Image caption: Michael Mosley presents his own TV show and podcast where he answers everyday health questions.
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TV and podcast host Michael Mosley was best known for offering science-backed tips on simple ways to improve your health and well-being, like when to exercise, what to eat and how to get more sleep.
He would often act as a guinea pig and try anything himself (e.g. swallowing tapeworms or trying hallucinogens) before recommending it to others.
“Michael wanted to explore anything that could help people live better, healthier lives,” says Dr Saleha Ahsan, who worked with Michael on Trust Me I'm a Doctor.
“Not just a passing fad, but something I can do and don't feel guilty about.”
Here are his top five health hacks.
Eat less two days a week
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Image caption: On fasting days, you may want to have a light, healthy breakfast to significantly reduce your calorie intake.
He popularized the idea of ​​intermittent fasting, which involves eating normally five days a week and eating much less than normal on the remaining two days in order to lose weight and improve health.
This is called the “5:2 diet,” and it attracted a lot of attention over 10 years ago when the Horizon TV program “Eat, Fast, Live Longer” aired.
Hoping to reverse his type 2 diabetes, he ate fewer than 600 calories on fasting days, had light breakfasts and dinners, and drank plenty of water and herbal tea in between – over five weeks, he lost nearly a stone in weight and saw his blood markers, including blood sugar and cholesterol, improve.
The idea of ​​fasting to reduce calories has become a hot topic among the public, leading to the publication of fasting recipes, calorie-restricted menus, and even books.
To make it even easier, he called on people to try so-called “time-restricted eating” – abstaining from food for 12 hours between 8pm and 8am.
Short exercise
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Image caption: Brisk walking or using the stairs at work is a good way to enjoy some exercise as a “snack”
Getting the recommended amount of exercise done each week is difficult for many people. A common complaint is, “when will I find the time?”
Dr Mosley's Just One Thing podcast explored the concept of “exercise snacking” – getting in a few minutes of physical activity whenever possible, rather than scheduling one long gym session that may never happen.
For those with busy lifestyles, he advises avoiding the elevator, taking the stairs and taking a brisk walk, especially first thing in the morning.
“We live at the top of a steep hill, so whenever I go shopping I bike into town and then run really hard back home,” he said on the podcast, explaining how he makes exercise an essential part of his daily life.
He also explored the more controversial concept of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) — short bursts of intense exercise with recovery periods between them — as a way to make the most of your exercise time.
Embrace the cold
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Dr Mosley was fascinated by how low temperatures could be used to benefit our health and wellbeing.
He has investigated the benefits of everything from taking cold showers to exercising in the cold to sleeping in a cool bedroom.
During the interview, he revealed that he likes to keep the heating on low at home.
“I live in an old house that's expensive to heat, so I wear layers of clothes and keep the thermostat at about 15 degrees,” he said, adding that his wife is not so keen on the practice.
He found that turning the thermostat down just a few degrees can improve fat and blood sugar metabolism, boost mood, and even prevent type 2 diabetes.
When he went out for a jog on a cold day, he discovered that exercising in the cold allowed him to go farther than exercising on a hot day, and that he could exercise longer and harder with less effort.
He also admitted that (like motivational speaker and extreme athlete Wim Hof) he likes to take cold showers, taking a hot shower first thing every morning and then switching to a cold shower for 30 to 40 seconds.
The body's reaction to immersion in cold water (the cold shock response) increases heart rate and breathing, which is thought to be beneficial for short periods of time.
Squats and planks
“This is the easiest exercise you can do,” Dr. Mosley said in a recent interview.
What was he talking about? Squats, push-ups, and planks.
These are resistance exercises and they work some of the largest muscles in your body.
These exercises require your muscles to be tense and still, but research shows that relaxing can suddenly increase blood flow and lower your blood pressure.
Because squats can be more effective than sit-ups or sit-ups for building core muscles, he did them every morning, before a cold shower, of course.
Food choices
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Image Caption: A potentially underrated vegetable?
Most of us know what to do to eat a healthy diet: Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and avoiding fatty and sugary foods are the main goals.
But do some foods have hidden health benefits?
Thanks to Dr. Mosley, we now know that tomatoes may be better for you if you cook them than eat them raw. Tomatoes contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene, which helps your body fight harmful chemicals. Cooking the red fruit flushes the beneficial compounds out of your body.
And when it comes to beetroot, he concluded that the best way to enjoy the nitrate-rich purple vegetable is to buy it raw, roast it or juice it.
Mosley has studied the benefits of fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut, and found that they introduce live microbes into the gut, which may improve the body's immune system and reduce inflammation.
But he's not opposed to the occasional chocolate, especially dark chocolate, which studies suggest is much healthier than the milk version.
What he unexpectedly discovered was that eating pasta cold was actually healthier than eating it hot.
When it cools, it acts as fiber rather than a starchy carbohydrate, and in a small study in fasting people, eating cold pasta caused a smaller rise in blood sugar and insulin than eating freshly cooked pasta.
However, some of his health tips, such as consuming blood for its nutritional value and eating parasites to suppress appetite, never caught on.
