A frightening nutrition trend, building a strong social circle, fixing sore hips

Issue #93: A frightening nutrition trend, building a strong social circle, fixing sore hips

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Good morning, 66.1ers.
Please read to the end to learn about some important changes coming to 66.1 over the coming week.

This week's issue is a rich one.
A concerning trend related to fruits and vegetables, a question to help you make the most of your relationships, and a mobility exercise that's going to be a game-changer for people who spend significant time sitting.

A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.

In case you missed it:

​Saturday's issue of 66.1​

In this week's issue of 66.1:

-You know to eat your fruits and vegetables, but did you know about this concerning trend?
-A question to enrich your relationships
-A challenging (and massively helpful) mobility exercise

Food for thought

Nutrient content in many fruits and vegetables has fallen by as much as 38% in the last 50 years. Now, this trend is crop- and nutrient-specific, of course. Not all fruits and vegetables have lost 38% of all nutrients they contain.
​
But an oversimplification will help: think of a carrot. If it’s lost 38% of its nutrients, you get only 62% of the nutrients that your parents and grandparents did when they ate a 1950s carrot.

Put another way, you’ll have to eat 1.5 times as many fruits and vegetables to get the same nutrient value.

We’ll save the conversation about why this downward trend is happening for a future Saturday issue of 66.1.

What you should know, though, is how to address this deficiency in your own diet.

3 things you can do to make sure you’re getting your nutrients:

1. Lean into organic​
   There is considerable research indicating that organic fruits and vegetables provide more nutrients (and fewer toxins) than “conventionally” grown fruits and vegetables.
   ​
   A few studies to support this point:
   ​https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24968103/​
   ​https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12590461/​
   ​https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21929333/​
   ​
2. Consider supplements​
   If you’re worried about getting your nutrients, you might consider a greens supplement like Athletic Greens (66.1 is not affiliated).
   The ingredients are clean, so this is a very low-risk experiment.
   ​
3. Shore up the rest of your diet​
   There are certain nutrients that are best found in fruits and vegetables.
   But there are others, like Vitamin D, that can also be found in healthy meat sources.
   Wild-caught salmon, for example, is rich in Vitamin D.

A question

Who not how:

Who’s the one person you need to spend more time with to live a healthier life?
How can you add value to their life?

Workout of the week

Sit throughs

You may have heard of the popular Turkish get-up exercise.
It’s a complicated movement that involves holding a kettlebell over your head for an extended period.

If that’s something you enjoy, send it!
​
If it’s not, try the related movement below.
​

The workout

We’re focused on mobility this week.
​
If you’ve recently spent significant time sitting, this one will feel great.

Step 1: sit on the floor. Nothing fancy, just get down there.

Step 2: put one leg out in front of you with your knee bent at a 45 degree angle. Tuck the other leg in tight to your butt like you would to sit crisscross style.

Step 3: lean forward and push up off your tucked leg, into your elevated leg. Do NOT use your hands. This part is about core strength. You’ll find yourself in a low crouch, resting on your tucked leg.

Step 4: hold here for 5 seconds. Feel the stretch in your hips, glutes, and calves.

Step 5: come back to a seated position on the floor with both legs in front of you, bent at a 45 degree angle. Again—don’t use your hands for this.

Step 6: switch sides and repeat. Do 5 sit throughs per side, for a total of 10.

Level: Intermediate

Don’t do it if:

If getting down on the floor makes you think twice about your back, hips, knees, or something else that’s not in optimal condition right now, check out the adaptation below.

Adaptation:

Sit-to-stands

Sit in a straight-backed chair.

Stand up without using your arms to push or pull yourself upward.
Repeat 10 times.
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Tried the exercise?
Reply here and let me know how it went!
​​
Tried the exercise?
​Reply here and let me know how it went.

Housekeeping

A couple announcements:

1. The Saturday editions of 66.1 will go behind a paywall this Saturday, January 25.

The Wednesday editions, as always, will remain free of charge.

We are making this change so we can continue to deliver the highest-quality newsletter possible to help you build your health for the long term. Rather than generating revenue by selling ad slots to the highest bidder, we are starting with a paid subscription model to maintain high-quality, independent content.

If you anticipate difficulty affording the $6.61 monthly subscription fee, please reply here. We'll work something out.

2. We're in the process of moving our website over to Substack, which will offer a number of features to you, our reader.
Chief among these features are the option to read via the Substack mobile app and reply to 66.1 issues with comments.
More to come on this transition later this week.

​
That's all for this Wednesday.
Have fun out there.
​
Marcus
​

Before you go...
​
​If you enjoy 66.1, I'd be humbled if you shared it with a friend.
Please forward this email to anyone you think would find it valuable.

Why 66.1?
​66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication.
​We're here to extend that.