Category: Health

Alcohol

Had a rather large cup of red wine a week ago, and it was like a wrecking ball to my system.  I hadn’t had any alcohol in over 2 years.  Startling how devastating a single cup of wine can be for your system.

I suppose people who drink on a regular or daily basis get a bit removed from how much of a shock alcohol is to their system.  That doesn’t mean that it is less devastating to their health (and liver), only that they are desensitized to the impact, which in a way is kind of sinister, in that they don’t fully realize how malevolent alcohol is when they are using it.

I remember smoking cigarettes was the same way.  When you first smoke cigarettes, you choke on the smoke, and it makes you feel ill and woozy, but after you get used to smoking cigarettes, the smoke doesn’t bother you, and you don’t feel sick from it, but the smoking  is still undermining your health.

Interesting that in both cases — booze and smoking — the body is trying to tell you something with its initial repulsion.  But do you listen?

My Story

Salt in Canned Soups

Some people will make these compromises with salty canned soup, while others won’t.  I decide this kind of thing on a case by case basis.  Sometimes I do compromise, while other times I don’t.  As for canned soup, I’ll accept some salt but not massive amounts of it — while there are those people who won’t compromise on salt at all and make their own soups.  I use Amy’s organic soups because I like the organic ingredients but her soups do have a significant amount of salt.  Then again I don’t have the ordeal (for me an ordeal) of having to make my own soups.

Mind you, I am in the camp that says one should totally avoid all additional salt, as we get enough of the stuff embedded in the foods we eat, so extra salt is unnecessary and clearly unhealthy.  But if I tolerate the extra salt in Amy’s soups, I don’t want to have to make my own soups, and I also take advantage of how great her soups taste.  Mine would be pretty miserable at best taste-wise.

Then again, if you are handy with food and enjoy making your own soup, you are in the cat bird’s seat, and can scoff at all these commercial canned soups with their sky-high salt content.

My Story

Preferred Indifference

The ancient Stoics divided earthly activities between those they could control and those they couldn’t, with all the shades in-between.  For those aspects of life that were in the tweener zone, Stoics recommended an attitude of “preferred indifference,” for the world could as easily squench these tweeners without any recourse by the individual.

The three conspicuous tweeners were: fame, wealth, and health, for one is not entirely in control of any of these, such that life can pivot on each mercilessly…the sudden public attack that defames you utterly, the stock market collapse that wipes out your assets, the hidden aneurysm that leaves you prostrate and just barely clinging to life.

So one should not hold tight to any of these tweeners, but rather have an attitude of preferred indifference — you prefer to be well endowed with all three, but can still be indifferent if they are taken from you, rather than be in a state of shock and despair, for there is an element in all three clearly beyond your control.

My Story