An Olympic Diet: 4 Reads To Reboot Your Health & Fitness Regime Today
Olympics season is the perfect opportunity for all of us to get up off the couch (go on, get up!) and take inspiration from the world-class athletes that we see bounding down hurdle lanes or somersaulting across gymnastics mats. Here are four reads guaranteed to get you on the right track towards revamping your health and exercise regime, just in time for the Olympics 2020.
1. 30 Ways to Reboot Your Body by Ben Greenfield
30 Ways to Reboot Your Body
- 10 min reading time
- audio version available
If you’re not sure where to start in your body makeover, Ben Greenfield’s book 30 Ways to Reboot Your Body: A Complete User Manual For Getting the Most Out of the Human Body is a fantastic place to begin. With a Titan attitude and infectious energy, Greenfield gives you lots of commonsense ways to catapult your body from “healthy enough” to superfit. An old friend of Blinkist, we hit Greenfield up and asked him for his ultimate tip for a healthy life:
Ben Greenfield: Every day, do one thing that is slightly uncomfortable, like a cold shower or a two minutes of “lung sucking” exercise. Every month, do something that takes you way outside your comfort zone, like trying a new instrument or playing a sport you’ve never played. And once a year, do something that absolutely scares you, like travel to a new country for an adventure hike, a hundred mile bike ride, a triathlon. Remember to constantly be bold and stay on the edge!
2. The Bulletproof Diet by David Asprey
Bulletproof Diet
- 16 min reading time
- audio version available
Wait, you wonder isn’t this the book that suggests you should put butter in your coffee? Yes, yes it is. However, it also offers a rich quarry of practical advice on how to battle toxins in everyday foodstuffs, how to eat the right fats in order to lose weight, how to hack your diet to improve your focus, and (my personal favorite) how to eat your way to better sleep.
3. The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer
The Fast Diet
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
If you’re already the type of person who forgets to eat for hours at a time, this won’t be revolutionary to you. If you’ve never heard of intermittent fasting, though, and you’re looking to kick your metabolism and digestive processes into shape, check out Mosley and Spencer’s book. This fascinating read tells us that opting out of meals in a regulated manner can help decrease your risk of both cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease. Don’t believe it? Check it out for yourself.
4. The Paleo Manifesto by John Durant
The Paleo Manifesto
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Tired of calorie counting? Want to get in tune with your ancient ancestors? Then, with its myriad health benefits, the Paleo Diet might be worth exploring. The Paleo Manifesto is a fascinating introduction to the eating habits of old and builds a pretty convincing case for increasing protein intake, avoiding cereal grains and pasteurized dairy, and revisiting thermoregulation to boost metabolism and fight fat. Durant draws on Tim Ferriss’s musings on Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to back up his points.
From The Paleo Manifesto:
“In The Four Hour Body, author Tim Ferriss features a story about Ray Cronise, a former NASA researcher who began investigating the effects of cold exposure on weight loss. Cronise was puzzled that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps could eat 12,000 calories a day yet, seemingly impossibly, burned it off through exercise. The answer, Cronise realized, is that Phelps spent hours in the pool, and his body had to burn thousands of calories just to stay warm.”
For super bonus motivation, here are all of Michael Phelps’s 19 Olympic medal wins. (You’re welcome!)
