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The Three Pillars Of Health Optimisation
There are three primary buckets that health optimisation falls into:
- Nutrition
- Lifestyle
- Environment
Optimising your health often requires gradual changes in habits and lifestyle choices. Realistically, change takes time and patience. Don’t stress about the things you can’t change right away - little steps in the right direction add up over time. Being stressed out about not being 100% optimal in health is just as harmful for your well-being.
Pillar #1: Nutrition
1. Getting Sufficient Nutrients
The first introduction to nutrients that most learn about is through gym/fitness. Most people into fitness only ever learn about macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) since it’s essential in order to build muscle or lose fat.
Our bodies require a range of vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) in order to function optimally. Vitamins: A, B’s, C, D, E, K.
Minerals: Calcium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Zinc and more. Being deficient in any nutrients means your body doesn’t have the fuel source required to operate certain functions that keep you healthy. There are also essential amino acids from protein sources and essential fatty acids from fat sources that are essential to our well-being. Solution: Eat a balanced diet that covers all your nutrient requirements. Cronometer is a great app for tracking your nutrient intake. If for any reason you can’t get all your nutrients from food alone, then supplement where necessary.
2. Avoid Harmful Foods
Modern day agriculture and the commercial food industry have unfortunately produced foods that are mostly toxic for our bodies:
- Foods filled with antibiotics & hormones
- Food additives
- Artificial sweeteners
- Chemicals from pesticides & herbicides
- Unhealthy oils and more…
All of these things are destructive to our gut and health. Solution: Learn what foods are toxic and avoid them - coming soon in a future article. Source quality foods to cook at home with most of the time.
Pillar #2: Lifestyle
3. Be Physically Active
From the ages of 30 to 40 onwards, your body begins to involuntarily lose muscle mass and strength - this is known as Sarcopenia. The average person loses about 1 - 2% of muscle mass per year after the age of 50. By the age of 80, some people have lost 50% of their muscle mass and no longer have the strength to support their body. Solution: Weight training in the gym is one of the most effective ways to ensure you’re hitting all your major muscles to preserve their size and strength. If you choose other physical activities or sports, make sure you're filling in any exercise gaps in your upper or lower body.
Example: Hiking stimulates your lower body but does very little for your upper body. In this case, add an upper body sports/exercise or gym into your weekly schedule. Even a few simple push ups and weighted rows at home is enough.
4. Getting Enough Sunlight
Our body produces Vitamin D when our skin is exposed to sunlight. Our sedentary lifestyles have us indoors most of the day. This makes Vitamin D one of the most common vitamin deficiencies. Solution: Create a habit/lifestyle where you’re getting sufficient sunlight daily. Dminder is a great app to use as a short-term guide to understand how much exposure to the sun you require - it takes into account your skin colour and location. The best times to get sunlight are between 10am - 3pm with around noon time providing the most Vitamin D production - just be cautious not to get sunburnt. Supplement with Vitamin D3 + K2 if you’re unable to get enough sunlight.
5. Have Quality Sleep
Sleep is when your body repairs itself and a multitude of health benefits occur. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that poor sleep = poor health. Solution: Adopt healthy habits that ensure you consistently get quality sleep - more details to follow in an upcoming article
Pillar #3: Environment
6. Breathe Clean Air
Many cities around the world nowadays have unhealthy levels of pollution which silently damage our lungs, detox pathways and create long term health problems. You can check your cities air quality levels here Solution: Invest in an air purifier if your city has AQI levels beyond green.
7. Clean Drinking & Shower Water
No matter where in the world you live, over time the water pipes will become congested with grime, dirt, metals, chemicals and contaminants. You do not want to be ingesting these things into your body. Solution: Invest in a quality water filter that has the NSF certification. Reverse Osmosis water filters are amazing since they remove all impurities, however - it’ll also remove important minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron etc (so you’ll need to re-mineralise your drinking water). There are several ways you can re-mineralise your drinking water:
- Add a re-mineralisation filter to your water filter
- Add Trace Minerals to your water
- Add a pinch of mineral rich salt - I recommend Peruvian/Icelandic/Hawaiian Sea Salt (I don’t recommend Himalayan Pink Salt - it gets it’s pink colour from oxidisation, essentially it’s rusted salt). Avoid regular table salt since it’s mostly sodium.
- Use an alkaline pitcher to pour your filtered water through
What about shower water?
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and absorbs much of what it comes into contact with. Absorbing all the chemicals, contaminants, bacteria and fungus that comes from the shower head and pipes is not a good idea. Solution: Invest in a quality shower filter that’s NSF certified.
8. Avoid Harmful Chemicals in General Household Items
Food, storage and cooking: What you cook and store your food and liquids in matter. Certain materials can contain chemicals and contaminants that leak into your foods over time - especially when heat is introduced. Generally you want to avoid plastic for storage and avoid teflon for cooking. Teflon non-stick pans are made using highly toxic chemicals that provide the slipper texture. General household items: Many general household items contain harmful chemicals which come into contact with your skin or body and get absorbed into your body. Common culprits:
- Hand soap
- Shampoo and conditioners
- Dishwashing liquid
- Laundry detergent
- Toothpaste
- Deodorant
- Lotions and moisturisers
- House cleaning products
Solution: Containers, bottles, to store foods/liquids:
- Use glass or stainless steel where possible
For cooking utensils:
- Use stainless steel, wood or silicon.
For pots and pans:
- Use stainless steel/carbon steel, ceramic or cast iron (if you’re using carbon steel/cast iron, make sure to learn how to season them properly)
For general household items:
- Use products with organic and natural ingredients
Avoid these ingredients (not a comprehensive list):
- Parabens
- Fragrances
- SLS and SLES (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate)
- Aluminum (especially in deodorants)
- Phthalates
- Artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup (basically any syrups!), acesulfame potassium, etc.
- Flouride
- Triclosan and triclocarban
- Phosphates
- Formaldehyde
- Chlorine
- Chloride
- Ammonia
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On this page
- The Three Pillars Of Health Optimisation
- Pillar #1: Nutrition
- 1. Getting Sufficient Nutrients
- 2. Avoid Harmful Foods
- Pillar #2: Lifestyle
- 3. Be Physically Active
- 4. Getting Enough Sunlight
- 5. Have Quality Sleep
- Pillar #3: Environment
- 6. Breathe Clean Air
- 7. Clean Drinking & Shower Water
- 8. Avoid Harmful Chemicals in General Household Items
- Related Posts