Good morning. It’s Friday, October 4th.

Sending out thoughts to everyone who had life upended by Helene. I know hundreds of people affected by massive flooding in FL. And no one could have predicted a town with an elevation of 2,134 ft above sea level and nearly 500 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in NC (Asheville) and the surrounding area would be under water from a hurricane.

In today’s email:

• Inspire: Jimmy Carter Turns 100

• Move: Loose Hips

• Watch: MLB Playoffs

• In the News: Forget Perfection

• Brain Games: NYTimes Connections

Stat of the Day

The percentage of land in the U.S. that is used to serve up a “happy meal.”

• Burger = 643M acres for grazing + 127M acres for feedstock

• Bun = 38M acres for wheat

• Paper = 510M acres for private land foresting

• Fries = 1M acres for potatoes

• Soda = 92.5M acres for corn

• Total = 1.4B acres

There’s only 1.9B acres in the entire continental U.S. (NPR)

Favorites

Here’s a few things I’m loving right now (or itching to check out):

1. David Protein Bar - when the former CEO/Co-Founder of RxBar partners with Peter Attia to create a better protein bar - you check it out. I tried all 4 flavors. Brownie was my go-to choice. It’s not the absolute best tasting bar, but the nutritional profile is the best of any bar on the shelf. 28g of protein with a good amino acid score. There’s some stevia - but no sugar or sugar alcohols.

2. Einkorn Wheat from Jovial Foods - thanks to Thrive25 reader, Fred S., who responded to our Tuesday Issue about gluten - this ancient grain is way better for us than modern wheat. The gluten doesn’t crush your gut, it’s got way more amino acids and minerals than regular wheat, and real fiber (NIH Study). Check out their pasta or get adventurous and make a loaf with their flour.

3. World’s Greatest Stretch - opening up my hips has been a big focus of mine - I try to do this stretch every morning and night.

Inspire

Jimmy Carter Turns 100

The only U.S. President to hit the century mark - Jimmy Carter exemplifies some of the underappreciated ways to maximize longevity.

1. Purpose - you’d think that would be holding the most powerful position in the world. But the joy and purpose he’s written about in his many books is building 4,300 homes in 14 countries for Habitat for Humanity. The more we have a sense of wanting to help others, the more our brain knows we need to stay alive.

2. Always Learning - President Carter learned to ski at the age of 62. He never thought he was too old to learn something new or take on a new challenge.

3. Family - Jimmy was married to his wife Rosalynn for 77 years. The love and respect they had for each other seems like a storybook, but was apparently very real.

4. Exercise - an avid runner until he was 80, President Carter transitioned to swimming and walking when his knees gave out. But he was always active - whether fly-fishing or working in his wood shop.

5. Connection - he just loved people. An optimistic, positive view of humanity and wanting to get to know everyone on an individual level.

Taking all this together - President Carter personifies the concept of grit and resilience. He had melanoma spread to his brain and liver back in 2015. Four years later he fell - breaking multiple bones that required surgery (keep exercising to survive these falls).

Even today, he’s survived his wife who passed away last November and has been in the same health for 19 months since going into hospice care.

That’s a life well lived.

Thrive25 Partner Spotlight

Check out breathing.ai. It's a free browser extension that reminds you to take breaks (the counterintuitive way to increase productivity), personalizes the color of your screen, and offers relaxing music to help you stay focused.

Get a gentle guide to breathe better, a quick reminder to drink more water, or simply improve your posture. Your body and mind will thank you for it. Download the free browser extension now and give it a try.

Move

Loose Hips

Your hips are the key to how we move and even how we sit. Hip mobility is key to staying active and maximizing your longevity. There are four ways we want to have full flexibility for our hips:

• Flexion - be able to squat super deep

• Extension - straight back leg when in a lunge position

• Lateral Rotation - sitting in butterfly or yoga position

• Medial Rotation - sitting with knee in front of you moving foot out to the side

I’m tight in pretty much every area - but especially medial rotation. Check out these Hip Tests from YOGABODY to see where you should focus for your hip mobility:

Watch

MLB Playoffs

Max here. Get ready…cue the sad, sad Cleveland sports fan music! For the 10 of you that still watch baseball - here we are, coming into the most random of all professional sports playoffs. Two things are true if you’re a real Cleveland sports fan - 1) it’s amazing the Guardians beat all expectations and won the Central division, and 2) there’s no way they will win a game in the playoffs (even against the upstart Detroit Tigers).

Three teams from last year’s hapless Central division are in the final four of the American League playoffs. That’s never happened before. Do we thank the historically bad 41-win White Sox? A little - but the Royals beat the Orioles and the Tigers took care of the Astros, two preseason favorites, to get to this point.

So find a TV and watch some of the most exciting baseball there is - the division series. Plus, you can work on loosening up those hips with an eye on the game (MLB Playoff Schedule).

Here’s some of the best moments of the MLB postseason to get you going…

H&L in the News

Excellence Over Perfection: Perfectionism fuels anxiety and burnout. Shift your focus to excellence - a balanced approach that values progress, self-care, and growth. Embrace imperfection to thrive without sacrificing wellbeing. (Fortune)

Kids + Diabetes: Type 2 diabetes, once rare in youth, is spiking. Obesity, genetics, and lifestyle factors drive this rise, especially in marginalized communities. Learn how prevention and early treatment can make a difference. (Knowable)

Cracking the Brain’s Language Code: Researchers have mapped how neurons in the brain's frontal cortex encode word meanings, revealing insights into language processing. This discovery could pave the way for advanced speech prostheses for paralyzed patients. (Big Think)

Brain Games

NYTimes Connections

So many great options in NYTimes Games - Spelling Bee, Wordle, Strands, and, of course, the crossword. My favorite is Connections. See if you can get yesterday’s puzzle correct.

How to play?

Find groups of four items that share something in common. Category examples:

• FISH: Bass, Flounder, Salmon, Trout

• FIRE___: Ant, Drill, Island, Opal

Each puzzle has exactly one solution. Watch out for words that seem to belong to multiple categories.

Credit: NYTimes (Wyna Liu)

** For answer, scroll to the bottom of the email

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Thanks for another great week!

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Brain Games Answer

We’re 40-something dads that felt our bodies and minds start to slow down and we’re not ready for that. We found too much information on every subject. So we started Thrive25 to transform what we’ve learned into something useful for the rest of us to spend just 5 min a day to optimize our health & longevity.

This newsletter is for you and we truly value your feedback. Never hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

To health!