Diet and Exercise

Try and eat a lot of foods from the Anti-inflammatory diet. These include
- Olive oil
- Berries
- Green vegetables
- Legumes
- Nuts (the Costco fancy mixed nuts are my favorite)
- Fiber (I’ve considered taking a fiber supplement, but I believe I get more than enough fiber in my diet from the foods I eat.)
Avoid simple sugars and processed foods when possible.
I’m interested in the impact of Nightshade vegetable avoidance. I love tomatoes and peppers, so I think that may be something that’d be difficult for me. Drink 1 gallon of water a day. This has made a measurable difference for me.
Attempt to only drink the following things:
- Water
- Coffee
- Tea (Black, Green, Herbal)
- Alcohol in moderation
- Sugar free sports drinks in moderation during intense exercise
- Sugar free energy drinks in moderation if exhausted. I often question how much these help me vs. hurt me
- Nuun tablets in water
Focus mostly on vegetables and lean meats (I have a weakness for red meat, but I’m attempting to cut back on it constantly)

Avoid NSAIDs unless absolutely necessary. This is subjective, but I feel the more we can avoid them, the better off our body is at naturally suppressing the pain
Keep a constant regimen of vitamins. Current vitamins that I take daily:
- Multivitamin
- Green Tea Extract
- B12
- C
- D
- Zinc
- Fish Oil
- COQ10
Don’t take any recreational drugs (never have been interested in them)
Attempt to limit alcohol consumption (this can often be socially difficult)

Try to get at least 45 minutes of exercise daily. This can be anything from walking, to stretching, to tennis.
Lots of stretching! Stretch whenever you have a free moment
Don’t do strenuous exercise when your body is yelling at you
Don’t be a baby - get off the couch and go do something!

Sleep in a good bed. We invested in Sleep Number bed, and I think it’s worth its weight in gold
Sit in a good chair at work, with good posture. I got a Herman Miller Embody at an awesome discount from work, but I don’t think it needs to be that fancy
Keep your computer and monitors elevated above eye level to avoid strain
I’ve experimented with a standing desk, but I find it annoying for long periods of time. I probably just need to keep the habit up
I’ve been experimenting with an Advantage Kinesis Keyboard over the pandemic. It took forever to get used to, but I love it now

Try and get restful sleep! I aim for 8 hours daily. This is difficult with a young child
Try and follow the same sleep pattern if possible. I usually aim for 11PM EST to 7AM EST, but this can often be shifted based on social norms
Attempt to not use screens for roughly a half an hour to an hour before bed. This can be very difficult
Keep your electronics out of your bedroom (I charge my cell phone in my bathroom so that it doesn’t interrupt me while I’m asleep, except for when getting paged during an oncall shift if needed)

Foam rolling - Roll out your problem areas. Lay on the foam roller in whatever problem area that ails you. Find the spot where it really hurts, and lay on it for 1 minute. It’ll hurt incredibly bad during that time, but overall it helps immensely
Massage gun - The massage gun is wonderful for bumping out knots and other things. I use mine roughly 3-5 times a week
Chiropractic - seeing a chiropractor at a regular cadence has helped my wellbeing immensely
Graston technique - Graston technique has helped a lot of sore muscles recover quickly (mostly for tennis elbow!)
Cryotherapy - I’ve found cryotherapy to be unbelievably helpful
Massages - I believe massages would be helpful for me if I had them at a given cadence, but I haven’t invested the time or money into making it a normal practice for me
Hot tub - Hot tubs can be a very good relaxation mechanism
TENS machine - super helpful in loosening very tight muscles