12 Healthy Habits of Christmas – Day 3 – KISS

Welcome to DAY 3 of our 12 basic healthy habits. Today we will be focusing on a strategy borrowed from my high school Q-BASIC programming class: KISS. In the programming (and probably many other industries), KISS stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. This echoes Albert Einstein’s sentiments that “everything should be as simple as possible”, as well as Leonardo Da Vinci’s thought that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

These great scientists were obviously not talking about health improvement when they made these statements, but I believe that they are applicable. There are all kinds of fitness/diet programs out there that promise amazing results if you follow their complex instructions. For most of us non-professional athletes, these are unnecessary… we just have to keep it simple.

Here are some simple suggestions which work for me (in under 75 words): eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, don’t eat a lot of meat; when you do eat meat, the majority of it should be lean meat, eat whole grains, skip white flour and sugar, eat a variety of foods which fall into the above categories, eat 5-6 small meals each day. exercise 5-6 times a week, weight lifting and cardiovascular exercise, play as many different sports as you can, keep your heart rate up.