Transcript: Wellness Expert Michael Easter Answers My Questions About Health

How to Ditch Bad Habits for Good

I asked one of our country’s top wellness experts, Michael Easter, about how to change your health for good.

My post about the of wellness industry and common barriers to behavioral change is here.

Here are Michael’s answers to my top 10 questions about health:

1. Why do you think that health and happiness require experiencing discomfort?

Short answer

Evolutionarily, we are wired to pursue the next easiest, most comfortable thing. But in the modern era, avoiding discomfort makes us unhealthy.

Deeper answer

For example, if you want to improve your fitness, you should exercise. And exercise is uncomfortable! If you want to improve your mental health, you’ll have to ask yourself some hard questions, and that can be uncomfortable!

The drive to pursue comfort used to help us survive in the past when we lived outdoors in harsh, uncomfortable environments as hunter-gatherers. But daily life started becoming far more comfortable over the last 150 years. We got cars, escalators, remote controls, and so on. Today, the things that most impact your daily life are designed to make your life easier and more comfortable. 

When we avoid discomfort in a comfortable world, we end up unhealthy (too much eating, not enough movement, etc). We shouldn’t feel bad—we’re doing what we’re wired to do. We just have to realize that we have to do some things our body pushes back against with discomfort to be healthy today.

2. Can you explain how we came to be such a CRAVING society—and how that translates into people’s behaviors?

Short answer

We’ve always been a craving society. The difference is that for most of time we couldn’t fulfill our cravings. 

Deeper answer

Humans evolved to crave food, possessions, status, information, certainty, etc, because all of those things kept us alive in the past. But they were scarce. So constantly craving them and amassing them helped us survive.

But then technology allowed us to produce an abundance of all of all the things we’re built to crave. Think:

• Ultra-processed food with perfectly formulated mixtures of sugar, salt, and fat. 

• Millions of items we can buy for cheap with the click of a button.

• Social media to amass “likes.”

• The ability to Google anything, anytime. The average person now sees more information in one day than a person a few hundred years ago would encounter in their entire life! 

We’re just not designed to realize when we have “enough,” and that leads to problems today. Obviously, living in a world of abundance is a blessing. We just need to learn to navigate it.

3. Helping people change their behaviors is the hardest (and most rewarding) part of my job. But people need more than to be TOLD what to do. (They usually know!) What do you see as the best ways to help people change their habits?

Short answer

I think we need to first recognize that “bad” habits happen for good reasons. Asking ourselves “why” is a critical first step toward changing them.

Deeper answer

Bad habits pretty much always provide short-term rewards. Or else we wouldn’t do them! For example, even if you want to quit smoking, smoking a cigarette will make you feel better in the short term.

So I think unpacking the “why” is critical. Using our example above, figure out, why do I smoke? Get gritty with the details. What are the environmental conditions that lead you to engage in that habit? What might you be able to do to stop that trigger, or do as a substitute for the bad habit?

E.g., If you find your trigger to smoke is getting an email from your boss (stressful!), what could you do instead? There are many things. You could stop the cue before it starts (have a conversation with your boss about a less stressful workflow), for example. Or you could find a way to deal with the stress that is neutral or positive. For example, go for a walk to relieve stress.

Adding good habits before you’ve figured out why you do your “bad” habit is like hitting the gas when you still have your foot on the brake. 

4. Tell me more about your caffeine habit! Why did you quit? Are you still caffeine-free?

Short answer

I’m a two-cups-of-coffee-a-day person again. :). But, two things: 1) I don’t drink caffeine after noon and 2) I drink better coffee (the bougie stuff).

Deeper answer

A few years ago I was vastly overdoing it. Maybe 4 big-ish cups of coffee a day along with various other sources of caffeine. I’d guess I was taking in 1,200mg a day. For reference, the Mayo Clinic suggests we all keep it below 400mg. 

When I quit caffeine cold turkey, I basically died for 6 hours—shakes, flu-like symptoms, insane headache—then slept for 18 hours (signs you might be overdoing caffeine lol). But after my headache wore off, I felt better. I was less anxious and wired. I slept soundly. 

I now savor my coffee and see it more as a ritual and tool than a constant beverage. Two small cups a day and I’m out. If you drink a lot of coffee or diet soda, it’s worth quitting cold turkey for a week to see what happens. (The weaning off thing is no fun. Just rip the bandaid, die for 6 hours, then have a nice 18-hour nap like I did lol).

5. I spent the month of May without alcohol, and it wasn’t easy! I think so many of us underestimate the insidiousness of alcohol in our lives.. and the invisible costs. What is your take on alcohol?

Short answer

I’m the type of person whose favorite drink is and always has been the next one. 

Deeper answer

I got sober in 2014. And it wasn’t like, “I’ll try this dry January thing” sobriety. It was like, “you’re going to end up killing yourself unless you stop drinking” sobriety. 

I think most people in the “middle ground” of drinking are probably fine having a drink or two every now and then. Just recognize that probably no level of alcohol is “good” for us on a biological level. (It may be good for us on a social level and fun level, though!)

If a person has ever thought they should quit drinking for a while, they should probably quit drinking for a while. I like your experiment. Don’t drink for a while and note the positives and negatives. Then figure out what was positive and negative about that experience—especially the environmental conditions around the positive experiences—and let that steer your future drinking decisions. 

6. What is your take on the 2% of people who take the stairs when there’s also an elevator available?

Short answer

One hundred percent of people know that taking the stairs would be better for them, but we default to comfort. Thanks, evolution! :)

Deeper answer

My goal is to build two percenters. That wild fraction of people who choose to do the slightly harder thing they know is going to give them a long-term benefit. That, to me, is the key to sustainable growth.

7. What are you working on improving/optimizing in your life now?

Short answer

Relaxation!

Deeper answer

Relaxing. Lol. I’m just coming off finishing a second book that’s out in late September. It was super intense to report and write (think trips into dangerous places, tight deadlines, etc). I need to stop myself and pause before I jump into another big project.

8. What is the biggest challenge you've faced when it comes to changing your habits? 

Short answer

Alcohol.

Deeper answer

Drying out was absolute physical and mental hell, but eventually things got much better. I had to go through intense short-term discomfort to get a long-term benefit. 

Then I had to start unpacking why I drank like I did in the first place. A lot of it stemmed from being drawn to extreme and unpredictable experiences. I’ve realized I can get those in healthier ways, like extended time outdoors, exercise, trips into far-out places, etc.

9. Rucking for fitness: what is it, and why are you such a big fan?

Short answer

It’s when you walk with a bit of weight in a backpack—anywhere from, say, 10 to 50 pounds depending on your fitness level (start with 10 to 20).

Deeper answer

If you can walk, you can ruck. Rucking works your cardio because you’re covering ground, but it also works your strength because you have weight in the pack. It also seems to be uniquely good for fat loss. And it has a significantly lower injury rate compared to running.

My book, The Comfort Crisis, includes a whole chapter about how humans evolved to carry weight for distance. We’re the only species that can do that well, and it shaped our bodies and allowed us to start covering the globe. It’s still one of the best things we can do for our health today. And it’s so easy to fit into life—just wear a weighted pack when you walk the dogs or go for a casual walk. You’ll get more out of every step.

10. There is so much medical misinformation online, particularly about nutrition. How do you suggest your readers cut through the noise in this area?

Short answer

Read my book, The Comfort Crisis! ;)

Deeper answer

For disease risk, why you eat is probably more important than what you eat.