Reading notes on Livingood Daily (2023)

Livingood Daily (2023) by Dr. Livingood

Social media ad got me (book is free, just pay for shipping!). Dr. Livingood makes some good points about the sad reality of healthcare in the US, how doctors care for you only when you are sick or in a crisis, instead of giving you tools to achieve and maintain health. It's an expensive "sickcare" system. Although many of his arguments are repetitive or simplistic (but that may be by design!), I found some content interesting. For example, what does it mean to be healthy? When your organs are functioning at somewhere between 0 and 100%, at which point would you start to notice something is wrong? The answer is apparently somewhere between 20 and 60%, depending on the organ. Although his sources seem anecdotal, it makes intuitive sense. We can be at an advanced stage of a disease before feeling any discomfort. We may finally convince ourselves to go see a doctor when we feel pain, and our organ(s) may have fallen to only 50% functioning. Regardless of the exact number, the point is that we often seek medical help too late. We should be working on our health before we exhibit symptoms of sickness. But how? The advice of eat well and exercise is too easy to dismiss. To work on real health, he says we need to fix the 5 F's: food, fitness, focus, frame and filters. He recounts (with photos) success stories of people that followed the 21-day challenge and adopted his method for years. I did appreciate the fitness bit; when it comes to achieving health, it's all about high intensity, short duration workouts (e.g., HIIT training). I thought the 10-minute workouts are an easy no-excuse way to start building fitness habits. My weekly fitness regime for the last few years (StrongNation HIIT 3-4 times, Zumba 2-3 times, one hour each) has done wonders for my muscle tone, energy and mental health. Although I find many fixes in this book excessive, especially for food and filters, I was inspired by the idea that healthier habits can help improve your body's functioning by a tiny bit every day - maybe you will achieve just 1% greater functioning each day. But every day, every habit counts! Over the years, tiny improvements can add up and result in a huge difference in health! Inspired, I decided to finally do something about my neck and shoulder pain that has been with me for years. I will add stretching and some core work daily and begin the surf-specific training that I've been meaning to start. I hope I can inspire others to join me on this health journey. A journey taken together is easier and more fun than one taken alone. 💪💦

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