Podcast - To Rebuild Your Health & Confidence Start Here

Today I want to talk about the top 3 areas I would focus on if I was coaching or guiding you or someone you know, who needed help getting on the right path to rebuild their health confidence and take back control.

I’m a great believer on getting back to basics and the areas that make the most difference, because the topic of health and wellness can be complex and overwhelming for 3 main reasons -

• Life can be a challenge - health can take a back seat to other pressing priorities such as family, business and finances.  But the reality is, without your health you ultimately don’t have much at all so it is an area of life you really need to give your focus and attention to at some level if you want to be the best version of you; 

• Health is confusing – health and wellness is an area riddled with so much information and experts with conflicting opinions which can simply leave you feeling overwhelmed and confused.  Think about, the health care industry says one thing, then there are those pushing different diets, as well as fasting experts, alternative medicine, biohacking gurus etc. etc. All of it has merit and is mostly great information, but who’s got time to filter through it all?  In fact, you’d be absolutely forgiven for feeling confused or stuck with all of this information to process and not knowing where to begin!

• No support – Unless you find yourself the right natural health professional who you absolutely trust, or a great personal trainer who can meet you where you’re at, or a nutritionist or coach with a lateral view of health and wellness – and who is not set in their ways and pushing only one path or agenda, you are essentially on your own to try and figure anything out for yourself without any guidance.  And this is a tough place to be for many people I’m sure you would agree.

And so with all this in mind, the secret is to focus on the foundational areas that make the most difference.  The key is to quieten all the noise and to start by doing the little things right. These are my favourite three areas that I believe can help you the most:

1. Morning Routine – When you own your morning routine and get this right, you feel great about yourself, you pay your health forward and you get your day off on the right foot.  And the thing I love about having a morning routine is, it’s a time when there are the least amount of distractions so you can focus on just YOU time and putting dollars in your mind and body wellness bank.

I have a little personal morning mantra that is this:  

• Breathe

• Stretch

• Hydrate and 

• Move.  

A few minutes of intentional breathwork, some light full body stretching on the floor, half-one litre of chilled water and then my morning exercise.

And all of this happens within the first 90 minutes after rise which is typically at 4:30am. Now this doesn’t mean you need to wake up at 4:30am – you need to do what fits with you and your schedule and your lifestyle.  But my point is, if you are serious about getting on the right path with your health, mindset, energy and physical body it’s tough to beat first thing in the morning to pay it forward when there are no distractions and less opportunity for excuses.

I think of my morning routine as my hour of power.  And it’s personal to me.  It’s non-negotiable.  It doesn’t matter what the rest of my family is doing.  It’s my personal investment in myself, my day and my health and wellness.

So, my question for you is this:

Do you currently have a dependable, robust morning routine that makes you feel great?  Or do you lack consistency or motivation to pay your health forward first thing in the morning?

It takes less than 15 minutes to breathe, stretch and hydrate…and then it’s up to you to move your body in which ever way works for you and your goals.

The key is to prioritise your morning routine – which starts with getting the right amount of sleep each night, making a commitment to yourself because you care about yourself and then staying consistent with it.  Consistency above all else is what adds value to your life particularly in this area of health and vitality and using your morning routine as a fundamental launch pad for that.

2. Food Framework – when it comes to health and vitality of course what you eat is very important – and there are many different diets out there that work differently for different people and their belief systems.  But my approach to nutrition and is what I like to think of as a “food framework” or basic set of standards or rules that govern my approach to nutrition and the foods I eat.  

You see for me (and I know for most people) specific diets are not sustainable and they’re too restrictive – and if you can’t stick with it, it’s easy to beat yourself up because you feel like you’ve failed.

So instead, I believe if you just follow a basic broad set of rules when it comes to the food you eat, you won’t feel deprived, it’s far more realistic and sustainable, you’ll get the diversity and variety of nutrition your body needs for health and performance, AND you’ll have the leeway to enjoy yourself from time to time without feeling guilty or like you have “broken” any specific diet.

Now this doesn’t mean you can just eat anything.  It just means you deploy basic standards around the foods you eat that make sense to you and you live by these standards

For example – standards could be:

• You don’t eat processed food

• You don’t eat refined sugar

• You only fresh produce that’s “in season”

• You only shop for produce at your local farmer’s market

• You only eat organic

• You don’t drink alcohol during the week

• If you’re not vegetarian or vegan – you only eat organic, hormone-free pasture raised meats and dairy.

Another simple standard could be the 80/20 rule.  You do things right 80% of the time, but don’t confine yourself to any rules 1 day per week or when you go out socially or for dinner for example.

So you get to decide the basic framework you want to live by based on your relationship with food, your goals and your lifestyle.  But my point is, if you’re off track with your health or wanting to transform your relationship with food and how it impacts your health, I believe a food framework can really help you to achieve that, because it releases so much of the emotion, anxiety and conflict attached to this crazy and “culty” area of diet and nutrition.

So I would help you to build the right framework or simple set of rules for you that helps you to build your health confidence around food.

3. Movement Schedule – movement and exercise is such a vital piece to the health and wellness puzzle you need to give it the attention it deserves.  Now as I’ve said before in recent episodes, any type of daily movement is better than none.  And if you’re already feeling great with your current movement schedule, your consistent with it, and it’s delivering for you what you need, then keep going! 

But if you’re not sure, or you know you’re not doing enough or the right type of movement, then it all starts with a little conscious weekly planning.

What I know from my own personal and business life over the years is this…

When you schedule something you make it real.  When you schedule something half the job is done.

The problem is when it comes to health and movement, most people don’t consider that this is an activity that needs to be booked in to their day or scheduled.  And this then leads to negotiation – only doing it on the days when you feel like it.  If I had to wait until the days when I felt like exercising to do it I’d probably only do it 2-3 days out of 7.

So, In a recent episode I outlined an example of an absolute optimum schedule recommended by longevity and human performance expert, Dr. Peter Attia, who recently released his new book OUTLIVE.  The episode was called, “How To Schedule Your Weekly Exercise Routine” which you’ll find on my website at zanetruscott.com

The weekly schedule is broadly broken down into – 

• 40% light zone 2 cardio – such as brisk walking

• 40% strength training – weights, body weight or resistance bands

• 5% stability and balance exercises

• 5% anaerobic performance – maximum heart rate output (known as “VO2 Max”)

So if you’re looking to optimise, then this is the framework to follow by breaking down the amount of total hours you have available each week to dedicate exercise and then to schedule it accordingly.  

But here’s the thing.  If you’re coming from a very low base, then I would just start with daily walking as priority number one.  Once you get consistent with that, I’d then intertwine 1 or 2 functional resistance sessions per week – even if it’s for just 15-20 minutes each session.

The point is you need to build the basic habit of exercise in any way you can before you worry about optimising – because something is better than nothing and if you try to do too much at once you’ll find reasons not too do it.

So build the foundation first and then optimise.  The problem is too many people try to optimise when they have little foundations to work with – say, they only exercise when they feel like it or 1-2 days per week with no real structure…and it’s really difficult to see any significant long term, noticeable benefit from that approach in my opinion.

So just to recap, if you want to transform your health and vitality I believe the biggest levers you can pull are: your morning routine, having a food framework and creating a weekly movement schedule.

Yes, you can dabble in bio hacks, cold plunges, yoga, fasting and fancy diets but I can’t emphasise enough how important and beneficial it is to build your health foundations right first.  And with a simple approach and by quietening the noise you’ll go a long way to being on the right track, feeling great about yourself and transforming your health and wellness.

Thank you for reading. Stay strong and live well!

ZT.