Begin Self-Development with Food

Because the Basics Are More Important Than You Think

There may be a few people out there who are thinking, I signed up for this blog to hear about motivation, productivity, and learning to reach my goals more effectively. Jenn, why won't you shut up about food?

To those people, I say, Get your priorities straight! Food is awesome!

But in all seriousness, food is important even for those other things, and neglecting it has the potential to leave you in a bind years down the road, as well as delaying your success in the meantime.

There are a few core methods for taking care of our bodies and minds that translate into every area of life. Our movement, our sleep, and our food. These form the foundation for wellness in every other area, and for higher pursuits such as mental health, productivity, and fulfillment.

You can't worry about whether your startup or consulting business will succeed if you are malnourished, incapable of sleep, or struggle with daily mobility due to injury or weakness. Caring for your body first sets the groundwork for everything else that you will accomplish throughout your life.

If by some combination of determination and luck, you succeed at building a business and become wealthy while allowing your body and mind to stagnate, what have you really gained? You may still be relatively capable into your 40s and maybe even your 50s, despite lack of sleep, exercise, or basic nutrition. Still, these sacrifices will have left their mark. Health tends to progress in one direction after a certain point around your early 20s. If you aren't making dedicated efforts to maintain your mobility, energy, fitness, and mental capacity, age will sap the virility out of the years that you could have had to enjoy the luxury you plan to build for yourself.

Besides, what's that saying about "the old dog" and "new tricks"? Habits are easier to build while we are young and capable of enduring failure and strain. If you assume you can always start exercising later, you are first, delaying the progress you could have made, which may not be possible to make up later; and second, settings yourself up for a much more difficult journey if you do manage to keep that promise and start caring for your health later. You have the greatest potential to build muscle mass while you are young, perhaps into your early 20s. After that, it's an uphill battle.

As you age, you gradually lose muscle mass starting by the time you reach your 30s, and accelerating over the years. The best way to combat this is to practice muscle-building exercises, such as resistance training with all major muscle groups; and to eat enough protein to keep your body from cannibalizing existing muscle. I've seen recommendations of protein intake between 0.7g and 1.2g/kg of body weight per day, to counteract this, depending on your current health and exercise volume.

If you nurture your body by being selective about your nutrition, getting in a little activity every day, prioritizing sleep most of the time, and -- if you'll allow me to throw in a fourth priority -- build healthy relationships, you'll benefit in countless ways.

I don't have room for countless items in this article, so here are three.

1. You will have more energy and mental clarity With proper nutrition and a few other basics, you will be shocked at how much easier it is to get other things done. You wake up feeling more refreshed, you aren't distracted by constant food cravings or spikes and drops in energy throughout the day. You learn to cultivate the mental state that makes you most effective at moving toward your goals, and hold onto that mindset almost all of the time through physical and nutritional optimization.
2. You will be more resilient to stress When you feel good all of the time and have a set routine, it's easier to take surprises and challenges in stride. Free from the mood swings and cravings caused by sugars and processed foods, you will feel more level-headed and capable of enduring whatever life throws at you. You'll have a series of healthy behaviors that you are able to check off as a win every single day. So what if that client meeting or sales call didn't go you way? You also worked out, ate well, and meditated, honing your body and mind to do better the next day.
3. You will have more self control Being healthy as a lifestyle involves practicing constant self-control, also known as discipline. The more you use discipline to resist urges for unhealthy food and habits and choose good ones, the stronger that skill will become. This is especially relevant when it comes to social events. Learning to be content with a Topo Chico or La Croix, when everyone around you is drinking beer, sets you free of the chains of societal norms. You'll be used to doing what you should do and not what you want to do in the moment, and difficult decision become that much easier to make.

Without your body, you have nothing. Invest in it the way you invest in any other resource to ensure your success. Don't sacrifice your body and health in the hopes that you'll miraculously be just as fit, active, and capable in later years as you were during the years you sacrificed.

It seems like every week, there's more research or another expert upholding the idea that our food choices are the greatest contributing factor in the development of chronic disease. Yes, even greater than genetics, in many cases. The messages are mixed. Between processed foods, seed oils, hidden sugars, simple carbs, free radicals, and trans fats -- we don't seem to be quite certain what will be the death of us. However, there are a few principles that seem to hold true in almost all schools of thought.

1. Eat real, minimally-processed food
2. Eat a variety of foods
3. Eat only when you are hungry

Beyond even the daily improvements of mental and physical improvement, improving your dietary choices early will reduce your risk of enduring the diseases could steal away both your lifespan and health span. The changes might not seem important now, but in the grand scheme of your life, changing your diet, and subsequently your health has the potential to change your entire life.