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a day without artichokes
Posted by
nootrope
,
05 January 2008
·
1,131 views
I'd meant to get some artichoke at the grocery yesterday but they were out. A couple of years ago, just when I was used to thinking high-antioxidant foods were the ones with bright colors, a study came out saying artichokes had the highest antioxidant levels. They say artichokes take a long time to cook, but I'm patient. I plan to live a long time ;-)
Although just about now (New Year's) so many people are making resolutions to become healthier, to stop putting off diet and exercise improvements, for me being healthy and following the life-extension research news is in some ways actually a way to procrastinate. When I'm reading up on tips for health I'm not working--or, I can also think: "Heck, I'm going to live a long time, might as well put it off until tomorrow!"
In some ways I've accomplished a lot at age 40 but in other ways I feel I haven't lived up to my potential. When I look in the mirror and see I still look young; when I can exercise at high intensity or for a long time and not feel tired or sore, then I think: well, wouldn't I have accomplished an incredible amount if I were really just 20 years old? And don't I feel as if I were?
Maybe in my last entry I was too pesimistic about the prospects for real breakthroughs in life extension. Well, I'd rather keep my expectations low and have them exceeded. It's also strange to find myself looking both towards future technology and into ancient ways of living, like paleo-diets, that may reverse some of the "diseases of affluence" that strike us. In some ways our studies are telling us to live like hunter-gatherers: no grain-fed meat, a very wide variety of plant foods (instead of the same few staples).
For what it's worth, I time my superfoods and take them in combinations: vitamin C prolongs green tea epicatechin gallate, so I eat a kiwi with my morning tea. And to keep circumin from turmeric circulating longer in my blood I add some black pepper. Traditional diets sometimes included beneficial combinations like this, but sometimes the latest research motivates such choices too. These tiny modifications probably on balance don't do a whole lot but I think it comforts me to think I'm doing something to improve my lot.
Although just about now (New Year's) so many people are making resolutions to become healthier, to stop putting off diet and exercise improvements, for me being healthy and following the life-extension research news is in some ways actually a way to procrastinate. When I'm reading up on tips for health I'm not working--or, I can also think: "Heck, I'm going to live a long time, might as well put it off until tomorrow!"
In some ways I've accomplished a lot at age 40 but in other ways I feel I haven't lived up to my potential. When I look in the mirror and see I still look young; when I can exercise at high intensity or for a long time and not feel tired or sore, then I think: well, wouldn't I have accomplished an incredible amount if I were really just 20 years old? And don't I feel as if I were?
Maybe in my last entry I was too pesimistic about the prospects for real breakthroughs in life extension. Well, I'd rather keep my expectations low and have them exceeded. It's also strange to find myself looking both towards future technology and into ancient ways of living, like paleo-diets, that may reverse some of the "diseases of affluence" that strike us. In some ways our studies are telling us to live like hunter-gatherers: no grain-fed meat, a very wide variety of plant foods (instead of the same few staples).
For what it's worth, I time my superfoods and take them in combinations: vitamin C prolongs green tea epicatechin gallate, so I eat a kiwi with my morning tea. And to keep circumin from turmeric circulating longer in my blood I add some black pepper. Traditional diets sometimes included beneficial combinations like this, but sometimes the latest research motivates such choices too. These tiny modifications probably on balance don't do a whole lot but I think it comforts me to think I'm doing something to improve my lot.
