connect!
Connect with Kyle Gonzalez:
• Website: https://thevitalitysystem.co/
• Email: kyle.gonzalez@yahoo.com
• Instagram: @kylegonzalez3 / @thevitalitysystem
Use the QR code to join The Vitality Newsletter community for the
latest tips, strategies, and information to help you optimize your
movement, nutrition, recovery, and lifestyle.

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THE VITALITY

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2023900919

Printed in the USA

Design by Morgane Leoni

What is The Vitality System? 15

How Do I Use The Vitality System? 18

The Core Four 53

Core One: Movement 54

Core Three: Recovery 136

Core Four: Lifestyle 176

The Vitality Pledge  245

Educational Resources 247

About the Author 281

Let’s Connect!  282

Never stop exploring.

As I got older, I developed an interest in sports, so he taught me how to play as many as

Although I had a lot of unanswered questions following my father’s death, my mother

10 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

Don’t find a way; make a way.

12 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

Health is wealth, so the best investment

Health doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. We all deserve the right to be

14 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

What is The Vitality System? 15

16 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

What is The Vitality System? 17

18 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

How Do I Use The Vitality System? 19

20 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

• Vitality Concepts for Education

EXPLORATION—STRATEGIC PLANNING AND

• Vitality Concepts for Exploration

22 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

This phase is characterized by three staples of experimentation: testing, measuring, and

• Vitality Concepts for Experimentation

EXECUTION—IMPLEMENT AND ACHIEVE

• Vitality Concepts for Execution

24 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

26 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

28 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

• My mission is to consistently prioritize my physical, mental, and emotional health

30 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

• What habits do I want to build? Why?

Awareness is the state of being conscious of something, having knowledge, or perceiving

• Why do you want to make this change?

32 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

• Are the goals I set helping or hurting my progress?

• How can I make my environment more conducive to my success and identity?

34 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

• Am I fully prepared to make this change?

Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their capacity to execute the behaviors

In psychology, the factors that influence self-efficacy include:

• Performance experience (your personal experience)

• How confident am I that I can complete this change?

The Comfortability Continuum is an assessment method for understanding the optimal

36 THE VITALITY SYSTEM

• How difficult is the behavior/intervention for you?

• What level of effort does this behavior/intervention require?

• What amount of time do you commit to this behavior/intervention?

◊ 1: Low amount of time

• How confident are you with this behavior/intervention?

• How consistent are you with this behavior/intervention?

What is The Vitality System? 15

How Do I Use The Vitality System? 18

The Core Four 53

Core One: Movement 54

Core Three: Recovery 136

Core Four: Lifestyle 176

The Vitality Pledge 245

Educational Resources 247

About the Author 281

Let’s Connect! 282