UFC 254 start time-Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje: Live stream
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Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Justin Gaethje, UFC 254 Live Streaming: Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to face Justin Gaethje in the upcoming UFC 254 on Saturday, where he will be aiming to extend his unbeaten run.
In the main card of the night, Khabib will look forward to defending his title and extend his unbeaten record of 28–0. On the other hand, Gaethje will be hoping to make history by becoming the first man to beat the Russian after his win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 249.
And now, I’ve got your attention. Apologies for using such a shamelessly misleading headline to get you to click, but this type of marketing unfortunately works. I promise my intentions are in the right in place, as my goal is to attract confused readers who are looking for ideas on how to lead a healthier life. If you stick with me, I’m going to try my best to help you without the lies and quick fixes that come with the headline above.
One of the reasons I joined the field of nutrition was to prevent chronic diseases (e.g., type 2 diabetes) and help remove the confusion that surrounds the topic. There is money to be made by desperation and uncertainty. As someone who has navigated through the misleading misinformation, my goal is to simplify and share information that could help improve your health. These changes worked for me, but they might not work for you. Your mileage may vary.
And just to clarify, no, there are no tricks to help you lose belly fat incredibly fast. You cannot tell your body to lose fat from specific areas, and lifestyle changes should be life-long approaches not incredibly fast miracle cures.
Below are 10 practical concepts that can get you on the right path to improving your health. All of them focus on healthy eating or physical activity. Keep in mind that there are many more aspects to living a healthy life beyond those listed below (i.e., don’t smoke, don’t smoke, DON’T SMOKE).
This is NOT medical advice, so always connect with your healthcare providers about any substantial behavior changes. If you’re looking specifically for tailored diet advice connect with a registered dietitian.
This is simply a list of lessons I wished someone told me when I first attempted to change my habits.
1. Don’t set unrealistic weight-loss goals. Focus on behaviors.
Weight can be a fickle thing. It can fluctuate by fluid intake, time of day, and the food you consume. So as you begin to take steps to improve your health, please don’t judge your success just by the number on the scale.
Do know your weight and follow it over time, but avoid fretting about your weight on a daily basis.
No doubt excess weight does increase your risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, especially when it is stored around your waist.
But weight is only one factor for health. All too often we judge success by being able to meet some unrealistic weight-loss goal (often a number totally contrived and arbitrarily decided upon). We shoot for this unrealistic weight-loss goal instead of goals around behavior (e.g., eating at least three servings of vegetables per day) or a more moderate goal that would still improve our health.
Failure to reach this ideal weight can cause frustration and potentially increase our likelihood of giving up entirely on improving our diet or exercising more.
It’s important to understand that weight-loss maintenance, and adherence of long-term habits are what actually make a difference. Anyone can lose weight temporarily through many different approaches, even by eating only Twinkies, McDonald’s or potatoes.
As a society, sadly we judge other people on if they’re healthy or not by how they look. When people begin to make changes, at a glance, we cannot see that a person has lowered their blood pressure, improved control of their blood sugar, or eaten three servings of vegetables that day.
As Patrick Mustain eloquently put it,
“If we were to shift the conversation towards a culture of health-one that values healthy eating and regular physical activity as ends unto themselves, we may be happily surprised to find that not only are we living longer, happier lives, with less disease and fewer health costs, but also, we may need to drop a collective pant size or two. Or not. Either way, we’re better off.”
Set a moderate goal, focus on behaviors, and remember that even a weight loss of 5% has been associated with a reduced risk of many chronic diseases.
2. Focus on your overall food pattern
Before I begin to talk about nutrition, I want to make the important note that it’s a wicked hard subject to study.
We’re still learning as a field. It’s incredibly hard to make a statement with great certainty that eating a specific food will improve or worsen your health, or especially, create a longer life. Context is key for nutrition. It’s an evolving field, and we should embrace its evolution. The field is currently discussing ways to improve it.
What we currently know is that eating or not eating a single food will more than likely have a small impact on your health and/or life span. Almost all longevity claims for a single food should be met with a lot of skepticism (I’m looking at you goji berries).
When you look at cultures around the world you will notice that humans can survive on a variety of different foods. There is no one diet to rule them all; however, we’ve learned that once a culture adopts a more Western way of eating and living, chronic diseases are likely to follow, unfortunately. However, this is usually in exchange for a more affordable, convenient, and productive food supply (#tradeoffs).
Research has shown that overall food patterns (and other habits like exercising) matter more than just focusing on a single food or nutrient. It’s not perfect, but Dariush Mozaffarian of Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy has developed a simple graphic regarding foods we should be eating more of instead of others.
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To breakdown his thoughts, let’s just say we have three food groups: eat more of, eat moderately, and eat less of.
Current research suggests that our health could potentially be improved if we ate more whole fruits, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, fish/seafood, whole grains, vegetables, vegetable oils (e.g., extra-virgin olive oil), and yogurt (note: more research is needed!) instead of common sources of “eat less of foods” like chips, sugary cereals, butter, pizza, sugary drinks, cheeseburgers, fries, refined grains (think bagels, pasta), alcohol, processed meats (think deli meats), and other ultra-processed foods.
Other foods like cheese, chicken, eggs, and milk are in the “eat moderately group”. They show some benefit but not as much as the eat more food (more research is needed!).
The only items that are nutrient specific he recommends to limit are foods high in salt (think Ramen and most frozen meals) and industrial trans fats. Thanks to policy changes most industrial trans fats have been removed from the food supply in the US.
You can avoid these two nutrients by looking at the ingredient list and the nutrition facts label (i.e. the box on food packaging that lists fats, sugar, etc.). Check for the words partially hydrogenated in the ingredients and assess the sodium on the label.
Unless advised by your health care provider, 2,300 mg (a teaspoon’s worth) seems like a helpful target for your daily intake, but it’s a debate that’s highly contentious in the nutrition field (more research is needed!).
If you are eating foods in the eat more group, you usually do not have to worry about these last two nutrient specific recommendations since these foods do not have industrial trans fats or large amounts of sodium.
You also don’t have to eat all of the foods in the eat more group. You can vary your diet and decide to include specific items for taste, environmental concerns, and cultural preferences.
A great place to start is by replacing snacks (think chips, candy) with items like whole fruit and nuts, which don’t require cooking and are convenient.
3. Food is more than the calories it contains
Calories do matter and in America, we currently do not have a short supply of them.
Going off best estimates, daily calorie surpluses of 220 calories for adults and 41 calories each day for youth explains our increasing weight. Weights have actually been increasing since the 1920s, but they’ve increased more rapidly since the 1960s. The obesity prevalence went from 13.3% in the early 1960s to about 39% in 2016.
When you’re beginning the process of improving your diet, it’s helpful to gauge the number of calories you are supposed to be eating. I highly recommend checking out the National Institutes of Health’s Body Weight Planner to get an accurate estimate.
Some people find it helpful to use a food diary app to track intake and calories too. I personally like Cronometer since it offers a barcode scanner feature to easily capture your food and validated nutrition data. (note: I receive no $ from them).
But please don’t just judge a food item only on its calorie content. For example, one avocado has 234 calories compared to only 143 calories in a 12 oz can of Coke. Does this make the soda healthier than an avocado? Of course not. Food companies like to use this line of thinking all the time when they reformulate a product to become “healthier” or “low fat” since the calories are lowered.
Like I stated, nutrition science continues to evolve, and we’re learning about the potential importance of the food matrix and the thousands of phytochemicals (i.e. biological active compounds) in plants on chronic disease risks (more research is needed!).
So do know how many calories you are consuming, but focus on eating items from the eat more of category instead of simply calories for overall health beyond weight management.
4. Create a health haven at home
Make your house a haven for only healthy food for most weeks of the year. This is especially important for families with children. Avoid keeping energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods that make it challenging to stop eating in your house. Especially avoid buying larger portions of them.
Food scientists and companies are great at their jobs (for better or worse). They know exactly how to make foods irresistible and as easy as possible to eat.
It’s very hard to practice moderation on a food that does not trigger satiety until the package is already gone. Back in the day, Cheetos and Reese’s were a prime example of this for me (let’s be real, I can still easily polish off a bag of them).
You can eat unhealthy almost anywhere, so it’s important to make sure your house is a default for healthy eating. The key is to stock the house with healthy foods (think eat more foods) you actually enjoy. Give yourself some time to find these foods. Change takes time.
5. Upgrade your beverage
We love our beverages here in America, and I definitely fall into that group.
Sugary beverages, in particular, are not helping with our efforts to be healthy. They harm our dental health and offer no benefit besides energy in the form of calories.
A smart approach to improve your diet is upgrading your drink. One of the first steps I did to improve my health was limiting sugary drinks. Start drinking more unsweetened beverages like tap water, seltzer water, tea, or coffee.
Reduce consumption of items like soda, fruit juices, energy drinks, coffee drinks (think Frappuccino’s), sports drinks, and the often overlook source of calories, alcohol (say it isn’t so!).
As someone from Wisconsin (#GoPackGo), I do enjoy beer (my college friends sure can attest to that). However, you should be aware of how many alcoholic beverages you consume for many reasons. It’s an easy source of calories we often overlook. For example, a 12-ounce bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout clocks in at 270 calories.
In America, alcohol is one of our top 10 sources of calories for adults. A good rule of thumb is to limit consumption as much as possible, while again not feeling deprived. I usually enjoy it now when I’m with family and at social events.
Drinking alcohol can also lead to you to make impulsive unhealthy food choices (again something my college friends can attest to). It acts as an appetite stimulant and impairs your good judgment.
I don’t personally drink diet soda, and we still don’t know the long-term health impact of some artificial sweeteners; however, IMO drinking diet options are still a step in the right direction away from full sugar ones. For the most part, claims about diet sodas are overblown.
6. Healthy living ≠ perfection
A sure way to fail at healthy living is to aim for perfection. We rarely expect perfection from other aspects of life so please don’t apply it to eating or working out. You should plan for setbacks from less desirable eating habits and mistakes should be expected.
7. Avoid getting too hungry
I feel privileged to say this comment, and I know some people do not have the resources to avoid this problem. As a country, we could being doing a lot more to ensure no one goes hungry at a systematic level.
But if you’re privileged like me in regards to healthy eating, getting to the point of being hungry can lead to bad decision-making. When you’re hungry it’s a lot more challenging to make a rational decision about food. Especially when you have so many energy-dense, nutrient-poor food prompts and marketing around.
Identify time periods that have caused “hunger slips” in the past. Plan ahead and pack “eat more food” snacks to ensure rational food decisions.
8. Incorporate physical activity into your daily schedule
Similar to not believing there is one diet to rule them all, I also don’t believe there is the perfect exercise that meets everyone’s needs and preferences.
The best exercise is the one you enjoy doing and can imagine continuing to do the rest of your life. Remember, any movement is better than sitting on the couch watching Netflix. Physical activity also supports your health no matter your body size.
Every day I try to move. I have a handful of exercises I find fun (after trial and error). It improves my mood daily and reduces my stress. Some days it’s a long run or bike ride; other times it’s just a brisk walk with our dog or lifting weights at the gym.
If more traditional leisure time exercise is not your thing incorporate physical activity into your daily routine. Try biking, walking, or running to work. Take an “exercise snack” by running up your office stairs, park the furthest spot away when shopping, and try to do as many trips by foot or bike. Move as much as you can and enjoy the benefits.
9. Make healthy eating easier
Just like with exercise, scratch cooking can be a wonderful activity to do. There are literally millions of healthy recipes for you to choose from online. You can make scratch cooking as easy or as fancy as you would like.
If you like to cook and want to make it easier, I highly recommend buying an Instant Pot (note: I have not received $ to promote). It’s been a game-changer for prepping meals for the week and for batch cooking sides like whole grains and beans. Tupperware and meal-prep containers are also helpful resources to have on hand too.
Unfortunately, we all have busy lives and sometimes we cannot perform this wonderful act. So please do not feel guilty if you are not able to cook all of your meals. Although they are harder to find, stores and restaurants are beginning to offer healthier choices. Again, emphasize “eat more foods” when you’re dining out. These products are more expensive than doing it yourself, but they will save you time, labor, and make healthy food more convenient.
10. Don’t stress about it and enjoy life
All people value their health to some degree, and health is one of the top priorities for households.
No one hopes to suffer a heart attack, require weekly dialysis as the result of type 2 diabetes, or to be too physically unfit to play with their children and grandchildren. Our current food environment makes it far too easy to “prioritize immediate gratification over potential long-term negative results”; it exploits our biological, psychological, social, and economic vulnerabilities, making it easier for us to eat unhealthy.
Although the above guidance focuses on individual change, it would be a lot more productive and beneficial if larger environmental and social changes made healthy eating and physical activity easier, more affordable, equitable, and convenient to do. Most gains in our lifespan have come from working collectively rather than focusing on individual behavior change.
IMHO, unhealthy food and inactivity are too often a large part of our everyday life. For a while, our number one source of calories each day came from desserts. We all do bear some personal responsibility for our health, but our surrounding environment can either support or undermine our long-term health goals. The current environment reinforces our preferences and demands for nutrient-poor, energy-dense foods.
To help counteract this environment, before you purchase nutrient-poor, energy-dense foods think about the reasons you are doing so. Are you celebrating a particular event? Are you enjoying this treat with loved ones? Are you savoring the treat as you consume it?
Or are you just stressed, bored, or being impulsive? Again, it’s fine if these states cause you to eat unhealthy from time to time (we’ve all been there!). No one is perfect.
My argument is to make sure a treat is actually a treat. A food you actually want to eat. A sure sign of an impulsive unhealthy food purchase is regret after consuming it. Try to remove the idea of guilt from food.
In the end, life is also more than just nutrition and healthy living. Be deliberate with food choices but don’t let it disrupt other much more important aspects of life.
The great thing about healthy living is that it can be tailored to your preferences, culture, and everyday reality. If you don’t like kale, you don’t have to eat it. If you enjoy eating healthy all the time and do not feel you are missing out, you can do that too.
The idea is to find a lifestyle you actually enjoy sticking to. Not one that banishes your favorite food or forces you to do an exercise you hate. No doubt at first it might be challenging to shift your tastes buds to foods that love you back or find an exercise that is enjoyable. Change takes time. However, food can be both delicious and nutritious. Exercise can be fun and incorporated into your daily life.
