The Low Hanging Fruits of Improving Your Health
“What are a few easy things I can do to make a difference in my health?”
You’ve probably seen an article about a miracle workout, miracle supplement, or the one thing you need to improve your health. It would be incredible if there was only one thing you could add at the right price that would drastically improve your health — but there isn’t. Health is built on a foundation of a few things that compound over time.
The sooner you start them, the greater the long-term benefits and it’s never too late to start. These foundational components are what I call the “Low Hanging Fruits of Health.”
Most are relatively easy to begin incorporating today. Some are harder because of our current habits and priorities, but all except one have been shown to improve mortality by at least a year when incorporated, and some reduce risk of death by around 50% when starting from zero.
These components do not make you immortal. They help in a very specific way, they create a buffer — more accurately, a physiological reserve.
When we get sick from nearly anything, we lose strength, we lose cardiorespiratory fitness, and our gut microbiome is negatively affected. Take two people with the same disease profile: the one with higher strength and cardiorespiratory fitness will generally fare better. In some groups, fitter individuals have shown roughly 46% better survival rates than their less-fit counterparts. That figure comes from a meta-analysis of 42 studies involving 46,694 adults with various cancers examining how strength and cardiorespiratory fitness affected outcomes. You can read it here.
So what are these low hanging fruits?
1. Increase your fiber intake.
Less than 8% of the U.S. population gets enough fiber. The United States has among the highest rates of colon cancer in the developed world, and much of that can be attributed to chronically low fiber intake, the recommendation is 24-35 grams of fiber a day, most of us get only 15.
Eat more oats, nuts, berries, and whole grains. Shoot for 24–35 grams a day.
Easy ways to get there without overhauling your diet:
1 cup cooked oatmeal → ~4 grams
1/2 cup raspberries or blackberries → ~4 grams
1 ounce almonds (about a small handful) → ~3.5–4 grams
½ cup cooked lentils or black beans → ~7–8 grams
2 tablespoons chia seeds → ~10 grams
1 medium apple with the skin → ~4–5 grams
1 slice whole-wheat bread → ~3-6 grams
One suggestion, do not go from 15 grams to 35 grams. You will most likely feel bloated. Focus on slowly adding 2-5 grams a day to your normal intake, hold there for 1-2 weeks and then add 2-5 more grams. Fiber literally changes the ecosystem of your gut. Longterm it is worth it but trying to get there too fast can lead to some mild discomfort.
2. Go for a walk.
The average American walks at 3–3.5 miles per hour and averages 3,000–5,000 steps a day. A slow 60-minute walk covers roughly 6,000 steps. 80 minutes puts you near 8,000. 100 minutes gets you to about 10,000.
If you are starting from the 3,000-steps-a-day mark, you can drastically reduce your mortality risk by increasing the amount you are walking:
- 3,000 → 6,000: ~40% lower risk
- 3,000 → 8,000: ~45% lower risk
- 3,000 → 10,000: ~53% lower risk
If you’re starting at 5,000 steps a day:
- 5,000 → 8,000: ~8% lower
- 5,000 → 10,000: ~22% lower
Covering just these first two areas can substantially improve health if you are starting from zero. If you don’t like walking, try Tai Chi, yoga, Pilates, or another low-impact activity you can do consistently with little stress on the body, these activities don’t have large studies showing the drastic effects seen in the walking studies, but many professional including myself believe that much of the benefits that come from walking are due to the positive effects of activity over being sedentary.
3. Add some intensity.
Walk faster, jog, swim, bike, or do something that spikes your heart rate for 3–4 minutes, then slow the pace substantially and repeat for 3–4 rounds.
Walking builds the base of your cardiovascular health. More intense work raises the ceiling — this is the part people often skip and where additional improvements come from. I recommend starting this after 2 months of walking at least 30 minutes three times a week, though most people can handle the more vigorous component relatively quickly.
4. Get stronger.
Yes, this will help increase the potential of you living longer - but the bigger benefit is getting more out of the years you have.
Getting stronger leads to:
- Getting on and off the floor more easily
- Carrying groceries with less effort
- Maintaining independence longer
- Continuing the activities you enjoy with greater ease
You do not need to spend hours in the gym every day. Two workouts a week of 2–3 moderate sets for each major muscle group is enough to make real strength improvements. Start light and slowly increase the weight.
5. Eat more protein.
After 40, many people gradually eat less protein and more carbohydrates. Aim for roughly 0.7–1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight (higher end if you are training hard or older).
For reference: a 4 oz chicken breast has roughly 35 grams of protein, 3 tablespoons of hemp seeds have about 10 grams, and 1 cup of Greek yogurt has around 17 grams.
If you are hitting that 0.7–1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight you probably don’t need more.
6. Sleep.
Most of us do not sleep enough — myself included. The majority of adults need 7–9 hours. Set an evening routine that gets you into bed at roughly the same time each night. If you are chronically stressed, easily aggravated, never feel rested, or all of the above, prioritize sleeping more. It will do wonders for both your brain, body, and relationships.
7. Social connection.
A healthy brain is a connected brain. Strong social ties are one of the most consistent predictors of both mental health and longevity. Chronic loneliness carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking or obesity in large analyses.
You do not need a huge network. You need consistent, meaningful connection this matters more than the number of connections. A weekly walk with a friend, meeting up for coffee, a regular phone call, or volunteering. Maybe most importantly protect the relationships that already exist and deliberately create a few more if your circle has gotten too small.
The Compounding Benefits
These are the low hanging fruits. They don’t change your health overnight but they compound overtime, can make a massive positive impact on your health, and create the physiological buffer for later in life.
Start with the ones that feel most doable, stack them over time, and you’ll build the physiological reserve that helps you handle whatever life throws at you.
References
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESERVE
Bettariga F, et al. Association of muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness with all-cause and cancer-specific mortality in patients diagnosed with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2025;59:722-732. (42 studies, 46,694 adults. High cardiorespiratory fitness associated with up to approximately 46% lower all-cause mortality; high muscle strength approximately 31% lower.)
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/59/10/722
1. FIBER
Miketinas D, et al. Usual dietary fiber intake according to diabetes status in US adults: NHANES 2013-2018. British Journal of Nutrition. (Mean intake well below recommendations; approximately 4% of US adults meet the Adequate Intake.)
Gianfredi V, et al. Is dietary fibre truly protective against colon cancer? A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 2018;69(8):904-915. (Effect size 0.74, 95% CI 0.67-0.82, for colon cancer.)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09637486.2018.1446917
Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2005. (Adequate Intake for fiber: 14 g per 1,000 kcal.)
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. (Per-food fiber and protein values.)
2. WALKING AND DAILY STEPS
Paluch AE, et al. Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts. The Lancet Public Health. 2022;7(3):e219-e228. (47,471 adults, median 7.1 years of follow-up. Compared with the lowest step quartile, median approximately 3,553 steps per day, adjusted hazard ratios were 0.60, 0.55, and 0.47 for quartiles with medians of approximately 5,801, 7,842, and 10,901 steps per day.)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9289978/
Stens NA, et al. Relationship of daily step counts to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2023;82(15):1483-1494.
https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2023.07.029
Shreves AH, et al. Accelerometer-measured physical activity in US adults, NHANES 2011-2014. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2026. (Mean approximately 8,818 steps per day, wrist-worn.)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42002910/
3. INTENSITY
Howden EJ, Sarma S, Lawley JS, Opondo M, Cornwell W, Stoller D, Urey MA, Adams-Huet B, Levine BD. Reversing the cardiac effects of sedentary aging in middle age: a randomized controlled trial. Implications for heart failure prevention. Circulation. 2018;137(15):1549-1560. (61 sedentary, healthy middle-aged adults, ages 45-64, randomized to 2 years of supervised exercise training or to a balance and flexibility control. Training increased maximal oxygen uptake by 18%, 95% CI 15-22%, and reduced left ventricular stiffness; the control group changed on neither measure. The training progression began with three 30-minute base-pace sessions per week, adding 4x4 intervals -- 4 minutes near peak heart rate, 3 minutes of active recovery, repeated 4 times -- from the third month, building to roughly 150-180 minutes per week across 4 to 5 days. The authors note that in previously sedentary people, exercise begun after age 65 has shown little effect on left ventricular stiffness.)
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.030617
Wisloff U, et al. Superior cardiovascular effect of aerobic interval training versus moderate continuous training in heart failure patients: a randomized study. Circulation. 2007;115:3086-3094. (Original 4x4 interval protocol.)
Kodama S, et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness as a quantitative predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in healthy men and women: a meta-analysis. JAMA. 2009;301:2024-2035.
4. STRENGTH
Garcia-Hermoso A, et al. Muscular strength as a predictor of all-cause mortality in an apparently healthy population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2018. (Higher grip strength associated with lower all-cause mortality, hazard ratio approximately 0.69.)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003999318300790
Wu Y, et al. Association of grip strength with risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer in community-dwelling populations: a meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2017. (Lowest versus highest grip strength, hazard ratio 1.41; approximately 16% higher risk per 5 kg lower grip strength.)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525861017301822
Leong DP, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. The Lancet. 2015. (Hazard ratio 1.16 per 5 kg reduction in grip strength.)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25982160/
Lopez-Bueno R, et al. Thresholds of handgrip strength for all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality: a systematic review with dose-response meta-analysis. Ageing Research Reviews. 2022;82:101778.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163722002203
US Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. Washington, DC; 2018. (Muscle-strengthening activity on two or more days per week.)
https://health.gov/paguidelines
5. PROTEIN
Bauer J, et al. Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: a position paper from the PROT-AGE Study Group. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2013;14(8):542-559.
Deutz NEP, et al. Protein intake and exercise for optimal muscle function with aging: recommendations from the ESPEN Expert Group. Clinical Nutrition. 2014;33(6):929-936.
Morton RW, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2018;52:376-384.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/6/376
6. SLEEP
Watson NF, et al. Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. Sleep. 2015;38(6):843-844.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26039963/
7. SOCIAL CONNECTION
Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine. 2010;7(7):e1000316. (Odds ratio 1.50 for survival among those with stronger social relationships.)
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
Holt-Lunstad J, et al. Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2015;10(2):227-237.