Jan. 4, 2024

The Health Habit with Dr Amantha Imber

The Health Habit with Dr Amantha Imber
The player is loading ...
The Health Habit with Dr Amantha Imber
The Health Habit with Dr Amantha Imber
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon PocketCasts podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon PocketCasts podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon
Season 11 Goals & Habits Positive Psychology

Cass talks to psychologist and author, Dr Amantha Imber about the surprisingly small changes that have the greatest potential to significantly improve your health. Amantha also shares her research into how you can personalise your approach to behaviour change to give you the best chance of making those habits stick.Covering everything from sleep to exercise and nutrition, this is a must-listen for anyone who wants to know the minimum required dose that will yield maximum results!
Highlights:

  • Why you're giving yourself 'jet-lag' every time you sleep in
  • The 40 second exercise hack that will change your life
  • The impact of 'Hyper Palatable Foods' on your weight loss efforts
  • Identifying Barriers to Change
  • Using Streak Boards & Temptation Bundling for Motivation


Book: The Health Habit
Connect with Cass:www.crappytohappypod.comhello@crappytohappypod.com 
www.instagram.com/crappytohappypodwww.tiktok.com/crappytohappypod
Join the free 7-day Happiness Challenge:www.cassdunn.com/happiness

Connect with Cass:

www.cassdunn.com
www.instagram.com/cassdunn_xo

Contact Crappy to Happy:

Email: hello@crappytohappypod.com
www.crappytohappypod.com
www.instagram.com/crappytohappypod
www.tiktok.com/@crappytohappypod


Are you a coach, therapist, service provider or solopreneur struggling with self-doubt and imposter syndrome? I'd love to talk to you! (for market research purposes only!)

Book a call with me to share your experience.

Want more great content and less ads?

Upgrade to Paid in the Spotify or Apple podcasts App to get immediate access to "Beyond Happy", the subscriber only podcast featuring bonus content, meditations and more!
Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:08.759
This is Crappita Happy and I am your host, Cas Done.

2
00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:13.279
I'm a clinical and coaching psychologist. I'm mindfulness meditation teacher

3
00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:16.280
and of course author of the Crappita Happy books. In

4
00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.559
this show, I bring you conversations with interesting, inspiring, intelligent

5
00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.519
people who are experts in their field and who have

6
00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:25.920
something of value to share that will help you feel

7
00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:39.479
less crappy and more happy. It is the start of

8
00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.880
a new year, and no doubt you have health goals

9
00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:46.119
you want to achieve. Despite all of my preaching not

10
00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:49.200
to set resolutions, I am sure that there are changes

11
00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.240
you want to make in your life to improve your

12
00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.600
overall health and wellbeing. The challenge we all face is

13
00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:58.200
knowing what are the key changes that will have the

14
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.840
biggest impact, and once we've got that sorted, how do

15
00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:04.640
we actually sustain those changes so that they become our

16
00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:09.000
new healthy habits. Remembering that the more your behaviors become habits,

17
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.760
the less you have to rely on things like willpower

18
00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.239
and motivation, which will always desert you when you need

19
00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.239
them the most. Well, my guest today has the answer

20
00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.640
to both of those questions in the form of her

21
00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:24.799
brand new book called The Health habit doctor. Amantha Imba

22
00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:28.400
is an organizational psychologist. She is host of the top

23
00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.760
rating podcast How I Work, and she is founder of

24
00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:36.959
behavioral science consultancy Inventium. She has worked with companies like Disney,

25
00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:39.640
Apple and Google. She has a very long list of

26
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.799
impressive accolades, including being named one of Australian Financial Reviews

27
00:01:43.879 --> 00:01:47.480
Top one hundred Women of Influence. Most importantly, she is

28
00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.640
not only super smart, she's loads of fund She's got

29
00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:52.879
plenty of fabulous advice to share with you today. So

30
00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.079
strap yourself in, grab a pen to take notes, and

31
00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:56.840
get ready.

32
00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.599
To change your life for the better. Here is Amanda.

33
00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:03.760
Amanda, Welcome to the Crappy to Happy Podcast. Such a

34
00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:04.560
pleasure to meet you.

35
00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:06.359
Oh so good to be here.

36
00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:10.080
I have been reading your latest book, and I think

37
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.919
this is very, very timely because even though we are

38
00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.120
having this conversation in December, pretty sure this will be

39
00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:20.319
released in early January, just after Christmas, when everybody is

40
00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:23.719
in the throes of New Year's resolutions and how they're

41
00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:26.039
going to change their life in twenty twenty four. So

42
00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:30.400
this is perfect timing because, as we all know, many

43
00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.319
of us set goals determine that we're going to make

44
00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:35.680
changes in our life and our behavior improve our health,

45
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.960
and then well doesn't always go to plan. So you

46
00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:44.639
have the solution to this? Can you tell me about

47
00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:47.360
how health habits is or what it's about, and how

48
00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.439
it's kind of different to other maybe self healthy kind

49
00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:50.919
of books.

50
00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.919
Absolutely, so, how the health habit came about is that

51
00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.280
I am like a massive health nerd. I'm just always

52
00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:03.680
experimenting just for fun, even though my day to day

53
00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:07.879
work involves well, it involves behavior change, but really in

54
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.479
the context of how we approach our work. And so

55
00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.719
health has always kind of been it's kind of obsession

56
00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.039
slash hobby on the side. And I've read so many

57
00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:20.479
health books, and I was thinking about just the number

58
00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.520
of health books that I've read and how those things work.

59
00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:27.280
At bookstores. It's like every month there's some new health fad,

60
00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:29.599
maybe it's a diet book or something like that, that

61
00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:32.159
we all go out and buy, and then we try

62
00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:35.039
it and nothing really sticks, and so we're back in

63
00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:38.759
the bookshop the next month buying the next healthy fad

64
00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:42.599
kind of book. And then in the meanwhile, there's this

65
00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.879
other section of the bookstore that's all about habit change.

66
00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.120
Like how can you change your habits? How can you

67
00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:51.719
change your behavior? And as a psychologist, I love those

68
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.120
books and I read them with interest. But I was

69
00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:56.120
having this thought one day as I was thinking, you know,

70
00:03:56.120 --> 00:03:59.879
what should I write about next? And I thought, wouldn't

71
00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:03.360
it cool if those two sections of the bookstore, those

72
00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:06.240
two kinds of books actually met and kind of had

73
00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:09.639
a book baby. And so in The Health Habit, what

74
00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:13.120
I do is I go through some of the most

75
00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:17.600
impactful but underutilized strategies to improve our health, so specifically

76
00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.319
looking at how we sleep, how we move, and how

77
00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:23.000
we eat. And then the second part of the book

78
00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:26.360
is all around how do you make those new health

79
00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.279
habits stick? And said NYA was the idea for the book.

80
00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:33.160
It's genius, to be honest, like it really it's it

81
00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:35.959
almost like is how has nobody written this before?

82
00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.759
Because it's perfect.

83
00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.399
It's here's what you need to do, and then here

84
00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.720
is how you can make sure or give yourself the

85
00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:47.480
best chance of actually doing this now. I was really

86
00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.519
actually fascinated to read some of the research in the

87
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.839
first part of the book, which is about the actual

88
00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.600
health habits. So I wanted to spend a bit of

89
00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:57.639
time touching on a few of these, and people can

90
00:04:57.639 --> 00:04:58.920
get the book and they can read them all, but

91
00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:01.160
there are some of these that are really interesting. So

92
00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:03.600
let's start with sleep, because the book opens with sleep

93
00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:07.360
critically important, obviously, and it's a topic that comes up

94
00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:09.399
all the time, especially you know amongst people that I

95
00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.079
talk to as well about struggling with sleep. Maybe they've

96
00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:14.600
got young children, or maybe they just have anxiety, stress,

97
00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.079
difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep. It's a big thing that

98
00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.319
comes up in the psychology world, obviously. So what are

99
00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.600
some of the things that people can do to give

100
00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.120
themselves the best chance of getting a good night sleep.

101
00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.199
Well, one of the most important things that we can

102
00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.160
do is we can wake up at the same time

103
00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:36.920
every day, which sounds very simple, but it's generally not

104
00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.560
what people do. So what typically happens I find for

105
00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:44.600
adults that are working in a typical Monday to Friday

106
00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:47.399
nine to five kind of job is that they'll get

107
00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:49.959
up pretty early Monday to Friday, and maybe they've also

108
00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:53.319
got kids to look after, maybe they're doing the school run,

109
00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:56.519
so they're probably waking up at maybe six maybe seven

110
00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.839
am if they're lucky, and then the weekend comes and

111
00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:03.759
they're quite possibly sleeping in for an hour or two

112
00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.480
and going that's fine, and then getting back to the

113
00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:10.920
six or seven am wake up on Monday. But what's

114
00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:16.879
actually happening is really quite problematic. Now. I live in Melbourne, Australia,

115
00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:21.959
and I often have to travel over the sea to

116
00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:25.399
New Zealand, which is about a two hour flight away

117
00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:27.720
and also a two hour time zone difference. And whenever

118
00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:31.240
I go to New Zealand, I remember the two hour

119
00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:34.759
time zone difference, and I think that'll be fine, I

120
00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:39.439
won't even notice. But inevitably what happens is that I

121
00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:42.680
feel like breakfast when it's actually lunch or vice versa.

122
00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.240
When it should be my bedtime. I'm wide awake or

123
00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.800
falling asleep a dinner, you know, depending on which way

124
00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.920
I've gone, and I'm always surprised by that. And then

125
00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:56.639
after I've adjusted after a few days, it's time to

126
00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:01.439
go back home, and I again mistakenly think I'll be fine,

127
00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.519
it's only a two hour time difference, but again my

128
00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:09.639
body clock is completely screwed. And this jetlag experience that

129
00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:11.720
we get even from a couple of hours difference in

130
00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.560
the time zone is pretty much what people are doing

131
00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.120
to themselves if they're having a bit of a sleep

132
00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:20.480
in on the weekend. So they're going I'll be fine,

133
00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:22.199
I'll have a sleep on the weekend, and you're feeling

134
00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.800
good because your body's getting an hour or two extra sleep.

135
00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.519
But when you hit Monday and you're back to your

136
00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:30.759
six or seven am wake up, it's essentially like you're

137
00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.560
putting yourself into a state of jet lag, and then

138
00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.360
it takes you a few days to get over that

139
00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:38.879
jet lag. By the time it's the weekend, you're sleeping in,

140
00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.560
and then you're repeating that jet lag feeling when Monday

141
00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:46.079
comes around again. So waking at the same time will

142
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:50.240
basically stop you from experiencing jet lag on a weekly basis.

143
00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:52.959
And I read that in your book and I thought, wow,

144
00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.879
that's so interesting because I now am doing some workover

145
00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:58.240
in Europe and there's a one hour time difference. It's

146
00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:01.199
a forty five minute flight hour time difference. You think

147
00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.680
it's nothing, but inevitably the night before so I'll get

148
00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:06.480
there the night before, I'm wide awake when I know

149
00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:08.480
I should be in bed because I actually have to

150
00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:11.600
be up an hour earlier. It'd according to my body,

151
00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:14.759
and it really throws you out. Just that one hour.

152
00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:20.399
It can really mess you up. It's one hour. On

153
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.720
the upside, like I just came home and I'm like

154
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:25.439
waking up fresh as a daisy at five point thirty

155
00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.000
in the morning and going, actually, this is pretty good

156
00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.279
because I've adjusted to this one hour difference and i

157
00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:33.000
feel like I've got all this extra time now in

158
00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.080
the morning. But it does, it really does make a difference.

159
00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:39.120
It does. And look, another thing that we can do

160
00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:42.279
when it comes to sleep is very very simple. So

161
00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:47.360
I imagine casts that you through your work in psychology,

162
00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:49.200
you see a lot of people that are having a

163
00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:51.320
lot of stress and a lot of stressful thoughts, and

164
00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:55.480
often as stressful thoughts come to the forefront when it's

165
00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:57.399
time to go to sleep, because what happens during the

166
00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:01.559
dayly is yeah, is that we're on phones. We're distracting

167
00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:05.919
ourselves from stress by scrolling through Instagram or watching TikTok

168
00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.039
videos and keeping the stressful thoughts at bay. But then

169
00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:11.559
when you're lying in bed and you're trying to get

170
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:16.000
to sleep, your brain suddenly has time to open up

171
00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:18.720
this door of stressful thoughts, and that can keep you

172
00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:20.600
awake and make it really hard to get to sleep.

173
00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.840
So there was some really interesting research done and it

174
00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:28.559
looked at how can we actually calm our brain down.

175
00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.360
And they had one group of people write a essentially

176
00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:36.279
like a two done list. They wrote all the tasks

177
00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:39.120
that they'd completed that day, and then they had another

178
00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.360
group right a to do list, so they talked about

179
00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:45.240
all the tasks that they hadn't completed and had to do,

180
00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.799
and also thinking forward to the next few days, what

181
00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:49.720
were the things that they were going to have to

182
00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:52.919
do during their week. And they found that the group

183
00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.279
that completed the to do list so essentially got all

184
00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.039
these open loops, because something on your to do list

185
00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:02.639
is an open life that your brain is still juggling

186
00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.759
and holding. When they got it down on paper, it

187
00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:08.879
actually reduced their stress and help them have a better

188
00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.639
quality night's sleep. So in this particular study, they were

189
00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:16.879
only spending five minutes writing this list. So it's a

190
00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.960
really great hack. But if you know, half an hour

191
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.399
before bed, you know, before your head hits the pillow,

192
00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:26.039
just take five minutes write yourself a to do list,

193
00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.039
and you'll actually sleep a whole lot better.

194
00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:30.279
I think that is really good. And I was actually

195
00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.200
speaking to somebody just the other day. She said, whenever

196
00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.639
she wakes up during the night, Let's say she wakes

197
00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:37.480
up at two or three in the morning, and it

198
00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:39.360
might just be like just because she gets up to

199
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.000
go to the toilet and she comes back to bed.

200
00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:43.000
If she finds that there is things on her mind,

201
00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:45.039
she has a notebook and she writes things down and

202
00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:46.759
puts it aside and goes to bed. So is it

203
00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:48.679
work as well, like if you wake up in the night,

204
00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:52.639
just write the things down, put it aside, go back

205
00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:53.039
your sleep.

206
00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.879
Look, you certainly could. I know that the researchers didn't

207
00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.799
look at that specifically, but certainly you know if you

208
00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:03.360
are having those middle of the night wake ups, the

209
00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.480
best thing to do if you can't get back to sleep, say,

210
00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:09.480
you know, within ten or fifteen minutes, because often we

211
00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:12.519
will just naturally go to sleep. We sleep in cycles

212
00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:15.559
of about ninety minutes, so every nineteen minutes, it's really

213
00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:18.639
normal that, you know, our brain will, you know, kind

214
00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:22.000
of wake itself up and pop around and check for danger,

215
00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:25.440
as it did in the olden days, and if there's

216
00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.360
no danger, it'll just send itself back to sleep. But

217
00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:31.559
if you're finding that you're kind of lying there at

218
00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.039
three in the morning in bed and you're just not

219
00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.159
getting to sleep. This is going to sound really counterintuitive,

220
00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.879
but the best thing that you can do is get

221
00:11:40.039 --> 00:11:44.480
out of bed. So the more time you spend in

222
00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:48.559
bed struggling to get to sleep, the worse your association

223
00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.519
with your bed becomes. It suddenly becomes a place where

224
00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:55.519
you don't sleep. And that's not what you want to

225
00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.840
feel about your bed. So if you're having that middle

226
00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.440
of the night wake up and let's just say you

227
00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:03.240
haven't fallen sleep in fifteen minutes, ideally move yourself to

228
00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:06.639
a different room, or even just get out of bed,

229
00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:09.000
and you know, maybe if you've got say an armchair

230
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:11.639
or something like that in your bedroom, just sit there

231
00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.759
and do a relaxing activity. So it might be a meditation,

232
00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.519
it might be reading a book that is not the

233
00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:21.840
latest John Grisham thriller, but perhaps something a little bit

234
00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.559
more relaxing, something passive, and inevitably.

235
00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:25.840
On your screen.

236
00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:30.039
Not on your screen, yes, yes, exactly, Cass. Don't get

237
00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:34.679
your phone, don't get that blue light in your eyes,

238
00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:37.679
because that will wake you up. But if you do that,

239
00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.120
eventually you'll catch another wave of sleep. When you feel

240
00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:44.320
that coming, go back to bed, and hopefully you'll fall asleep.

241
00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:45.440
That's a great one.

242
00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:47.960
And the other thing I found really interesting that you

243
00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.200
highlighted is that there's a lot of misconceptions out there

244
00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:54.279
about sleep. Like you said, it's natural to wake up,

245
00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:56.879
you know, routinely through the night, and I guess most

246
00:12:56.919 --> 00:12:58.480
of us just don't even really remember it we go

247
00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:00.600
back to sleep, but sometimes we do. I know, There'll

248
00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:02.440
be once or twice during the night that I know

249
00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:06.039
that I'm awake, and then ideally, normally.

250
00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:07.120
I will quickly fall back to sleep.

251
00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:12.320
But even like people expecting to wake up feeling really refreshed,

252
00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:14.440
and this idea of eight hours sleep, like a lot

253
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.399
of that is actually not one hundred percent accurate.

254
00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.919
Yeah, So in the health habit I do quite a

255
00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.720
lot of myth busting. Actually, so I interviewed a lot

256
00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.159
of professors from all around the world, a lot of

257
00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:30.240
other health experts around you know, what are some of

258
00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.200
these common misconceptions and in this case around sleep, and

259
00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.799
there's a lot, and they're ones that I definitely had.

260
00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.919
Like I remember, one of the health experts I spoke

261
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.000
to was this guy called doctor David Cunnington, and he

262
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.320
used to run the Melbourne Sleep Disorders Clinic. And I

263
00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:50.559
was telling David how often I would wake up and

264
00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.960
I would still feel pretty tired, but I'd get out

265
00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:56.679
of bed because I had to because I had to

266
00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:58.480
be somewhere, I had to take my daughter to school,

267
00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.240
or there was some sort of obligation. But I would

268
00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:05.240
think to myself, Ah, I'm still pretty sleepy. I don't

269
00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:07.919
think I slept all that well. And then eventually i'd

270
00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.080
get on with the day and i'd be fine, but

271
00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.039
you know, in that first hour of the morning, I'd

272
00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.720
be quite critical of how poorly I had slept. And

273
00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:20.320
David told me something really interesting. He said that for

274
00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:25.279
ninety seven percent of us, our natural sleep wake cycle

275
00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:28.759
is actually longer than twenty four hours. On average, it's

276
00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:31.799
twenty four hours and twenty minutes. And what that means

277
00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:35.519
if your natural sleep wake cycle is more than twenty

278
00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:38.720
four hours, but you're waking at the same time every

279
00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.279
day as opposed to you know, sleeping in just a

280
00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:44.600
few minutes every day, you're always going to feel that

281
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:47.519
sense of sleep inertia. Because if you do, like the

282
00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:50.480
average person, have a sleep wake cycle that's twenty four

283
00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.720
hours and twenty minutes long, unless you're sleeping in twenty

284
00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:57.360
minutes every single day, which would completely put you out

285
00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:00.039
of loop with you know, with the normal sort of

286
00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.399
of day night norms that we all live by, you're

287
00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:05.919
going to wake up feeling tired. So he said, the

288
00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:08.200
best way to judge whether you've had a good night's

289
00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:11.720
sleep is how you're feeling a couple of hours after

290
00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.480
you've woken up. So if you wake up at say

291
00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.799
six thirty am, and you're doing all your morning duty's

292
00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:20.240
and getting yourself ready, maybe getting your kids ready, and

293
00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:22.799
then perhaps by eight point thirty or nine o'clock you're

294
00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:25.120
perhaps sitting at your desk and ready to start the

295
00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:27.480
work date. You know, if you're a desk based worker,

296
00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:30.960
see how you're feeling then, because if you're feeling okay,

297
00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.159
then you're probably getting enough sleep.

298
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:36.320
That's so good to know, because so many people wake

299
00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.360
up feeling groggy, like you said, and then they're taking

300
00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.279
that as evidence that they've obviously not slept well.

301
00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:42.879
In actual fact, that's quite normal.

302
00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:44.360
Exactly.

303
00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:47.399
There you go. Everybody's normal. Everybody can calm down.

304
00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:53.200
There are so many other really good sleep tips. But

305
00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:56.240
the one that I wanted to really highlight, which I

306
00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:00.799
thought was so important, was the negative impact of sleeping

307
00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:03.919
pills and why we should be trying to avoid them.

308
00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:06.440
I think that's really important because even I have been

309
00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:10.000
guilty of, well, maybe if sleep's really bad, given how

310
00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:13.000
important sleep is for every aspect of our health and

311
00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.440
well being as we now know, maybe taking some medication

312
00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:18.720
to make sure you're getting good sleep is actually not

313
00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:20.120
a bad thing in the short term.

314
00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:25.960
However, yes, however it is not a great solution. And look,

315
00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:29.840
I say this as someone who has taken sleeping pills

316
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.039
at certain points. They're certainly really good as a jet

317
00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:38.360
lag hack when you're traveling across the world, like from

318
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.840
Australia to Europe or to America and you're just using

319
00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.080
a brute force approach as I think of it, to

320
00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.519
get your body clock right back on track. But certainly,

321
00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:53.000
since reading and understanding the research around sleeping tablets, I've

322
00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.279
stopped taking them and I finalized just stuffer through jet lag.

323
00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:58.600
Which is not ideal.

324
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.720
But what the research says around sleeping pills is that

325
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:08.400
even taking sleeping pills infrequently, let alone frequently, quite dramatically

326
00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:12.119
increases our chance of having an early death, So it

327
00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:17.559
increases mortality. It's quite significantly, you know that. There's not

328
00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:20.519
quite sure why it does that, but there's just been

329
00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:23.839
a lot of research to support it. So wherever possible,

330
00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:27.799
try not to resort to sleeping pills because they are

331
00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:29.920
not good for your long term health.

332
00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:32.039
Yeah, that's kind of scary.

333
00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:36.039
And is that just like things like I'm not a doctor,

334
00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:39.119
but relaxant type of medication or what about things like

335
00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.880
melatonin that often people will take.

336
00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:43.839
Is that included in that?

337
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:49.599
Yeah, I don't think malatonin is included in that, but yeah, certainly.

338
00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:52.240
I think that one of the biggest issues with malatonin

339
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:56.519
is just the quality variance. It's very hard to know

340
00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:01.079
what you're actually getting in the little latone and pill.

341
00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.680
But no, I think in terms of the prescription sleeping pills,

342
00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:07.400
it's it's classified differently in terms of research.

343
00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:10.759
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, there are so much to cover,

344
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.359
So I'm going to move on from sleep and anybody

345
00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:16.240
who has difficulty with sleep. You've got so many really great,

346
00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:18.839
amazing tips, So I'm just going to refer people to

347
00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:23.519
the book. Now movement everybody's got, well, unless you're a

348
00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:25.920
real fitness junkie, and you're absolutely obsessed with going to

349
00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:27.599
the gym or your marathon runner. Like most of us

350
00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:29.200
have a bit of a love hate relationship, you know,

351
00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:30.480
it's the thing that we think that we should do.

352
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:32.160
We never feel like we're doing it enough. And I

353
00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:37.000
was so thrilled, so thrilled to read this forty second

354
00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:41.599
this forty second hack, I want you to share with

355
00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:45.960
listeners how little exercise you actually need to do to

356
00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:48.039
achieve positive changes.

357
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:54.000
Yeah. Look, it's it's it's pretty insane. So yes, so

358
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.759
I yeah. One of the one of the professors that

359
00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:04.279
I interviewed, Martin Gabbala, who's from McMaster's Universe, specializes in

360
00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:08.039
in exercise physiology and exercise science, and he's done some

361
00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.359
amazing research to basically go what is the minimum possible

362
00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:18.519
dosage for improving our cardiovascular fitness and what it turns

363
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:21.160
out contrary to you know, a lot of the health

364
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:24.079
advice that says, you know, make sure you're doing thirty

365
00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:28.119
minutes a day of moderate activity like going for a

366
00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.279
brisk walk. Well, actually, what we now know from science

367
00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:38.000
is that doing to twenty second all out intense burths

368
00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:41.279
of exercise with a rest in between, and also a

369
00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:44.200
warm up and a cool down will actually get you

370
00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:49.160
even better results, so doing that. So basically the protocol

371
00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:51.880
is do a warm up, warm up your body for

372
00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:55.400
a couple of minutes, then do twenty seconds of intense activity,

373
00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:59.279
which might be a sprint, it might be burpies, it

374
00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:02.440
might be going all out on an exercise bike. Then

375
00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:07.359
just rest, do something sort of lower level for a

376
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:10.319
couple of minutes, do another twenty second all out sprint

377
00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:13.759
and then cool down. We'll get give you equivalent cardio

378
00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:16.960
benefits of having gone on a forty five minute jog.

379
00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:21.680
That is amazing, it is, It is absolutely amazing. One

380
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:24.079
company that I love actually in the UK, and I

381
00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:28.079
think that I was their first Australian user. Actually it's

382
00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:32.119
this company called Carol and they make exercise bikes that

383
00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:35.799
are essentially AI powered, that are based on these same

384
00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:39.839
protocols that have been published in the research. So I

385
00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.519
bought one of these Carrol bikes I think six or

386
00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:44.920
seven years ago, and it's essentially got these they called

387
00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.759
re rehitch is the kind of training they've got these

388
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.079
protocols actually programmed into the bike and it's just it's

389
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:56.400
it's brilliant, but it's by far the most time effective

390
00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:01.319
way to improve your cardiovascular fitness, quite dramatic, without having

391
00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:03.839
to carve out like thirty or sixty minutes to go

392
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:05.359
to the gym or go for a big long walk.

393
00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:06.960
Yeah, exactly.

394
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:12.839
I can hear people rejoicing. They hear that you're telling

395
00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:16.960
me to twenty second bursts is all it takes.

396
00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:18.960
And okay, so how many times a week would they

397
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:19.400
need to do that?

398
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:24.240
Look, let's say ideally three times a week is enough

399
00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:27.480
to increase your VO two max which is the most

400
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:34.200
reliable indicator of your cardiovascular fitness. So that all yeah

401
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:34.400
to do.

402
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.000
So that's for cardio vascular fitness, presumably, Like there are

403
00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:42.640
benefits also to things like lifting weights, doing strength training, right,

404
00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:46.440
so there's other things before we all get too carried away,

405
00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:48.880
there are other things that we ideally should be doing.

406
00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:52.000
That's exactly right. So you also definitely want to do

407
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.680
something you know, the research is call it musculo musculo

408
00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:59.720
skeletal fitness if you like. So that's basically like doing

409
00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:04.440
some thing to improve your strength and muscle mass, which

410
00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:08.279
is particularly important as we get older because the more

411
00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:12.559
successfully we've been able to build up our muscles, the

412
00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.000
more that protects us from doing things like having a

413
00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:21.400
fall or having you know, limited movement or limited ability

414
00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:24.160
to do the sorts of movements that a lot of

415
00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:28.240
us take for granted before we enter old age. But again,

416
00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:31.640
you know that there is a section around again what

417
00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:37.000
is the minimum viable dose if you like, for improving

418
00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:41.720
our muscles, muscle mass, and our strength. And you don't

419
00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:44.599
have to do all that much. So in the chapter

420
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:48.160
about strength training or weight training, there's really just three

421
00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:51.319
movements that you need to incorporate into a strength workout.

422
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.119
One is a pushing movement, you know, which might be

423
00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:56.920
as simple as a push a push up, like a

424
00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.160
body weight push up. One is a pulling movement, so

425
00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:03.359
like a bent over row where you might have some

426
00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:06.400
weights or something heavy in your hands, like filled up

427
00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:09.839
water bottles or something like that. And then ideally some

428
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:12.319
sort of a movement where you're hinging at the hip,

429
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.920
like a squat for example. And again you can do

430
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:17.599
a body weight squat, you know. And ideally if you

431
00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:20.720
start by just doing one set of each of those movements,

432
00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:23.240
if you're brand new to strength training, yeah, that is

433
00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:25.880
absolutely a great starting point and you will start to

434
00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:28.839
see gains. Obviously, when you start to plato, you want

435
00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:31.559
to add in, you know, some more training sessions and

436
00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.640
some more sets, but that is absolutely where where you

437
00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:36.279
can start to see some results.

438
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.559
I feel like this is just such good news.

439
00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:42.599
There are so many people who struggle to start. And

440
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.960
I know we'll get to the psychology and the motivation

441
00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:46.200
and stuff in a minute, but there are so many

442
00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.119
people who struggle to start because it just feels like

443
00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:51.200
too much to have to do. So bringing this down

444
00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:53.519
to the bare minimum that you need to do makes

445
00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:57.480
it very achievable for the average person, the busy person.

446
00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:00.480
You know, there's loads of reasons why many of us

447
00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.039
are not getting you know, doing the exercise that we

448
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:04.200
know that we need.

449
00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:07.720
And this is just music to our ears. I know

450
00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:11.000
what's music to mine. Hello hoo, I can do this,

451
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:12.359
I can do that.

452
00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.200
So again, there's like loads of other little tips in

453
00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:19.359
there that people can go and read better. Want to

454
00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:22.960
move on because the other really important part of overall

455
00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:26.039
health is nutrition, and I think this is the one

456
00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:27.920
that people get really stuck on. There is just so

457
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.160
much confusing information out there. You know, we should be

458
00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:34.400
like no sugar and cut out carbs. But then there's

459
00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:36.960
people who were just fully carnivore and then I don't know,

460
00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:39.480
just meat, like they just eat meat. Now that's what

461
00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:41.400
I keep hearing, Like we went from just be plant

462
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:43.880
based and now like no, we don't need vegetables.

463
00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:45.200
I'm like, what the hell?

464
00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:49.920
So what are some of the basics I guess when

465
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:52.960
it comes to nutrition that we all need to you know, again,

466
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:55.880
what's the minimum that we can all be doing to

467
00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.079
give ourselves the best chance of eating well?

468
00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:01.279
Yeah, And it is interesting because I think nutrition is

469
00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:06.079
where you'll find the least agreement between scientists and researchers.

470
00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:09.000
So this was probably the most challenging section of the

471
00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:12.240
book to write. It was asking the question, what are

472
00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:15.880
the things that are universally agreed on but are essentially

473
00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:18.880
not just teaching people to suck eggs. We all know

474
00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:24.000
that we need to eat vegetables, you know, like you

475
00:25:24.039 --> 00:25:27.559
can accept for the carnivals, yes they're like just just

476
00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:32.599
steak on my plate, please, But there are things that

477
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:36.559
are universally agreed like, for example, you've probably heard about

478
00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:40.079
blood glucose or blood sugar levels, and what we eat

479
00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:42.559
has a huge impact on those What scientists will agree

480
00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:45.359
on is that the more stable we can keep up

481
00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:48.839
blood glucose or blood sugar levels, I use those terms interchangeably,

482
00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:51.960
the better our health will be. If we're getting massive

483
00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:55.680
spikes and then drops, that is not good and certainly

484
00:25:55.720 --> 00:26:00.279
increases our chance of getting diabetes. And also so just

485
00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:03.079
on a day to day level, feeling like rubbish, like

486
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.480
if you're finding that your moody, if you're having like that,

487
00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:10.599
you know, three pm, mid afternoon energy slump, If you're

488
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:14.039
just feeling like tired and grumpy or maybe hungry, you know,

489
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:17.960
soon after you've actually eaten a meal, chances are your

490
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:22.400
blood glucose level is not stable. It's peaking, it's spiking,

491
00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:26.079
and then it's like dropping, and that is making you

492
00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:30.599
feel pretty crap day to day. So there are a

493
00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:32.400
few tips in the book and also in the movement

494
00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:34.920
section as well, around how can we stabilize our blood

495
00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:39.480
gluecose levels. Probably my like one of the most surprising

496
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:42.400
things I found when I was researching this chapter is

497
00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:46.759
that the order in which we eat our food actually matters.

498
00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:50.160
So I reckon you know, I'm sure you're familiar with

499
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:52.599
the marshmallow test, which you know in terms of a

500
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:55.319
test of willpower in kids. And obviously, you know, there's

501
00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:59.880
it's debatable how how valid and reliable that research actually was.

502
00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:02.000
But I think as a kid, like I know, I

503
00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:04.200
was pretty disciplined, I was pretty conscientious. I reckon I

504
00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:06.119
would have done well at the marshmallow test and just

505
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:10.079
resisting that marshmallow. And certainly when I'm eating a meal,

506
00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:13.519
I find that I will just naturally adopt a save

507
00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:16.720
the best for last philosophy. So if there's vegetables on

508
00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:20.720
my plate and there's also potatoes or chips or something

509
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:23.920
like that, I will always eat the vegetables first because

510
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.960
I want to save the best for last. But it

511
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.160
turns out there's science behind my eating philosophy. So there

512
00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:33.079
was some really interesting research that looked at, you know,

513
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.599
your average meal that consists of vegetables, some protein like

514
00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:42.359
some chicken, for example, and some cabs like rice or

515
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.799
pasta or something like that. And one group were asked

516
00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:49.839
to eat the vegetables first, then the protein and the

517
00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:51.880
fats like let's just say there was some olive oil

518
00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:55.000
or something like that, and then finally the cabs like

519
00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:57.880
the rice, and then another group were asked to eat

520
00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:01.759
it in the opposite ordering with the carbs and finishing

521
00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:04.519
with the vegetables. What they found is that the group

522
00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:08.799
that ate the vegetables first and the carbs last had

523
00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:13.720
significantly more stable blood gluecoase levels. So if you're having

524
00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:16.359
a meal where it is kind of segmented into those

525
00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:20.000
different sections, try to eat your vegetables first and try

526
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:23.000
to eat the carbs last, and then have the protein

527
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:25.559
and the fats in the middle. Obviously, that doesn't worry

528
00:28:25.559 --> 00:28:28.000
for every meal. If you're eating spaghetti bolonaise, you're going

529
00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:31.200
to look totally neurotic if you're trying to apply this philosophy.

530
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:33.839
But where you can, it's going to help you feel

531
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:34.559
a lot better.

532
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:38.079
Yeah, that's really interesting, And so I know that you

533
00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:40.680
talk to Jesse and Cholseby the Glucose Goddess for your book.

534
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:43.039
I also have had her on the podcast, so just

535
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:45.279
for listeners if they're interested in that, you can always

536
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:47.599
go back and listen to that conversation with Jesse. And

537
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:49.640
in fact, note to self, I think she's got a

538
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:51.240
new like a recipe book out or something, so I

539
00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:53.559
should probably get her back on the show as well

540
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:56.079
and get an update from her. But so interesting, and

541
00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:59.200
so speaking of that and the blood glucose levels, which

542
00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:04.079
I also think is just so interesting and really important.

543
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.079
It really just brings it back to basics like never

544
00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:09.000
mind what you're eating, or what can you do to

545
00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:12.640
maintain those blood glucose levels? Because what Jesse also said

546
00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:15.640
was that, Yeah, the reason that Keito diets, for example,

547
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:19.119
work is for that reason because they maintain a consistent

548
00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.599
blood glucose level. But if you can, you can eat

549
00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:23.680
those other foods, if you can just find a way

550
00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:27.519
to eat them so that you're still maintaining that stable

551
00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:30.160
kind of blood glucose, which again is music to many

552
00:29:30.200 --> 00:29:30.799
people's ears.

553
00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.720
You don't have to cut them out completely.

554
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:35.559
Just eat them last exactly exactly.

555
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:36.599
So what about the.

556
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:40.640
Blood glucose monitor, because you that's how Jesse got started, right,

557
00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:43.880
is by monitoring her tracking her own response to what

558
00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:46.400
she was eating. And I know you've used it to,

559
00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:48.400
haven't Your mathis? Can you talk about that and is

560
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:52.119
that something that people generally you would recommend that you do,

561
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.599
you know to just yeah, okay, let's hear that.

562
00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:58.440
One hundred percent. So I am a massive fan of

563
00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:02.799
experimentation and in the health habit I talk about just

564
00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:05.480
having the mindset of an experimenter, and with any of

565
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:09.880
these health habits, try to adopt just a seven day experiment,

566
00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:14.720
like anyone can do anything for seven days. And you know,

567
00:30:14.759 --> 00:30:17.400
given that I do have this experimental mindset, something that

568
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.880
I've always been interested in is how different kinds of

569
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:24.880
foods that we eat have quite a different impact on

570
00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:28.319
our blood glucose levels. So what is really interesting in

571
00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:30.799
research is that like the media will give us these

572
00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:34.759
broad brush pieces of advice like eat whole meal bread,

573
00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:37.720
don't eat white bread because white bread is bad for

574
00:30:37.799 --> 00:30:41.119
us in inverted commas, and whole meal bread is always good.

575
00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:43.920
But what we actually know is that people have a

576
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:48.960
very individualized response to particularly how their body deals with carbohydrates.

577
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.880
And so some people can eat white bread and their

578
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:56.200
blood glucose will be completely stable, whereas other people it

579
00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:58.759
will have a massive spike and then a massive dip,

580
00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:01.960
and then they might have the effect with whole meal bread.

581
00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:05.880
And this got me really curious, and so I thought,

582
00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:09.119
I'm going to get one of those continuous blood glucose

583
00:31:09.400 --> 00:31:12.960
monitors or as CGM as they're cold continuous gluecose monitor.

584
00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:16.359
And I also bullied my partner into doing the same

585
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.599
thing because I didn't want to be alone in this environment,

586
00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:23.160
and so we bought these devices. So in terms of

587
00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:26.079
what they look like, if you imagine like a table

588
00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:29.279
tennis ball squashed, it's kind of like sort of a

589
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:32.160
round piece of plastic that's got a needle on it.

590
00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:35.000
And like, as soon as I hear needle, I think, aultch,

591
00:31:35.160 --> 00:31:38.200
that sounds really scary. But don't be scared. Even though

592
00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:40.880
what is happening. This device is sitting kind of like

593
00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:43.119
where your tricep is at the back of your arm,

594
00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:46.319
and the needle is piercing through your skin. You don't

595
00:31:46.359 --> 00:31:50.559
actually feel it, and it doesn't actually much to my surprise,

596
00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:54.000
it doesn't actually hurt to put the blood glucose monitor on.

597
00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:56.519
So you stick it on and then it just stays

598
00:31:56.559 --> 00:31:59.559
there for two weeks with the brand that I was using.

599
00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:01.799
And then and you've got an app and you can

600
00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:05.920
scan the little blood glucose monitor with your phone and

601
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:09.039
you'll get a reading of what your blood glucose levels

602
00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:11.599
are doing at any time of day. And so then

603
00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:13.559
what I did and what my partner did is we

604
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:16.240
run a whole bunch of food experiments. So we'd put together,

605
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:18.119
like all the different kinds of meals that we eat,

606
00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:20.960
and then we'd see what they did to our blood

607
00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:23.279
glucose levels. So there were some real surprises in there.

608
00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:25.799
Probably the biggest surprise for both of us is that

609
00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:29.000
we both actually like porridge. And I would say most

610
00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:33.000
health experts would say porridge, that's a healthy food, Like,

611
00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:35.680
shouldn't we all be eating porridge for breakfast? But actually

612
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:40.279
both of us had massive spikes from eating porridge. Wow,

613
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:42.720
And so we've kind of stripped that out of our

614
00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:44.400
diet thanks to our enperiment.

615
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:47.880
Because it's just straight carbs, isn't it Like it's just

616
00:32:48.279 --> 00:32:48.720
is that right?

617
00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:49.799
It's a big bowl of starch.

618
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:53.839
Yeah, it is majority carbohydrates. But some other foods like that,

619
00:32:53.880 --> 00:32:57.839
our majority carbohydrates, like let's take a carrot for example,

620
00:32:58.319 --> 00:32:59.480
didn't have that impact.

621
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:00.599
It's not so.

622
00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:04.160
Much that the majority in terms of the macro nutrients

623
00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:09.279
are carbohydrates. It's that that particular carbohydrate, that particular food

624
00:33:10.039 --> 00:33:12.559
just didn't really gel with my body in terms of

625
00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:15.480
providing me with a good type of energy. Instead, it

626
00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:18.039
gave me a big peak and a big trough.

627
00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:21.519
That's so interesting. Are they very expensive? Do you just

628
00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:26.680
like hire it for we have questions. So the one

629
00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:29.920
that we used was about one hundred dollars.

630
00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:34.400
So it's not cheap. But also for the valuable data

631
00:33:34.440 --> 00:33:36.440
that you're getting from it, and you're getting two weeks

632
00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:38.839
worth of data, I think that it's money well spent.

633
00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:41.279
I mean, you could easily blow one hundred dollars on

634
00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:44.640
dinner out, and I think far better to get the

635
00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.920
data on what you should actually be eating you're going

636
00:33:47.960 --> 00:33:49.480
out for said dinner.

637
00:33:49.880 --> 00:33:52.240
I guess it's like being really intentional, isn't it, for

638
00:33:52.279 --> 00:33:55.519
that two weeks, Like you said, really track and monitor

639
00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:58.559
and make the most of that period of time. I'm

640
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:01.160
going to look into that because I think that's really interesting.

641
00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:03.880
I just wanted to for you to make one more

642
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:07.759
tip about the nutrition side, and there's loads more as

643
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.559
we know. Because I'm not necessarily a sweet tooth.

644
00:34:10.599 --> 00:34:10.920
I don't.

645
00:34:11.239 --> 00:34:13.039
I have a little bit of chocolate every now and again,

646
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:14.880
but it's not something I really craved, Like I wouldn't

647
00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:16.599
say I have a sugar addiction, but I am a

648
00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:20.920
salt fiend. Like I salt and over salt to the point,

649
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:22.840
like my husband says, oh, just.

650
00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:23.880
A few chips with your salt.

651
00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:26.800
Then like literally, chips are just like a vehicle to

652
00:34:26.840 --> 00:34:34.199
get more salt into my body. So this thing about

653
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:36.960
highly palatable food, it's a phraser, a term I had

654
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:39.400
not heard before, but I thought it was a very

655
00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:42.159
relevant one because I think this is most of our problem, right,

656
00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:45.079
It's the stuff that tastes really good that is our downfall.

657
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:46.159
So what is the solution?

658
00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:51.000
Yeah, so the section on hyper palatable food is interesting,

659
00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:54.199
and you know, look, it basically explains why it is

660
00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:58.239
really hard to say no to sweet things and salty things.

661
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:01.840
So there's actually a formula scientists have worked out that

662
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:06.480
determine whether something is defined as hyper palatable. In other words,

663
00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:11.519
highly addictive is essentially the outcome because it's activating the

664
00:35:11.559 --> 00:35:14.840
reward center of our brain. And basically it's about like

665
00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.280
the ratio of things like saltiness or the sodium amount

666
00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:22.559
that's in foods, and how much fat there is and

667
00:35:22.599 --> 00:35:24.239
then how much sugar there is. And there are some

668
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:29.639
sort of magical formulas that don't exist in naturally occurring food,

669
00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:33.559
but certainly exists a lot with very processed foods. So

670
00:35:33.639 --> 00:35:37.519
what happens, like if we're eating normal food that hasn't

671
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:41.880
been heavily processed or tampered with by food manufacturers. It

672
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:44.280
sends the right kind of signals to our body, and

673
00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:46.559
our body is able to work out, and more importantly,

674
00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:49.360
our brain is able to work out when you've had enough,

675
00:35:49.559 --> 00:35:52.480
when your brain says I'm full, I'm going to stop eating,

676
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:55.719
and so therefore you eat the amount that your body

677
00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:59.559
requires to fuel itself during the day. But if you're

678
00:35:59.639 --> 00:36:04.320
eating more of the hyper palatable foods, which are typically

679
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:07.880
very processed, they're typically sweet, or they're typically very salty,

680
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:13.880
like you know, anything from musibars to doughnuts and muffins

681
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:19.119
to chips and fried bacon, those sorts of things, is

682
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:23.199
that our brain, it's like, our brain doesn't receive the

683
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:26.840
signal that we've had enough. Instead, our brain is like,

684
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:29.639
oh my gosh, my reward center is being activated. I

685
00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:32.719
must have more and more and more, and we become

686
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:35.239
really bad at judging how much we need and that

687
00:36:35.320 --> 00:36:39.599
leads to over eating, which then leads to excess weight gain,

688
00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:42.719
which then can lead to a lot of health problems.

689
00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:49.679
So ideally we want to try to have ultra processed foods,

690
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:52.719
you know, be only about ten percent of our diet

691
00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:54.880
ideal good tip.

692
00:36:55.320 --> 00:36:58.159
And then you also talk about like weaning ourselves off

693
00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:02.119
those some of those flavors, and I thought, hmmm, I

694
00:37:02.239 --> 00:37:04.159
might have to give that a crack. I might have

695
00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:06.719
to try to just less less salt, because you're right,

696
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:09.719
your palette does it just doesn't it. If you cut

697
00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:11.960
something out for a while and then you go back

698
00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:14.719
to it, it tastes like super sickly sweet or just

699
00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:18.280
overly salty like, so it is just what we get

700
00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:21.400
used to. So we can wean ourselves off those things.

701
00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:25.480
We absolutely can, And certainly several of the scientists and

702
00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:28.039
professors that I spoke to for the book said, look,

703
00:37:28.039 --> 00:37:31.519
it typically takes a few weeks, and I could certainly

704
00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:34.639
test to that myself. So you know, I've spent a

705
00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:37.239
lot of myself being a lot of my life being

706
00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:43.159
a massive sugar addict, Like I would require sweet treats,

707
00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:47.559
chocolate mix, ollies, you name it, several times a day.

708
00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:51.039
I was that addicted. And for me, it all culminated

709
00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:55.800
about ten years ago when my daughter was three months old.

710
00:37:56.119 --> 00:37:59.039
And I remember when I was pregnant, like I had

711
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:01.719
a little ritual where I'd catch the train home from

712
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:04.880
work and at the train station, there was a lolly

713
00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:06.760
shop that sold all these micked lollies, and I'd get

714
00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:08.800
a bag of lollies, you know, on the commute home

715
00:38:08.880 --> 00:38:11.840
every night and eat them. And then when my daughter

716
00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:14.719
was born and I was a very sleep deprived mum,

717
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:18.159
there's no better source of energy than chocolate in my mind,

718
00:38:18.199 --> 00:38:20.480
so I eat a lot of it. And then one night,

719
00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:23.199
when she was three months old, I just put her

720
00:38:23.239 --> 00:38:25.840
to bed and I was in the kitchen and I

721
00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:30.119
needed like a hit of sweetness. And I looked in

722
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:32.639
the fridge and there was like, there was nothing sweet

723
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:36.880
in the fridge. It was all really boring, unprocessed foods.

724
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:40.000
The pantry there was nothing in the pantry. But what

725
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:43.000
there was is there was a tupperware full of raw sugar.

726
00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:45.679
And I thought, that'll have to do, and so I

727
00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:47.920
got the tupawar out and I got a teaspoon and

728
00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:52.039
I started eating sugar from the tappaware. And at that

729
00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:54.920
point my husband is now my ex husband, not for

730
00:38:54.960 --> 00:38:58.519
this reason, but he saw me and he's like, what

731
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:02.840
are you doing? Just said I just I needed something sweet,

732
00:39:03.159 --> 00:39:06.280
And at that moment I thought this has got too much. Here.

733
00:39:06.360 --> 00:39:10.199
I am at night spooning raw sugar out of tupple web,

734
00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:14.559
and so I ended up going cold turkey on sugar. Wow,

735
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:17.840
I quiten And since then, for the last ten years,

736
00:39:17.960 --> 00:39:20.079
sugar is no longer and chocolate is no longer a

737
00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:22.519
daily habit for me, you know, through applying a lot

738
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:24.960
of the strategies in the book. But what I do

739
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:28.280
remember after being off sugar for a few weeks is

740
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.920
how sweet things like carrots and pumpkin taste when you're

741
00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:37.079
not filling your taste buds with hyperpalatable foods that have

742
00:39:37.159 --> 00:39:42.880
been artificially designed to be intensely sweet and trick your

743
00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:43.920
brain into eating more.

744
00:39:44.360 --> 00:39:46.800
Yeah, so you just got to get through that initial

745
00:39:47.119 --> 00:39:51.320
withdrawal and then it all stabilizes back to normal. I

746
00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:53.920
think that's really it's good for people to know that. Okay,

747
00:39:53.920 --> 00:39:56.440
the psychology of it. As much as we know what

748
00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:58.199
we need to do, and as much as this all

749
00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.480
sounds very doable, we know that human nature is that

750
00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:04.440
we start, we stop, we fall off the wagon. We

751
00:40:04.519 --> 00:40:08.440
find it really difficult to remain committed and motivated to

752
00:40:08.519 --> 00:40:11.199
some of these behavior changes. But you've got a whole

753
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:14.880
second half of the book devoted to which we won't

754
00:40:14.920 --> 00:40:17.880
spend that much time but devoted to what we can

755
00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:19.800
do to give ourselves the best chance of success. And

756
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:21.480
I think this is going to be really interesting to

757
00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:23.599
people too. So Amantha, do you just want to give

758
00:40:23.679 --> 00:40:27.000
us some ideas about what some of those things are.

759
00:40:27.039 --> 00:40:28.079
I'll just throw it over.

760
00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:31.400
To you to to give listeners some ideas about, you know,

761
00:40:31.440 --> 00:40:32.760
what are the things that might help.

762
00:40:33.400 --> 00:40:36.639
Yeah. Absolutely so. I think what's really important to recognize

763
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:39.639
when you're trying to make a new habit stick, and

764
00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:42.639
in the case of the health habit, their habits around

765
00:40:42.679 --> 00:40:45.440
your health. But you know, really with any habit, what's

766
00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:49.800
important is that you first identify what's the biggest barrier

767
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:53.760
in the way of you making a successful change. And

768
00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:57.239
it's different for different people. So, for example, when COVID

769
00:40:57.320 --> 00:41:00.760
hit a few years ago and I in Melbourne, which

770
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:05.280
I think is the lockdown capital of the world, well yeah, yeah,

771
00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:08.679
we had the most days in lockdown, not a title

772
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:11.159
that we're proud of, but what we could do is

773
00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:13.719
that we were allowed to leave the house for one

774
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:17.320
hour a day during lockdown. And I had two friends

775
00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:19.920
during this time that were trying to create a walking

776
00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:23.400
habit to improve their health, and one of my friends thought,

777
00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:25.599
I'm going to I'm going to do the walk in

778
00:41:25.639 --> 00:41:28.559
the morning, get it out of the way, and so

779
00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:30.679
for the first week she went for a one hour

780
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:33.519
walk every morning. My other friend thought, I'm going to

781
00:41:33.559 --> 00:41:34.960
do it at the end of the workday, and so

782
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:37.519
for the first week she stuck to that walking habit

783
00:41:37.880 --> 00:41:41.119
every day after work. But then in the second week

784
00:41:41.159 --> 00:41:43.960
they both ran into problems, but they were quite different.

785
00:41:44.360 --> 00:41:47.599
So my morning walker friend, what she found is that

786
00:41:47.880 --> 00:41:50.960
because she was going quite early for these walks and

787
00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:52.440
she was making a bit of noise when she was

788
00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:55.519
getting into her walking gear, her partner started waking up

789
00:41:55.599 --> 00:41:58.199
and getting a little bit grumpy. And when you're lockdown

790
00:41:58.199 --> 00:42:00.639
with someone twenty four to seven, you kind of don't

791
00:42:00.639 --> 00:42:03.920
want any additional conflict, and so she just thought, oh,

792
00:42:04.199 --> 00:42:05.960
this is all too hard. I'm going to stop the

793
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:09.159
walks because I don't want to create conflict with my partner.

794
00:42:09.639 --> 00:42:12.400
My other friend, who was walking in the evening, she

795
00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:15.159
in that second week got hit with a massive work

796
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:17.559
project and she found that she was just in back

797
00:42:17.599 --> 00:42:20.119
to back zoom meetings all day and then she was

798
00:42:20.119 --> 00:42:22.440
at her computer until the way hours of the morning,

799
00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:25.639
and so outwent her walking habit because she was just

800
00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:29.519
too exhausted and also too busy, So the exact same

801
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:32.880
health habit, but two really different things that were getting

802
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:36.079
in the way. So for my early morning walk friend,

803
00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:39.920
we call that a relational barrier, where it's about the

804
00:42:39.960 --> 00:42:42.880
people around you and the social norms that are sometimes

805
00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:45.320
getting in the way of you making a change. But

806
00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:48.440
for my evening walk friend, it was around just that

807
00:42:48.599 --> 00:42:52.559
cognitive barrier of just being too exhausted to make a change.

808
00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:54.760
There are two other kinds of barriers as well that

809
00:42:54.800 --> 00:42:57.599
I talk about in the book. There's motivational barriers, where

810
00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:01.000
you feel like you have to make a change, maybe

811
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:03.519
your doctor has said you need to make this change,

812
00:43:03.639 --> 00:43:06.760
or your partner has said you need to change, but

813
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:09.000
you don't really want to make that change, so it's

814
00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.719
sort of have two versus one two, so motivations lacking.

815
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:15.320
And then there are environmental barriers. This is about the

816
00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:18.559
physical environment that we find ourselves in. So for example,

817
00:43:18.920 --> 00:43:22.480
we're talking about hyper palatable foods, and if your pantry

818
00:43:22.960 --> 00:43:27.840
is full of chocolate bars and various other chip packets

819
00:43:27.880 --> 00:43:30.639
and crackers and all those sorts of things, then there's

820
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:33.159
probably going to be some environmental barriers standing in your

821
00:43:33.199 --> 00:43:38.119
way to reducing hpfs. So the book firstly helps you

822
00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:41.000
diagnose what is the main barrier standing in the way,

823
00:43:41.320 --> 00:43:43.159
and then it's a bit choose your own adventure. You

824
00:43:43.199 --> 00:43:45.239
go to the section that relates to your barrier.

825
00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:49.280
That's so helpful because it is a really personalized approach,

826
00:43:49.639 --> 00:43:52.000
isn't it like it's you've really laid it out so

827
00:43:52.039 --> 00:43:53.840
that you can kind of work out what's getting in

828
00:43:53.840 --> 00:43:57.159
the way and then find a strategy that will overcome that.

829
00:43:57.360 --> 00:43:59.719
I was very pleased to see the inclusion of what

830
00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:02.480
I call a star chart because that is something that

831
00:44:02.559 --> 00:44:06.639
I recommend to people all the time. What's yours called

832
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:10.440
our streaks straight toward Yeah, let's talk about a streek

833
00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:11.239
board for a second.

834
00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:15.840
Absolutely, So streekboard is really great if you have got

835
00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:20.119
a motivational barrier in the way. So what a streekboard

836
00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:24.440
is is it is some kind of visual representation that

837
00:44:24.519 --> 00:44:26.599
when you do your habit, let's say it's one that

838
00:44:26.639 --> 00:44:30.280
you're doing every day, that you give yourself a star

839
00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:33.280
or a tick on this streek board. And what happens

840
00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:36.960
over time is that just psychologically we don't want to

841
00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:40.239
break the streak now there are a lot of different

842
00:44:40.239 --> 00:44:42.480
apps that have used this idea of the sort of

843
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:46.000
the street board psychology really well. Like if you've ever

844
00:44:46.039 --> 00:44:48.679
tried to learn a new language and you've used duo

845
00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:51.480
lingo for example, you'll have seen me streat.

846
00:44:52.079 --> 00:44:52.960
That's my husband.

847
00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:56.320
He's like up to six hundred and something days wow,

848
00:44:56.440 --> 00:44:59.519
without a break, and he is so committed to continuing.

849
00:44:59.559 --> 00:45:03.519
That's it is really fascinating. I mean, it's quite impressive.

850
00:45:03.920 --> 00:45:06.840
It is very motivating. I know when I was working

851
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:09.320
on the manuscript for the Health Habit, I had a

852
00:45:09.320 --> 00:45:13.719
street board up in my home office and I had

853
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:17.039
a wordcam goal. Every day I was writing a thousand

854
00:45:17.079 --> 00:45:19.599
words that I could feel proud of. And if I

855
00:45:19.639 --> 00:45:22.519
did that, I got to put a little smiley face

856
00:45:22.599 --> 00:45:26.239
on my streetboard. And that is what got me through,

857
00:45:26.519 --> 00:45:29.039
certainly the initial six weeks when I was trying to

858
00:45:29.079 --> 00:45:31.880
turn my writing into a habit to submit the manuscript

859
00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:32.320
on time.

860
00:45:32.639 --> 00:45:34.840
The other reason I always recommend that one too is

861
00:45:34.880 --> 00:45:37.639
because the people that I have worked with and I've

862
00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:41.280
involved in an online fitness community for several years, is

863
00:45:41.320 --> 00:45:43.920
that this all or nothing thinking takes over as soon

864
00:45:43.960 --> 00:45:47.280
as they eat a bad meal or skip a day

865
00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:50.559
of workout, and so for me, it's like, well, it

866
00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:52.239
really helps to keep it in perspective.

867
00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:54.000
If you've got this visual.

868
00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:56.800
Representation of all the times that you've done the right thing,

869
00:45:57.079 --> 00:46:00.400
then that one bad thing instead of going into that negative,

870
00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:03.239
self critical and such a failure, I never stick to anything.

871
00:46:03.800 --> 00:46:05.639
It really helps to keep it in perspective.

872
00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:06.679
It definitely does.

873
00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:09.639
The other thing that I noticed also works for me,

874
00:46:09.679 --> 00:46:11.360
and I noticed it was also in the book is

875
00:46:11.440 --> 00:46:13.679
what you call temptation bundling.

876
00:46:14.039 --> 00:46:16.400
That is, do you tell you telling me what that is?

877
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:20.400
Yeah, this is This is a big favorite of mine,

878
00:46:20.480 --> 00:46:22.760
and certainly when when I'm trying to change a habit

879
00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:25.440
and my motivation is lacking, because again this is a

880
00:46:25.480 --> 00:46:28.119
really good one. If motivation is the barrier standing in

881
00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:29.599
the way, what you want to do is you want

882
00:46:29.639 --> 00:46:31.920
to make the change desirable. That is that of the

883
00:46:31.960 --> 00:46:35.480
overarching strategy. But this is how temptation bundling works. So

884
00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:39.039
in my life, I mentioned that I've got an exercise bike,

885
00:46:39.119 --> 00:46:41.480
the Carrol Bike, and while I don't need to spend

886
00:46:41.480 --> 00:46:44.079
a long time on it, I still just don't enjoy it.

887
00:46:44.159 --> 00:46:46.679
And sometimes I do do sort of longer workouts on it,

888
00:46:46.719 --> 00:46:48.760
but I just I find it miserable. I find exercise

889
00:46:48.800 --> 00:46:51.880
bikes utterly boring. What I do like is that I

890
00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:54.960
have and I'm about to lose all credibility. I think

891
00:46:54.960 --> 00:46:58.239
with listeners is that I have a very unhealthy obsession

892
00:46:58.440 --> 00:47:01.719
with The Bachelor, and the Bachelor at reality TV has

893
00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:06.199
to be the US series because that really very specific,

894
00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:10.960
the bitchiest and lowest common denominator one. I think love it.

895
00:47:11.079 --> 00:47:14.360
So anyway, I love it, but I feel intense guilt

896
00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:17.360
when I sit on the couch to watch the you know,

897
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:22.440
the particular TV series. And so what I decided is

898
00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:26.199
to pair bike riding and the Bachelotte together. So when

899
00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:29.280
I am on the Carrol bike, I get my iPad

900
00:47:29.320 --> 00:47:31.639
and I balance it on the screen on the bike

901
00:47:31.960 --> 00:47:34.679
and I watch the Bachelor. And what it does is

902
00:47:34.719 --> 00:47:38.360
that it makes the bike riding so much more enjoyable.

903
00:47:38.519 --> 00:47:41.599
And it also means that what was a very guilty

904
00:47:41.639 --> 00:47:45.079
pleasure watching the Bachelor or Bachelorette is that it's now

905
00:47:45.360 --> 00:47:49.440
just a pleasure. So temptation bundling is taking the thing

906
00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:51.840
that you really don't want to do, where your motivation

907
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:54.760
is low, and pairing that with something that brings you

908
00:47:54.800 --> 00:47:58.039
a lot of pleasure and enjoy, so bike riding and The.

909
00:47:58.000 --> 00:48:01.559
Bachelor and I do the same sum time with podcasts,

910
00:48:01.559 --> 00:48:04.039
but the kind of podcasts that are almost like a series,

911
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:06.199
you know, like a story that continues. I'm listening to

912
00:48:06.239 --> 00:48:09.320
one at the moment and I say, oh, I'm going

913
00:48:09.400 --> 00:48:11.400
to listen to that while I go for a walk

914
00:48:11.480 --> 00:48:13.079
or walk the dogs or something like that, and it

915
00:48:13.159 --> 00:48:15.000
just motivates me, like I can't want to get out

916
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:17.400
of the house, yes, to find that thing of my

917
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:19.239
ears and have my time to listen to that.

918
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:23.239
I am exactly the same cast. I divide my podcasts

919
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:26.639
into two types of podcasts. There's one that are pure

920
00:48:26.679 --> 00:48:30.800
joy and entertainment, and then there are ones that are educational.

921
00:48:31.119 --> 00:48:34.119
And I listen to my you know, you know, purely

922
00:48:34.159 --> 00:48:38.199
for fun and joy and entertainment when I'm doing things

923
00:48:38.280 --> 00:48:42.840
like generally related to exercise. But when I'm say in

924
00:48:43.360 --> 00:48:45.920
the car and I'm like, well, you know, being in

925
00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:47.719
the car, it's fine, I'm going to listen to my

926
00:48:47.960 --> 00:48:49.119
educational podcasts.

927
00:48:49.960 --> 00:48:52.199
Yes. I think that's a really good point too, Like,

928
00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:54.039
don't if it's something that you feel like one of

929
00:48:54.039 --> 00:48:57.119
those half do things like listening to something that's educational,

930
00:48:57.159 --> 00:49:00.519
then don't pair it with something else. You have to

931
00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:04.400
fix them up so that you're doing you're actually adding

932
00:49:04.440 --> 00:49:08.280
something that's fun to something that you don't necessarily feel

933
00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:13.320
like doing exactly exactly. There's so many others. I think

934
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:16.360
that those are really useful as a starting point. The

935
00:49:16.360 --> 00:49:18.719
book is called The Health Habit. Everybody can go out

936
00:49:18.719 --> 00:49:20.320
and get it. I think it's a perfect time of

937
00:49:20.440 --> 00:49:22.360
year to go and bye and let me tell you

938
00:49:22.360 --> 00:49:25.280
like I was fully engaged, like I was powering through

939
00:49:25.320 --> 00:49:28.280
that book, going this is so interesting. There are so many, really,

940
00:49:28.360 --> 00:49:32.599
as a psychologist, interesting psychological studies, and you know the research.

941
00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:35.039
It makes for a really good read, and it's also.

942
00:49:34.960 --> 00:49:38.000
Just really practical, super helpful.

943
00:49:38.360 --> 00:49:41.119
So thank you so much for your time today, Amanda.

944
00:49:41.199 --> 00:49:42.639
It's just been a pleasure.

945
00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:45.639
Thank you so much for having me. Kat, thank you