 You know when I was a personal trainer about four years ago I made a really big mistake with a lot of my clients because they would ask me the same thing over and over Which was what do I think it takes to actually be healthy and live a long life? And of course I would give them the same old refrain Which is that you just have to eat right and exercise now what I realize now is that was a lie And that I was giving them really bad advice that is not true now in this video I want to share a little bit about why I believe that being healthy is Only in small part about eating right and working out and what are the actual key factors? What's up guys Alex Hying here author of the book Master of the Day now the big thing for me that I realized was last year when I was Starting my med schooling running my business writing my second full-length book. I think maybe my third I was still cooking every day. I was still going to the gym I never missed a week in the gym and yet I managed to completely fry myself and burn myself out So not only was I getting all kinds of worst digestive symptoms that I'd never had in my life on top of my pre-existing Digestive symptoms I had severe insomnia and about half a dozen other issues including this daily dull headache that now Only about a year and a half later is finally going away And so I had to update my little mental model, which was that you know I thought working out an eating right covered 80 90% of the effort required to basically be healthy not have any Pathological things happen to your body and live a long life and now I realize that's just not true when you think about what leads people to Be healthy in a holistic sense a holistic answer is required And usually what allows people to be healthy is loving their work Having close social ties being with friends and family feeling like their life is exciting and has a purpose You know when you look at the blue zones the people that have been studied to be some of these Statistically longest-lived people in the world even though there's a bunch of factors will add to diet and exercise You know having a plant-based diet regular exercise daily. That's not intense, but it's moderate Most of the factors at least half don't have anything to do with what they eat or what they do So you could eat all the right food and do all the right workouts and still die young You could live in such a way that you still have a heart attack But you still get cancer and it made me think what are those factors? You know when you look at the blue zones you look at the Okinawans and the people in Ikaria and the Sardinians the people in Costa Rica what's so interesting is that what allows them to live a long life is Not only those physical factors, but going deeper than that is the way they live. It is their life Right it is inseparable from working out or from eating right they spend lots of time with friends and family They feel like their life has purpose and that it has meaning and that it is well lived So there is a reason to continue to live They have spiritual or religious traditions that bring people together and overall They're so enmeshed in society where they have a role to play and they have a purpose and it's amazing that 50% or more of those factors related to longevity and being healthy while living a long life Which is just as important all those factors a huge chunk are related to Factors other than what we eat and the physical movement we do I think it's so interesting especially when you just compare Europe versus the United States My family being mostly European are all about family My family is all about family and family events when it's Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner We'll sit down at two or three to eat and no one stops drinking wine until three or four a.m And we're all at the same table still telling stories and laughing in this music on and it's so funny because in the United States We emphasize like for example diet and exercise so much rather than what I see in Europe is the way people live Which is why Europeans tend to be more balanced in terms of work-life balance. They work less hours They don't emphasize the career as much as Americans of course we're dealing with stereotypes But it's interesting The way people live is emphasized in my view in Europe much more in the US And the result is that you know when you come to the US you have this imbalance of the crossfit dude or the LA yoga girl And the only thing they talk about is what they eat and the workouts they do right eat this eat a vegan diet It's all raw vegetables and just do yoga and you're gonna live forever Well, plenty of those people have issues and deeper down more importantly They're also not happy and they're not fulfilled and it makes me wonder if those are the key factors in truly living a long life so my thought here for today for you is Maybe health maybe is more than just what we do and what we eat Maybe it is a more holistic thing that we need to take stock of so if you think I'm doing everything to be healthy And yet I can't lose weight I have this health problem Maybe begin looking at the other factors that you are not tackling because I've seen certainly with coaching clients We don't talk about food or fitness at all and yet when I help them on a few habits to be happier They can lose those 30 pounds without changing what they eat without Workouts in the gym. So if you could do that, why would you not do that? Right, so I hope that helps you guys. That is your daily habit for today reflect Maybe on the other aspects related to health related to fitness related to even longevity and just living well Now before you go the best way to stay in touch is to download that free seven-day weight loss challenge It is a guide there for you to download You can see it here on the screen or in the description right there below You can also watch my last videos that just came out