Considerations

Some "basics"

As always, this is not medical advice, and reading this does not form a client relationship with me - your health is your responsibility.

Many have asked me what I consider “the basics” to be.  These are not exhaustive or in any specific order of importance.  I am writing this while Henry sleeps in the Ergo, so I apologize for any grammatical errors; I will add more and update later (e.g., links, etc.). Also, please check out my IG story highlights. 

None of the links are affiliate links. You may find a better product for you - use that!

Overall:

• Respect where you are and compare yourself to you. 

• You didn’t get here overnight, so you won’t get to where you want to be overnight.  I don’t think you would want this if you could, as it would be destabilizing on every level.  

• Explicitly define - “I know I am healthy when.”  This needs to be reasonable and aligned to where you are in life.  Many reach their original goal but are on the health and wellness merry-go-round and think they must find the next thing.  Make sure your actions are bringing you closer to this - a game of “hot/ cold.”  Go live your life as soon as you can.  

• Recovery looks like an increasing sine wave.  You will have bad days; we are looking for 80+% of your month to be “good/ better” days.  Eventually, this increasing sine wave will start reaching its horizontal asymptote limit.  This means to get more from your body, mind, and soul, you’ll have to put in even more work.  There will still be fluctuations (e.g., a cold, etc.).  I focus on the Pareto principle - simplifying, the “20% of causes that drive my 80% effect.” 

• Start with 3-5 things and create daily/ weekly floors and ceilings.  A floor is the minimum you do daily/ weekly.  A ceiling is the maximum - more is not always better, and we have lives to lead.  

• If 3-5 is too much, start with one.  

• The following may seem daunting for many, but that’s only because it’s a lot of words.  

• This is not about perfection but what we aim for.  I don’t always hit all these things, but we are looking for that 80%.  They also shouldn’t take much time, can be stacked with other things, etc. 

• Try not to catastrophize and/or ruminate on symptoms.  Be curious about what your mind-body-soul is trying to communicate to you.  

• Have some days where you don’t have to do “all the things” knowing your body-mind-soul is resilient. 

• You will have good days and will be tempted to go “all out” because you are not sure when the next good one will be. This usually causes people to regress and you end up in a “one step forward, one step back” cycle. Enjoy the good days, but do less than you think you are capable of - the focus is on the slow sustained climb.

• In general, I support slower changes - see my equilibrium Substacks. For example, starting one new supplement at a time, at ~1/5 the capsule, and building slowly. Or if you are currently eating high fat and are finding it an objective negative, swap ~2gF for ~4.5gC per week.

• Movement is crucial for life. When we stop moving, it seems to signal to the body we are nearing an imminent end. Do everything possible to keep moving, even if its eyelids, fingers, etc.

Diet/ digestion: 

• Make as many meals as possible to get the stomach acid, enzymatic, etc. processes going.  If you are eating out, think about your food, smell it, etc. 

• Be present when eating - phone away, eat at your table (not on your bed), etc.  This is easier said than done for many parents, but even a centering nasal breath and smell of your food before each bite can help.  

• Try to have a meal outside a few times per week. 

• Chew every bite of food 20-30 times. 

• Try to have distinct meals vs. grazing because of stomach acid recovery, the migrating motor complex, etc. 

• This means eating every 3-4hrs

• Some do best with macros split evenly in each meal. Others do best with only carb, then only fat and protein meals. If you have metabolic issues, that typically means you have high - free fatty acids, glucose, fructose, lactate, ketones, amino acids, etc. in your serum. If that is you, you might do better with separate macro meals.

• Eat the foods that are objectively positive for you.  If it causes brain fog, constipation/ diarrhea, etc., it is not an objective positive for you even if someone tells you - “you must eat this, etc.” 

• Many foods have a threshold effect where they are no longer an objective positive - e.g., three eggs at breakfast causes negative symptoms, but one egg at breakfast, lunch, and dinner does not. 

• What you do best in the winter may not be what you do best in the summer.  Allow your cravings to guide you.  What you did well with as a teenager may not be what you do best while pregnant, etc. 

• Pay attention to what order of food consumption you objectively do best with - I typically do best with protein first, followed by vegetables, starchy carbs, and then fruit.  Many dishes have these combined, so do not stress if you objectively do best with them that way.  

• Try the baking soda test as a proxy for stomach acid.  

• If you seem to have insufficient stomach acid, these two products have worked well for those I have worked with.  HealthyGut or PureEncapsulations.

• Work on stomach acid first; if digestive issues clear malabsorption signs via labs (e.g., MCV, ALP, GGT, etc.) etc. persist, consider digestive enzymes. HealthyGut or Pancreas.

• If pale/ floating stool, before bile support, work on stomach acid and digestive enzymes first.  If issues persist, as well as higher bilirubin, pruritus, etc., consider bile support. Lifeblud or SeekingHealth.

• If you are having stool formation issues, consider bile/ GB support, activated charcoal, and/or psyllium.

• If SIBO/ MMC issues, consider ginger and artichoke (with something like tea or coffee to stimulate the large bowel) -

• Many digestive issues are impacted by vitamins - B1, B3, and B5.  Using these topically can help.  

• Try to keep fluids away from food if you have digestive issues - 30min before eating to 2hr after eating.  

• Ensure you get the RDAs from food - I do not count fortified foods or supplements.  This is especially important for electrolytes. 

• Room temperature or warmer fluids.  If you are hot, cool your - palms, soles of your feet, and/or bridge of your nose.  Do not cool your brain stem/ back of your neck.  

• While staying in maintenance, very slowly work to 44-48+Cal x kg optimal BW.  Staying in maintenance means your body weight is NOT increasing.  There will be water weight swings.  I have women compare their weight cycle to cycle (e.g., first day of your period this month to first day of your period last month). 

  • Many have been on some kind of diet going on years if not decades. Spend the time to do proper maintenance, building to the high end of your maintenance range - again, you should NOT be gaining scale weight in maintenance. Water weight swings happen, so do not freak out - this is why going slow is important. Adding 5Cal this week from last will not make you gain 3lbs overnight. Once you are there, stay at maintenance for at least 1mo, if not closer to 6mos or 1y, then do a “get-in, get-out” cut. I do not like to have people cut for longer than 8wks (yes, weeks). Repeat as necessary.

  • Many need to build muscle to achieve the look they desire. Unless you are overweight (this does not mean you have ~5-20lbs to lose, depending on your height and sex), it can be very difficult to build muscle in a cut. Focus on the very slow recomp during maintenance, or do an intentional build. An intentional build does not mean a dirty bulk.

• Macros are really person dependent.  Some general recommendations, however, do what you objectively do best with:

  • I recommend people work to ~0.8gF x kg optimal BW (thank you Olive!) and see how they do.  

  • Many are pushing high-protein diets currently, which I think is unnecessary.  This is especially true as many have stomach acid, urea cycle (ammonia), and/or sulfur issues.  Try ~1.6gP x kg optimal BW and see how you do.  

  • The rest would be carbohydrates. 

• Tracking:

  • Calories

  • Calories + grams of protein 

  • Calories + all macros 

  • Plate method 

  • Hand method 

    • Use the NCCDB listing on cronometer to make sure you are getting the RDAs/ DVs from food.

    • Start to correlate your hunger and satiety signals to when you are eating. Eventually, we want to move to more of an intuitive approach where you can trust your hunger and satiety cues. I find many enter an undereat-overeat cycle if they progress to this step too quickly.

• If you fail at maintenance, cutting, and more so maintaining those results post-cut, will be very difficult.

• I do not recommend anyone drop below 1500Cal/d as this is really the limit in making sure you get the RDAs/ DVs from food, and you must be spot on to do so.

Light:

• Sunlight three times per day - before the UVA rise, around solar noon, and as the sun sets.  More is not always better; slowly work up to avoid getting sunburned.  At the least, step outside the door, look in the direction (not at) the sun, and step back in. 

• If you need to be outside, stay uncovered until you feel your skin has reached its limit, then cover up with light, long clothes, a wide-brim hat, stand in the shade, etc.  Stay hydrated! 

• Full-spectrum light bulbs during the daytime are best.  Even if you have LEDs on, add a “prop light” with a full spectrum bulb.  Or try to leave the lights off and have the shutters/ curtains/ windows open. 

• I do not recommend blue blockers during the day.  

• Blue blockers once the sun goes down are great.  

• Switching to red lights when the sun goes down is as well.  Do this for your technology, too.  

• If you are in LED, try to sit next to a window.  Even better would be to open the window to the screen - many rays are still blocked, and most office buildings will not allow this.  As such, take 5min every hour or so as your “smoke break” to walk around your office building.  In the least, step outside the door, look in the direction (not at) the sun, take a centering nasal breath, and step back in.  

• Have outside lunch, walking meetings, etc.  

• UV bulbs can be great, especially in the winter, but they shouldn’t be a replacement for the sun.  More is not better. 

• The same goes for IR panels/ red lights.  More is also not better. 

• Try to have it as dark as possible when you’re asleep - use an eye mask and cover those little lights. 

• If you need to get up in the middle of the night for things like breastfeeding, going to the bathroom, etc. have plug-in red lights, a red flashlight, etc.  

Supplements:

• Many are taking a handful or more supplements but don’t know what they actually do for them.  They may know the theory behind them, but if I ask -  when you take “x,” what do you feel, 30m, 2h, etc. later?  What happens if you don’t take “x”?  They can’t answer these questions.  

• I don’t recommend taking supplements “just in case” or because “practitioner or protocol ‘y’ told me to.” They should be objectively positive for you and have evidence to back up their use. 

• I disagree with the idea many use to justify “herx” reactions.  If you have a negative response, the dose was too high, the form/ absorption path wasn’t right for you, you need something else, etc. 

• I prefer drop dosing so transporters, cells, microbiome, etc., see smaller amounts more frequently, vs. a large dose once or twice a day.  

• Once you find the dose that leads to the objective positive result, figure out what frequency you need.  

• If you have a negative response, don’t take more.  This is why lozenges and liquids can be beneficial.  

• Some need different absorption paths due to transporters, first-pass liver, and microbiome issues.  Consider topical, sublingual, enema, and vaginal.  The individual supplement needs to be cleared for the path you choose.  

• The body is dynamic, and all of these things will change; this is why listening to your body is important.  

• Many people are getting worse because of their supplementation.  

• Many are using plant oils as “natural antibiotics,” etc. These affect our mitochondria, etc. too, and many times leave people worse off. Instead of using the oils, how about using the full plant in your cooking? This adds a ton of flavor too.

Movement:

• Again, respect where you are.  When I was bedbound, I started moving my fingers.  

• You should feel challenged but not crushed afterward, later that day, the next day, etc. 

• In general, I find people are on either side of the pendulum; they’re either doing way too much work (“if I don’t lift, I get fat/ small” - probably because that’s not muscle but water) or not enough (“I was told not to do any movement because I have sleep issues, am hypothyroid, have adrenal issues, etc.”

• In general, slowly working to 8000 steps per day. 

• In general, 2-3 full-body hypertrophy workouts per week

  • 4-5 movements 

  • 1-2 warmup sets per movement - don’t let this become “junk” volume 

  • 5-7 reps per set

  • One working set per movement to technical/ tempo failure 

    • Tempo: 3-1-1-1

  • 2-3m rest before working set 

• In general, one 30m zone 2 cardio per week

• In general, one HIIT/ sprint session with a few Plyos per week.  

  • WARNING - if you have not done high intensity or sprint work in a while, be very careful and properly warmup; do not pull a hamstring, etc.

  • HIIT does not mean group class but is 4min of Tabata style 20sec on:10sec off.

  • Sprint session example:

    • warmup - 2min walk followed by 2min jog

    • 2-3min rest

    • 50yd sprint

    • 2-3min rest

    • repeat until your time drops by ~2sec or you have completed 7 sprints

    • I like ending with 5+min of movmed’s deep pressure therapy.

• The above obviously changes if you have a specific goal.  

• Many experience costochondritis and other ribcage, neck, etc., issues in our flexion and lack of rotation world (bent over our phones).  Make sure your chest pain is not heart, etc. related first, then consider these things.  

  • Costochondritis I

  • Costochondritis II

    • You can use a plyo ball instead of the backpod - movmed discusses supine breathing with a plyo ball under the back (under your sternum).

Lymphatics:

• Stop Chasing Pain Big 6 - 5min Daily

• Face Lymph massage - 2-3 times per week. She has multiple face massage videos that are worth trying!

• Full Body Lymph Massage - once per week. Slowly build if you suspect lymph issues/ if you have negative symptoms to the Big 6.

• Rebounder

• Walking

• Qigong body slapping

• Qigong body shaking

• Lay down with your feet higher than your heart and pump your feet at the end of the day

Sleep:

• I already have a substack on considerations for insomnia. 

• Movement is crucial for sleep.  When people work to the generalities I noted above, they find their sleep onset and ability to stay asleep is markedly improved. 

• If you wake up too early, try not to catastrophize and/or ruminate.  Have a NSDR/ yoga nidra already downloaded and ready to go, so you don’t have to take your phone off airplane mode.  Make sure its screen is shifted to red-light.  

• If you did not get enough sleep the night before consider NSDR/ yoga nidra sometime during the day.  

• Try to eat around the same time every day. 

• If you wake up continually exhausted and have been working on these things, theoretically got more than enough sleep, etc. consider supplementing adrenal cortex in the morning. 

Psychoemotional:

• Curable App

• Nerva App

• JournalSpeak 

• Morning Pages

• The Library/ Internal Family Systems

• Primal Trust

• Adlerian Psychology 

• Individual Psychology

• Objective Personality (thanks @knndyryn)

• Grieve the end of phases of your life to make space for the new.

• If you are working with someone, try not to just ruminate, catastrophize, and continually rehash the past, discuss ways to improve your present, and implement!

• Have and maintain your boundaries - within reason, and make sure you communicate these. You are not high maintenance if you have reasonable boundaries. Remember relationships are a give and take.  

Personal care:

• Shampoo - rotate head and shoulders, Pantene, and selsun blue (inspiration from Kaleigh!)

• Shoes - pri shoe list (also for the nervous system too)