Refined sugar – the biggest poison

Today my post is short, even though the topic is quite dense. I am not a medical doctor, nor am I a nutrionist, so I will only give you some very short pointers. If you can also research yourself and reduce your consumption of direct and indirect sources of refined sugar then in the long run it will be tremendous.

My father in the early 90s had started warning me about the ill effects of refined sugar and the long term impacts of its usage on the different organs including the brain.

When we are young we don’t actually realise all the impact of this advice.

As I started getting a little older, I realised whenever I was in the US and had breakfast included with my room, I used to end up eating a lot of pancakes with maple syrup, doughnuts and all the possible sugary items. After that I used to get such a drop in my energy level in a couple of hours, that I wanted to just drop on the bed.

So I started avoid getting rooms with breakfast and rather started going to the local Subway to have a large sandwich with coffee.

Today with recent research its becoming more and more clear that refined sugar is not only a cause of diabetes which is the root cause of a lot of other ailments but also a cause of dementia and other brain related diseases. If we are going to be living longer but our brain is going to deteriorate we will end up being a vegetable. That’s a very scary situation for me.

I now have a target on myself to not take more than 2 tablespoons of sugar directly or indirectly every day. I used to love sweets and chocolates. So initially this did hurt me quite a bit. But I have consistently improved.

Today if I have a milk chocolate in the night (my preferred time for eating sweets was after dinner) then I get up feeling groggy. I don’t know the reason for this but high carb diets in the nights also now make me get up groggy.

I have moved to having more jaggery which has a low glycemic index and dark chocolates with more than 55% cocoa. Lets see how much further I can reduce the sugar intake.

Have you experimented with reducing your intake of refined sugar. What have been the benefits you have observed. I will love to hear your comments

Till next time

Carpe Diem!!!

Consistency

Affirmative action, Habits, Health, Human Brain

I have been crying hoarse over so many blog posts on the fact that if you invest even very small amounts on a consistent basis, the law of compounding will play its role and you will end up with very large sums of money over a long period of time. For compounding to work you need to things – a long runway and high frequency / rate of interest.

I have heard a lot of speakers talk about massive action, lots of action to move ahead in life, to change behaviors. Frankly for me to change my habits has been tough.

I have written earlier about this book by B. J. Fogg called Tiny Habits where he has this formula B=MAP for creating major behavioral changes.

If you are like me who cannot keep being motivated 36 hours after hearing a Motivational speaker, and you would like to bring about changes in your life, then this book is a must read for you.

I have used ideas in this book and after 3 + months of using the methods in the book, I have definitely been able to make a lot of changes in my behavior.

But the bigger thing I realised that this method which B.J.Fogg has devised actually works on the law of compounding with small changes being done over a period of time resulting in massive changes over a long period. And unlike the resistance your brain gives to doing one massive change, small changes fall below the radar of the resistance of your brain.

The key is consistency – every day trying to get the ball into the basket – one basket at a time

Read this book. Try out his ideas and let me know your views.

Till next time

Carpe Diem!!!

Unfinished tasks – source of stress

Health, Human Brain, Yoga

When I used to do Yoga earlier I had one major problem. Not sure if you have tried concentrating on something and you kept having thoughts continuously take you in a different direction.

I had thought Yoga would help me improve my concentration but my brain would keep hijacking me and I was never able to understand how people see so many benefits of doing Yoga and meditation.

And then I was reading Hyperfocus and Deep Work – two books with an agenda to improve productivity – that’s when the Zeigarnik effect came back into focus. I have written about this effect in a couple of posts earlier also. Due to this the brain keeps coming back and reminds you that a task needs to be closed.

Now when I would do Yoga, all the pending tasks would come right in front.

So a simple solution – instead of trying hard to concentrate and suppress the thoughts, I have started carrying my phone or a sticky note pad with me. The moment a thought starts flashing I write it down on paper or on my to do list on the phone.

So now since my brain knows that I have written it somewhere to take action, it stops trying to remind me for that period of time. Then I do my Yoga peacefully.

Next I make it a practice to strike of the items which I have completed. This action of physically striking of the item tells my brain that it does not need to anymore do the job of reminding me. This also has helped me feel less stressed overall.

There’s one habit which Tony Robbins speaks about bunching tasks after you have made lists and Dan Sullivan talks about eliminating all the irritating tasks. I have still not been able to master them.

As I do, I will let you know of the results.

If you find this method worthwhile do let me know in the comments section

Till next time….

Carpe Diem!!!

Irrational Confidence

Affirmative action, confidence, Human Brain

On July 18 2008, I was travelling from Bangalore to Delhi. I had boarded a flight in the evening at about 7 PM. I remember boarding the aircraft and sitting on my aisle seat while a young boy came on the window seat. The center seat was vacant. Subsequent to that the stewardess came with tetrapack juice and I took it. That’s the last I remember. After which I remember the hospital ICU and 4 days had passed.

I had 12 seizures within a matter of about 30 minutes with a average length of each seizure about 40 seconds long. As per doctors I was dead for about 4 odd minutes before they could revive me. As per doctors it was a miracle that I survived and that my brain was about 40% dead because of the lack of Oxygen during those 30 minutes.

Whenever I tell this story everyone gets emotional and there are whole lot of side stories related to how my family coped with the situation and how my office colleagues were so supportive during those times.

Today I was hearing Hal Elrod’s story – yes he’s the author of the Miracle Morning series – on the I Love Marketing podcast. And he spoke about how he was dead for about 6 minutes before they were able to revive him. That discussion brought my story back to me.

Now during that phase, I am sure my family and my friends and colleagues went through a lot of turmoil. For the next 6 months there was a lot of medical visits and admission in the hospitals , MRIs etc. which I had to go through. But through all of it I was clear that I am going to be fine inspite of the doctors and my wife being scared like hell.

I found the same emotion in Hal and the story immediately resonated with me. One of the things which came out in the discussion on the podcast, was a term which Dean Jackson mentioned “Irrational Confidence”. While I always have had the belief that even if you give me a 5% chance that things will turn out well, I will take that chance and run. But this term actually explained my beliefs so well. What most people think is irrational, I have the confidence that things will work out eventually and I believe God does everything for my good…..so there must be a learning and once I get the learning, I will be on my way.

Another incident – In 2015 a complete disk came out of my spine after an accident…..I was bedridden for more than 6 months…but I was not in the mode of why did this happen to me…..again I took that time to learn a lot of things especially on the investment side. I was determined to walk again and live life. So again “Irrational Confidence….”

So why these 2 stories. Life throws curve balls all the time sometimes it’s Covid, sometimes its accidents but instead of getting depressed or the typical “why me” .

Life is meant to be lived instead of sulking get up take affirmative action and move forward. Its not going to be easy. But once you come out of that phase, you will look back and be proud of yourself.

Till next time…

Carpe Diem