– school – study every day, improve my GPA.
– kernel – more hacking, more significant hacking.
– work – switch projects. Work with people whose mind set is similar to mine, on a challenging kernel project.
– self – resume working out seriously, lose weight and start practicing martial arts again. Take my body to the limit of its capabilities, and push it further every day.
– life – make ladypine happy(ier).
Quite a list, me’thinks. Time to get started.
Muli Ben-Yehuda's journal 
Two things.
About the lose weight thing, you might be interested in a hack of human hormonal thing. Apparently, our bodies use insulin in order to store fat – and as long as we have it running around in our blood stream, excess carbohydrates will turn into fat. So there’s a whole diet trend that (rather counterintuitively) keeps people off all refind carbohydrates and most unrefined ones (the extreme versions allow 20 grams a day). The result: one’s energy burning is less efficient, so one must burn more fuel to get the same energy (or, more calories are burned a day). Also, nothing extra is stored as fat.
The other thing: it is not humanly possible to make another person happy. Getting happiness is a person’s individual choice. The most a partner can do is be wonderfully accommodating, attentive, considerate, and joyful.
Comment by shunra — January 3, 2004 @ 9:34 AM |
re the diet, it sounds interesting, but it also sounds like it would make me feel even tireder than usual?
re happiness, I agree. What you said 🙂
Comment by mulix — January 3, 2004 @ 10:41 AM |
Re: diet – quite the reverse. There is an adjustment period of a few days (usually about four, I’ve never heard of more than a week) while your body goes from burning carbs (first the glycogen, stored in or near your liver, then the ones in your bloodstream – and the insulin packs all the extra ones in your bloodstream away as fat) to burning fat (which is easily observable by, uh, peeing on a stick. When we burn fat for energy, we spill ketones…)
After that adjustment period, you become free of the blood-sugar related fatigue. You know the drill – you’re tired, so you eat something sweet, and you have an energy spike – then a drop.
Low carbing has been a total lifesaver for me, energywise. I no longer need naps (I used to almost DROP in the afternoon; not easy, with kids who needed supervision!!!) I’ve also lost weight for the first time after YEARS of trying to (I was living on 1000 calories a day or less, and GAINING. It was insane!)
There’s a lot about it on the web, but if you want specific information, read the Atkins website (you have three guesses about the URL…)
What it meant, for me, was that I finally realized *how* my body worked. And it turned out that I had been lied to, for years, by all the doctors/nutritionists, etc. The information Atkins presents is not new (it is based on research done in the forties and fifties!!!) but it has been somehow suppressed.
I’ll be glad to help you understand the low carb lifestyle. Feel free to email me dena at shunra dot net.
Comment by shunra — January 3, 2004 @ 11:05 AM
“The Zone” by Barry Sears
I believe the “Zone” diet is based on the same principle. We have the book on the shelf 🙂
And I know of many people who took after this diet and felt a lot better.
Comment by ladypine — January 3, 2004 @ 12:31 PM
“The Zone” by Barry Sears is an excellent book
And in fact, that was the first low-carb book I read. However, I would recommend the Atkins approach because it is a bit easier (for math minded people, at least) to get into.
Atkins says (and this is simply in a nutshell): for two weeks, eat 20 grams or less of carbs, and as much as you want of all other food groups. And exercise (even: walk 20 minutes a day). And drink at least 8 cups of water every day (that’s two liters). Afterwards, start adding 5 grams of daily carbs, a week at a time (25 gram for one week, 30 grams for the next) etc., and you’ll quickly find out what your ongoing-loss level is. In other words, how many carbs your body can tolerate while still losing weight.
Important aspects: you are not supposed to feel hungry. If you’re hungry, eat something that has no (or few) carbs in it. That is a HUGE difference from all other diets… …and you don’t count calories. I did, anyhow, and found I was losing at about 1500-2000 calories a day (after YEARS of eating only 1000 or less a day, and gaining).
And the way it works, you’re burning fat. WHich means that you change shape rather early, and ‘lose’ in those hard-to-lose places. Very pleasant surprises, for someone who just figured she was hopelessly stuck at the level she was at…
Caveats: it’s a change of LIFESTYLE. If you go back to eating the way that got you overweight in the first place, you’ll get overweight again (it works the same way with low-cal diets, too). And it DOES take some thinking and planning… …but not too much. And when it comes right down to it, being fit and healthy (and lean!) tastes better than any bread, pasta, or candy.
Comment by shunra — January 3, 2004 @ 12:42 PM
sounds very interesting, thank you. I think I’ll take a look and see if I can work with it.
Comment by mulix — January 3, 2004 @ 11:33 PM
Actually, I am disappointed with myself. I ate sour and cream chips before I sleep last night 😦 hehe.
Comment by ideawerkz — January 3, 2004 @ 5:52 PM