Rethink “Work-Life” Balance, Take Food Breaks, and Strive To Be Your Own Best Self
Hi Folks! Connor and Nick here from Healthy Living With Nick and Connor. Thanks again for being on our email list, it means a lot, and we are excited to share our weekly email with you. We hope you enjoy it! Here is what we hope you take away from this one:
Instead of embarking on the quest for “work-life” balance, strive for planned imbalances throughout the different cycles of your life.
Take food breaks in order to give your body time to enlist the clean up crew to go through your body and take out the trash.
“Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control.“ —Epictetus
Starter Mindset Tip: Think of Your Life in Cycles
It has become a very common quest to search for “work-life” balance. It is a quest that can leave you feeling bad if you feel like you never achieve it. If you have cracked the code and find yourself leading a balanced life, keep up the good work. If however you feel like you have embarked on an impossible journey to find the elusive “work-life” balance, then we want you to reframe how you think about balance, and learn to strive for consistent and planned imbalance. Your life will go through stages, stages that last for weeks, months, and years. Finding a “work-life” balance that happens all the time may just be unattainable for you, and that is okay. If you are in a busy stage of your life, recognize that, and determine if you are okay with that, and plan to achieve balance at a later date. Or if you have a busy period of work every year, learn to be okay with that busy period, accept it for what it is, crush out the busy period, and be ready for a little more balance after that period is over. “To live this way is to replace the high-pressure quest for “work-life” balance with a conscious form of imbalance, backed by your confidence that the roles in which you’re underperforming right now will get their moment in the spotlight soon.” (Burkeman, p. 237)
Health Recipe: Taking Food Breaks: Benefits of Fasting
Timing: Eating less will save you time
Level of Difficulty: Easy for short fasts, hard for long term
Serving Size: Start small by stopping eating 2-3 hours before bed, build from there
Spiciness: Fasts will be spice roller coasters. Sometimes mild, sometimes muy caliente
INGREDIENTS
Just yourself and the odd break from food
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Fasting has been an important part of cultures around the world for centuries, so let’s follow their lead and throw some fasts into our lives. Not only will the occasional fast help keep your body healthy, but it will be a test for your body and mind as you battle with the uncomfortableness of being hungry. Taking breaks is great in all aspects of life, we want you to think of fasting as taking a food break for your body. A break from food will give your body time to heal your gut, clean up your digestive system, break down stored fat cells, and give your immune system a break. (Shojai, 132) Let’s look at what goes on along the fasting timeline:
12-16 hours into the fast: When you finish eating your last meal of the day, it will be fully metabolized and broken down after about 12 to 16 hours.
16-24 hours into the fast: Your body will now be burning stored tissues for energy. Glycogen is the most easily accessible energy source, and your liver stores enough for around 24 hours. (Fung, p. 44)
After 24 hours: Your body will start breaking down stored fat for energy.
3 - 5 days: Body clean up time. These long fasts will reset your immune function, reduce inflammations, and you will be giving your body the time to find and destroy the old damaged cells that are hanging out in your body and replace them with newer healthier cells. These old damaged cells are often the pre-cancerous cells, and without fasting, it is hard for your body to attack these old cells because the body is constantly using the new incoming food for energy, and never has time to take out the trash. The body is pretty incredible, it will actually renew itself, but this only works if you give it the time to take out the trash first by throwing a longer fast into your schedule. (Fung, p. 151)
INSTRUCTIONS
* Drinking black coffee, tea, or lemon/salt water will not interrupt your fast.*
Start small. Try and finish eating your last meal 2-3 hours before you go to bed at night. If you stop eating by 7 pm, a 12 hour fast will bring you to 7 am. Doing that alone will help give your body time to break down all of your food from the day properly.
If you delay your first meal to 10:30 am, you are hitting 16 hours. The main thing here is that you are making sure you still eat the proper amount of protein in your day, which is .7 - 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
Time to throw in a 24 hour fast into your schedule. Dinner to dinner is a good way to get started here. Stay busy throughout your day to keep your mind off of hunger. Drink lots of water, and maybe avoid strenuous exercise to allow your body time to chill.
Time for the big leagues: 3-5 day fasts. Set yourself up for success and put a longer fast into your calendar. Drink lots of water, and eat some good nutritious food leading up to the fast. Drink lots of water during the fast, take it easy, and be ready for some ups and downs. Note how you feel, enjoy the increased focus, and be proud of yourself for fighting through some uncomfortable feels to give your body some time to clean out some trash!
PRO TIP: A great plan to start with is making those 12 hour fasts between dinner and breakfast your new normal, hit that 80% of the time, and then throw in some longer fasts throughout your year. We try to do 2 to 4 longer fasts every year to make sure our bodies have the time to do a clean up every year. Don’t overthink it, jump into a longer fast and your body and mind will surprise you with how well you handle it.
* “Medical minds ranging from Hippocrates in 500 BC to doctors in the 1800s, theorized that stretches without food could help prevent and even fight back against diseases like cancer.” (Easter, p. 166) We have known this for a long time, it is time for us all to capitalize on these benefits.
** A 24 hour fast is a great way to evaluate your relationship with food, show you that you don’t have to eat all the time, test your mind, and test how metabolically flexible your body is. (Starrett, p. 164)
*** Adrenaline, metabolism, and HGH all increase while fasting. (Fung, p. 49) The benefits are vast. Give your body a chance to do its thing and clean out the trash, get fasting.
Dessert Quote:
“Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best self: for that does fall within your control. “ — Epictetus, “A Manual For Living,” p. 34
Now we want to hear from YOU! Please let us know what you think of today’s newsletter, and send us an example of how you applied the health recipe to your life! We would love to share how you introduced this week’s recipe into your life’s unique menu. Thanks and have a great Sunday!
Sources:
Learn more about leading an intentional life and rethinking balance:
Burkeman, O. (2021). Four thousand weeks: The smash-hit Sunday Times bestseller that will change your life. Random House.
Learn more about the many benefits of fasting:
Easter, M. (2021). The comfort crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. Rodale Books.
Moore, J., & Fung, J. (2016). Complete guide to fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting. Victory Belt Publishing.
Shojai, P. (2017). The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace. Rodale
Starrett, K., & Starrett, J. (2023). Built to move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. National Geographic Books.
Learn more about being your best self:
Epictetus. (1994). A manual for living. Harper Collins.
