Healthy smoothie life

Life continues!

Although in many ways I'm quite healthy (knock on wood), and looking at Facebook pictures of my classmates from high school and college, I find they often look a decade plus older than I am--in some ways too being a health nut might not be ultimately so healthy. It could be a way of postponing my life. Instead of seizing the day, I just live to see another day, which I might seize instead of this one. Still, it could be that this day wasn't made for seizing, the time isn't right... yet. And there are classmates who've gotten married and had kids and then... died, of cancer. (The latest news shows that cancer can strike randomly, and environment, including diet and exercise, has only a secondary effect. Still, I act on what's in my control.)

I have a blender now and have smoothies in the morning. Now I'm doing away with a liquid "base" for the smoothie, other than water. I used to use soy milk, or coconut milk, or almond milk. Better to save the calories. I'm using pea protein mixes now, as berry antixodants compete with milk proteins. So: water, pea protein, wild blueberries, ground flax seeds. Lately some astragalus root powder. Also sometimes chia seeds, wheat germ (for versions of vitamin E), and some more exotic berries I can get frozen from an international market: black courants, sea buckthorn. Sometimes acai, pomegranate, blackberries, strawberries, or mango. Sometimes I mix in some frozen greens.

I eat a lot of natto too. And I've been making a lot of asparagus sauted in olive oil with a little garlic and some mushrooms. Asparagus has some very beneficial fiber in it. I tried Jerusalem artichoke (or "sunchoke") but it was so bland I couldn't keep up the habit of eating it. Another food I've struggled to make a habit is raw fresh rosemary leaf. I'm steaming a lot of artichokes, which I then dip in olive oil. I provide my gut with probiotics and prebiotics and try to use diet to cut down on inflammation.

It's very important to use REAL olive oil. I used to use a lot of the imported Italian olive oil, but a lot of that is fake, or adulterated. Eating a lot of safflower oil is not the path to health. So I've been using a lot of California olive oil, or even closer to home (but more expensive) artisan olive oil from the state I'm living in now.

One supplement I added to my rotation is shilajit (the Jarrow brand is standardized to fulvic acid). At first I had a boost in subjective well-being, but I've been a bit more down lately, and may try something else instead. All the cool kids and Dr. Sinclair are now into this nicotinamide riboside stuff. Perhaps I'll try that in the future.

Being a thoughtful kind of guy, and being in academia, I'm pretty far from a Trump supporter. So I've been a little down since the election (though I wasn't fully on board with Hillary either). It's been harder to bring myself to the gym. I'm forcing myself to get back in the habit.