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Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#141

Post by khafra »

itistoday wrote: post #86
tbrooks wrote: post #53

Here are a few guidelines I try to abide by: 1. Always eat breakfast 2. Don't eat past 9pm 3. Get 7 hours of sleep 4. Walk 30 minutes a day 5. Shop for food on the outer walls of grocery store 6. Drink 60oz of water a day

+1! > 5. Shop for food on the outer walls of grocery store Haha, I never thought of it that way, but that is good advice and a great way of putting it (all the processed food is in the middle), you still have to be careful though of things like milk, which although it's one the outer wall, generally isn't a good thing to take. I always go for the almond milk and avoid regular milk like the plague. I also shop at loca…

If you check around, you may be able to find some urban farmers. I live in the middle of a city, and get more eggs than I can handle free from a friend who has a small flock of chickens 2mi away. For fruits and vegetables, I still mostly buy at a small immigrant-owned market, but when lychee season rolls around I have another friend who grows those.

Since I'm posting on this thread, I'll go ahead and share two other health secrets: Practice Система and massage. Causing pain, and removing it. Human touch is important!

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#142

Post by jambalaya »

brown9-2 wrote: post #52
kingkongrevenge wrote: post #49

This trumps absolutely anything else you can do: avoid starch and sugar. Eat only meat/fish, vegetables, and fruit. Simply don't eat sugary drinks, cereal, oatmeal, rice, potatoes, bread and so forth. This way everything you eat is nutrient packed. Eggs and dairy are the best foods I know of. I normally eat four eggs a day (scrambled in lots of butter) and have a large glass of half and half, or sometimes I even drin…

You do realize that you might have just gotten lucky in the genetic and metabolic department, and that others who might not be so lucky in their genetic makeup do need to work out 5 hours a week (or more) to get the same results as you?

But he isn't lucky in the sense that some people can metabolize carbohydrates much better and can consume more than others.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#145

Post by dgallagher »

lucraft wrote: post #126
dgallagher wrote: post #74

This is what I do: - run 5x per week every morning (~30 miles a week; more if I'm training for something) - stretch, dynamic before, static after. Essential to prevent injuries - weight lift 3x per week (bi/tri, chest/upper-back, abs/lower-back/shoulders) - take rest days - sleep 9-10 hours a night, going to bed at the same time (EDIT: every's needs here are a little different) - eat 1 salad per day - eat lots of fru…

That's all awesome, but..... you got taller?

I was still growing at that age (peaked in weight at around 16 or 17, so I wasn't done growing yet). Perhaps I'm off a bit on the height (could have been 5' 11"), but I definitely grew a bit more.

Interesting theories about posture though. I have no idea if that affected it or not.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#146

Post by ax0n »

itistoday wrote: post #68
ax0n wrote: post #60

I ride my bike to work, and have been for the last 3 years. I lost about 50 pounds quickly (I was about 250 at the time) and then kind of hit the wall around 190. I'm still fat, but my lungs and heart are in great shape. My round-trip is about 29 miles, but I also have several multi-mode options that involve mixing bicycle and bus, shortening the bicycle part of my trip to anywhere from 2.7 to 7 miles each direction.…

> Oh yeah, and watch what you eat, I guess. We may be complimentary hackers in this sense, so I'd like to expand on this sentence of yours. I don't exercise very much, but be it good genes or not, I'm very healthy--ahem, as far as I know, where'd I put that piece of wood..? From my years of exposure to the topic, what I've found is that your last sentence deserves far more than a sentence dedicated to it. For some (a…

Obviously, my "I guess" was tongue in cheek. Volumes upon volumes have been written on it. It should be common sense that you don't fuel your daily existence with ho-hos and mountain dew. Unfortunately, a lot of hackers opt for that -- or worse! some days, I'm guilty of it, but I do burn about 1,800 kCal on the bike daily. Still, burning the calories you eat is only part of the deal.

The whole "organic" thing doesn't strike me as any sort of requirement for being healthy. If you think it helps, good. But having grown up in a Nebraska family where a good wholesome meaty meal that probably came out of a feed lot 20 miles away, I can say I've seen plenty of people grow to be slender, muscular and very healthy without adopting the organic/granola/veg*n mindset. However our species got where we are, everything between our teeth and our colon is configured for a balanced diet of meat, fiber, legumes, grains, and veggies. And that's what I eat.

My great grandfather did the same. He croaked at age 107.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#147

Post by Zak »

redcap wrote: post #94
Zak wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please explain how (with links to sane sources if possible).

Not a sane source but a personal anecdote: I stayed up all night before my sub-thesis due date finishing it off thanks to Red Eye (red bull analogue). I had so much of it that I was literally shaking late into the night. In general my caffiene intake is zero - my theory is if you drink it every day it has less of an effect than when you really need it. I rely on willpower most of the time if working late.

A reverse tolerance, as is commonly associated with marijuana? My experience has been different. I used to be addicted to caffeine. I wasn't measuring my intake, but at times it was probably near a gram a day. Since breaking my addiction, I have caffeine on occasion. A single cup of black tea now has a pretty strong effect on me, where previously it was barely noticeable.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#148

Post by keefe »

listic wrote: post #95
keefe wrote: post #92

It's important to realize the body is a machine : you have particular protein, fiber and calorie requirements. Meet them. I take a protein shake every day and a large quantity of veggies and skimp on carbs. I make sure to keep in mind caffeine is a drug and I monitor my dose. I do pushups and situps and as soon as my damn knee heals, I am back to running.

The thing is, this machine doesn't seem to have any indicators to an untrained eye. How can you tell if you need more protein? Something else, like Omega-3 fatty acid maybe? How can you tell that you don't need carbs? etc. etc. I would love to read up on this to get to know the workings of my machine better.

You can use a daily needs calculator, like the one on nutritiondata.com, and plan out the food that you eat every day. It's not going to be exact, but it's better than eating what you feel like, when you feel like it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#149

Post by drobilla »

flashingpumpkin wrote: post #130

By being a vegetarian.

A (what I call) "real food vegetarian", anyway. There are "vegetarians" out there who consume crazy amounts of horrible processed foods.

IMO people tend to severely overthink diet. It's pretty hard to be unhealthy when you exclusively eat good, real, whole, food. Diet fads come and go, and are often completely contradictory, but this guideline has always, and will always, be more or less true.

Vegans on the left, Atkins people on the right... drop your food religions and just stop eating crap! It's not that difficult.

If you're trying to lose weight, EAT LESS. You can eat the most extremely healthy diet in the world, if you eat a lot, you will get fat. That's how the body works. Again, it's not exactly rocket science.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?

#150

Post by define-syntax »

electromagnetic wrote: post #89

I'm a writer so I believe my priorities are very similar, but somewhat different than your average hacker: 1. Try to eat breakfast; the reason here is two-fold, first is that it's good for your metabolism and the second is that it helps if 5. fails. 2. Eat Smart; the brain likes omega-3's but the omega-6's will kill you. 'Healthy' is very different for 'smart', you want foods that help increase your efficiency and co…

> waiting generally means relaxing

I guess you've never been to the DMV.

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