Get 8 hours of sleep every night. Brush 3 times a day and floss at least once a day. Avoid getting too much sun. Eliminate sugar from your diet. Exercise most days of the week for at least 30 minutes each session. Incorporate resistance training into your routine 2-3x each week. Limit coffee to a 2-3 cups a day and alcohol to 1-2 drinks per day. Don’t sit in one position for too long. Go to bed early and rise early. Limit “screen time” to 2 hours a day….

Follow all of these pieces of sound advice and you, yes YOU, can live to be oldest person to never have lived.

Look, the thing is that I agree with the above statements (sans the sugar because all foods can fit) and for the most part, follow them diligently. But you know what…. not always. I’m afraid that part of our problem with lifestyle change is that we are inundated with demands on what to do and what not to do. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be told what to do. The caveat here is if you are seeking out that particular information and are interested in making the change, but don’t know how. THAT’s different.

All I’m trying to say is that if we listened to every piece of advice out there, we’d never have an ounce of fun. I know this must sound funny coming from a guy who’s job is to give out that advice. And I’m not trying to take away from the importance of it.

My point is this: It’s a lot like having a perfect diet. If we never again ate a food with trans fats, sugar, and ingredients we can’t pronounce, we would at some point, Snap. Binge. Fall off the wagon (or is it on the wagon?). I think the same thing applies to life as a whole. If we always went to bed early, think of all the fun times you might miss out on with your friends and family. If we always stayed out of the sun, then we wouldnt have “that story” about the time at the beach when _______ happend and it was so funny. Maybe a memory you’ll never forget. So yes, these pieces of advice are crucial to living a long, healthy life. But occasionally throwing them out the window is also crucial to living a long, healthy life. Whatcha think?