Excuse me, I have to sit down and write.
Maybe
I write a phrase, then wait for what follows. Then hold still as nothing more comes. Then I delete the first words and fall back into silence.
Maybe all that has been written before is enough. Maybe it’s time to say less—time to hide quietly beyond words and positions and insights. Maybe it’s time to allow what has come before to be what has already happened.
Maybe it’s time to stop. Maybe just this morning or maybe tomorrow too. Maybe only occasionally. Maybe not at all for a long while.
We’ll see.
Blog post by David Rynick May 11, 2021 – https://davidrynick.com/blog/
I feel the same way today.
Quote for Today – 05.24.24
“We’re not born with unlimited choices. We can’t be anything we want to be. We come into this world with a specific, individual destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it. Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”
Steven Pressfield
Lifestyle Habits and One Not So Scary Chart
Suicide by lifestyle takes ages.
Bill Bryson
Yesterday was haircut day and Kevin the Barber being typically Kevin asked again how old I was. When you run a busy shop with lots of customers I’m sure the personal details of all of us just sort of run together. When I confessed my age Kevin complimented me by saying I was the youngest looking almost 69 year old he’s ever seen. Of course a comment like that sends me straight into overthinking mode.
Having spent nearly a half century researching and understanding what kills people I’ve come to the conclusion (like Bill Bryson) that the majority of us tend not to do the simple small things that make a big difference. Since this blog started as a food blog here’s a simple observation about my dietary habits. I had pizza last night for dinner. This morning I was two pounds heavier than I was yesterday morning. This variation in weight for me is eerily predictable. Can you imagine how much I’d weigh if I ate pizza 2-3 times a week? I can, so I don’t.
One of the upsides of my blog writing is connecting with my readers. Ol Red Hair sent me a link to an interesting article on lifestyle habits. I already had a version of the article saved for future reference and unlike my usual spur of the moment let’s blog this link I started to overthink (again). But Kevin’s compliment made me think more about overall lifestyle and despite the observational construct of the study I’ll claim causality exists. I’m 8/8, batting 1000% on this list.
A new study involving over 700,000 U.S. veterans reports that people who adopt eight healthy lifestyle habits by middle age can expect to live substantially longer than those with few or none of these habits. The eight habits are: being physically active, being free from opioid addiction, not smoking, managing stress, having a good diet, not regularly binge drinking, having good sleep hygiene, and having positive social relationships.
For the study, scientists used data from medical records and questionnaires collected between 2011-2019 from 719,147 people enrolled in the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program, a large, nationally representative study of U.S. veterans. The analysis included data from adults age 40-99 and included 33,375 deaths during follow-up.
These eight habits could lengthen your life by decades – https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/995553
The estimated impact of adopting different numbers of healthy lifestyle factors on additional years of life expectancy among men as compared to men with none of these habits. While adopting more healthy lifestyle factors at a younger age is associated with the greatest gains in life expectancy, adopting even a few of these factors or adopting them at an older age can still bring significant gains. Image Credit VA Million Veteran Program
“Habits can be changed, if we understand how they work.”
“This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.”
“To change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.”
Charles Duhigg from The Power of Habit
All of this overthinking has reminded me I need to write the Changing Habits chapter in my future Best Seller. But first I need to work on my procrastination habit.
Tomorrow.
Chicken Thigh Week – Friday
Friday 3/24
After 47 years as a cardiologist with 200,000 patient visits, I can firmly say that vegans are my healthiest patients. I certainly agree with you it is not easy. My position is that 90% vegan which is 19 of 21 meals a week will do just fine. Foods should be, prior to preparation, ideally organic and unprocessed whole foods exactly as they grow up out of the ground and in the field.
H Robert Silverstein, MD, FACC
I found this quote in the comments section of an online article years ago. The 90% Solution has been my targeted balance of meals ever since. Yet the older I get the more I realize things are never that simple nor easy. Life is never simple nor easy. Too many of us don’t know what we don’t know.
More Things I’ve Learned About Myself
Over time I’ve revealed more personal information. At first I hesitated to share personal details about my journey. Now I’m much more relaxed about my privacy than in the past.
My personal journal remains my primary journal. My blogs have become journals as well. They’re all me. Remember what is here is only a part of me.
I write differently in my personal journal than I do in my public journals.
Writing in a journal has incredible health benefits so Keep a Journal (not just about food). Going back in time develops wisdom.
For the first time I’ve taken a deeper dive into where I’ve been in this blog. Some of what I discovered surprised me. I sometimes don’t follow my own advice. It is always easier to say rather than to do. It’s been quite some time since I posted Keep a Journal/Food Diary. I can’t remember the last time I tracked my meals.
When The Boss is away I listen to more jazz when working.
I’ve taught myself how to write more in my journals during the day when taking work breaks.
Today’s Meals
Breakfast – Buttered whole wheat toast, oatmeal with raisins, milk
Lunch – Two soft beef tacos
Snack – crackers
Dinner – Black bean chili, Texas Corn Bread
No Chicken!
Eat Only When Hungry
Retrain yourself to recognize feelings of hunger and respect them. Eat when you feel them and stop when they stop. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry. This approach starts with eating breakfast, planning snacks, or eating only part of your lunch and saving the rest for a snack later on in the afternoon. Eat regular meals but don’t eat by the clock.
Eating When You’re Hungry versus Eating on Schedule — https://www.dummies.com/article/body-mind-spirit/physical-health-well-being/diet-nutrition/general-diet-nutrition/eating-when-youre-hungry-versus-eating-on-schedule-202578/
Ten Random Thoughts – February 2023
- I’ve had one of those nasty “Non-Covid Illnesses” for half of the month. This explains my paucity of posts.
- On the bright side, I’ve lost five pounds.
- There is much truth to Tiny Humans as Potent Disease Vectors.
- I’ve made and eaten lots of soup this month.
- The whiskey stock has not been touched.
- Beer on the other hand has been quite valuable in keeping my throat moist.
- Reheating leftover brussel sprouts in the microwave will make them explode.
- The Boss has this Non-Covid Illness too. This is the first time in years we have been sick simultaneously. Togetherness.
- With little motivation to do much of anything I’ve read and/or finished six books so far this month. I may have not started a book in the same month I finished the book but this is better explained in a post on ADD.
- My Chicken Meatloaf was Tiny Taste Tester Approved. It’s a nine year old post.
OK, back to my throat medicine.
2022 Year in Review
Through extensive research I learned whisky is plant-based.
And believe it or not bread is plant-based too!
I can’t seem to get my entire head into a selfie.
This happened.
Hey Hon, there’s a bear in the backyard.
I reconnected with my inner child.
My brother commented on my height. Thank you Captain Obvious.
I have no further comment on this.
“It’s really good to be here and as I always say, it’s really good to be anywhere!”
Keith Richards
Random Thoughts – September 2022
“Some of the best evidence for the role of exercise in maintaining weight loss comes from the National Weight Control Registry, an online group of over ten thousand men and women who have lost at least thirty pounds and kept it off for at least a year. These folks defy the cynical view that meaningful, sustainable weight loss is impossible. The average Registry member has lost over sixty pounds and kept it off for more than four years. They are truly exceptional…Nearly all of them (98 percent) report changing their diet to lose weight, which makes sense given how diet can affect the reward and satiety systems in our brain and impact how much we eat.”
Herman Pontzer PhD Burn (pp. 255-256). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition
I posted about this book back in May on my other world famous blog. http://lifeunderwriter.net/2022/05/11/read-this-book/
From your “exceptional” self-proclaimed expert on weight loss you’re welcome.
8784 signing off.
Keep a Journal (not just about food)
“Keep a diary or journal. Record your reflections on your life experience in a journal. You will find this simple practice to be invaluable in your quest for wisdom.”
Warren Bennis (March 8, 1925 – July 31, 2014) was the distinguished professor of business administration and founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He has advised several U.S. presidents and more than 150 CEOs. Bennis is author or coauthor of more than 20 books on leadership, change, and management.
The spirit of the writer is different from the spirits of other artists. Writers are quirkier. Maybe not as quirky as painters or the artist who builds things out of toothpicks. These artists qualify as top of the heap quirky. The spirit of the writer who has lost 200 pounds and kept (most of it) off for nearly 50 years also qualifies for top of the heap quirky. The Digital Truth Machine display showed 176 one week ago. So I went to my journal searching for the raw truth. Well, I found things like “the weather got hot back home in Oklahoma and there’s nothing like a really cold beer on a hot day…” Trouble in Paradise.
I didn’t realize just how many bad habits I allowed back into my life. My own words should have been enough to make me stop and change. But knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things… Before our Colorado trip I was 168.
7/18
Last night M&M’s and some chocolate drizzled popcorn. I woke up this morning tipping the scale at 170. I’m not sure how much longer I can cheat like this and not gain any weight but I’m sure enjoying whatever time I have before I need to start restricting certain foods and drinks.
8/19
Well maybe I need to hit the panic button. Last night I snacked, drank beer and managed to stay clear of ice cream. Surprisingly I am lighter this morning and I feel fairly thin despite my lack of willpower. After a year of stringent measures I lack the discipline to avoid beer. Again, if it’s not in the house it’s much easier to avoid consumption. Lesson learned, over and over again.
8/22
It’s been nearly three months since our Colorado vacation where I abandoned all self-discipline and started drinking beer again. I managed to put on three pounds last month while boasting that my weight hadn’t changed a month ago. I’m not close to hitting the panic button but we all know why I’m gaining weight.
8/23
I put on four pounds in less than a week.
On 9/11 I hit The Panic Button.
Let’s count how many Gary’s Rules for Weight Loss got ignored. Eat only when hungry. Portion control. Snack but not too much and only healthier foods. Beer, sugary and other things you shouldn’t have in the house got into the house. My journal and fading memory produced the following list of what I did to myself: dairy whole milk, full fat yogurt, beer, wine, Cheez-Its, peach cobbler, potato chips, beer, granola bars, M&M’s, cookies, cakes, brownies, beer, AND a half gallon of ice cream that was purchased for a Tiny Human visit that ultimately got consumed by the Big Human. I had stopped keeping a food journal. There might have been other food and drink that I’ve forgotten about.
Welcome to my world. I need to ensure the new suit I just bought for a wedding in November won’t require alterations.
garyskitchen.net 