Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas to All...

I wish you all a happy Christmas. I for my part do not celebrate it as a religion, but as a tradition of the people; I go along, but make no effort beyond my normal self, atheistic self.

Religions can propagate wrong ideas, dangerous ideas. They, on the whole, do not teach separation of fact and fanatics, or the use of reason. There is no martyrdom, just death. When you are dead, you are dead; that is, no after life. It is as if we never were, save that which we leave behind in others. Wealth, fame, power have little lasting value. Living right with virtue has value in teaching those who follow, but also will soon find that they do follow to the pyre. Oh well, that is life.

It is those fanatics that cause problems, people who have lost all reason. We are all here to help others and ourselves to flourish as a species, not force a belief system on each other. We can lay out what we believe for others to see, but not force it on others.

Some things are up to use and others are not. We need to do what we can after we take care of our mental own selves first, and we need to give back to society in effort at least, but not necessarily momentarily. How many fund raisers have I seen paying themselves well, and the remainder, if there is any, goes to the charity fund? Fund raising has become a business. 

But have yourself a merry tomorrow any way. That is all we can have. After all, what do I know?

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Sustainable diet

Sustainable diet. What does that mean? a diet we stay on long term? a diet that can be produced long term? one that provides adequate nutrients? A quick look on the net yields:  http://sustainablediets.com/what-is-a-sustainable-diet/
"a sustainable diet must taste good and be enjoyable or you may abandon it. It needs to be affordable and to contain all the nutrients you need to reach and maintain health and vitality."

And her definition is some of the problem... The purpose of diet is to provide nutrients and energy for the human body. That is all. Taste is a modern problem. Hunger is the best appetizer according to Epicurus and others.

The poor  Romans 2000 year ago ate barley portage and barley bread, with bit of fish, goat, and cheese, onions, figs, olive, olive oil, and other stuff. There spicing was local leaves that they found to add savoring. It was sustainable for them, but of that I would only eat fish, cheese, onions ans olives. The wealthy Romans are what they wanted and had as much of an obesity problem as we do.

It is my opinion today that obesity is a attitude problem. We desire to eat good tasting stuff, it is available and cheap so we eat it. We need to eat metered meals of stuff that does not set off the desire for more.

The US government says the Paleo diet is not sustainable. There concern is different. Vegetables cannot be stored fresh for extended time. The US does not produce that much meat and fat required for a complete population on Paleo, so it is not sustainable in those terms. For a individual, it is the most sustainable diet. Add a few potatoes, if you are not addicted to potatoes, and there you have a highly palatable sustainable diet. It is difficult to stay on, if you are living out of restaurants. And yet, there are many places that offer a low carb meal, or equivalent.

The first thing is to get rid of sugar and processed starches. Those are just not foods. The next issue is portion sizes and eating between meals. We need to get our insulin down so that we can see the leptin.

But what do I know.


Tuesday, December 8, 2015

And not just in women

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/05/vegetarian-diets-may-hike-mental-health-risks-report.html
with the headline

A vegetarian diet may be making you loopy: Report


And my observations concur. Some people are loopy, but I never connected it to diet. I need to say that quite a few of the loopy are vegans but the cause? It will need more proof before cause can be declared. They need to be loopy to follow a vegan existence, or very easily influenced. Some religions have this problem also and are just loopy.

Many of us were educated in our childhood to follow. Brainwashed. Unknowingly. When we realize that were, we rebel and some then learn the reality, that we must get along together to survive we.

Freedom includes free thinking, and reason. we need to understand that logic is the most important skill, along with the rules of evidence. Frye standard and all that. O well, I am only doing life without parole. What do I know?

Friday, December 4, 2015

Missed the problem

The problem, as I see it is not what to eat, but how to get ourselves to follow the diet. Everywhere there are people expounding on diet but not how to keep ourselves on that diet. They have just missed the major problem.

Here is one more example: http://www.wellnessresources.com/leptindiet/leptindiet_home.php

The Five Rules of the The Leptin Diet:
Rule 1:  Never eat after dinner. 
Rule 2:  Eat three meals a day. 
Rule 3:  Do not eat large meals. 
Rule 4:  Eat a breakfast containing protein.
Rule 5:  Reduce the amount of carbohydrates eaten.

Until we develop the "will power" the body telling the mind to "eat, eat, eat "will be the driving factor. 

As I see it, we need the motivation, the desire to overcome our body's demand, on a consistent basis.

But what do I know?