The Expedition: November Edition
15 new ideas to improve your life this month.
The Expedition is our monthly journey into thoughts, opinions, ideas, observations, studies, facts, figures, etc.
Good ones, insightful ones, interesting ones, weird ones, and ones you can use to live well and long.
It’s a roundup of all the worthwhile stuff I’ve discovered in the last month. The Expedition is a bit of an island of misfit toys. But, hey, the greatest journeys are winding.
This month, you’ll learn:
How to get a signed copy of Walk with Weight, my new rucking guidebook.
Numbers on:
The lifespan benefits of optimism.
Teen SSRI use.
How much less fit kids are today than 30 years ago.
The truth about coffee and health.
Unpreparedness of incoming college students.
Healthcare in America.
The resurgence of measles.
Why men go to the hospital.
Pet obesity
The neuroscience of why restrictive diets are hard to maintain.
A great quick warmup for when time is tight.
Why mindset matters in health.
A running rule that’s kept me injury free.
The great diet for building muscle (and getting healthier).
An important parting quote.
Shoutout to our partners:
GOREWEAR. I used GOREWEAR gear on a long and rainy hike over the weekend. Specifically, the award-winning CONCURVE GORE-TEX Jacket which kept me dry and fast. Check it out. EASTER gets you 30% off your first GOREWEAR purchase. It’s pure Gear Not Stuff.
Maui Nui harvests the healthiest protein on planet earth: wild (and invasive) axis deer on Maui. The nutritional value of axis deer is incredible. Check out the Mahalo Sale, which is offering 35% off select cuts. Head to mauinuivenison.com/lp/EASTER to secure access.
Signed Copy: Walk with Weight
I’ve partnered with The Writer’s Block—an independently owned bookstore in Las Vegas—to offer signed copies of my upcoming guidebook to rucking, Walk with Weight.
The Writer’s Block’s pre-order price beats Amazon, and they do a lot of good in the community, offering reading and writing programs to underprivileged kids.
Here’s a link to get a signed copy of the book if you’re interested.
By the numbers
11 to 15
Percent longer lifespan experienced by people who were the most optimistic. They also had 1.5 to 1.7 times the odds of reaching 80 or older.
This study could be bullshit, but I’m going to be optimistic about it.
69
Percent more teens took SSRIs in 2022 than in 2016.
90
Seconds longer it takes the average child to run a mile today compared to 30 years ago.
That equates to …
15
Percent worse cardiovascular fitness kids today have compared to 30 years ago.
“About 30 percent to 60 percent of the declines in endurance running performance can be explained by increases in fat mass,” said the lead author.
14
Percent decrease in mortality risk if you drink 1 to 3 cups of black coffee a day. In the study, the benefit disappeared if you added cream and sugar to your coffee.
My guess: It’s not that black coffee is longevity magic. Instead, people who take their coffee black are likely more health-conscious and have less of a taste for fat and sugar.
1 out of 8
First-year students entering UC San Diego have to take remedial math. Roughly two decades ago, that figure was 1 out of 100.
This comes from a report that found a “steep decline in the academic preparedness” of incoming students. Other universities are seeing similar trends. Harvard, for example, just added a remedial math class aimed at “rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills among students.”
47
Percent of U.S. adults are afraid they won’t be able to afford necessary healthcare in the coming year.
37
Percent of U.S. adults think their medical professionals don’t understand their needs and preferences. That’s 100 million people.
5,000
Cases of measles in Canada since 2024. Hitting that number removes their measles elimination status by the Pan American Health Organization.
94.6
Percent of hospital admissions for falling off of scaffolding were men. Similarly, 93% of all motorcycle accident admissions were men. Men also make up 80 to 90% of all hospital admissions for violent assault.
35
Percent of dog owners classify their pet as either overweight or obese. For cats, the figure is 33%.
Why restrictive diets are so hard to maintain
Roughly 90 percent of people fail at restrictive diets like keto and carnivore. But why? Why’s it so damn hard to just eat this and not that?
The Caltech neuroscientist Steven Quartz explained on Twitter that it isn’t just a food phenomenon. The same brain hardware that leads you to quit a restrictive diet also leads you into many other fads and decisions.
Why are restrictive diets like keto so hard to maintain? Your brain runs an explore–exploit program. Exploitation repeats the best‑known option; exploration pushes you to try something new. When meals get repetitive, their reward value drops. That feels like boredom and cranks up the explore drive, often as cravings for “off‑plan” foods. It’s not sabotage; it’s adaptive software doing its job.
The explore-exploit program isn’t just about individual food choices - it’s why Apple rolls out a new iPhone every few years, why there’s buzz about a new restaurant, and why one day everyone’s wearing an Ed Hardy t-shirt, then they suddenly disappear. It’s the same adaptive software, just running on different operating systems: from our individual brains to our entire culture.
In the rest of this letter, you’ll get:
The ultimate quick warmup: video of 3 warmup exercises I do when I only have time for a short workout.
A fascinating new study on food sensitivities that suggests your belief about a food might matter more than the food itself.
The specific, data-backed running protocol I use to build mileage without getting injured.
The BS-free eating plan of the greatest bodybuilder of all time—and the simple food list you can copy to build muscle and burn fat.
A parting quote about how voluntary discomfort was used among the Navajo tribe to build great warriors.