Optimize Performance & Life

| MY WIFE THINKS I'M CRAZY BUT IT WORKS

Sleep Smarter book review — Is $16 worth radically improved sleep?

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I’ve been listening to Shawn Steveson’s podcast The Model Health Show for a few years now. He puts complex, researched-based health topics into easy to understand common folk lingo. And he keeps you engaged and laughing the entire time.

I just finished my advanced copy of his new book Sleep Smarter and the book reads just like his podcast. Before I knew it, I was half way through and had implemented several of the many sleep tips that he recommends – and feeling the difference!

I wrote a sleep hack post in 2013 in which I offered up various tips I had learned from his podcast. The book includes many of these hacks and much more.

I didn’t realize how bad my sleep quality was until I started implementing some of Shawn’s recommendations.

I literally went from falling asleep at the wheel on my morning commute to mornings being my most productive and energizing time of the day.

In Sleep Smarter, Shawn recommends several power tips at the end of each chapter — simple tactics that can be implemented right away. If you try just a fraction of the many power tips recommended, YOU WILL GET BETTER SLEEP, I promise. It’s an easy read with humor sprinkled throughout.

Shawn covers how important sleep is and everything you need to improve it, and it’s all based on the latest scientific research.

Best and most important of all, Shawn focuses on improving QUALITY, not necessarily increasing the quantity of sleep. Most of us get as much sleep as we can fit in, but it’s the quality of that sleep that counts. Shawn teaches us how to make the most of what sleep we CAN get. It’s a much more realistic approach.

The book even includes a 14-day sleep improvement plan.

Learn how to radically improve your sleep with Sleep Smarter -> SleepSmarterBook.com

Achieve your highest level of athletic performance every time with this routine

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CrossFit’s missing a vital component of fitness, especially if you want to achieve peak athletic performance.

I’ve been doing it for a little over a year and I love it. They have identified exactly what fitness should be for long-term health and functional movement. I’ve even got CrossFit Level 1 Certified.

During Level 1 training, they cover the basic movements, nutrition, and the entire method to their madness — interesting stuff for a fitness nerd like me.

But I was surprised that there was almost no talk about recovery, especially with the intensity of workouts that come with Crossfit.

As I dug into what a great fitness routine should have, I found four essential components. They are:

  1. Visualization
  2. Warm-up
  3. Workout of the Day (WOD)
  4. Recovery (more important than the WOD itself)

If you want to get the most out of your body and your workout while achieving the highest level of athletic performance and reducing the possibility of injury, all four components are crucial.

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I Switched to an Old-School Percolator to Make Coffee

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Step away from the coffee maker (it’s not why you think)

percolator

I was waiting in line to use the microwave when my co-worker Uncle Butt put his food in. He left his Cuban in plastic Saran wrap. I said “What are you doing – do you have a death wish???” The next person in line put her food in which was stored in plastic.

WHAT!!!

I’ve eliminated most plastic that comes into contact with my food. Plastic cups, plates, Tupperware…all of it. Am I crazy? Everyone at work thinks I am.

Plastic, even BPA-free is potentially harmful, and can make you fat and infertile.

The chemicals in plastic leach into your food especially when the plastic is exposed to hot food/liquids, washed in the dishwasher (even if the plastic says “dishwasher safe”) or when  they get old. Fatty foods are particularly notorious for absorbing the leached chemicals.

Plastic is also photodegradable, meaning that plastic water bottle you’re drinking out of is probably leaching chemicals into the water every time it’s exposed to light. The older the water bottle, the more broken down the bottle becomes.

It’s not a risk I want to take, especially when it’s so easily avoidable.

Plastic is reactive whereas glass is inert – it doesn’t react with anything else.

I use glass Pyrex Tupperware to store my most of my food, I drink out of glasses and stainless steel canteens and I only eat off of ceramic plates.

One thing that constantly bugged me was my coffee maker. I had lots of plastic parts that were exposed to hot water. Even my Aeropress was made of plastic (which I still use on rare occasions just because it makes such good coffee!)

That lingering thought was always in the back of my mind – “how many chemicals are leaching into my coffee every morning and what’s it doing to my long-term health?”

I went on a search for an automatic coffee maker that didn’t have any plastic parts. This wasn’t easy. Every automatic coffee maker I found had plastic parts until I had a flash-back to growing up at my parent’s house.

My dad would wake us up every morning with his damn percolator. It was so loud as it chugged away at making the morning coffee.

But it was made out of all stainless steel – all of it!

I searched Amazon and ended up with this one.

Now I have peace of mind – but my co-workers still think I’m crazy.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to use coffee to get a jumpstart on your health and wellness journey, take my 21-Day Black Coffee Challenge.

And if you want to try my favorite coffee, checkout Purity Organic Coffee. It has the highest amount of antioxidants and is mold and toxin-free. Use code EVOLVEDNS for 10% off. I am an affiliate for Purity, so I earn a small commission if you purchase, but it is at no extra charge to you. Enjoy!

Why I’m not 100% Paleo

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I’ve got something that I’m really excited to tell you. I’m finally a published author!

Here’s how it all happened.

Kara Fair, a fellow health blogger who goes by the name Wellness Babe, recognized all the confusion around the different diets that are currently popular. To solve this problem, she is putting together a series of books about each of the major diets/lifestyles out there. She calls the series How Should I Eat? She interviewed experts on each of the popular diets/lifestyles and she selected me to help her with the Paleo Diet!

I was honored to be interviewed by her.

We’ve converted the interview into an easy-to-read eBook that you can download onto your Kindle or Kindle app. It’s called How Should I Eat? Living Paleo.

Living Paleo

Some of the topics we cover included:

  • What a true “Paleo diet” consists of
  • Common Paleo myths debunked
  • Resources for buying high-quality food
  • How to burn fat as fuel rather than storing it
  • How Paleo addresses other factors involved in fat loss and health besides diet

You’ll also learn:

  • Why I’m not 100% Paleo
  • How I lost 20lbs in 30 days
  • My perspective on the Paleo lifestyle
  • Why a Paleo diet is a good start for great health
  • What it’s like to “go Paleo”
  • Tips for making quick, delicious meals
  • The one action you can take right away to start dropping weight

There’s also a special offer on our premier healthy lifestyle and fat-loss program.

Please check it out and most importantly, please leave a review.

You can buy the book now for only $0.99.

PURCHASE NOW

The other books in Kara’s How Should I Eat? series include:

And more to come. I encourage you to check all of them out.

Morning vs Evening Workouts – Which Is Better

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Squats
Just doing a little warm-up before my morning WOD.

I love working out in the morning. It’s one of my keystone habits – the one routine that occurs at the beginning of the day that naturally puts me in the right frame of mind and on the path to a successful day. After my morning workout, I’m more energized, my mind is clear knowing my workout is behind me, and I just feel great after.

If I tell myself I’ll exercise after work, it never happens. Life catches up and my priorities change by the end of the day.

But that’s not to say the morning is the best time to exercise.

When is the ideal time – morning or afternoon/evening?

It depends.

AM Workouts – The Pros
When you wake after sleeping for 8 hours, your body has burned through the carbs and starts to tap into fat for fuel. You can take advantage of this if you exercise in a fasted state. You can also increase your calorie-burning rate throughout the remainder of the day. Plus, you can use the morning’s natural cortisol surge for an extra energy boost.

According to some research, early morning exercise is best for reducing blood pressure and improving sleep.

If you do an intense workout in the morning, I recommend getting some protein and fat (optional) in prior to prevent a catabolic state (your body eats your muscles for energy). My pre-workout food of choice is evolved coffee.

Also, if you have a difficult time getting your workout in in the evening because your drained from work or your willpower’s spent, its best to get it out of the way first thing in the morning.

Morning workouts are also a great time to use moderate amounts of caffeine from coffee or tea to improve performance and increase fat-burning (read more here).

The one negative to morning workouts (besides having to wake up early!), is the perceived effort may seem higher.

Since your core body temperature is relatively low first thing in the morning, it’s important to get a good warm-up in along with some dynamic stretches to reduce the possibility of injury.

So, if your goal is to burn fat and lose weight or you lack motivation at the end of the day, it’s best to do your routine in the morning.

PM Workouts – The Pros
Physiologically, the window for peak performance and lower risk of injury is in the late afternoon or early evening (4-5PM) when your focus, strength, and physically flexibility peak. Core body temperature and the rate at which your muscles can repair and recover (protein synthesis) peak around this time as well.

Research has shown that cardiovascular efficiency (VO2max) and sprint capabilities are also higher in the afternoon.

According to Dr. Charles Czeiser, the chief Division of Sleep Medicine in at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, this is the time the body is sending out its strongest drive for wakefulness and funny enough, when most Olympic records are broken.

So if your goal is to improve performance and achieve the highest possible intensities during your routine, go for an evening workout.

One note about evening workouts – limit any type of exercise two hours before bed to prevent interruption in sleep.

Ultimately, the best time of day to exercise is the time of day during which you’re most likely to actually do it consistently. You could even mix it up a little if that’s more convenient.

Keep in mind, it’s just as important (if not more important) to just move often throughout the day than rely on one structured exercise period each day.

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