The Art of Never Getting Sick

As practiced over a decade without as much as a common cold.

Want to go 3858 days (and counting) without even a hint of illness? Start by implementing these five simple steps:

1. Have a major health scare (cancer was my scare of choice)

I jest, of course, but it’s crucial to develop a burning desire for excellent health. Surviving cancer is great for building such a desire, but there are many less dramatic motivators, such as a passion for sustainable living.

2. Move to a healthy environment

This one will be tricky for many people, I know. But if it’s at all within your power, move somewhere with clean air and water, a healthy culture, easy access to nature, and the opportunity to safely cycle or walk to work.

3. Make health part of your identity

Become that guy or girl who’s always in great shape and never gets sick. If this can become an integral part of who you are, healthy actions consistent with this new self-image will start happening naturally.

4. Turn health into your main hobby

If you can get yourself genuinely interested in the endless amount of health-related resources out there, you’re already half-way there. See your health as your free-time project and build it into something beautiful.

5. Construct healthy micro-environments

Unhealthy temptations are all around us. It’s crucial that you build loads of friction into unhealthy actions while removing all friction related to healthy actions. Your environment should make healthy living the default choice.

To put these five points in context, allow me to share the story behind my decade of perfect health.

It all started back in 2008 with a rather oxymoronic “mild case of cancer.” To my everlasting relief, the malignant mass was found and surgically removed before it had a chance to spread. I was also treated to an awful course of preventative chemotherapy, seemingly as a reminder never to do this again.

As my hair started falling out and that constant nauseating chemo feeling held me down, I was forced into some deep introspection. How could I make sure that I never have to go through such an ordeal ever again?

Step 1, check! Burning desire for excellent health secured.

A fresh start

A few weeks after my chemo ended, a bald me traveled to a conference in Norway to present my Master’s thesis. I’d been notified that the research organization hosting the conference was looking to recruit people with my skill set. My presentation would be my interview.

Thanks to countless obsessive practice sessions, I gave the best lecture of my life and received a job offer from the Norwegian research organization where I still work today.

I didn’t realize how lucky I was at the time, but my move to Norway turned into another critical step in my health journey. Norway can make a strong claim to the title of “industrialized nation with the cleanest air and water.” The Nordic culture also places a healthy emphasis on nature and the outdoors.

Step 2, check! Healthy environment secured.

Shortly after I arrived in Norway, on February 16th, 2009, the harsh winter got to me, and I had to call in sick with the flu.

That was to be the last time.

A health novice

Everyone has a basic understanding of healthy living. Eat your fruits and veggies, and get regular exercise. Not exactly rocket science.

The first two years of my ongoing healthy streak involved little more than this. I ate plenty of green stuff, got to where I needed to be by bike, and became a little obsessed with mastering the great Nordic art of cross-country skiing.

Even though my health habits were still far from perfect, the healthy months started to accumulate, and my fitness gradually improved. When the doctors following up on my cancer treatment started frequently remarking on how healthy I looked, this new healthy identity became firmly ingrained.

Point 3, check! Healthy self-image secured.

A health enthusiast

At the end of 2010, I bought my first property: a 63 square meter apartment at the foot of the mountain, giving me a nice 4 km (with 200 m elevation) bike ride from the office every weekday and plenty of skiing opportunities over the weekend.

This new life chapter awoke the health enthusiast in me. I bought some specialized books on healthy living and studied them as only a professional researcher can. The three books that influenced me most were:

• Healthy at 100 by John Robbins
• 50 Secrets of the World’s Longest Living People by Sally Beare
• The World’s Healthiest Foods by George Mateljan

As my health knowledge accumulated and my healthy identity became stronger, I began actively experimenting with healthy living. It soon turned into a rather serious hobby, and I invested many hours in finding the right balance between health, enjoyment, practicality, and cost.

During this phase, I also got hooked into the field of sustainability by research I did for my PhD thesis. This unearthed a big passion for sustainable lifestyle design, which, conveniently, involves a healthy plant-dominated diet and plenty of exercise from biking instead of driving.

Point 4, check! Health hobby secured.

The diet and exercise regime that emerged from all of this experimentation is summarized in the appendix, but the main objective should be the cultivation of intense interest in your own health. Such a mild health obsession is a natural starting point for your personalized health regime.

A complete health environment

To put all of this into practice in the real world, I began playing around with intelligent micro-environment design quite early in my health journey. This simple strategy of building environments where good actions happen automatically is finally gaining some broader popularity now. You can check it out in books like Atomic Habits and Willpower Doesn’t Work.

My first action was to simply stop buying unhealthy food during weekly shopping. Having any kind of hyper-palatable calorie bomb in my apartment has always been too much for my limited willpower. Hence, keeping such hazards out of my house proved to be a straightforward and effective strategy.

Another vital part of my healthy environment is my meal structure. I invested plenty of time and effort into the design of healthy meals that combine great taste, practicality, and value. Hence, eating these healthy meals involves no sacrifice whatsoever. The appendix gives a little more detail.

Lastly, the location of my home is the key to my fitness and mental health environment. It’s ideally located to give me a regular workout that is downhill to the office and uphill back home (so that sweating is no problem). I also chose my home right next door to nature, which has a lovely calming influence and presents many opportunities for enjoyable exercise.

Step 5, check! Healthy micro-environment secured.

With all five steps firmly in place, I hope to never get sick again. Only time will tell, but I’m feeling confident 🙂

Appendix

The following is a summary of my current diet and exercise regime. I recommend that you develop your own, but perhaps you find some elements here that could also work for you.

Diet

For breakfast, I’m a big fan of seeds and berries. My seeds (hemp, flax, sunflower, pumpkin, and chia) are bought in bulk thanks to their long shelf life, making them attractively cheap. Berries are bought frozen in a mixed bag with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, red- and blackcurrants. I also buy fresh blueberries in varying quantities depending on the season.

These seeds and berries are combined with some other ingredients in two alternating breakfasts: one with a little bit of All-Bran, regular milk and oat/almond milk, and another with yogurt and mixed nuts (peanuts, almonds, and cashews). Both of these nutrient-laden breakfasts take only a minute or two to prepare, taste great, and are pretty cheap.

For lunch on weekdays, I have a variety of hot meals based on minced meat (part pork and part soy protein). A key element in the design of these meals is to maximize the vegetable content. Also, these meals are selected to freeze well, allowing me to prepare them in bulk once per month and freeze them in containers for highly convenient work lunches.

On weekends, I generally eat fish (hake or salmon) for lunch, again with as much vegetables as I can manage.

My dinner mostly consists of avocado on some crunchy seed-sprinkled crackers. Smoked salmon works very nicely on top. When I don’t have a ripe avocado, I generally eat baked sweet potato or scrambled eggs, both of which are reasonably healthy and quick to prepare.

We’re lucky enough to get plenty of free fruit at work, which is my main snack. A full water bottle is a constant feature on my workstation, and I drink about two cups of antioxidant-rich Rooibos tea daily. Sugar is a notable absentee from my diet.

Exercise and mental health

Most of my exercise comes from not owning a car, forcing me to bike everywhere. Not only does this keep me in good shape, but it also saves loads of money.

My morning routine includes 10 minutes of yoga and two sets of light weights. For sport, I do plenty of cross country skiing in winter and rollerblading in summer. The awesome (and free) cross country skiing tracks close to my flat make this an effortless health habit to maintain.

I also get to spend plenty of time in nature, mainly walking around a small lake close to my apartment. This is great for maintaining regular movement and calming the mind.

I’ll leave you with a picture of this lake at its most beautiful. Regular exposure to such scenes is wonderful for the soul 🙂