Hey, I’m the Healthonaut!

Healtho . . . huh?

Two of my deepest passions in life are human health and science, particularly space science. Put those together, and you’ve got Healthonaut!

What’s a little different: I offer myself and my experiences up as a barometer for you to consider in your own pursuit of health. I’m a Type 1 diabetic with the technology to see my blood sugars every five minutes. And do those blood sugars reveal a TON. For instance:

• Was that food at Restaurant X really made with high-quality ingredients?
• Am I as cool-as-a-cucumber calm when my international flight is canceled as I think I am?
• What does my body do when I lift weights, anyway?
• Does walking REALLY matter in fat-loss efforts?

All these everyday things that, without a chronic illness, your body handles seamlessly DO matter and DO have an effect. Let’s explore!

So, what’ll you get from me? Here are my top 10 motivators or influencing factors that you can expect to see pretty consistently (in no meaningful order):

1. People prioritize what’s important to them.

In other words: YOU HAVE TIME.

If you “didn’t have time” for something, it didn’t matter to you as much as other things did. You schedule your life by the things that matter most to you. You always have, and you always will.

And that’s a neutral thing — it’s not an automatic negative!

If you prioritized a good night’s sleep over a workout, you probably made a wise choice. But you didn’t lack time for a workout — you chose to use that time differently. The wisdom of spending multiple hours watching TV or surfing the web or playing video games and not spending an hour of that doing some kind of movement — taking a walk, even — is a much more grey-zone situation. It gets even tougher if you have to prioritize whether to go to the gym or do meal-prep for the next couple of days, cook or spend time with your kids, sleep or complete a work project by a deadline.

In the end, what you choose is what matters most to you, and that’ll reveal a lot about your motivations and goals.

2. Americans are remarkably closed about natural things that should carry no more social stigma than chatting with a friend about what you did last night or what’s up for the weekend.

Poop. Sex. Salaries. OK, salaries may not be natural, but they are an integral part of modern life. Americans (and probably others, too) are closed to discussing such things for reasons I find hard to understand.

And that doesn’t do us any good at all.

3. Be active and eat good stuff.

You probably have a gut feeling about whether what you’re eating and what you’re doing will generally help you be the most comfortable you can (limited illnesses, limited surgeries, etc.) for as long as you can. Assuming that’s an important goal of yours, be active and eat good stuff.

4. Manatees and English bulldogs are the best ever.

Getting that on the table. Also, Star Trek over Star Wars. Every. Single. Time. Just sayin’.

5. Learn.

It’s exciting that none of us will ever know the overwhelming majority of things there are to know. That means life can be basically endlessly fascinating as you discover things long known but new to you, as science and technology advance, as we struggle with major philosophical questions . . . it’s endless.

And the follow-on to that:

6. Say when you’re wrong or don’t know.

Everyone has limited knowledge. EVERYONE. It’s not just OK, but normal. Even universal — it is an inescapable part of being human. If you don’t know something, say so! If you thought you knew but actually didn’t, say so! It’s all good, and actually both offers others the most value AND makes you credible.

7. Balance is often a wise path.

If you can be content eating only chicken breast, broccoli and sweet potatoes and drinking only water, great!

I can’t.

I need the occasional cookie and cocktail to be satisfied.

OK, and a little more than the occasional Diet Coke.

If you can get yourself to sleep every night by 9:30 because that’s what’ll get you the 8 hours of sleep you need to feel optimal, you do you! Sometimes I just want to watch another episode of [Westworld, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Star Trek, The Flash, American Ninja Warrior, Cutthroat Kitchen . . .].

That being said:

8. Discipline (vs. willpower) can get you through if you decide to employ it.

I don’t eat treats brought into work. I just don’t. Yes, that multi-level cream-filled cake you took hours to bake looks and smells amazing! Yes, I CAN eat it even though I’m diabetic! It’s not a matter of what I want, though — I simply don’t eat treats that are brought into work.

It makes things so simple — there’s no decision to be made. The same goes with the gym. I WILL go on my scheduled days (unless it’s actually unreasonable to do so because I’m sick or such — balance, right?), even if that means I’m up at 5 a.m. I test my blood sugar multiple times a day even though it hurts. So it goes.

If you have willpower to do things you may not want to do in the moment, that’s awesome. Cherish it! Nurture it! If you don’t, though, that’s OK. Build the discipline to do those things anyway.

9. Find things you enjoy that also work for your goals.

Don’t jog if you hate it. Cycle or walk or row or hike or swim or Zumba.

Don’t spend hours hitting the weights if you hate it. Do interval training or yoga or martial arts or rock climbing.

Same with food (do you reeeeeaaaaally love quinoa? Not judging if you do — you’d be a rarity).

Same with general enrichment (great that you enjoy learning to play an instrument! I’ll catch up with you after . . .).

If you don’t like eating breakfast, listen to your body — don’t eat breakfast.

You get the point.

You can pretty much ALWAYS find an alternative that you like AND that’ll help you reach your goals. Find it, integrate it into your life, and you’ll stick with it.

10. Practice makes better.

Not “perfect.”

And that’s OK.

When you HONESTLY do the best you can do and strive to improve and do better, you may have come as close to perfection as any human can.