Reaching a high level of fitness as a sportsperson isn’t anything new. From the records originating from the Olympic Games in Greece dated 776 BC to modern Britain’s Eddie Hall who was the first person to lift a 500kg deadlift in 2016.
Eddie went on to become the world’s strongest man in 2017 by showing his strength and conditioning superiority. To get there he had to eat excessive quantities of food and pushing the boundaries of mental focus.
Once he had won, he retired at twenty-nine years old. The reason behind his decision was simple; he had accomplished his goal to become the world’s strongest man under such harsh and challenging performance levels. He quit because he weighed 197kg from the eating and the training routine which were so intense that they were causing him health problems.
Nevertheless, this is an extreme example of how difficult it is to keep a healthy weight and diet. In fact, many factors can affect a person’s weight, including genes, age, gender, lifestyle, family habits, culture, sleep, and even where you live and work. Some of these factors can make it hard to maintain or achieve a healthy weight.
Weight though isn’t the only factor for healthy living, but it is an important guideline the human race believe affects the quality of life. In fact, if you’ve ever shed a few pounds, I’m sure you’ll agree you notice health benefits. Even if someone reaches and maintains the ideal weight though, it doesn’t guarantee living forever.
Eating well and living a healthy lifestyle should be a goal that contributes to lifespan, but there is no scientific formula apart from tried and tested methods that either contribute or hinder progress. Occasionally, news of someone passing in good health in their supposedly middle-ages stands out and makes mockery out of taking care.
However, not everyone knows what the best options available are, and to be fair most of us treat ourselves to compensate the difficulties in life to feel good about who we are and what we have done. In other words, we knowingly sabotage living the perfect life of living forever.
One person, who is trying to increase longevity living on vegetables is Bryan Johnson who has invested $2,000,000 into his anti-aging routine. Over the weekend I watched several interview videos which were interesting to follow. Bryan’s a highly successful software entrepreneur, who is currently forty-five.
Bryan sold a payment processing company to eBay in 2013 for $800 million before launching a biotechnology company called Kernel. With this enormous wealth behind him, Johnson launched Project Blueprint two years ago.
He stresses the importance to run on a caloric deficit of less than 2,000 calories per day. He sticks to the same meal plan which is customized to his biology and includes 70 pounds of vegetable per month. Also included is berries, seeds, and nuts. He swears hummus is his favourite food by far.
Additionally, he carries out plenty of daily exercise and also carries out daily tests and measurements with doctors, experts, and physicians to fine-tune his living longer cult movement. He must have based his dietary instinct of what gladiators ate back in the day.
He creates his meals in advance, as he says that if you don’t have prepared meals, you will more often than not sabotage making them on the day, as it is very difficult to stick to a specific meal plan that will provide the perfect combination of nutrients needed for your body type.
Humans have an inbuilt trend formed over thousands of years, based on nature. There weren’t sales outlets to shop, and they needed to scavenge thousands of years ago. They didn’t have processed or fast food which are inferior quality to fresh ingredients for healthiness.
Humans are superior creatures and therefore are able to control their urges, but truth be known it’s very difficult to do so. People who regularly fail reward themselves. Other successful people treat themselves for getting results, and this indeed sabotages health. Cakes, chocolate, and sweat treats contain sugar which is the worst culprit for stacking on weight!
However, we celebrate birthdays, holidays, the Christmas season, or just about any opportunity to compensate hard work. Work-out hard and then eat a piece of cheesecake, meet a deadline and reduce the pressure on the accelerator – meet with teammates and go out for a couple of rounds on a Friday after work.
Go on – you deserve it – go and enjoy yourself!
Continued in the following days.
Have a terrific day!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Harsh (adj) = punitive, exacting, strict, severe, unforgiving, tough
Middle-ages = double barrel meaning as “middle age” is referred to as the period of human adulthood that immediately precedes the onset of old age. Though the age period that defines middle age is somewhat arbitrary, differing greatly from person to person, it is generally defined as being between the ages of 40 and 60. People also use the phrase “Middle Ages” to describe Europe between the fall of Rome in 476 CE and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century.
Mockery (n) = ridicule, scorn, contempt, disdain, sarcasm, (ant) respect
Fine-tune (idiom) = to adjust precisely so as to bring to the highest level of performance or effectiveness. ‘Fine-tune a TV set.’ Make small adjustments to something in order to achieve the best or a desired performance. "The advanced angler seeking to fine-tune his angling skills."
Cult movement = a cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life's questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader's rules.