Sweet Peace #15: Learning Opportunities Galore!

   

Cider Fizz

    I’m in Santa Barbara, working on a project I believe in, enjoying time with a dear friend, and away from my daily routines. Niggling below these lovely days is a frustration: this is day 23 of a sugar fast, however, my blood glucose is seriously elevated. This is confusing as I try to figure out what I’m doing wrong.

    The sugar fast is actually going well, I even managed to make it through a birthday party which featured an excess of cookies, candy and champagne. The search for a bubbly and champagne-looking, non-sugar and non-alcoholic drink resulted in Cider Fizz … club soda and apple cider vinegar … which is amazingly refreshing, especially when sporting a strawberry as shown above.

Somehow, though, my blood glucose doesn't seem to have gotten the word that I’m not doing sugar. Logically, I’m still consuming too much sugar in the other things I’m eating so I’m doing a food diary to see if I can identify the hidden-sugar culprits. The obvious carbohydrates have already been eliminated, so there’s something else going on.

Another factor is that, it has been rainy so I haven’t had a real walk for a couple of days. Today looks sunny so we will see how that changes the equation. I’m thinking about ordering a constant glucose monitoring device to see if I can fine tune which foods are the source of the issue.

In the meantime, the study of the complex system of appetite, hunger, and metabolism continues to fascinate me. Fortunately, there are amazing sources of science-based information and terms like dopamine, grehlin, leptin, insulin and cholecystokinin (CCK) are gradually making sense. One of my favorite information sources right now is Andrew Huberman’s podcast. He manages to make complex information understandable and focuses on what we can do to have better results in mental and physical health and performance.

So ... off to another week of learning and loving life. I am so grateful to be healthy and energetic as I explore ways to be healthy and energetic. ;-)

Sweet Peace #12: The power of foreshadowing failure

   

Manzanita in spring snow

 Over the past week, I’ve spent about 12 hours driving to and from Santa Barbara, mostly in the company of Andrew Huberman through his neuroscience-related podcast Huberman Lab. I’m definitely in over my head but he does a great job of presenting the information clearly without going too far into the weeds. I appreciate his approach of tying everything back to real world issues.

Dr. Andrew Huberman is a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine and the almost two-hour podcast that has stimulated many more hours of contemplation is Episode #55 The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals. 

Huberman’s lens is neurobiology and the sea of chemicals running through and running our bodies much more than I ever imagined. Much of what we read in personal development and management literature has been studied to see what’s actually going on at the biological level. A great deal of time the biology and the behavioral recommendations are in sync; however, occasionally they’re not. And that’s where it gets interesting.