Most, if not all, successful people all agree that a daily routine is critical to one's success in life. I advocate for holding to a schedule similar to the one below:

• wake up early (i.e. earlier than most people)

• time in prayer and/or time outside

• exercise (can be outside and body weight exercises)

• start the day's work

  • side note: try to guide your work and career such that the schedule and commuting time/distance does not make it very hard to have an overall healthy lifestyle

• eat healthy throughout the day, only healthy snacking, if any

• try to incorporate bite size bits of exercise throughout the day (walking, biking, taking the stairs)

• limit time using the phone as a small computer, use a laptop or desktop more and be focused and more efficient

• have a family sit-down dinner, limit screen time unless doing it together as a family

• quality family time

• go to bed early, no late night internet usage or eating

• weekly Sabbath - no work, simply rest and have family time

• weekly or biweekly time alone with spouse

• monthly or bimonthly times of solitude for reflection

• family vacations at least once or twice per year

Diet recommendations are so varied based on the source. Here's the latest of what I think is probably best. 

Things have dramatically changed in many ways in the past 100 years. Being overweight is usually not the patient’s fault! It is a product of our modern lifestyle and diet. Do you drive to go most places? Yes? Do you know your farmer? No? Welcome to the peculiar last 100 years of human history – different than every other era!

Understand your enemy:

- the prevalence of sugar in our foods

- the mass scale production of food from far away

- towns and cities designed for car travel as opposed to walking and cycling

- the pandemic of obesity

- the normalization of obesity

1. Big-ticket items to avoid

a. Wheat: it has changed too much in the past 50 years (can try very limited amounts of old wheat like einkorn)

b. Sugar: too addictive

c. Flour products: the glycemic load is too high

2. Other things to avoid:

a. Bad meats: sodium nitrite, consider lower temp cooking for shorter period of time (AGEs)

b. High glycemic load food

c. Processed foods

d. Trans fats / partially hydrogenated foods

e. Modern corn

f. Non-grass fed meats and eggs (i.e. vegetarian-diet eggs probably means chicken eating cornmeal -- pasture-raised is probably better)

3. Good snacks: nuts, berries, raw fruits

4. Good drinks: water, limited red wine

         - perhaps reverse osmosis water or good spring water in glass is best

5. Lifestyle: be active, outdoors, community, spiritual

6. Supplements (optional/bonus):

Vit D3 = cholecalciferol, iodine, EPA/DHA omega-3, magnesium, probiotics (50b+ CFUs, multiple species)

7. Bonus moves to ensure success:

- keep a diet/exercise journal and track weight weekly

- if overweight, do not "break the rules"

- once at a normal weight, ok to "break the rules" once per week

- review weight loss and diet/exercise journal weekly with an accountability partner

8. Recommended diet/lifestyle:

- deliberate eating:

         - no snacking

         - if need to snack, use health snacks like raw fruits and nuts and berries

- no sugar – and minimize flour

         - black rice may be the best of the rices, it seems to have the lowest glycemic load

- whole foods only (no processed stuff)

- intermittent fasting is an option

- attempt to be active and outdoors

- no smoking/vaping/e-cigs

** Weight and health must be a high life daily priority until you are at your goal weight **

** Being overweight is not normal **

9. Helpful movies:

- "Forks over Knives"

- "What the Health"

- "That Sugar Film"

10. Avoid all sugar-like ingredients (too addictive):

- sugar

- high fructose corn syrup

- molasses

- honey

- corn syrup

- dextrose

- fructose

- galactose

- glucose

- lactose

- maltose

- sucrose

- cane juice

- dextrin

- agave

- stevia

- syrup

11. Detoxing from sugar can take 1-2 weeks:

Stay well hydrated and may need to eat frequently during detox.

https://youtu.be/BWGl3TIO00A

I recommend the book Hello Sleep by Jade Wu, which I recommend. Here are some pointers:

1. Probably the most important thing is to not become sleep-obsessed. Sleep is facilitated by having a mind that is able to rest, and sleep-related anxiety creates angst and stress which work against falling asleep.

2. Do not stress about waking up in the middle of the night. It is normal, and most everyone does it, they just don't remember. Some of us do remember. Also, many times we are sleeping, but we feel that we are awake. This is why sometimes people feel that they were "up all night." If that was in fact the case, they would fall asleep within minutes of sitting down in a chair, and have trouble keeping their eyes open. 

3. Sleep times can vary, that's OK -- what works out is an average over several days, e.g. 7-8 hours per night.

4. Go to bed early, around 9 pm or so.

5. Wake up early, around 5 or 6 am.

6. If you wake up in the middle of the night and are wide awake, after lying in bed for 15-30 minutes, just get up and go about your day -- get an early start. You will be tired that night and might go to bed a touch early.

7. Be careful with afternoon naps -- if they go past an hour, you may have issues falling asleep around your preferred time.

Things to be aware of as it relates to health in the home environment:

1. EMF -- I recommend turning off wifi at night and keeping cell phones by the windows and not by peoples' heads. Click here is a South Florida company I have used and recommend.

2. Air quality -- be aware of mold risk (history of flooding or increased humidity). I recommend using an air purifier HEPA filter in the house.

3. Water quality -- I recommend high quality spring water in glass or a reverse osmosis filter.

I do not get any referral fees from recommendations on this page.