Author: admin

Had fun at the Chalk Walk in Greensboro!

Clarence Bass had a great post this month on why New Year’s resolutions usually fail.

He discusses how people often rely on willpower to stop bad habits. The results are typically poor.

Instead, Bass recommends people to forget about bad habits and focus on positive actions instead:

“Better yet, focus on positive action. Forget what not to do. Focus on what you can do.

Don’t waste precious willpower worrying about your bad habits. Focus on realistic positive steps on the way to achieving your goals.”

The same idea holds true for those wanting to reduce screen time. Instead of focusing on restricting screen time, focus on replacing it with healthier offline activities.

Hobbies such as music and art have a long track record of improving well-being.

We’ll be there!

From the new book:

“Discovering the truth in any area of science is like assembling a jigsaw. In the case of obesity, the completed jigsaw will show that inactivity is not a significant contributor, and that the primary cause is ultra-processed food and drink.”

I agree.

No Pills, No Pain

Barefoot Running on Grass

Non-sugar sweeteners are also not healthy and have side effects.

The whole business of pain relieving medicine has always seemed suspicious to me. You have some pain, you take medicine, and the pain goes away. But by what process? And what are the side effects?

Now the side effects of one pain reliever, acetaminophen, are becoming clear. A recent meta-analysis shows prenatal exposure to acetaminophen increases the odds of autism and ADHD.

In the most basic sense, pain is a signal. Blocking that signal has consequences.

As the saying goes, there is no free lunch. If you take a medicine to make pain go away, there can be unwanted side effects.

A lot of health indicators gravitate towards performance measures:

• How fast can you run a certain distance?
• How many minutes do you exercise?
• How much weight can you lift?
• How many calories do you consume?

Instead, I think there are much better measures of health you can measure on a day-to-day basis:

• How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?
• How do you feel when performing daily movements (picking up things, etc.)?
• How’s your posture throughout the day?
• How do you feel after exercising?
• How do you feel after eating a meal?

In my view, these are more important measures for sustaining long-term health and performance.

There seems to be a growing trend of former Navy Seals who are now writing books, giving talks, etc.

I’ve read a few of these books this year, and I have to say they have not been good. Here’s what I think is happening:

Navy Seal training is devised to produce the best soldiers. However, being the best soldier does not mean a person has great knowledge that can be applied to other areas. Just as if a person is a great actor or a great chemist – it doesn’t mean their expertise spills over into other areas.

A large part of the Navy Seals training is the ability to absorb physical punishment. What I don’t like is how this gets carried over to exercise philosophy.

Punishing yourself physically is not a great long-term strategy for health. I’m active every day and in no way is this a “punishment”.

In my view, it’s actually the opposite: movement is a gift. With the aging process, you never know how long your physical capabilities will hold up.

I’m looking to move and enjoy the gift of exercise as long as I can.