The Natural Way
Here I share some of my best work on being a body in a busy world. From mind/body intervention, to business and philosophy. With this eclectic collection of my thoughts and ideas I aim to serve you in finding the path of least resistance along your journey.
There are, quite literally, an infinite amount of possibilities one could spend their valuable time and attention on…
And if you’re one of the people using yours to read this letter then kudos to you…
And to me too…
Either of us could just as easily be mindlessly scrolling the flakebook instead…
And it seems to me…
That the better we become at saying no to the things that don’t really serve our purpose in life, the more the deep, visceral, hell fuckin’ yeahs begin to reveal themselves…
Until next time,
Kevin
Almost a decade ago now I gave up sugar for good…
Now this is no easy feat…
Not only is sugar the most addictive substance known to mankind…
But it’s in just about everything you find in the center aisles of the grocery store…
Want to eat healthy? Shop the perimeter…
Sugar is even harder to avoid when you go out to eat because while the cooks aren’t necessarily scooping refined sugar into your dish, many of our favorite sauces and seasonings come pre-packed with tons of it.
So, unless your cooks are scrupulously reading the nutrition facts on every single one of their ingredients, no one really knows how much sugar is in your food.
That said, sugar wreaks havoc on our bodies and our minds…
An egregious surge of dopamine leaves the brain saying, “Yes!”
While the body’s saying, “Oh no!”
Sugar competes, very well, against all other nutrients and fuel sources for entry into every cell of your body…
So well in fact that sugar always wins…
And when your cells are operating on sugar, it’s like rocket fuel, and we all know where rockets end up after they’ve completed their mission…
Burned to a crisp at the bottom of the ocean…
Now this number will vary for most folks but in my experience, anything more than 16g a day of added sugar wreaks havoc on our cells, arteries, and hormone function…
Blood sugar levels surge and the pancreas begins sending out insulin to mop up the mess of excess sugar…
Too much sugar in your blood causes inflammation and damages the lining of your arteries…
The truth about atherosclerosis is that sugar causes the damage and scar tissue made from healthy fats comes in to do the repairs and gets a bad rap for “clogging arteries.” If sugar wasn’t doing the damage in the first place, it wouldn’t be an issue.
And if your body has to constantly produce more insulin to keep cleaning up the mess, our hormone production gets taxed…
Our growth and repair functions run out of resources…
And in extreme cases, the body gives up and stops producing insulin altogether…
In some cultures, refined sugar is known as the “White Devil” and perhaps at this point you’re beginning to have some idea why…
And if you’re running into any challenges with your physical or mental health, eliminating sugar is a good place to begin.
Until next time,
Kevin
The truth…
Because they don’t know it…
Depression tends to occur after either a period of chronic stress or an instance of intolerable acute stress…
The stressor may not even have abated yet but the body’s stress response has given up…
The HPA axis, responsible for release of the stress hormone cortisol, becomes underactive. It’s resources are taxed and it’s efforts don’t seem to be contributing to an adequate resolution to the problem.
This has many implications, one of which is that cortisol elicits our “get up and go” response…
So our “getting stuff done” mode becomes inhibited and more difficult to access…
Without the ability to engage in effortful focus of attention and energy on meaningful and challenging activities we miss out on what the Brits would call “feeling knackered,” or well spent.
Without the ability to feel passionately “well spent,” we suffer…
And this can lead to depression…
And what’s interesting here is that there seems to be some evidence to suggest that people with an underactive HPA response tend to seek out high cortisol inducing activities…
Stimulants (including sugar)…
Scary movies…
Work-a-holism / hyper-fixation…
Worrying…
Risky behavior…
And more…
Anyway, I bring it up because depression can look like either laziness or productivity or both…
What matters is the internal experience and its long term effect on our health…
Everything can seem fine and yet be intolerable…
But not the other way around…
Things can’t be fine and seem intolerable…
One of the best ways I know to gain some insight on the matter is to give up entertainment for a week…
Starting now.
Until next time,
Kevin