Keeping an even keel!

 

It's easy to get ahead of ourselves. A new opportunity arises in front of us and we think of all the great possibilities. While it is a good thing to be positive about the future. It is also important to take things step by step. Don't burn that diploma right away, you may still need it! Optimism is the best policy, but at the same time it is important to realize that things may not pan out the way you had so eagerly anticipated. Take a big breath, relax and approach the next step calmly and confidently and things will turn out for the best.

If things don't go the way you had anticipated don't let that stop you from pushing forward with optimism. A little daily affirmation may get you back on the right track.

 

Book Review : In Defense Of Food

This will be the first of many, that's right many, book reviews. These reviews will not be exhaustive, but they should provide an overview of the books theme that may spark your curiousity.

Michal Pollan's In Defense Of Food focuses on the way we look at food in the United States. Simply put, Americans look at food in a different way than the rest of the world. Instead of viewing eating and food through a social and cultural lens Americans have skewed the appearance of food. Nutritionism or the practice of viewing foods in terms of their nutrient contents has drastically altered how we eat in America.

Nutritionism allows us to look at foods in terms of the individual factors that make up a particular food instead of looking at a food as a whole. What this allows food processors, not the term processors, to do is formulate foods in accordance with whatever nutrient is deemed beneficial. Examples include products claiming to be low fat, reduced sugar, or whole grain. For that matter any food that makes a health claim should probably be avoided.

The Twentieth Century saw the rise of the food industry in America. With it came war time food production and eventually the movement towards stow-able and processable foods. As food became an extremely profitable part of the American economy and technology advanced to allow for increased production food moved from local to nationwide markets. The importance of quantity over quality also took hold and farmer looked to find crops with the best yields. In effect corn and soy, which have the best ability to fight off potential threats, have become two large ingredients in the food industry. Corn and soybeans while in their natural forms are not particularly harmful, but when formulated into oils and various forms of sweeteners, amongst countless uses, the two crops become less of a food and more of as synthetic "food like substance".


The main point that I want to get across in this review is that too many of the foods we eat are not really food anymore. Cocoa Puffs with "whole grain" are just a bunch of puzzle pieces, nutrients, thrown together without formulating any type of image. Our bodies do not recognize these random blobs of nutrients Digestion and the processing of what we eat is a complicated and evolutionary process. Our bodies recognize the tomato as a whole, not just the antioxidants in it. Salmon is not just healthy because it contains protein, but also because of the host of other ingredients that make up its whole.

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. Is Pollan's general prescription for eating. The real equation entails quite a bit of minutia. He gives a good list of rules to achieve eating "Food". Here are a few.
-Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
-Avoid food products that make health claims.
-Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and avoid the center.

The main lesson I take away from In Defense Of Food is that while there may be many ways to breakdown nutrient intake. A la "Atkins" or "low carb", or "low fat" diets. The most important aspect is to avoid foods that are not really foods at all. Be conscious of what you are putting into your body. Finally, quality food products although probably more expensive will be nourishing and healthy than an abundance of processed "foods". All calories are not necessarily equal.

For more info READ THE BOOK. It is really interesting and pretty easy to get through as well. If I can read it. So can you!

Is there a problem officer?

After a long day of driving I have arrived in Sunnyvale California. I'm currently stationed in a Motel 6 and I am hanging out with Tom Bodatten. I honestly don't know what to think right now. I'm excited to have made it, but a little nervous about whats a head of me. It should get interesting. I guess I will just jump in and see how the water feels.

So I should probably leave this part out, but I think it is important to mention. Driving through the western half of Utah I was pulled over by a Utah State Patrolman. Just having had my morning coffee I was a little wired and the car was in cruise control. I have honestly made a point to drive slightly under the speed limit this whole trip. For that reason I was doing 74 MPH. I didn't even check up on the brake as I drove by him because the limit had been 75 since I left Salt Lake. As he turned on his lights and came on in pursuit of me I graciously pulled over as soon as I could.

I cooperated with his requests for license and registration, and he informed me that the speed limit in this area was 65. I had not seen a sign, but as usual I was probably deep in thought. Thank you NPR. I think the combination of me being from Iowa and the fact that the speed limit in the area was predominately 75. I guess the lesson to learn is that I am a lucky twerp. Along with that though, is the fact that it's easy to put on cruise control and lose track of whats going on around us. There probably was at least one posted limit that I had past. I got lucky. Too often we just put on cruise control in our daily lives and we lose track of important things during the day. Ignorance can get us in trouble.

That being said I think cruise control is a simplifying tool that is necessary. Just like cruise control we should use the simplifying cognitive practices that make our lives easier with some amount of caution. Sometimes it is important to chickity-check yourself before you wreck yourself. I'm gonna catch some flack from mom for this one. Love you mom.

Is Dan Gable Coaching Football Now?

It appears that quite a few Iowa football players have developed cases of Rhabdomyolisis. The condition develops due to overly intense workouts that breakdown skeletal muscle and injure muscle tissues. The rapid release of damaged muscle tissues are introduced into the bloodstream and can cause a tremendous amount of kidney damage.

An interesting aspect of rhabdo is the fact that it occurs not to unconditioned athletes, but more so in athletes who may be in a state of pseudo-fitness. Rhabdo is more likely to occur to someone who has decent muscle mass and is somewhat physically active than to someone who has not worked out in a long time. The main component is over-exertion, or too much intensity and too much volume to early into a workout program. Apparently the Iowa Hawkeye football players were subjected to an incredibly intense workout pretty early into their off-season conditioning.

This link is a pretty good resource from a former college and professional football player on the issue.
Iowa Football Rhabdo

The important take away is that there was some disconnect between the coaching staff and what the athletes should have been doing. College athletes, fit as they may be, coming off a winter break, with sub par diets at best, and probably a training layoff should not be pushed to the edge so early into their off season workouts. I acknowledge that training for college football requires intensity, but it should also incorporate responsibility and intelligence. If thirteen players are subject to a potentially life threatening condition someone should have checked up and recognized that although the workout may have been one to seperate those who "want it" from those who don't, the hospitalization of thirteen young athletes may have been too much of a cost.

 I'll go back to balance because so many things seem to. You have to train smart and hard.

Life Lessons on a Snowboard

Trying new things and even getting back into things you have done in the past can be a humbling experience. Whether you are exercising for the first time, taking dancing lessons, or learning how to change the oil on your car it is easy to get frustrated in the early stages of a process. My formal and informal education has taught me the need for patience and humility. We are all not naturals at everything we do. Hard work coupled with the desire to learn are two important elements in any type of achievement. Life is a balancing act between the elements that make up our days. Achieving success is not dependent on one single factor. Success comes from learning to maintain the balance between our highs and lows and working for progression in our own development.

Progress is an essential part of everyday lives. It is important to recognize that there is always improvements to be made in who we are as individuals. That being said, it is key to to seek improvement with a positive mindset and not let our inadequacies lead us into despair. Instead, make the point to get a little better everyday. This is a broad ideal, and in many ways it should be.There are so many things in our lives that we can make small improvements on. It is a matter of consciously going about our daily lives looking to be a little better than we were the day before. Little changes can make a big difference in the end.

Snowboarding is a sport that I have just recently came back to. I enjoyed it as a teenager, but was impatient with myself in my development. When I saw other riders going off jumps and performing cool tricks I wondered why it apparently came so easy to them and so hard to me. It's often easier to overlook the hardwork of others and grant their success to talent when we are struggling with a task. Sure, some people may have an easier start, but the START is the key. They started somewhere to and progressed to where they are now. Little improvements through hard work and patience will eventually lead to success.

The phrase "you get out what you put in" has become more and more relevant to me as I have progressed in my formal and informal educations. If you want to be really good at something it is going to take a lot, and I mean like "10,000 hour" to master. There is another aspect of the phrase that often goes overlooked. In our daily lives it may be okay to just be pretty good at something. We can be happy with our little successes. Realizing that being okay requires the "okay" amount of effort allows for balance and content in our everyday lives. Further, it leaves the door open for little improvements in the future. I will never make it to the X Games, and I'm okay with getting a bit better at snowboarding every time I go out. Just like I'm okay with getting a bit better at reading every time I open a book, and just like I'm okay with getting a little bit better at doing this blog everytime I post.

Well at least I'll learn from my misakes. HAHA

Driving down the highway, Cruisin to a show.

It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.

There is nothing like the liberating feeling of jumping in the car and going places. I have always enjoyed riding and driving. Riding is often more convenient because if the mood arises you can always dose off at your own leisure. Unfortunately, requires a little more attention. At least it should. Driving is the bare bones task priority endeavor that we Americans take for granted. It's so easy to jump in the car and get from point A to point B.

I drove for around fourteen hours today. It was honestly pretty cool. Full control of the radio. Tunes blaring classic rock and a little talk radio to balance it out. Drive time is a great opportunity to reflect on both the world around us and where exactly we are headed. It is analogous to life in many ways. We never truly know whats around the next bend or whats over that hill. Nonetheless, we go at it anyway in hopes of getting a little closer to our destination.

Just as important as the destination is the ability to reflect and learn from where exactly we are coming from. Driving away from home is both difficult and liberating. Difficult because every mile is a mile further away from your comfort zone, but liberating because of the fact that each mile gives you a little more of an idea of what is out there in this big old world. The real task is not getting from point A to point B. Instead, it's taking in everything in between.

-Much Love
TD

Do or Do not. There is no try.

 

Yoda's wisdom is unparralled in the universe. His patience and understanding make him the greatest Jedi of them all. Call me a nerd, but the dude, fictional character that he may be, can teach us alot about life. For me this part of "The Empire Strikes Back" holds significant importance. 

Luke is young and impatient. Eager to succeed, but he lacking in all the tools to reach success. That is the problem with experience. Or rather, the good thing about experience. You must DO to gain it. I know that Yoda is specifically talking about a state of mind were we achieve not buy saying "I'll give it a shot", but by believing in ourself. To DO you must feel it, you must think it, and you must believe it. To try is to exit stage left.

Positive thinking can go along way. This is not a post meant to attribute all of life's successes to the power of happy thoughts. Instead, it is a post about making those positive thoughts a reality. Being proactive is a necessity for any Jedi, and it is part of success in real life. In many ways I have been reactive through my first 22 years. Letting things come to me, and not getting out and DOING. The problem with this is that the DOING provides the perspective and experience. In turn that perspective and experience snowballs into more DOING. In order to truly achieve there must be no "try", but the intense belief in DOING.

5 Things I am making a point to DO on a daily basis-

1. Connect with people from a broad variety of backgrounds. Hopefully to better understand the diverse world around me.

2.Take things step by step, don't rush, and take the time to learn. Fast is not best. Too often it is easy to psyche oneself out before anything gets done because a task seems so large.

3.Be decisive. Not to say that thinking things through is not a good thing, but too many little things held up by indecision can become one large problem pretty fast. Take care of what needs to be done by DOING it.

4.Set goals that are reasonable, and task and time oriented. Make them specific and trackable. This goes along with taking things step by step. Plan your work. Work your plan.

5.Unlearn what you have learned. Have a short memory when it comes to failure. Move on and realize that every new oppurtunity is one for success.

BAM- DOING WORK

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself

At this point in time my life is in a great state of flux. I don't know exactly how to view my situation. I am a recent graduate of Iowa State University. I graduated a semester early, and now I am trying to figure both why I chose to do that and what my next step will be. The semester may be inconsequential. Even if I would have gone a full four years I probably would find myself in this same state only four or five months down the line. What I do know is that change is hard. Comfort is, well, comfortable. The longer I wait for life to slap me in the face, the longer I will be standing in Muscatine, Iowa with an unbruised face.

I had planned to take a roadtrip to explore the world of Crossfit while in my last semester. Like many things in my life, girls, military, etc. this plan died out. Not because of a lack of desire, but instead because of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Maybe even the fear of success and what it might mean. Fear is something humans must overcome on a daily basis. It is not like I have shied away from overcoming my fears. Instead I focused on the ones that I could face without getting to far out of my own comfort zone. Now I am trying to see the error of my ways. In hopes of making good on at least some kind of roadtrip. I made a decision to commit to getting to Sunnyvale, California to explore the world around me. Why Sunnyvale? Maybe the best answer for right now is why not?

On the brink of a drastic change I was getting too far ahead of myself. This may or may not be necessary if we are to truly expect a big change to be made. It seems as if there are two paths. The Giant Leap or the baby step approach. At this juncture of my life the giant leap seems feasible. I'm young, ignorant, and green to the world around me. That being said the longer it takes to make that leap the easier it is to turn away. My parents are well mannered and cool headed people. They do a good job of pumping my brakes for both good and bad. Standing in the kitchen tonight I cried with my father over the path in front of me. What was this emotion? I honestly don't know. Anxiety, fear, doubt, and possibily love that I have for the ones around me boiling out as I attempt to break away from them in some way.

The conclusion to be drawn is that at some point you gotta let it out. Whatever "it" may be. Your love, your fear, your doubt. The only way to get it is to face it head on. Crying with my father over a beer gave me perspective on just how awesome my life has been, and how my parents love has allowed me to be so comfortable. At the same time talking through that emotion with him lets me know they support me and that being afraid is part of life. We all must face our fears and emotions and learn to deal with them or we will end up living a life without the thrill of overcoming our anxieties.

Dale Carnegie
"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."