Physical Intelligence - Day 31

It should be an advantage that I have lived my entire life in a communal setting and have never lived an individual centered life, but that is something I now question because as I engage physical intelligence, it has brought home to me how individual focused my own choices are within that communal setting. That difference is capable of creating disruption in my household and so I have often placed my own needs secondary for the greater good of the family, and the greater good of the family in turn is the very blessing I live my life.

I know that the Indian cooked food in our home has great nutritional value because when my dad had knee surgery his blood work was submitted for a pre-operation health assessment. I remember the surgeon complimenting my dad on what he is eating because his nutritional numbers were excellent. Yet I am not fond of this cooked food and so don't partake in a large segment of vegetarian cooking, having a preference for meat. It is the veg and lentil curries that are among the most nutritious. At the same time the kids of our home before they were working did eat these meals. Now they are working, they are buying in lots of tempting new foods, which are actually do not fit a physically intelligent choice - they are yum-yum foods. Since most of the kids have inherited my high metabolism, most of them do not put on weight eating fatty and sugary fast food - but with age lowering my metabolism I do.

In the last week I have adopted the "Zero is Hero" mantra and decided to avoid junkie or physically fattening foods. No sooner as I have, the kids purchased boxes of a new snack called S'mores. I have never heard of S'mores but that it contains marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers - was an irresistible combination and I regressed back to "ONE IS NOT DONE".

If being physically intelligent is about virtuous pattern recognition and building that into one's lifestyle, then being physically stupid is about recognizing a vicious pattern and ignoring that awareness. That is what happened with S'mores. Worse I just found out there is a "S'mores maker" on the market that can only accelerate indulgence :

It would not help if the kids decided to hide the S'mores kit because that would make them even more tasty because then I would become a hunter who has discovered the loot. I did not even make the S'more. First I went through the marshmallows in double quick time, the chocolate quickly followed and now I find myself nibbling away at the Graham crackers. Moreover the marshmallows quickly became combined with Rice Krispies and "Zero is Hero" was D.O.A.

Until this S'mores attack of deliciousness, I had a plan for my sweet-tooth habit. This was substituting dates for chocolate, cakes and cookies. Dates are also a brown food but as I found out dates may contain a high sugar content but they don't have a significant effect on raising blood sugar due to their low glycemic value. There is a whole lot of views on the value of carbs compared to protein and fats but that is something I am still exploring because it is opinion.

The irony about carbs is that the Indian foods which helped my dad have great health numbers are carb based, so that is why I am wary of dietary information. What works for one person may not work for another and in any case, this buzz already underscores for me that just knowing what healthy foods are does not mean we are physically intelligent about healthy foods - because the intelligence is the actual action and practice and not that we know what we know.

So knowing my own limitations i.e. the marshmallows I digested are composed of corn syrup and I know full well that corn syrup is a really bad constituent ingredient, whether it is called corn syrup or liquid sugar. I also am wary of diet opinions that people argue for and this is a part of observable food wars with true believers defending their position. Worse than food wars is endorsing opinion about nutrition which others call quackery. The first battle is the one we directly face - the same kind that makes it insufficient for me to say to myself "Zero is Hero".

Where there is a marketing angle and money to be made from dietary advice, this making of markets is hardly convincing as neutral advice. What makes sense to me is controlling blood sugar before a diabetic condition forces us to manage our own blood sugar :

Physical Intelligence - Day 31

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