Sugar Cravings, Rucking, and Doing Things You Enjoy
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:
Don’t feel bad about your sugar cravings, enjoy them in moderation. You can combat impulses by getting more sleep, reducing chronic stress, and simply writing down when you eat them or want to eat them.
Let’s ruck baby. You will be tapping into how our bodies have evolved to move and exercise for millions of years. Throw on a weighted backpack and get going folks.
Do things you enjoy and you will lead a purposeful, pleasure filled life.
Starter Mindset Tip: Stop Getting Down On Yourself When You Crave Delicious Sugar
First off, this mindset tip is not to try and make it so you never eat delicious food again. There is nothing like a delicious pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, a chocolatey birthday cake, or a just for the heck of it cinnamon scone. Everything in moderation, enjoy your treats, just not all the time. We are here to tell you to stop feeling bad when you crave fat and sugar. This is literally ingrained in your biology. This craving helped us survive a long time ago, and guess what, that craving is still there today. The way we battle that craving is by using the part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex. Part of its job is to control your urges and instincts. Unfortunately, this sometimes gets blocked when you are tired, stressed, or distracted. That is a hard battle to win when you don’t have anyone else in your corner helping you decide what to do or not do. What can we do to make sure the impulse control side of your prefrontal cortex wins?
Step one: Get better sleep to bring your prefrontal cortex back into action.
Step two: Try out some of our recipes to create a better relationship with stress.
Step three: Write down the moments of your day when you gave in to your impulses.
If you just want to try out step three to start, go for it. This will create awareness, and that is a great step to controlling impulses. Impulses are often mindless and you aren’t even aware that you are making choices that combat your goals. If you can become aware of them in the moment, then you will start thinking twice about giving in to that pesky impulse. Bonus step: when you are struggling to fight an impulse that you want to avoid, slow down your breathing to activate your prefrontal cortex and get your body into relax and self-control mode. Breathe in for five seconds, breathe out for 5 seconds, and notice the benefits.
Health Recipe: Exercise the Way We Have for 4 Million Years
Timing: Depends how long your walks are
Level of Difficulty: Easy to do, will be harder work than just walking!
Serving Size: Start small, get your body used to walking with weight
Spiciness: Can get a little spicy, especially on some hills!
INGREDIENTS
Just yourself, a weighted backpack, and the shoes on your feet
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Our ancestors started walking on two feet 4.4 million years ago. Ever since then we have been carrying a whole bunch of heavy stuff long distances. You put those two pieces together and you have a phenomenal exercise: rucking. Over time, our bodies have adapted and became incredibly proficient at this exercise. Putting some weight in a backpack and going for a walk will be tapping into how our bodies have evolved to move and get stronger over the millions of years since we started walking on two feet. We used to hunt animals over long distances, carry hundreds of pounds of animal back to our camps, carry big rocks to build, and carry all our possessions when moving camps. Our bodies are built for this. This kind of exercise will build both strength and endurance, which are both incredibly important for our long term health. Sometimes it can be hard to fit both of these styles of exercise into our busy weeks, so rucking may just be the answer. Many of us are already going for walks, so now all you have to do is throw some weight in your backpack and you will be exercising like our bodies have adapted to over the last 4 million years. There are not many exercises that can say that. Rucking is cardio for the person that hates running, and strength work for the person who hates lifting. (Easter, 238) One more bonus is that the higher a person’s cardio fitness—according to stacks of medical literature—the further that person is from nearly all of the popular ways humans now die. (Easter, 244) So let’s join our ancestors and get strong, fit, and healthy the way they did.
INSTRUCTIONS
Make a weighted backpack between 10 and 50 pounds. You can buy a specific backpack for rucking, or you can throw some weights in a backpack you already have. These can be weights from exercise equipment, or a bunch of bricks.
Next time you go for a walk, throw on the heavy backpack. Sinch the straps down to try and make it sit high on your back, and make it as comfortable as you can. Keep your back straight, and your chest open so you can breathe properly.
Now, just walk. Try to notice your heart rate go up a little higher than usual, feel your legs getting a little more tired, and feel your lungs working a little harder.
You don’t have to wait and go out for a specific ruck walk. Do you walk already, do you walk your dog, do you walk your kids to school, do you walk to a store? If you do, throw on that heavy backpack and get in your strength and endurance training.
Once you are comfortable with the backpack, you can make it a little harder by doing the ruck shuffle. This is a mix between a fast walk and a jog.
PRO TIP: Find a friend or a group to ruck with and this exercise will be ticking lots of boxes to maintain health. You will be exercising, getting sunlight and fresh air, and you will be getting some much needed social interaction. The exercise trifecta, heck yes.
* Look at some of your company if you choose to ruck: The Greek and Roman legions trained this way by loading up a backpack and heading into the woods, and so do the American special forces.
** Rucking is a great alternative to jogging. Running causes force on the knees 8 times your body weight, walking is 2.7 times, and rucking is just a little more than walking. (Easter, 248)
*** There are many recommendations out there to do 150-180 minutes of endurance exercise every week to make sure you are getting the amazing health benefits. Rucking can help you reach those numbers.
Dessert Quote:
“Do the most interesting thing that you can. Should you go find your purpose or find work you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. There are two types of happiness: Hedonia is about feeling good, and eudaimonia is about living a purpose filled life. We need both. At the nexus of enjoyable and meaning is interesting. Interest is considered to be a positive primary emotion, processed in the limbic system. Something that truly interests you is intensely pleasurable, and it also must have meaning in order to hold your interest.” (Brooks, 208)
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 willpower:
McGonigal, K. (2013). The willpower instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It. Penguin.
Learn more about the benefits of rucking, and doing hard things:
Easter, M. (2021). The comfort crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. Rodale Books.
Learn more about leading a purposeful life:
Brooks, A. C. (2022). From strength to strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. Penguin.
