[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping and Sex (2018) is a guide to a healthy life in the modern hectic world. In our everyday life, everything has a priority, work, school, college, movies, eating out, social media and the last thing which features in the list is our health and wellness. Although our health should be the top most priority. But where do we start prioritising our health? Aubrey Marcus has some useful insights on how a day in your life can make a positive impact on your life.
About the author
Aubrey Marcus is the founder and CEO of Onnit, a lifestyle brand based on a holistic health philosophy he calls Total Human Optimization. Aubrey also hosts The Aubrey Marcus Podcast, a motivational destination for conversations with the brightest minds in athletics, business, science, relationships, and spirituality. He regularly provides commentary to outlets like Entrepreneur, Forbes, The Doctors, and The Joe Rogan Experience.
This book of interest for
- Gym freaks
- People looking for a health and wellness guide
- Health enthusiasts
Key takeaways from the book
Morning routine
What is the first thing that we do when we wake up? Probably grab a cup of tea or coffee? We do this on the notion that having a cup of coffee would make us more alert and prepare us for the day. The caffeine in the coffee gives extra alertness to our brain making us anxious and freaked out and I’m sure that’s not the best way to start the day. So what is the first thing to do?
Drink water!
Hydrating our body is the easiest yet the most neglected task in our daily lives. After 6-8 hours of sleep, our body is heavily dehydrated and it wants water to rejuvenate itself. So we should drink water as the first drink in morning and not coffee or tea.
What can we have for breakfast now, after having water? Well, the answer would be cornflakes and milk or some packaged juice. They aren’t a good choice either. These foods are simple carbohydrates containing a lot of sugar. The thing with processed sugar is that it shoots up the level of blood sugar and activates the secretion of insulin in the blood which makes us lethargic. This drops down the sugar rather quickly. This surge and downfall of sugar level poses risks of diabetes.
So what is a suitable breakfast? Try to eat fruits, leafy vegetables, cereals for breakfast.
Nutrients
Despite eating better food with a lot of variety, we do not have wholesome nutrition in our bodies as our ancestors had. Reason? Our sources of nutrition are not rich. The vegetables and fruits that we consume are filled with pesticides and grown with the help of fertilizers which means they do not contain the natural nutrients from the soil. The animal products that we consume aren’t healthy too because the animals are not fed on nutritional diets but corns. So when we consume chicken or eggs, they are not that nutritious as they used to be.
Owing to this, we miss out on a lot of nutrients which leads to deficiencies of vitamins, protein, and healthy fats. Talking of healthy fats, we hear so many bad things about fats that we forget that good fats also exist which are necessary for the growth of body and wellness of skin and eyes. To ensure complete nutrition, we should try and prefer leafy vegetables, fruits, meat and avoid red meat and other processed foods.
If there is still lacking, we should try supplements especially vitamin D, as the modern world gives us no time to sit in the sun and let our body produce vitamin D.
Exercise and stay fit
When we talk of exercising, we usually imagine ourselves lifting weights at the gym and getting 6 or 8 pack abs but the truth is, we should stress on getting overall fitness instead of forming bulky muscles on shoulder and chest.
The reason why exercising seems like a distant dream is that we set unrealistic goals which result in frustration and injury. Excessive focus on biceps and triceps would no doubt ensure heavy arms but it would result in neglect of other body parts and as result, the body won’t be having the strength to sustain the heavy arms. It would result in fatigue and tiredness.
So what’s the way to ensure that exercise becomes a long-term and sustainable habit? Approach it as a way to boost your overall health, not just a way to change your appearance.
Have better sex
Sex is a great way to stay healthy, positive and happy. The road to a healthy sex life also passes through a healthy body. A healthy body has a balanced amount of testosterone levels which drives you towards sex. So one step at a day, eating right and exercising well can give you a better time between the sheets.
This book gives some useful insights about ensuring health, fitness, motivation in the day to day life. However, at some places, I felt like Marcus was trying hard to sell his products, his podcasts and giving some sponsored advice which is justified because he invests his energy and time into it. Continuing the trend of books of health and wellness, I will be reviewing “The Wellness Sense” by Om Swami very soon.
Stay tuned and have a happy day![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-left”][/vc_column][/vc_row]