💪 The everyday athlete newsletter #73

👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #73 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter.

Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (4.5 min read):

❤️ Tsimane Health Study

The Bolivian Amazon is home to one of the last remaining tribes of hunter-gatherers, known as the Tsimane.

They’re found to have the healthiest hearts in the world.

The Tsimanian heart looks like that of the average Aussie, but 30 years younger.

It doesn’t stop there.

Their brains shrink 70% slower than the average Aussie.

No signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Nor diabetes, obesity or kidney disease...

A clue lies in their diet.

They eat exclusively whole foods. Meat, fish, fruits, veggies, rice, corn, plantains, sweet potatoes.

That means they eat 0% highly processed foods.

Whereas the average Aussie eats nearly 60% of their diet from highly processed foods. Fast foods, frozen foods, sweet and savoury packaged snacks, etc.

Highly processed foods are designed to be addictive – eaten quickly and in greater quantities than whole foods.

Plus, over time, the additives in them can cook the lining of our guts. Which negatively affects the function of our hormones and nerve cells (which has its own cascade of negative affects).

We’ve gotta tuck into these foods occasionally for our sanity. But when it’s the majority of our diet, we may have a drama.

A couple ideas:

• 🥫 Ignore the marketing claims on the front of food packages, read the ingredients list on the back
• 🍏 Avoid the aisles of the supermarket as much as possible, shop on the perimeter (where the whole foods tend to be)
• ⚖️ Full Tsimane-style 100% whole foods may be unrealistic, instead aim for 80% whole or minimally processed foods so there’s enough room for the fun stuff to keep us happy

*Minimally processed food examples: additive-free versions of canned tuna, canned beans, greek yoghurt, olive oil, etc

Homo Sapiens evolved between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago.

Meaning all the technology from the last century we’re surrounded by is relatively new.

So looking at life through the lens of our hunter-gatherer ancestors can be a helpful way to figure out if our behaviours, our environment, or the shiny new product getting flogged is going to be good for us long-term.

🍣 Fat Tuna, Bondi Junction

Good, fast food.

Finally.

Where you actually feel better after eating it than before.

Quality stuff. Made with love by my good friend, Will.

Non-negotiable if you're in the area.

✅ Track it

My favourite way to improve something is to track it.

Because "what gets measured gets managed".

So I made these habit tracking cards.

Because one of the biggest challenges people face when trying to improve their health and performance is motivation and accountability.

And these cards help with both:

• ⚡️ Motivation: Seeing progress is rewarding, unlocking dopamine and therefore motivation
• 🤝 Accountability: The card keeps you accountable. There’s nothing worse than breaking a 5-day streak or missing 2 days in a row.

So if you know there’s something you wanna do that you’re not, try printing it out and sticking it somewhere you’ll see it every day.

📬 Or if you want it printed on some sexy, thick paper, you can grab 3x cards (3 months’ worth) here. And I’ll post them to you.

Get the cards here. It's $9.

Or here’s the digital version if you just wanna print it out 🤙

That's it!

Have a great weekend 🤙

Matt

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The Everyday Athlete Newsletter is not a licensed health service and is not a substitute for professional health advice, treatment or assessment. The information given in this email is general in nature, written for a specific audience. If you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional.