I was recently a guest on the Red Beard Radio podcast, where the host, Brian, asked me an important question:
“What do entrepreneurs do that makes us more likely to go to the treatment side of your practice, than the prevention side of your practice?”
In other words, what are the habits that result in business owners showing up on my operating table?
The answer is simple, and it’s not limited only to entrepreneurs and business owners. Hardworking employees and gig workers also fall into the same category.
Ultimately, the number one thing that gets people onto the treatment side of my practice is what and how they eat.
Too many people don’t realize that it’s impossible to outrun a bad diet (or lose weight, for that matter). You can be thin, fit, and feel good, but still be destroying your body with how you eat. Just being thin does not necessarily mean you are metabolically healthy.
Quite simply, food is the overwhelming cause of most of the problems I see with my heart surgery patients.
What about lifestyle factors?
Certainly, there are lifestyle issues at play as well.
Stress, a lack of sleep, too much time hunched over a computer instead of getting adequate sun and exercise. These are all symptoms of our modern life, and they all matter.
Imagine you’re a bodybuilder, and your goal is to win Mr. Universe. In that instance, the number one priority to achieve that goal would be your exercise regime to first build muscle.
Food, rest, and supplementation are all vital components to build muscle, but without picking up some weights, they won’t get you to that trophy. Yet at the same time, lifting weights without considering a proper diet and recovery will also not get you to the trophy.
The same is true with improving your health. If you exercise regularly, sleep well, and reduce workplace stress in your life, you still won’t be metabolically healthy if your food intake is mostly made up of processed foods, microwave meals, sodas, and ice cream.
How can we tell when our metabolic health needs improving?
Unfortunately, the signs of poor metabolic health are not always obvious. Struggling with obesity and high blood pressure are two markers that indicate if we’re metabolically unhealthy, but the other markers require blood tests.
So, if you want to start improving your metabolic health immediately, the first thing to do is only eat whole, real foods.
If it comes in a box or a bag, don’t eat it. You can go a step further and think of anything that comes in a box or a bag as not being a food item at all. Brian, the host of Red Beard Radio, refers to them as ‘near food objects.’ This is a perfect way to view Oreos, vegetable oils, and other processed foods.
These are not food, they are nearly food.
The only foods that are truly safe for human consumption are ones that grow in the ground or eat what grows in the ground.
How entrepreneurs can restore their metabolic health
You can take control of your health starting right now.
I recommend business owners start with the basics:
- Put a pause on grabbing fast food dinners or sugary coffees before work. Eating out may seem more convenient for your schedule, but when you look at the side effects of cheap food, you’ll see the dangers they pose to your metabolic heath. If you feel you don’t have enough time to prep whole, real foods, I suggest cooking in advance and stacking the freezer so you don’t have to make extra during the week.
- Make space for at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. This doesn’t need to be extravagant, and it also doesn’t require a full half-hour block of time. Instead, you can practice cumulative exercise with resistance training, HIIT, and bodyweight exercises. Maybe you can take a 15-minute walk on your lunch break, or go up the stairs rather than take the elevator to work.
- Give yourself ample time to relax, which includes getting enough sleep. Sleep and stress are both enormous factors of metabolic health and can amplify any existing conditions or health effects. There’s no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ answer for better sleep and less stress. I always recommend finding your personal sweet spot and leaning into routine practices that serve your lifestyle best.
It’s time to reframe your thinking about work-health balance. While maintaining a business is a great deal of work and requires lots of dedication, it’s your health — not your job — that should dictate how you live.
And remember: the more metabolically healthy you become, the more effectively you can run a prosperous and successful business.
Not sure what comes next? If you’re looking for ongoing coaching support or are interested in developing metabolically healthy habits, you can take one of my online courses to learn at your own pace.