Critique my lifestyle! What's the least healthy thing I do? page 2

[specsAreGrok]

(sleep duration is the main determinate in how I feel now).

That was the only mention of sleep and how you worded it sounds like you may be cheating yourself out of it. Do you get enough sleep?

Mark just posted this link over the weekend:
Lack of sleep 'switches off' genes - Telegraph

[Daemonized]

I would suggest getting an inversion table and using it daily if you've had a herniated disk. Inverting helps the spine heal and helps to prevent problems. I had sciatica from a herniated lower disk and found the experience to be very painful. These days, I do squats and dead lifts weekly and I wouldn't attempt them without inverting as well. Your mileage may vary of course.

[s-piper]

Plus I trust restaurants to have fresher ingredients than I do (although not often organic)

I'd advise you to reassess this assumption.
Remember, restaurants are businesses. Their main goal is to make money not provide the healthiest possible food. Some may advertise themselves as being about that, and I'm not saying there are no business owners who care about public health, but in the end their main job is to make a profit because your restaurant won't be serving fresh healthy food if it's out of business.
And a lot of the unhealthy ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, corn oil, MSG, etc. are economical for businesses because they're cheap to begin with and they have a long shelf-life.
Vegetables are very unlikely to be organic and probably infact the cheapest to be found. Plus, if they're a little old, but not inedible they might still be served.

[MissJecka]

Definitely ditch the crap foods: diet V8 Splash, Coke Zero, tortillas, SO Delicious coconut milk, etc. Make your own food, as someone suggested. You don't need that pre-packaged garbage.

[MorganGirl]

I'd advise you to reassess this assumption.
Remember, restaurants are businesses. Their main goal is to make money not provide the healthiest possible food. Some may advertise themselves as being about that, and I'm not saying there are no business owners who care about public health, but in the end their main job is to make a profit because your restaurant won't be serving fresh healthy food if it's out of business.
And a lot of the unhealthy ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, corn oil, MSG, etc. are economical for businesses because they're cheap to begin with and they have a long shelf-life.
Vegetables are very unlikely to be organic and probably infact the cheapest to be found. Plus, if they're a little old, but not inedible they might still be served.

Exactly this...also restaurants will spray their veggies with preserving agents to keep them appearing "fresh" for days longer. I very rarely eat out for this very reason, and if I do, it's at a restaurant that promotes organic eating.

[Groktomus Prime]

I just want to leave one more comment: Thank you for your positive influence!

I was a bit resistant to the suggestions at first, but after contemplating over the past week, I'm going to make a few changes.

1) I got organic ingredients to make my own salads three (maybe even four) times this week. Similar ingredients to what I was buying before, but I'm replacing the beans with a whole avocado. If it's a nice day out, I can just walk around downtown for 20 minutes to get some sun without buying food. I still like to get lunches with coworkers occasionally (and I can make reasonable choices while doing so), so brining my lunch 3 days will still give me the flexibility to do that each week.

2) I agree that I need to eat more fat. I did a rough count of my macros last week and I was on a low carb and low fat diet. I'm going to start by subbing out a chicken dinner and replacing it with grass-fed steak. I'm also going to try to eat an avocado each day, and hit up that wild game restaurant more often. I'm also bringing plenty of olive oil and some flaxseed oil for those homemade salads.

3) The beverages. I already reduced my Coke Zero intake last week, and will continue wean myself off of it. I've been better about getting enough sleep over the last few months, so I should be able to reduce my caffeine intake. I finished my last bottle of Diet V8 Splash and did not replace it.

4) I reduced my workout schedule from 4 days to 3 days. Each workout is roughly an hour in full, but the biggest change from what I listed originally is that I'm doing away with the 45 minute Insanity videos and just do a 20 minute tabata workout or hill sprints once a week. Also replacing the abs and back videos with a shorter core routine that emphasizes mostly isometric exercises. Also on Saturday, I did the recommended 3 X 5 for deadlifts instead of 5 X 5, and my lower back is not sore today. Previously, it would be in pretty bad pain for a couple of days afterward.

For me it's been all about incremental improvements and convincing myself one by one that each change is necessary, so I will try out these changes, reassess, and come back if I have more questions.

Thank you for your time and consideration!