Besides low carb, what is your #1 most long-term beneficial practice

(Robin) #1

Mine is not eating after dinner. Ever.

(Alec) #2

Running
Minimum of 8 hrs sleep a night

#3

Daily walks to enjoy fresh air, and the lovely countryside views of happy cows and sheep munching grass in the fields🙂

#4

Well I aim not to eat around/after midnight, I just tend to fail sometimes… But I never give up. I have a way more general wish/aim, OMAD (not each and every day, that wouldn’t/couldn’t work but usually). That would solve eating too late just fine. If I am UNABLE to eat at midnight (and with a big enough late lunch or dinner, that is what happens), I surely don’t eat.
I have no problem with a second dinner under the right circumstances though :slight_smile: It must happen if my first meal is dinner and I can’t eat enough. But it’s still not super late.

OMAD is a nice dream but my most important thing (probably more important that low-carb) where even my track record is better than at OMAD is exercise. I always have lowish energy but without exercise, I have about none and it affects my mood and everything. But I enjoy doing it too :slight_smile: Especially walking. I don’t mind lifting either but that’s something where I need to push a bit. Walking is impossible to neglect for long, it’s just how things are, walking is basic. And I live in a pretty and peaceful enough place. Only summer has the real power to want me not to go out. But I do that even then, I just try to avoid sunshine. With many forests around here, it’s mostly doable.

(Michael) #5

Regular exercise. Wish I could say sleep, I got 6 hours last night, most I have had in weeks. I used to get at least 7 hours, now some nights I wake up alert after 4 hours.

#6

Sleep is something I need. I CAN’T go below 7-9 hour sleep, I will just fall asleep where I am, even standing. So getting enough sleep is a given in my life. When something seriously mess with it, I become a miserable zombie. I still sleep 7-9 hours or more as it’s impossible for me not to but I don’t function. So yep, sleeping is something I ensure that happens. Sleeping between 3 and 6 am is something I badly need or else I will be a zombie ALL DAY, no exception. And some decent length of sleep. 5-6 may work occasionally, mostly when I slept way too much in the previous nights. 7-8 is my average I badly need (9 is for more stressful times I think), 5-6 is my minimum, not a single night can get lower or else the intense zombieness happen.

Normally I am only a normal zombie and only in the morning. But I always have low energy then and I don’t really have a mood for anything. Never found any solution, it’s just what my life is. Walks are very good at that time, they even cheer me up if I see pretty places and the sun is shining. When I worked in an office, I went in late and did something online, work was pretty much out until noon unless I had something easy to finish. But I did most of my work after 5pm in the empty office anyway. When I worked at home on an urgent project, I started my 8 hour workday at 4pm. So… I am no morning person, to put it lightly. But not a night owl either.

(Pete A) #7

Fitness.

(Rebecca ) #8

This is mine, also. I think it really helps with sleep.

(Chuck) #9

Intermittent fasting of 18 hours a day and low carb. It is working better than keto for me, I need a certain amount of fiber and real carbs. Also staying completely away from wheat.

(Marianne) #10

Sounds like heaven.

(Marianne) #11

Mine is sticking to one-ingredient foods.

(Jane) #12

Gardening and raising hens.

We have a large vegetable garden plus 8 other beds for flowers and shrubs. It takes 5 separate watering systems with timers because each system can only hold so many sprayers. I threatened my husband with sleeping on the couch if he opened up another garden bed!!! :laughing:

I have a small greenhouse where I start vegetables and flowers starting around mi-February.

I listed these because they get me outside every day with several trips up and down the hill to the meadow. Not intense exercise but lots of bending, stooping, climbing and walking so I am hoping it keeps me in shape as I get older (I am 64).

Keto has made it easier to do all of these things - less joint pain and less weight to carry around.

#13

Me too, that is another good one. The only ingredient I add is my favourite pink himalayan rock salt. Oh, and my KerryGold contains salt as well. That’s it. No other ingredients.

#14

This sounds wonderful. Nothing better for mind and body than daily fresh air, fresh pasture eggs, plenty of sunlight when you’ve got some, and the physical but therapeutic exertion of working in the garden.

#15

Me too Robin. I don’t eat anything after my second meal of the day which is dinner. My breakfast is coffee, lunch is my first proper meal of the day (liver and eggs) and then I have one more coffee in the early afternoon, hours before my second/last meal which I tend to eat around 16:00pm or 17:00pm. Sometimes it’s as late as 18:00pm. I’m flexible with the meal times, but like you, nothing after dinner to let digestion rest and the body work at its healing.

(Bob M) #16

I’m impressed by anyone who doesn’t eat after a certain time during the day. You score many points in my book.

(Joey) #17

I’m with @Pete_A… Fitness.
I find it somehow helps me care more about everything else in life.

A working definition for fasting might be:
“Not eating during dinner. Ever.”

(Shannon) #18

For me, it’s not ever having indigestion or stomach pains anymore. I might get food poisoning or a bout of stomach flu someday, but as far as the every day goes, my stomach is hardly noticeable to me anymore (both inside and out). It’s very freeing mentally since I used to obsess over not only how big it was, but how bad if felt so much of the time.

I also like that I can fast whenever I want, it’s really just a choice and not a struggle with my body constantly telling me how starving it is.

(Robin) #19

That was my biggest challenge too. I’ve been a night grazer my entire life. I still need to have a little talk with myself most nights.

(Karen) #20

Definitely keeping really active … i just feel so lethargic without stair running, dancing and CrossFit :astonished:

Sleep is also important even though mine is always broken… numerous times throughout the night… but i always give myself a good window of opportunity to get 8 hours in … early nights!