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Ask HN: Any Tip ( without side effects ) for healthy life?

18 points by chauhankiran 8y ago

Nowadays it is become hard to stay healthy. So, asking you any tips that you follow to stay healthy but that should not have any side effects. Such as I drink tea to overcome headache but with tea I also consume a lot sugar so that is not good right. Some of the tip from my side: 1. Eat foods based on seasons. Such as Grapes, Watermelon and so on in summer. 2. Eat less in evening especially in night.

762236 8y ago
Bike, hard. Support that with Becoming a Supple Leopard, to avoid injury.
- godelmachine 8y ago
  What's a Supple Leopard?
  - hluska 8y ago
    https://www.amazon.ca/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-2nd-Performance/dp/1628600837 https://www.amazon.ca/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-2nd-Performanc...
ApolloRising 8y ago
It is not hard to become healthy. It is hard to be healthy while eating a lot of crap food and not exercising. Your body recovers incredibly well once it fed and exercised properly. You need to adjust your mindset and get away from the gimmicks. Do an exercise program like starting strength or 5x5 and it will work wonders in weeks.
ajaxaddicted 8y ago
Go vegan! With 1 move, you reduce or greatly eliminate all the saturated fat, cholesterol, antibiotics, hormones(from any farmed animal, which is 95% of all), heavy metals and pollutants(concentrated in sea creatures due to bioaccumulation), you reduce the risk from the typical western diseases - cancers, heart problems, toxic reactions and autoimmune diseases. The environmental and ethical benefits are a bonus.
- m0ck 8y ago
  As a relatively big person, doing heavy exercise several times a week, I simply cannot image how would I get all proteins I get from eating meat, eggs and dairy products (I can,but it involves eating huge amounts of expensive vegan food).
  - ajaxaddicted 8y ago
    As I mentioned - you also get all the toxic baggage from the animal products, which kind of negates the other side - you exercise because you want to stay healthy. Also - you may have heard that excessive amounts of protein ages you faster - most protein heavy foods are also pro oxidants and oxidative stress ages your cells. The expensive vegan foods - meat, eggs, dairy are processed plants. So what you are saying is - if you eat the plants directly, they will be more expensive compared to filtering them through an animal and then eating them. Does not make sense. For the heavy exercise - they are now ultra marathon runners, power lifters, etc that are vegan. Where do they get their protein? https://www.ranker.com/list/athletes-who-are-vegan/people-in-sports https://www.ranker.com/list/athletes-who-are-vegan/people-in...
    - StriverGuy 8y ago
      Toxic baggage...I get the feeling you haven't spent much time reading into the actual science of omnivore diets.
      - ajaxaddicted 8y ago
        Maybe I have not. Can you get back to me with some information debunking the following claims: Meat - loaded with trans fat, cholesterol, antibiotics. Milk - full with estrogen(it is from a mammal after all), Casomorphin, which makes it addictive, antibiotics, cholesterol and trans fat, just like meat. Eggs - full with cholesterol and choline, illegal to advertise them as healthy or safe in the US. Fish - full with heavy metals like Lead, Mercury, antibiotics.
        8y ago
pixeldeveloper 8y ago
* Make exercise a part of your daily routine to the point you’re not thinking about it, ie cycling to and from work. * Eating clean. So cooking all your meals with fresh ingredients. * Get involved in a sport you enjoy doing. I notice people punish themselves, ie running when they don’t like it. It’ll never work long term. Climbing seems to sit well with the IT crowd. Find what works for you. * It takes time. Potentially years to get where you want to be. Being patient is important. On the more extreme side * Move country. I had a healthier lifestyle in Indonesia than I did in London. Lack of alcohol and chocolate snacks is something you get used to when it’s not accessible.
m0ck 8y ago
Few things I started to do, which I can't recommend enough. - Sleep well. If it's possible, you should never have to use alarm clock for waking up for school, or work, instead you should wake up naturally (because you went to sleep early enough). - Dumb down your phone [1]. I recently purged all time-sinking apps from my phone, including the "supposedly useful" ones, like Hacker News, or local newspapers. You will feel way better, without the endless overwhelming flood of information coming at you everywhere you go. - Eat clean and drink only water. Trick that works best for me, is that I do all my shopping on Monday and I plan every breakfast and dinner for the whole week in advance, so when I have cravings, there is simply nothing in my kitchen I can binge on (I realize this solution does not work for everyone, especially if you are not living alone). Of course, I still buy ice cream or some other sweet after lunch ~ once a week, or go for couple of beers with my friends time to time, but it feels a lot better, when it is really a treat and not ordinary, everyday thing. [1] https://nomasters.io/posts/dumber-phone/ https://nomasters.io/posts/dumber-phone/
badrabbit 8y ago
Eat less. Whatever your diet,eat small portions and not very often. Whatever type of foods you like,learn how they affect your body and balance accordingly (for example I wouldn't eat pizza more than once a year or fast food ever). Don't sit too long,get a standup desk if you must work/code for hours non-stop. Yes,of course you should work out. But what matters the most is doing it persistently as a matter of habit. When I skip a workout I feel as if I skipped showering or brushing my teeth for that day. Make it a daily habit. Why waste money on energy drinks when you can work out? 30 pushups > can of red bull.
- noobly 8y ago
  >Why waste money on energy drinks when you can work out? 30 pushups > can of red bull Perhaps worth noting that initially this will not be the case, and I don't think it ever works quite like that. In my experience, working out habitually only indirectly gives me energy (if my body is acumstomed to expending significant amounts of energy for a regularly timed work out, my body will adapt by becoming more energetic around said time. 'Working out' will likely suck, a lot, for the first couple months (give or take x days/weeks). But at some point the endorphines released become noticably enjoyable.
  - godot 8y ago
    I agree somewhat, I've always wondered if the "work out instead of coffee in the morning" is a myth people like to spread, because I never feel like that myself. In the morning, my energy level is simply not high enough, and I end up running less or lifting less than I otherwise could. However, I enjoy exercises in a different way: after work. I'm a programmer, so after an entire day of brain exercises, it feels extremely refreshing to be able to exert physical energies at the gym. (I've read articles on this specific topic, where if you're tired mentally, it's better to engage in physical activities than taking a nap, because it uses a different area of your brain. Don't know the source off hand.)
- deanmoriarty 8y ago
  Just curious: why would you say not eat pizza more than once a year? Isn’t that on the very extreme side? Go to Italy and you’ll find people eating pizza and pasta at least weekly, and they are generally fit and healthy. But obviously they don’t drink half a gallon of sugar water with their pizza.
bsvalley 8y ago
Nowadays it’s actually much easier to stay healthy isn’t it? We have access to more information and we made a lot of progress with technologies and medicine. People use to live up to 40 max. Regarding the negative side effects of things like tea, you could look at reducing your exposure to screens instead. Also try to exercise more or keep researching and trying out different tips like you mentioned. Consulting a real specialist (doctor) is the first step of course.
noobly 8y ago
Physical health is the easy part, imho. I'd be interested to hear tips about upkeeping a mentally healthy mind and social life. Though, of course, a solid foundation for mental health is physical health.
DoreenMichele 8y ago
Walk more. A lot more. Unless you are literally wheelchair bound, it is something basically anyone can do and you need no special equipment. It helps to have decent shoes, but I live in cheap sandals year round and I gave up my car more than a decade ago. I mostly walk to get around, plus I occasionally take public transit. You breathe better when walking. It moves lymph, which is how the body takes out the trash. It is the single best exercise for losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. You can start doing just a little more everyday and gradually build more stamina. If handled that way, there are no dramatic side effects.
orcs 8y ago
Sleep and rest = no bad side. Exercise, swim and cycle. Both low impact and really good cardio. Strength training, go body weight all the way. Muscles are built to work in groups not isolation.
jamesmarks 8y ago
Regular exercise. I used to have an idea that successful people had their life under control to a degree that they could find time to exercise 3-4 times per week. After I started running regularly and saw the change in myself, I've come to think successful people are successful in part _because_ of their exercise, not the other way around. It gives a lift to everything you do. It motivates you to be the best version of yourself you can be, starting a virtuous loop of eating better, continued education, big picture thinking and other self-improvement.
mathieubordere 8y ago
yoga - everyone I know of that at least tried it, is enthusiastic about it. Flexibility + strength + relaxation, it changed my life.
tugberkk 8y ago
Paul Chek has simplified this, 4 doctors: Dr. Quiet, Dr. Movement, Dr. Diet, Dr. Happiness. So; meditate regularly. exercise regularly. eat organic, non-junk food. keep away from stress. Of course these are not easy to do but a simple and great guideline.
inertiatic 8y ago
Eat less animal products, eat less processed food, drink less of that as well. Lift weights once or twice a week, moderate effort, walk as much as you can. Take a multivit, get checked for deficiencies and supplement those as well. My personal stack is multivit, zinc tablet, couple of grams of creatine and a D vit cap. But you know better. Worry less as you will die regardless.

StriverGuy 8y ago

Veganism is not by definition healthy. Eating meat is not by definition unhealthy. Dietary cholesterol is not directly linked to blood levels of cholesterol. Most recent science suggest high carbohydrate consumption (typically in a vegan diet) is heavily linked to high cholesterol.

ajaxaddicted 8y ago
I would love a link to that recent science :) Also - there is no cholesterol intake at all in a vegan diet. How does it get high if that is the case?
- rocannon 8y ago
  Here's a 2010 Scientific American article, "Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart": https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbs-against-cardio/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbs-against-car... Note the emphasis on refined carbohydrates. I would think that if you ate an unhealthy vegan diet which emphasized lots of junk food like high fructose corn syrup loaded sodas, etc, you'd be pretty unhealthy. Personally, I suspect that a vegan diet can be very healthy for you, but it could also be quite bad for you, depending on how you do it. Regarding cholesterol: Humans make cholesterol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterol Also: http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/article/how-much-does-cholesterol-food-really-matter http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/art... > Many people think that all the cholesterol in their blood (and elsewhere in the body) comes from the cholesterol they eat, which is called dietary or preformed cholesterol. In fact, most of it is made by our livers.
  - ajaxaddicted 8y ago
    Just a quick note on Ronald M. Krauss, which is mentioned in this article. He has been working for the National Cattleman's Beef Association and the National Dairy Council since 1990, so his "research" is heavily biased towards his sponsors. https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl/mar/140300.pdf https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl/mar/140300.pdf This information can be also found on his own page here: http://www.chori.org/Principal_Investigators/Krauss_Ronald/krauss_activities.html http://www.chori.org/Principal_Investigators/Krauss_Ronald/k... in the Other Activities (since 1990) section
    - rocannon 8y ago
      Okay, I suppose it is possible that Krauss does "research" as opposed to research. This is what the article says about it: "The [meta-]analysis, overseen by Ronald M. Krauss, director of atherosclerosis research at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, found no association between the amount of saturated fat consumed and the risk of heart disease." So do you dispute this result? I was in fact under the impression that recent studies say saturated fat is not really bad, especially if it is not paired with highly processed carbs. Trans fats, OTOH, are extremely bad. Trans fats occur in small quantities in meat, FWIW. Note that the Scientific American article cites several different studies and scientists, e.g. "Meir Stampfer, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health" (is Stampfer also in the pocket of the beef industry?): > A 1997 study [Stampfer] co-authored in the Journal of the American Medical Association evaluated 65,000 women and found that the quintile of women who ate the most easily digestible and readily absorbed carbohydrates—that is, those with the highest glycemic index—were 47 percent more likely to acquire type 2 diabetes than those in the quintile with the lowest average glycemic-index score. (The amount of fat the women ate did not affect diabetes risk.) I suppose you could accuse McDougall of bias; after all he does run a business around his diet. I wouldn't go that far, though.
      - ajaxaddicted 8y ago
        https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/161/7/672/70862 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/161/7/672/70862 "The Nurses' Health Study was initiated in 1976 when 121,700 female registered nurses aged 30–55 years completed a mailed questionnaire about their lifestyle" The same for the other paper done with the male population - mailed questionnaire. The problem with both - these are population studies, you don't have a control group for correlation and people can report whatever they want. And here is Dr Meir Stampfer leaning towards a more plant based diet https://youtu.be/LUYwMsFuQ1o https://youtu.be/LUYwMsFuQ1o
        rocannon 8y ago
        Here's a summary of one of Stampfer's papers: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/higher-consumption-of-unsaturated-fats-linked-with-lower-mortality/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/higher-cons... > The health effects of specific types of fats depended on what people were replacing them with, the researchers found... people who replaced saturated fats with unsaturated fats—especially polyunsaturated fats—had significantly lower risk of death overall ... People who replaced saturated fats with carbohydrates had only slightly lower mortality risk. In addition, replacing total fat with carbohydrates was associated with modestly higher [my emphasis] mortality. This was not surprising, the authors said, because carbohydrates in the American diet tend to be primarily refined starch and sugar, which have a similar influence on mortality risk as saturated fats. This analysis is also based on the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Apparently, Stampfer finds the Nurses’ Health Study credible enough to support his conclusions.