How much time do you spend around food?

I mean, really be honest with yourself and ask yourself how much time you spend

[+] buying food,

[+] preparing food,

[+] eating and just

[+] thinking about food.

I don’t know about you, but I found it’s A LOT for me. More than I realized.

I’ll share a bit more on that but for now…

Jason Ryer / Zen Strength Update

In this update, I’ll share some of my takeaways with you during my experience with the Food Planning & Productivity Challenge.

I’ll also share how coffee may help you live longer, how much protein you might need, and my plan to escape the heat.

Finally, I’ll share a bit about my exercise as well as biohacking in Chiang Mai, Thailand

You are what you eat.

Or…

You are what you think.

We’re just wrapping up the Food Planning & Productivity Challenge. The simple rule is to plan what you eat at least 24 hours in advance.

As I gradually worked by way up to this over the 4 weeks of the challenge, I realized that I spend A LOT of time thinking about food.

My big discovery was that I had a lot more freedom when I planned in advance and stuck to the plan. I realized that just about everywhere I went and throughout my day I was intermittently thinking about food. Things like:

[+] Maybe I should take a break and make tea or coffee.

[+] Maybe I should eat some nuts.

[+] Maybe I’ll check out this restaurant I’m passing by.

[+] Maybe I should stop at the monthly market I see going on today.

Freeing yourself from food.

Much like in the FASTER Challenge, I discovered there was actually a lot of freedom in making decisions in advance because, whenever one of these thoughts came up about food, I told myself, “You already have your plan. No need to change it now!”

And that usually worked. So my takeaway is that there is power in planning ahead. Now I can set expectations for myself and others.

Here are some interesting articles I read:

[+] I Slept Outside for a Week and It Changed My Life (Really)

I definitely believe in the power of nature to improve our health. This is a fun read of one person’s experiment in resetting her circadian rhythm by going camping for a week.

[+] Coffee, Even a Lot, Linked to Longer Life

There are studies that show that coffee is bad for your health; while there are others showing that coffee is good for your health. This is an interesting article that has less of a bias while showing some of the latest evidence of coffee’s benefit.

I think coffee is a great tool for productivity and it seems that it also has some great health benefits for weight loss and its anti-oxidant-like effects.

[+] How much protein do you need per day?

You need protein to build your body – muscle, joints, bones, pretty much every part of your body. But some thought leaders say that too much is a bad thing.

This article looks at the studies to give us more of an unbiased look at protein.

I’m back to lifting heavy weights.

Related to protein consumption, the thing you need to do for your body to signal muscle growth is: exercise. And especially lifting heavy things.

I’ve schedule going to the gym 2 times per week on Tuesdays and Fridays to hit on some of the major exercises: Squat, Deadlift, Bench, Shoulder Press, and a few more.

On other days I’ll do some high intensity things like FitDeck, Tabata, Convict Conditioning and sprints.

If you want a more detailed example of my past schedule, you can see my Zen Strength Holy Grail of Fitness – Sample Workout Schedule.

What else am I up to?

I’m leaving tomorrow for Okinawa, Japan! It’s just a 4-day trip but it will be a nice escape from the heat here in Thailand.

I’m also starting a Biohacking Meetup here in Chiang Mai. I’m excited to get some like-minded people together here to meet, share, learn and participate in optimizing our health.

That’s it for now. Questions or comments? Let me know!