Sometimes the best solution is the simple solution

Many of us were taught about nutrition by using the food pyramid. We were told what we should eat, and in what proportions. Growing up, it was never confusing to me, and I never heard anyone say they didn't understand the message. Yet somewhere along the way, it was decided by people much smarter than this ordinary person that the food pyramid was too confusing, and we should come up with a new way to present nutrition. Having 6 groups with graphics that resembled actual food was contributing to the obesity problem.

So the government came up with a color-coded pyramid aimed at ending the confusion. It also focuses on gradual change, instead of making the case that we are what we eat, so if you eat Pringles, you are a Pringle. I will admit that the new pyramid using colors wouldn't work well when I grew up, since touching a color on the pyramid would only provide me the tactile experience of touching something. Today we have interactivity, and as a result, kids can click the colors on the pyramid, and learn a lot of information, while avoiding that rare thing called exercise. For the young people reading this blog, go ahead and touch the colors of the new pyramid on your screen to experience what happened when I touched colored graphics as a kid. There's not a lot going on there, now is there?

What challenge were they trying to address by coming up with a new pyramid? Did people really look at pictures of corn, and wonder what they were supposed to eat? How about bread? It must have been confusing for someone, otherwise we wouldn't have the new, less confusing rainbow pyramid with stick figure on stairs. It almost resembles Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. If you don't see the resemblance, try closing one eye and squinting at the screen. Maybe if we overlay the three pyramids, and apply a swirl pattern, we will end up with an even less complicated representation of our dietary needs, and we will then know that Self Esteem and chicken are at the same relative level on the pyramid.

I'm just an ordinary average guy, and I find that the simple solutions are usually the best. When I was faced with the prospect of having to take a statin to control my cholesterol levels, I asked what my options were. I was told by my doctor that diet and exercise didn't work for many people, but I could try this. While taking the statin. So I thought about my health, and realized that I was about to start taking a medicine that would make me feel like crap, so I could eat foods that weren't good for me, and would damage my health anyway. I realized that if I didn't eat the stuff that wasn't good for me, I wouldn't need to take the medicine. So I made drastic changes in my life, and as a result I lost about 20 pounds, and no longer have high blood pressure, high triglycerides, or high cholesterol. I didn't take the statins. It has always been the simple solutions that resonated with me. More proof that I am ordinary. 

As my contribution to help clarify the nutrition issue, I developed my own food pyramid. It is black and white, all text, no graphics, no interactivity, no lawyerly warnings, and no encouragement to help you slowly down the path to nutritional change. It is simple, effective, and must be implemented immediately upon reading. After developing the pyramid and reading it one time, I lost weight, and feel great (it rhymes, maybe I need an audio overlay for the pyramid). I am sharing this with you so you can take advantage of this limited time, free offer. In turn, please share this pyramd with your family and friends, it may help them cut through the confusion of trying to figure out how to interpret what a picture of vegetables means in terms of healthy eating. Here are some bonus tips for reading this far: If it is natural, eat it. If it is processed by any large food producer, don't eat it, don't own it, don't serve it.

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Bike commuting - all you need is a bike!

I'm back to my bike commute now that the snow has melted, and am loving it. I was thinking about how much has changed since I started what was an occasional bike commute several years ago. My commute from Pomona, NY to Woodcliff Lake, NJ had some scary stretches, and I'd stop riding once the school buses took to the roads. Since our move to Oradell, NJ, I have been bike commuting much more frequently. The ride is primarily suburban, with a few small downtowns to keep it interesting.

When I first started my 24 mile round-trip bike commute from Pomona, I rode my Trek 4300 "hard tail" mountain bike (no suspension front or back), with knobby tires. After a couple of rides, I replaced the knobbies with a smooth and skinny tire. This decreased noise and resistance, and my ride speed increased.

In 2009, I purchased a Surly Long Haul Trucker, which is made for fully loaded touring. I began to commute more frequently, and my ride time decreased due to the better riding position, and more efficient geometry. It's long wheel base and steel frame smoothed out the bumps in the road. 

I would ride to the gym near work, where my employer pays for memberships, and shower. This would add a level of logistics to my ride that sometimes left me in a bad way. Once I forgot my business casual shoes, and ended up having to wear my SPD riding shoes at work. Not many people noticed. I'd also forget little things like deodorant, or a t-shirt. And yes, sometimes I'd forget the underwear. I'd shower at the gym, and my body would still be sweating when I arrived at the office in my business casual clothes. I'd then hang my ride clothes on clips stuck to my cubicle wall under my desk. Needless to say, this was not always good for air quality.

When we moved to Oradell, my commute changed to a 17 mile round trip. So I decided to try something new. I shopped for an urban bike, which would provide a more upright riding position, allowing me to see and be seen better. I had also been reading about cycling chic, which is basically riding in Dutch style. My honey and I did a bike trip there years ago, and no one rides dressed as Lance Armstrong. They all ride in their regular street clothes. The common consensus is that drivers are more tolerant of a bike rider who is headed to work on their bike than they are of a racer out slowing traffic. I would agree based on my experience. 

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After a bunch of research, I was having a hard time finding the right bike. I stopped at many bike shops, and the common recommendation was to purchase a tri-cross bike, which has the geometry of a road bike, but the components of a mountain bike. I wasn't impressed with the answers I received, all of which were focused on the bikes that were in stock. My honey ended up finding the perfect solution - a Gary Fisher Simple City 8. I will write a review of the bike as a separate post (as well as one about the death of local bicycle shop customer service), so I won't get into too much detail here. But it was perfect for what I wanted. It had an internal 8-speed hub with a chain guard, drum brakes on the rear, internally routed cables, a big basket in the front for my stuff, classic good looks, and an upright ride. 

I now have around 800 miles on the bike, and it is my primary ride. I use it for my bike commute, for heading to town for a haircut, to the library, post office, and to get warm croissants or bagels on weekends. When I bike commute, I ride to work in my business casual clothes, which are now all wash and wear. I roll up my shirt and place it in the top of one of my panniers. I carry my lunch, and often my computer. I have lights mounted, and lots of reflective tape. 

I love to bike. I experience everything around me much differently on the bike than I do in a car. A car propels you from one place to another, with all of the distractions of home. You can listen to music, talk on the phone, and do many things that keep you from noticing what is around you. The bike allows you to hear, see, and smell your environment. It provides you the opportunity to say hello to pedestrians, and other riders. It keeps your mind focused, and provides a nice low impact workout, which is right in the fat burning zone.

With rising fuel costs, and increased interest in fighting obesity, I am seeing more people riding their bikes during commuting hours. I often get asked by colleagues what they need to do to ride to work. I tell them to get out their bike, make sure it is working, and just ride in. People who live farther away can do a bi-modal  commute, where they park the car less than 10 miles from work, and pedal the last distance. No matter what happens at work, they will have a bike ride to remember from the day. 

Here are some resources to help you get started bike commuting:

League of American Bicyclists is an advocacy organization that has a Smart Cycling program, which provides education for road users, as well as certification for cycling instructors. 

Bike to Work is a Web site that was recently launched, and it contains great information related to bike commuting.

People for Bikes is an advocacy group which provides tools and communications around making bicyclists voices heard in our policy makers' offices. 

Bicycle laws vary by state, so I am linking NJ laws. The basic premise is the same from state to state. 

Bike Commuters Blog contains lots of inspiration for us bike commuters.

There are also some links on the right to assist you, and the Twitter feed on the right shows bike commute posts. I'll write more specific posts about bike commuting as time passes, but if you have any specific questions, please ask in the comments below.

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Friday afternoon blog round-up

There are two posts today, so don't miss the Decisions that should make themselves, a post about taking back my life from the four-pronged instrument of destruction, and how your life will benefit by making some simple choices.

Originally, I was planning on doing a weekly round up of this blog, highlighting additional information about previous blog posts. I figured it'd be a way to come up with content at least once a week that I didn't have to think too hard about. But so far, I haven't run out of topics. I have about 15 blogs in process at any given time, and finish them when the topic interests me. I then publish the post, and use Hootsuite to set a schedule for pushing out the promotional posts to Facebook and Twitter. Some of the blogs I also push to LinkedIn. I schedule the release to coincide with the times of day that seem to get the most readers.

I started the blog just for fun. I have opinions and wanted to share them. As I began to write, I realized that I could write on a broad range of topics, and focus on solutions. My intentions for 2011 changed the direction I was taking this blog, and so far am satisfied with the feedback and traffic this site generates.

Business topics
LinkedIn has been a surprisingly good source of traffic, especially business related topics such as the post on performance management. If you are interested in republishing this blog as an article or on another blog, please contact me. I won't charge anything, but would like the professional development units this will generate for meI will eventually submit it for a magazine or two, but have too many other items on my plate right now. I am still noodling on how to increase the value of comments for feedback, which in my opinion is the greatest challenge, and weakest link in the performance management process. Look for a future post on this topic. I have been intrigued by a service named Rypple, where a person can get Twitter-like feedback anonymously from colleagues. We are all on the human journey, and if you aren't working to continuously improve, you are just using oxygen.

Life Planning
In regards to the blog titled Luck would have it, Wired Magazine has a great article about how the scratch off lottery tickets aren't as much about luck, as identifiable patterns. Organized crime (not our government, they already take their share of the money) have identified how to beat the patterns, and use this knowledge to launder money.

Health and Fitness
I was surprised to see how quickly the page views increased on When we sweat diet soda, we should drink diet soda. It is now my second most read blog after only a few days online, trailing Economics - the dismal science, my post about my experience with Junior Achievement. If you are inclined to be part of the solution in our educational system, you should consider volunteering to assist this awesome program.

Resources
Water Wars is still drawing readers, many people love a good conspiracy story, especially ones where governments and corporations collude to take away our rights. This post has a shelf-life, and keeps the traffic coming.

Food (actually, food ignorance) is still a topic I want to dig deeper into. The rising food prices across the globe are driven by many factors, and there are some solutions we must implement to ensure each of us can weather any issues that come up.

My tongue-in-cheek post about DADT generated a very large and fast spike of readers, then dropped to obscurity.

If you are interested in a follow up of a blog, or my brain droppings on a specific topic, please feel free to comment and I will do my best to meet your request. 

Decisions that should make themselves

When I walked out of the doctor's office a few years ago, I was in a funk. I was a little overweight (okay, about 25 pounds, which meant I was carrying the equivalent extra weight of a bag of cat litter around with me), had high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure. My doctor handed me a bag of statin samples, asked me get another blood test in 30 days, and we'd meet again to discuss if the dose needed to be adjusted. We'd also discuss other medications.

I walked out thinking "how can this be?" I was physically fit, and a great runner. My Army Physical Fitness test results proved it! I exercised, but like anyone, I was subject to time constraints that kept me from staying regular in my so-called exercise routine. I was careful about what I ate. Okay, so I have a weak spot for dark beer, sweet potato fries, chocolate, chips, cookies, pie, cake, all you can eat buffets, and any food left unattended at work (not the lunches in the work fridge), and did I mention beer? But I really was careful in what I ate.

I went home and took my first dose. It was tough to do, since I am not a big fan of swallowing pharmaceuticals to solve my issues. I tried to convince myself that the meds were a necessary thing, and felt like age was creeping up on my 40+ year old body. It was a depressing time.

A few days after starting the medication, my body was in pain. I had back cramps, my body ached, I was lethargic, and couldn't get myself to exercise. The "excusinator" (the inner voice that keeps me from doing fun stuff) was winning the fight, and the pain I was experiencing was not the good pain.

While attending a symposium in Denver a week after starting the medication, I found that my back pain was so bad that I had to stand with my back against a wall during sessions. Chairs hurt too much. I was taking ibuprofen to dull the pain, but it wasn't doing much. By the second day, I called my pharmacist, and he said I should continue the meds, and call my doctor. I put the meds in my bag, and decided to reassess my options after my return home.

After returning home, I didn't contact my doctor. It was an avoidance strategy. A year slipped by, and I finally  returned to my doctor, and found that I had the same issues. She asked where I was getting my prescription from, since I hadn't been back. I sheepishly told her I hadn't taken them. If you continue doing the same thing, you will continue to get the same results. It kind of goes without saying. I left the doctor with a new supply of statin samples, and even more morose than my first visit.

After much contemplation, I was able to boil down the issue I was facing into a simple thought. I was being advised to take a medication that makes me feel like crap, so I could ingest things that weren't good for me, and avoid exercise. I had become part of the problem we face as a nation. I wanted to live my life as I wanted to live it, and didn't want to be responsible for the consequences. I also realized I was physically fit, but unhealthy. Fitness is related to exercising the structure, but health is how the whole system worked together. My health issues were a result of my lifestyle, which I was choosing.

Admitting that my health situation was my own fault lifted much of the burden from me. Now I had to make decisions on how to take back control of my health. My honey recommended that I stop drinking alcohol for a month, watch my diet, and get my blood tested again. She thought that the alcohol was driving up my triglycerides, and this was impacting my cholesterol. I wasn't convinced, but decided I'd stop drinking for a month anyway. This wouldn't be the first time I disagreed with her to later find out she was right. I also started to exercise regularly.

A couple of weeks later we were at Lake Placid to go cross country skiing. As I was pulling my day pack from our rear seat, the driver of the Toyota Sequoia parked next to us backed his mechanical behemoth out, swung the turn wide, and bent our car door around my left leg. The car sustained $1,000 of damage. I ended up on crutches with a compression injury to my knee. My exercise stopped, my spirits fell, but I didn't drink. I resolved that as soon as I could, I'd get back to exercising, and get my blood checked. I recovered from the incident (or at least as far as I can recover), and got my fitness routine back on track. I hadn't had any alcohol in months, and didn't miss it. Alcohol was a thing of the past, and I counted the days without it. (Today is day 383, thank you for asking, and no, I am not in a 12 step program.)

I also made radical changes in my diet, dropping fat, reading restaurant menus online before going out to eat to avoid a rush decision, and packing a healthy lunch every day. A few months later, I had my blood work done. My doctor's first words were "Wow, this can't be right. You need to get another test, there must be a mistake". I disagreed, and told her of the changes I made in my life. She reiterated the need for another blood test. I pointed out my weight loss, new diet, alcohol-free lifestyle.

I am due to go back for my annual physical, and if my cholesterol is high, it will be my only risk factor for heart disease. My weight is down, and I check my blood pressure at every pharmacy I am near. My blood pressure is fine. I feel really good, and my enjoyment of life has increased exponentially. I have a new wardrobe.

In retrospect, the decision to live a healthy lifestyle should have been easy, and I should have been living that life on a daily basis. But when we are young, we don't know what we don't know. This decision should have made itself. Do you contribute to your health problems? Can you control the fork, or does the fork control you?

When we sweat diet soda, we should drink diet soda

I live across the street from a public reservoir which is pretty big. But know that public water isn't really public. Most of the water, including the rights to it are owned by corporations. In some states, the water companies sue to keep their municipal contract expiration dates from being enforced, arguing that they have perpetual rights to sell our water to us. We also know that in most years, areas with large reservoirs and great distribution systems experience droughts. These droughts can require us to limit our water consumption.

This reminds me of an experience I had a few years ago in a different town. The town owned its own water system, and had ordered restrictions. My honey and I returned from a kayak trip, and I was hosing off the kayaks in our driveway. My neighbor was the supervisor for the town's public works, and head of the water department. He was driving past our house as I was hosing the salt water off of the fiberglass kayaks, and slammed his brakes on. He began yelling at me to turn the water off or he'd call the police and have me ticketed. I calmly walked out to his car, and leaned in real close. I told him that we walk our dog late at night, and the soaker hoses he runs every night to keep has lawn green was real easy to hear, so there must be plenty of water. Isn't there? He turned the brightest shade of red. By the way, I had contacted the state and asked if I could clean a boat after it was in salt water, and they said that was an acceptable use of water in a drought. The supervisor became my best buddy from that day forward. But water is an important resource.

Water was back on my mind during a recent airplane flight. My honey and I noted that the water bottles we purchased in St. Croix were from Georgia, USA. We contemplated the resources required to move that bottle from Georgia, to St. Croix, USVI, so we could drink it on the flight to NY. That conversation led us to diet soda, and the resources required to manufacture and transport it.

By U.S. Navy photo [Public domain]
via Wikimedia Commons

I am not against bottled water, and see the many good uses for a transportable and clean water supply. Humanitarian relief, quick trips that require hydration, and many other activities are great uses for bottled water.

We regularly utilize reusable containers to carry our water, and would have filled ours in the St. Croix airport. But they had no water sources in the terminal, other than the bathroom faucets. The bathrooms were very disgusting, and we decided that bottled water was a good thing under the circumstances. I did look at the numerous TSA employees staring at the passengers, and wondered if they would be better utilized protecting me from bathroom germs, but wasn't sure they'd think that was an appropriate use of their expertise.

This conversation with my honey about water led us to talking about diet soda. Diet soda contains no calories. It is like water with a whole bunch of other useless processed stuff put in a bottle. Last year I was talking to an acquaintance about diet soda, which he was consuming in large quantities, and I asked him if he ever saw a fit and average weight person who drinks diet soda regularly. He said "me". I told him to look in the mirror, he was not exactly a healthy weight. He looked pissed, and was going to prove me wrong. A few moments later, someone we knew walked by. He was thin. The heavy diet soda drinker asked how much diet soda the person drank, and found they didn't drink any soda. He repeated this with the next few people, and found no one who drank diet soda who was a normal weight.

By Karen Apricot
 via Wikimedia Commons

That night, I thought some more about what I said, and realized I hadn't really done any research to support my statement. I just believed it was true because it was what I observed. So I started searching, and found that studies are showing that people who drink diet soda gain more weight than those who drink regular soda. Regular soda has loads of sugar, so the same study showed a very large increase in the risk of obesity for those who drink regular soda. And the diet soda drinkers were at an even higher risk of being obese.

I also found that diet soda consumption increases the risk of stroke, the acidity is so high that it destroys your teeth, and contains excessive levels of salt that causes water retention, thus making the drinkers even heavier. This salt also triggers feelings of hunger, which leads to people eating more food. Heck, if you are drinking diet soda, then getting the calorie laden appetizer before dinner is already paid for, right? In my opinion, the real danger in diet soda is that no one really knows what kinds of reactions occur in your body as a result of the chemicals in the diet soda. Time will tell, and many will be happy that didn't drink much of it when the results come out.

And in case you think you'll go back to regular soda, a 12 ounce can contains about 9 spoons of sugar. Actually, it isn't really sugar, it's processed sugar from corn, beets, and other things that used to be living plants. They are chemically modified into "sugar". Maybe the person drinking soda is depriving the poor of food, while driving food costs up to astronomical levels. Just sayin'.

Now let's talk about the water. After all, this is the reason I started writing this post. It is difficult to estimate how much water is needed to create a liter of soda. One large distributor claims they use "only" 3.2 liters of water to make 1 liter of soda, while an advocacy group claims it takes 9 liters of water to make 1 liter of soda. That's for regular soda, and diet soda requires more water. How about the water needed to grow and or produce all of the ingredients? I heard a few years ago that it takes 270 liters of water to make 1 liter of diet soda if you add up the water used in the whole production chain. I can't find a source for this information, but let's pretend they exaggerated and it only takes 135 liters. Does that sound better?

By MobiusDaXter (Own work)
via Wikimedia Commons

I don't like reading long blogs, so I won't delve deeper into this topic right now. Some food for thought - think of the container the soda comes in, the amount of resources it takes to produce, deliver, fill, pack, pallet, load, truck, warehouse, truck again, deliver, stock, and take it to your mouth. Is it worth all of this just so you can drink something that's bad for you? Here's a startling fact - it takes 1 liter of tap water to fill a 1 liter container. Really, I wouldn't make this up.

Water is a resource we must conserve. We can't count on it always being available, and it continues to be consumed faster than it can replenish itself in many areas of our planet. Drinking diet soda, or any soda for that matter, decreases water available for the necessities in life - like farming and hydrating our bodies. Be thoughtful of what goes into your body, and thumb your nose at big business by not buying their chemicals.

We are what we consume. I sweat salt water, so I drink water and make sure I eat enough salt to replenish what I lose. Eating almost any single item of processed food provides you with enough salt for a few days. When I start sweating diet soda, I will drink diet soda. In the meantime, I will stick with tap water. 

The balance between pleasure and pain

Balance is so important in life. I'm not referring to unfortunate accidents where people fall from buildings, although this balance is important (as you can see by the CDC data to the right). I am referring to the balance needed to maintain a healthy and satisfying life.

Pain has a place in our life. As a youngster, we learned that sticking our hand on the hot stove top hurts. From that point forward, we didn't stick our hand on a hot stove. Sometimes learning about heat related pain comes later in life, like the time I used a wet pot holder to take a tray of cookies out of the oven. My honey was saying "don't use tha..." which was interrupted by my "AAGGHHH!!" as the steam burn ripped through my fingers. She applied some ice, and explained how steam is created.

Another pain we experience is when our body sends signals to us that something is wrong with it. This can be related to some incident, such as hitting our thumb with a hammer, banging our elbow on the door frame, or stubbing a toe on the dining room table leg. I offer up these examples from experience, no gratitude on your part is required. I will guess that you have examples to add to this list.

Some of this pain is enough to send us to the medicine cabinet, looking for the Ibuprofen, or in some extreme cases, the left over bottle of Codeine from the last time we had a real pain and the doctor prescribed something for it. If this fails, we call the doctor, and make an appointment.

This is a logical and normal way to deal with pain, and we hope this doesn't happen to us. There's another kind of pain that few people are willing to endure. It is the pain of growing, the pain of learning, and the pain of self-improvement. I also offer these from experience, no gratitude on your part is required.

It may be hard to think of pain as something we learn from. A common quote I hear from people who exercise, is "no pain, no gain". I prefer the quote "ignore pain, no brain". For the past 30 years, I have been forced to endure pain as the cost of membership in first the Army National Guard, and then the Army Reserve. For a short period after retiring in 2004, I avoided the pain, and the cost was high.

It is easy to come up with reasons to avoid the pain of exercise. I have a name for the alter ego who often fights me - "the excusinator". His sole purpose in my life is to stay in my mind, and look at the temperature, precipitation, Internet, fireplace, as well as any slight discomforts in my body. He then uses these to tell me a story that will keep me from getting off of the couch, hunt out my Vibram Five Fingers, and put in some miles. He also tries to hide my yoga mat, make my bicycles (fleet) look like medieval torture machines, and reminds me of the food that is at my disposal in our fridge.

Exercise hurts, and can be dangerous. At least that is what our excusinators tell us. Last year while bike commuting, a person pulled up next to me at a red light (I was making a left from the left lane - a novel concept), and he was going straight in the right lane. He said to me "that's dangerous, be careful". I replied "it's not as dangerous as not getting exercise, and the stress of sitting in a car in traffic". He paused for a moment, and then agreed with me.

I see many people who avoid pain by seeking pleasure. Their pleasure is in watching endless hours of television, eating junk food, and staying up late robbing their body of rest while doing this. The things they think bring them pleasure, actually bring them weight problems, family relationship issues, and the pain associated with these problems.

This past week, the American Heart Association asked us all to be aware of heart disease. Yet what is heart disease? It is a symptom of a laundry list of behavior-related health problems. Overeating, a sedentary lifestyle, Crackberry induced stress, and an insane level of distractions all add up to a health crisis. The American Heart Association lists 7 things to do decrease your likelihood of getting heart disease. But I have condensed these into two: be mindful of what goes in your body, and exercise.

After retiring from the Army Reserve in 2004, I stopped exercising, and threw myself into the pleasure side of life. I gained about 30 pounds, my asthma came back with a vengeance, my knees hurt, and I was not happy looking in the mirror. I expressed my concern to my honey one day, and she said "why don't you pretend you are a Soldier for the rest of your life?". So I did that. I resolved to be able to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test any day of the week. I realized it had to be a lifestyle, not a scheduled event.

Exercise hurts. But not nearly as much as the many issues you will face if you don't exercise. My first few exercise attempts were painful, and I had "the excusinator" running in full force. It was a rocky start, and I still occasionally have short periods where I succumb to life's temptations, and don't exercise. But I come back to it, and each time I come back to it I realize more how within 30 seconds of starting to exercise, my brain gives me some nice dopamine, and other natural chemicals that reward us for doing something good for us.

I used to run to see how fast I could get, and was disappointed when I wasn't improving. Then last year I started to just run for fun, and not let my running time matter. In a 5k last year, I tried running with a smile on my face. I set a personal record. Two weeks later I ran with the smile on again, and a funny thing happened. I beat my previous personal record.

I learned something from smiling while I ran. We will never be the best we can be at something until we truly enjoy it. It is in the enjoyment of an activity that we subconsciously apply the energy necessary to excel. So when I run, I never run at a pace that hurts, nor do I ride my bike at a pace that hurts. This doesn't mean that I hold back, it just means that I give my energy to the task at hand, but respect my body in the process. Ignore pain, no brain.

When on the mat doing yoga, I often feel pain. It can be a prolonged downward dog, or some difficult twist that causes the ligaments and tendons to implore the excusinator to petition me for release. But we learn what is a real pain, and what is a pain caused by our inner voice, and we settle into the pose, putting the excusinator on notice that it isn't allowed to control the body. As we teach ourselves this control of the inner voice, we experience the pleasure at the edge of pain. The sweet pleasure our body experiences as we return to a recovery position rewards us for the pain. And each time we practice, we recalibrate the limits of our body as well as our minds. The recalibration of our minds is where our growth comes from.

Life is all about our free will, and the choices we make. Are your choices creating a better life for you, or are they setting you up for the pain that has no reward of pleasure? 

Being above average, and how this costs us all more money

We humans delude ourselves frequently. A 1981 study in the US showed that 93% of drivers thought their driving skills were above average. We know this can't be a fact. Look at Billy Joel, and the number of times he crashed his car. We all wish to be above average in all things, and in a cursory examination of this concept, we'd think this is a good thing. But think again...

Insurance can be explained very simply. Everyone pays a premium based on their plan rate. The insurance company pays against claims, and after paying the claims, compensating their staff, and covering operating expenses such as marketing and customer service, they log the rest as profit (income - expenses = profit). If their claims payments and operating expenses exceed the premiums collected, they lose money. Companies can't lose money and survive.

Well, actually, some companies can operate for years losing money, since they have a stranglehold on the taxpayers, such as  the US Postal Service, and their $3.5 billion loss in the last quarter alone. They can count on our inept Congress to just raid the Social Security Trust Fund, or add another tax to cover the losses by taking more money out of our pockets.

As consumers of health care, we want to be above average, since this means we get out more than we put in. This is basic human nature. If we are paying a premium, and the total of my premiums is less than what our medical care cost, then we would be better off self-insuring. We are provided an incentive to consume more than our premiums.

Health insurance benefits were originally focused on major medical expenses. Most people fear the loss of their wealth trying to treat a life-threatening illness. Routine care was paid for out-of-pocket by the consumer, and the costs were way cheaper as a result. A doctor wouldn't turn a patient away, unless they couldn't take new patients. I remember my parents would work out a payment plan with our family doctor. He delivered me and my 8 siblings, and treated all of us until he passed away.

After World War II, the inept and well-meaning federal government instituted wage freezes in a booming economy to keep employees from jumping to higher paying jobs. If employers couldn't entice employees by using cash on the open market, they started to offer health insurance plans, which also covered routine care. As a result, many companies offered gold-plated insurance plans for life for their employees. As humans, once we start getting something for free, we don't want to give it up. Starting in 2011, our health insurance values will be put on our tax forms... why? A tax on our health insurance, which originally started out as a non-cash incentive. So who pays for health insurance - employer or employee?

Everyone wants cheap insurance. What they should want is market driven health pricing. If doctors didn't have to submit claims to dozens of different insurance companies, each with different forms, while conforming to the limitations of each, they could decrease office staff. The 15 billing codes they have to fill out for your office visit to treat the cold you have, where you only pay $15 co-pay with the rest of your risk pool (the below average) kicking in to cover your costs, would become an office visit that may cost you $30-$50, but would go directly to the doctor. All of the administrative load would be removed from the relationship with your doctor. A solution to all of this overhead is concierge service, where a doctor won't accept insurance, patients pay for their own services, and patients agree not to sue the doctor. If I were a doctor, this would be my business model.

Think of insurance in terms of a car. New cars come with a warranty, where certain components are covered for a specific period of time. When you buy a new car, the cost of this "free" warranty is built into the purchase cost. The peace of mind allows us to drive off the lot and feel confident that if our engine dies, the automaker will fix it free or cheaply. Think of this as major medical insurance. If the big "C" hits us, we likely won't go broke in the process of fixing our "engine", and living longer.

If our car insurance also covered oil changes brake pads, and other routine care, our car insurance costs would soar to out of control levels. This routine care extends the life of the car, and we can expect many more years from it, or a higher resale value for a well-maintained car, so it should be encouraged, right? So we would get all the oil changes, new tires, new brakes, and replace anything that shows any wear. And there'd be no incentive to be thoughtful about how or where we drove. We could overload the car with cinder blocks, run it at high RPMs, skid, peel out, and bang into stuff. The insurance would cover it. It wouldn't cost us, at least not in the sense of having to lay money out for routine maintenance. None of the routine care would be our fault, the repair is an entitlement we paid for. Do you think you'd see $14.95 oil change specials in a routine car care insurance world? No, the cost would probably be about $80, with you paying $5 at the counter after waiting 3 months to get an appointment.

Health insurance for routine issues are the same. I am fit, watch my weight, have a fitness lifestyle, am an educated eater, and as a result live a very fulfilling life. We all know people who are overweight, with failing joints, poor diets, sedentary lifestyles, and failing health. They need medicine to treat the symptoms of their poor lifestyle - diabetes, weight control, sleep disorders, joint pains, and all the rest of the pains of not taking responsibility for their lives. This excess weight can sometimes cause death when the person dies during a surgical procedure to remove a leather couch the person's body attached itself to.

We all pay more for routine care insurance where 70% of our health care costs are lifestyle related. These controllable health issues need more medicine, more care, and more doctors. I am against government regulating what people can and can't eat, and in what quantities. The government keeps regulating ingredients in food, using the "common good" as a motive. If we removed the routine care insurance, it wouldn't attract bureaucrats to find a solution, and we could get people to pay their own way. This is more likely to get people to become responsible for themselves. If we want smaller government, we need bigger people - not fat unhealthy people.

Right after we eliminate routine health insurance, we need to address airline baggage limits. If I am 165 pounds, and have 40 pounds of luggage, why should I pay more than a 300 pound person with 20 pounds of luggage? Please explain that one to me.

Disclaimer: I know many overweight people, and I have lots of compassion for them, and know how hard they try to lose weight. They are bombarded with messages on food, subjected to all you can eat buffets, and see their problems as medical for the most part. I am not in any way trying to make overweight people feel bad. I am using this as an example of how insurance becomes an enabler for this national crisis of obesity.

Why governments must lead the fight against obesity - McKinsey Quarterly - Health Care - Strategy & Analysis

Why governments must lead the fight against obesity - McKinsey Quarterly - Health Care - Strategy & Analysis

Why do we insure health care? Food has a much bigger impact on our health, yet we don't insure food. With health insurance, we purchase a policy at a rate that ensures that all of the collective health expenses of the group can be paid for, that administrative costs are covered, and that our collective premiums provides a profit to the insurance company shareholders. Anyone who consumes less than the average amount is paying too much for their services. Someone in Minneapolis determines how much a doctor can charge for a service, and the doctor must figure out how many people he can pump through his office, and what he can bill the insurance company for to make a living. The consumer has few choices, and has little say in what they can consume.

If we applied this model to food, we'd all pay our money to a food insurance company at a rate above the average per person grocery bill, with additional money to cover administrative costs and profit. Once we pay our premium, we'd have no incentive to only take food that we need. Instead our incentive would be to make sure we get more food than our premium cost us. And this would drive the food insurance premiums up.

This is what happens with health insurance. We all pay a premium, and try to consume all of the medical services we can in order to ensure the policy is a good value, while staying within the limits of the policy. Feeling sick? Call the doctor.

A better system would be to eliminate routine health care insurance, and only insure catastrophic events. If I get sick, I could decide if I want to pay the doctor to confirm I have a cold, prescribe bed rest and liguids, and maybe an unnecessary anti-biotic, or if I want to wait a few days to see if I feel better. The costs would decrease, since a doctor can charge you twenty five cents for a Band-Aid^(r), and still make a profit. This is far less than the $4 the insurance company pays. The doctors would also be able to reduce staff, since they generally have someone who spends their day submitting claims to the many insurance companies.

I remember growing up, if I was sick, my parents would wait to see if I got better. If I didn't get better, they'd take me to the doctor. We were tight on money growing up, so I know my parents would often work out payment plans with the doctor. It was a personal relationship, and he always got paid.

McKinsey thinks government should lead the fight against obesity? What a crock. The politicians are just as obese as the general population, and have no solutions other than bigger government and more taxes.