Why Health?

Why be “healthy”? What does that even mean? How do you measure “health”?

Health is #1

If you had all the best human goods but poor health, none of those external goods would be worth it.

For example, I’d rather be a poor person with hyper excellent health than a billionaire with extremely poor health.

Therefore, health is more desirable than money, fame, honors, possessions, and all other human goods.


What is “health”?

Health — the closest etymology in Proto-Indo-European is “well”. So to think about health as wellness seems accurate.

My definition of health:

Hyper strength, mental strength, physical strength.

Health is physiological— a sign of the strength of the body.

Why be healthy?

For me,

  1. The healthier I am, the more optimistic, hopeful, and creatively productive I am.
  2. The more creatively productive I am, the happier I am.
  3. The more creatively productive I am, the more I can empower others, and hopefully maximize the happiness of others.

Therefore from a basic perspective, my health (energy, vigor) is essential in order to maximize my creative productivity to empower both myself and others.

Why do we die?

Probably the most interesting discovery I’ve learned about (new theory of aging) is this “hyper function” theory. 

The basic notion is that we don’t die because of “oxidants” in our system. The basic idea is that our body is like an engine which is constantly overheating and over-revving (too much insulin in our body causes our metabolism to go into overdrive, which causes damage in our body).

My theory:

Death is mandatory, but aging is optional.

What is “aging”?

When we think about aging or “getting old”, we are thinking of senescence

The reason why most people are afraid of old age is that they fear frailty, getting Alzheimer’s, or weakened body-mental abilities. Or they fear pain and weakness.

But having a higher age number doesn’t mean you will get weak and frail. For example Art De Vany is in his 80s and is ripped! Learn more about him here

What I think our goal is this:

  1. Extend our maximal biological lifespan to the maximum (in theory, 120+ years). I think in theory we could live to be 125, 130, or maybe even 140, but let us assume (for now) the maximum biological limit to human life is 120.
  2. Live as long as possible with maximal physical and mental strength and vigor-energy.

How to become healthier

What has helped me:

  1. Intermittent fasting: No breakfast or lunch. Only a (massive) dinner, heavier in meats, eggs, protein.
  2. No sugar, starches, or carbohydrates. My theory is that by minimizing your insulin response, you will have a better functioning metabolism.
  3. Hormesis: The basic notion that small doses of stress and poison actually strengthen you. For example cold exposure, heat exposure, irregularity in environment. Hormetins which benefit you include green tea, caffeine, coffee, etc.
  4. Walking a lot: If I can put one factor which improves my mood and health the most, it is walking. The more I walk, the more creative thoughts I get. The happier I am, the the higher my mood. The more photos I shoot!
  5. Weight lifting: Leads to strengthened muscles, bones, sinews, and improves your mood and physiological strength.
  6. Abstain from media: Seeing stupid shit on the news or on website blogs are enough to cause a raging hormonal cascade inside myself. By abstaining from media, I’m 1000x happier, more focused, and more positive.

Health above all!
ERIC