Peter's Health Practices

Below is a listing of my current health practices. These are practices to maximize the health of my body, including my mind.

Since 2007, I've used this site to describe these practices. It seems like a good idea to create one post that mentions all of them, providing links to the individual posts. That's the purpose of this post.

Let's start with the categories of my health practices:

Intake – substances ingested via mouth/nose/skin

Detox – toxin elimination practices

Activity – practices for working my muscles

Rest – practices to rest my body

Illness – approaches to illness

Recording – verifying these practices

Compliance – > 90% 

The following are my practices, organized by the above categories:

Intake

General – most of my food is organic and raw

Fats – extra virgin olive oil, flax seeds, coconut oil, ogbono, almonds, walnuts

Carbohydrates – raw fruit and vegetables, cooked vegetables, oat groats, rice, rice bread, dried fruits, balsamic vinegar, spices

Protein – fish, poultry, eggs, sheep/goat dairy

Liquid – 10+ glasses of water/day, black coffee, herbal teas

Supplements – on Sunday morning, a smoothie that contains various powdered supplements

Sun – maximize sun exposure on my skin without sunburns or dry skin (for the Vitamin D)

Air – breathe through my nose day and night

Minimize – butter, bacon, red meat, alcohol, roasted nuts

Avoid – wheat, cow dairy, sugar, “manufactured” “food”, liquids other than listed above, plastic bottles 

Detox

General – my entire set of health practices should promote the natural detox efforts of my body

Liver/Bowel Detox – twice a year, in spring and fall, I undergo a 3-week liver detox or bowel detox program which involves a highly restricted diet and a regimen of a high-intake of various supplements (in the form of a smoothie)

Rest

Sleep – I sleep ~9 hours with the power off, with magnets between the mattress and box spring

Water Fast – 2 times per year, in the summer and winter, I undergo a water fast for 2-3 days (for resting my digestive system)

Meditation – when I can, ~15 minutes of sitting or lying down meditation (for resting my mind)

Illness

General – with the exception of periodic systemic poison oak infections, I have been ill only once (for 3 days) since 2005

Cold/Flu – upon the appearance of symptoms, I: (a) ingest 5g of Vitamin C on the hour, until bowels loosen, and repeat daily until symptoms are gone; or (b) ingest 20,000-50,000IU of Vitamin D per day while symptoms persist; and (c) undergo a 30 minute steam shower @ 105 degrees F, daily, as an "induced fever"

Supplement Programs – from time to time, I will take a supplement to see if my data changes in the direction I would like to see. Also, in the wintertime, I take Vit D3 (20,000 IU on Sundays)

Pharmaceuticals – use only if all natural approaches have been tried and have failed, except if the health issue is acute (e.g. trauma, cancer, etc.)

Surgery – ditto

Recording

Weight, waist, sleep, nocturnal erection – every morning, upon waking, after defecating, I record my weight, waist measure (at belly button), hours of sleep, and presence/absence of nocturnal erection (testosterone indicator) and post to Twitter ("petersbody")

Glucose, blood pressure – every Friday morning, in addition to the above four daily measurements, I also record fasting blood glucose, and resting blood pressure, and post to Twitter

Activity – I post all hikes and yoga sessions on Twitter

Annual Blood Test – every May, since 2006, I have undergone a comprehensive blood test provided by the LEF (it looks for anomalies in metabolic profile, lipid profile, cardiac, hormones, and complete blood count)

Annual Physical - every August, since 2010, I have undergone an annual physical exam conducted by my personal physician. 

Activity

Standing Desk – for my desk-bound consulting work, I use a standing desk with a treadmill

Mountain Hikes – 2-5 times per week, I hike various local mountain trails for 1-4 hours per hike, wearing a 30 pound weight belt

Yoga – 1-2 times per week for ~1 hour per session, i do yoga with a friend

Chopping Wood - Once or twice per week, for half the year, for about an hour, in the afternnon sun, with my shirt off, I chop firewood