I’m going to use 2 main analogies today that I think will help you grasp the idea that sustainable health & fitness isn’t as complicated or difficult as you might think.

1st analogy - This mainly pertains to diet but can be thought of across the board when talking about exercise, sleep, and overall mental health.

Think of the majority of plants & trees. The two main things they need are sun and water. I’m sure I might get hounded by some botanists or arborists out there for this but hear me out.

If you go to your local garden centre, there are tons of products like special soil, fertilizer, plant food, peat moss, and I’m sure hundreds of other products I’ve never heard of. I’m sure all of those supplemental products are valuable in their own way, but none of it matters if the plant isn’t getting sun and water.

I’m sure already you can see where I’m going with this. If you don’t have the basic elements of what is needed in your diet, it doesn’t really matter what kind of mushroom extract or herbal tea you’re supplementing with. Getting a full spectrum of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), being hydrated, and consuming a healthy combination of macronutrients is your SUN and WATER. 

There are many ways to make this happen but here’s a general but effective way to make sure you’re getting all of this in:

Consume 2.5-3 litres (84-100oz) of water per day, if you’re exercising, add another litre (33oz) and add a pinch of salt to it.

Have 2-3 different fruits & vegetables with every meal

Base each meal around a solid serving of protein. If you can consume about 30% of your calories from protein, you’re in a great place.

Although this seems very simple and elementary, ask yourself if you are doing this with all of your meals, every day…or at least 90% of the time. If the answer is no, then the extra supplements, extracts, and teas aren’t going to do what they are meant to do...You’re trying to build a house on quicksand.

The second analogy I’m stealing directly from my friend Ben Pakulski. If you don’t know who he is, you should. He’s a former professional body builder and is now a leader in the health and wellness space. He has an awesome podcast titled Muscle Intelligence and I highly encourage you to check it out.

Ben uses a saying that is simple but so powerful. He says “Take your Foot off the Brakes”

What he’s referring to is if you think of your health and fitness as a car, and you’re hitting the gas with workouts, healthy supplements, using saunas & cold plunges, and whatever solid tools are out there to optimize yourself, that’s great unless you are hitting the brakes at the same time.

This refers to things like consuming alcohol, getting poor night sleep, eating processed foods, and constantly under high levels of stress. 

Even if you aren’t hitting the gas that hard, if you simply take your foot off the brake, you’re going to move forward. 

Progress in your health and fitness journey will be much more efficient if you learn what your “brakes” are and start to minimize or adjust those behaviours. As I’m sure most of you have driven some sort of vehicle before, if you can imagine hitting the gas hard while keeping the hand brake on, that’s not a very smooth way to get around and something is likely to burn out.

Also, by removing behaviours that are detrimental to your body, you’re also giving your body a tune up which will put it in a state where it’s ready and able to use all of the good stuff you’re doing for it. Adding a turbo kit to a car that hasn’t had a tune up in 10 years isn’t a great way to maximize the new source of power, in fact it’s likely more dangerous.

After working with hundreds of people throughout my 20 years in the fitness industry, I would say some of the common “brakes” that people are hitting are the following:

Bright screens before bed & minimal sun exposure in the morning

Consuming alcohol

Eating food that comes from boxes

Sitting for hours on end

If you don’t know anything about plants, and you don’t know anything about cars, I hope you still got the message here. The health & fitness industry is jammed with an insane amount of information and products to fast-track your progress. I work with professional athletes and people from all walks of life and let me tell you, there is no magic to it. Optimizing your well-being is a continuous journey and adaptation takes time, consistency, and patience. The cool part is that the foundation is not overly complicated, you just have to pay attention and commit. One or two little changes at a time will compound into one heck of a healthy body!

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