Reevaluate These 7 Lifestyle Areas to Live a Longer, Healthier Life

Kien Vuu, MD, was born in post-war Vietnam. Shortly after his birth, his parents escaped with him (along with 2,000 strangers) on a refugee boat. People were dying of dysentery, falling off the boat, and encountering pirates. At the end of the eight-month trip — when the boat docked in the Philippines — young Vuu was the only infant that had survived. 

After spending another three months in a refugee camp, an American Catholic church sponsored the family for entry into the United States as an early Christmas present in 1979. 

When the family arrived in the States, Vuu's parents gave him three career options: a doctor, an MD, and a physician. So, naturally, he went straight to medical school to specialize in interventional radiology. But just five years later, he had high blood pressure, was overweight and diabetic, and was taking prescription medications. Vuu had embodied the precursor conditions of the very patients that were ending up on his own operating table. 

Related: 3 Expert Strategies That Will Optimize Your Meal Plan for Performance

The MD then realized that not even medical school gave him the tools to execute on living a healthy lifestyle. 

"At that point in my life, I felt like I was looking in front of the mirror telling people to live a healthy life when I didn't really know how to do it on my own," he says.

The Thrive State author decided to teach himself how to live a healthful, sustainable life, starting with the things he didn't learn in medical school, from epigenetics to nutrition. (He even studied from shamans at one point.) On this episode of the Spartan Up! podcast, Vuu shares how performing an audit on seven areas of his life — sleep, nutrition, movement, stress and emotions, mindset, community, and purpose — helped him reverse his high blood pressure and diabetes and increase his longevity in just six months.

Listen to the podcast in its entirety below. 

Connect With the Spartan Up! Podcast for More Great Discussions Below!

Spartan Up! YouTube Channel Spartan Up! Spotify Podcast Spartan Up! Apple Podcast

Spartan Wild Health