Hack. Track. Analyze. Optimize. Rinse. Repeat.
I’m a huge fan of infrared saunas, and I’ve written previously about benefits I’ve experienced from using them. I recently hacked together my own DIY near infrared sauna for home/personal use, and it was so easy and affordable that I wanted to share! [Read more…]
There are numerous studies that demonstrate the benefits of periodic, short-duration fasting, such as weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity and brain function, immune system regeneration, and longevity. I’ve been a fan (and practitioner) of intermittent fasting for several years, but other than an occasional 24-hour liver cleanse or protein fast, I had never done any extended fasting. My original plan was to do a “traditional” water fast, where nothing but water is consumed for a period of 3-5 days. However, during my research I began looking for ways to get all of the benefits of a water-only fast, but in a way that was “easier” (both mentally and physically), safer, and would minimize catabolic effects (loss of muscle mass). Enter the “fasting mimicking diet”… [Read more…]
The new year is always a time for both reflection (mostly thinking about all of the things you didn’t accomplish!) and setting new goals. The problem I have with goals are that they are often too… binary. You will either succeed or fail. Perhaps your goal was to lose 15 pounds, but you only lost 10. While yes, you didn’t meet your goal, you got 66% of the way there!
My actual dresser(s!) with piles of clothes removed, ready to sort
As an entrepreneur with a background in marketing, and a popular term I see most business-types throw around is “KPI”, which stands for Key Performance Indicator. Companies ultimately focus on the bottom line (“ROI” – return on investment), but KPIs allow different business units to establish their own set of success metrics for their activities (customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, awareness or “buzz” of a marketing campaign, etc.). The benchmarks for “success” are often arbitrary (“We need a million Facebook fans!”), given there will be little history or accepted industry benchmarks to compare to, so KPIs are usually refined over time. Why not use the same logic and apply KPIs to your goals? Having KPIs will also allow you to track progress both during and at the end of the year. And who says you can’t recalibrate a goal if you realize in 6 months that it was over- or under-ambitious, based on data you have collected? Below I’ve outlined a number of my goals for this year, broken up by category. On a binary scale, I will most like “fail” more often than succeed, but at the end of the day bettering oneself by any capacity is still a “success”!
Below I have listed several (but not all) of my goals for this year, along with some KPIs and tools that can be used. Feel free to copy or adapt them to suit your needs.*
* Yes, I realize I am posting this in late January, but that was intentional, as I didn’t want this post to get lost in all of the post-New Year’s madness : )
I never paid much attention to my blood sugar (aka blood glucose, or as I will simply refer to it, glucose) until a few years back, when I started getting more interested in self-tracking/biohacking and my 23andMe DNA analysis showed that I had a genetically elevated risk for type 2 diabetes, which has been shown to be preventable by maintaining low levels of glucose. Elevated glucose can also contribute to a number of other health issues such as cardiovascular disease.
The current “accepted” recommendations by the American Diabetes Association for fasting glucose (i.e., no food or drink in the previous 8 hours) are between 70 – 130(!) mg/dL. The exclamation(!) mark is there for a reason. The upper bound is being hotly disputed – in fact, the ADA has a term called “impaired fasting glucose” that was lowered from 110mg/dL to 100mg/dL in 2003. That means that many people that are classified as “normal” are, in fact, pre-diabetic. Organizations like the Life Extension Foundation (a leading organization focused on advancing research on longevity and anti-aging) suggest keeping fasting glucose at or below 85 mg/dL (and optimally even below 80!).
My most recent blood test showed my fasting glucose level was 85mg/dL, considered “good”, even by Life Extension Foundation guidelines. But what I wanted was to better understand how various factors affected my levels, and then be able to proactively control them. Even though my glucose is considered good, I wanted it to be optimal. Why take any chances? [Read more…]
