Embed from Getty Images
Happy New Year, bitches! I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. Did anyone make any resolutions? I did the same ones as I do every year, which are to get more sleep and eat healthier. Maybe this year will be my year!
Brooke Burke doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. As you know, Brooke has been a big fitness personality for decades. Last year, she talked about how her workout routine has changed to incorporate weight training since she hit menopause. Right now, Brooke is into biohacking, which is “do-it-yourself biology” where you basically make “small, strategic changes to habits and behaviors.” It’s supposed to lead to “anything from quick weight loss to enhanced brain function.” Intermittent fasting, meditation, and cold water therapy are examples of biohacks. Brook recently did an interview with Fox News Digital to praise the wonders of her latest lifestyle changes and why she thinks New Year’s resolutions set us up to fail.
Her biohacking routine: “Sauna red light therapy if you can. I even love the red light therapy masks that are so cool you feel like a superhero. I do that to my skin for collagen promotion and it’s really soothing. It’s amazing for fine lines and wrinkles,” she said. “I hydrate the heck out of myself over the holidays. More water than alcohol. Flush out all the sodium. I do yoga to lower my stress levels for mobility. I’m all about digestion walks, amazing. Try to eat your last meal a little bit earlier. Try to get out and move, even in the cold weather. I work out to lower my stress levels and to balance the madness and the chaos of the seasons.”
Other “tips and tricks:” The former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant went on to share many more “Hollywood tips and tricks” to feeling and looking healthier, including the use of vitamin C serums, eye masks and jade rollers, jokingly adding that “no one needs to know how tired you are.” When it comes to the “goofy little things” she does, she encourages women to put conditioners in their hair before going into a hot sauna or making sure you stay moisturized on the colder winter days.
Some DYI remedies: “[If] you’re stressed out, go get a $5 bag of Epsom salt, like I am all about figuring out how to biohack my life in my environment and really find homemade remedies to do at home. Air purifiers, huge, amazing. Make sure you’re drinking clean spring water if you don’t have that good a filtration system, antioxidants, smoothies. I mean, you know, I’m a geek, too, superfoods.”
Her trick to holiday indulging: Burke also gave those at home her trick when it comes to indulging over the holidays, explaining she’ll intermittently fast, which “gives me more decadence during the holidays” without “feel[ing] life I sacrifice.”
Community = Accountability: “I just did some research and realized that January 10th is actually a day called Quitters Day, because 80% of our country has already failed at their New Year’s resolutions, 80%. So you need a community, you need to hold yourself accountable,” she explained. “Write it out. Write it on your mirror with a Sharpie if you need to. Commit to something, whether it’s a digital app, free programs on YouTube…find something and hold yourself accountable. So personal promises, absolutely. But you’ve got to be able to keep them.”
Money also equals accountability: One of the tips Burke suggested was to financially commit to something “so that it doesn’t feel good to fail because you’re losing money.”
“Holidays are just an excuse to not be healthy!” “Americans put on an average of two to three pounds a year and they don’t take it off. So that starts to accumulate. And the holidays are [a] time that a lot of people take a vacation from wellness. They take a vacation from their fitness goals. I don’t like that,” she said.
She doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions: “And I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. But if you’re going to make one, you got to really commit. Write it out, find a buddy, start a new program, set some realistic goals, start small. Just start, like just begin.”
I had never heard the term biohacking before, but it seems to just put a label on certain changes in lifestyle. Maybe most of us aren’t getting routine sauna red light therapy treatments, but I think things like drinking more water, taking walks for your mental health, and doing yoga are pretty mainstream. I remember when Oprah talked about how she doesn’t eat after 7:30 p.m., which is just another form of intermittent fasting.
As for her thoughts on New Year’s resolutions, I make them, but life usually gets in the way and even if it’s past January 10th, I fall off at some point. I try not to do anything that’s a financial commitment for this reason! A mentor once recommended that you write out your goals either week-by-week or monthly and then look at them daily or weekly to remind yourself what you’re working towards. For example, on March 1, I may commit to reading three books in March, and that feels more doable than saying I’m going to read 30 books over the course of the whole year because different months are going to bring different life priorities. I find the smaller goals are more achievable and have had a lot of success with this method.
She looks great. I think when it is your job to look great and you can spend your day on fitness it’s a little disingenous to offer suggestions to the masses. On the other hand, her suggestions are nothing crazy, which is nice. But maybe also talk about the surgical/injection help and be a little more real about it all.
I like how she gave several different ideas of things to try. ‘Biohack’ makes me giggle a little, so now I can be happy and healthy.
Sadly, the walk after dinner thing is true. Especially when it’s winter and in the teens temperature wise. Also, knowing what time you need to stop eating so that you sleep better isn’t the same as “intermittent fasting.” Like so much, it’s how many rules like this that you have for yourself, and if they interfere with your life, is what’s the issue. If I’m out with friends, I’ll eat later than I would at home, but also it’s because I’m moving and getting more tired.