I think there is a fairly simple explanation for first world obesity and I think it has little to do with exercise. There are two metabolic pathways in the human body. Glucose and fatty acids. Free Fatty Acids (FFA) are the way humans transport excess energy to long term storage in adipose tissue. Exercise can use up glycogen reserves in the muscle tissue, and this is replaced by utilizing blood glucose, but the proportion of blood glucose to utilization is woefully unbalanced. Insulin is released to lower blood glucose levels for two reasons, one, high blood glucose is toxic, and insulin is responsible for ferrying glucose into the cells for energy. When we eat constantly, and eat things that are either absorbed or convert to blood glucose (BG) the cellular glucose reserves get full. Insulin stays present, while the liver starts converting BG to FFA to save our lives from BG induced coma. Insulin presence in the blood block the FFA metabolic pathway. This means that while insulin is present you cannot utilize energy stored in adipose tissue.

Eating fat turns off the production of ghrelin, the hormone that causes hunger and food seeking behavior and stimulates leptin, the hormone that causes satiety. Incomplete protein is broken down at a net energy loss into glucose, which exacerbates the BG problem.

Bottom line, stop eating and drinking caloric substances all the time. Give your pancreas a rest, let insulin levels come down. Start by eating once a day for an hour, anything, and as much as you want. After a month if your not losing adipose tissue, stretch it to one hour per 48 hours. You’ll find that eating fats, fiber, and protein will provide the best satiety.

Regardless of origin beliefs, I think we can all agree that ancient man had limited access to food, sporadic access to dietary glucose, and no capacity for meaningful food storage for much of our history. The recent changes in these circumstances explain the increased obesity.

Phoenix wallet?

Well the process of pasteurization is pretty simple. Generally heat to 155F and all the microbes beneficial or not die off. It’s an easy way to make food safe, but dead and we didn’t evolve eating food without microbes.

Any acid is probably beneficial, also cooking to 165F for a few hours after searing and basting will break down the collagen, that helps with reducing the chew.

Probably an extreme view, I’d like to see the research papers, but generally I think pasteurization has had a deleterious effect on the health and diversity of the cultures in our micro biome, and has had a corresponding negative affect on our wellness, perhaps most profoundly our mental health. Too clean is not healthy, we pasteurize to protect the weak. Expending energy on, or compromising to accommodate the unfit segments is a recipe for the downfall of our species.

I learned quickly to never address a Catalan as a Spaniard or as French when I was in that area.

It’s possible to curate your family. My kids’ grandma is the mother of my wife’s ex-husband, a man we have no contact with. She’s cool, he isn’t. The kids are raised and it’s all good. I suppose they never knew any different and that’s just fine.

Well, I don’t think the vaccine helped at all. I think it probably created mortality of it’s own. The vaccines did not prevent transmission or infection, so in a word, ineffective.

I dated and am still in a relationship with my wife who had two kids when I met her. I think it’s unfair to the children to date someone with kids if you’re not planning on being around for them consistently. Of course dating the person might not work out, and that’s unfortunate but I think the mindset is still important.

I think it’s pretty likely the coronavirus was subjected to gain of function research and subsequently released, either intentionally or accidentally.

The hoof nail chews are really helpful for the teething chew period.

I’ve tried starting that at our place. I think it may be too hot here. It’s amazing animal feed, and propagates very quickly.

Only two things money can’t buy, and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes!

I agree with you, I’m fiercely independent myself. It’s a dance really. Often people are unable to identify the pivotal items in their own life, but trying to help without asking and having acceptance is in my experience often more harmful than helpful. I’m sure outsider perspective would make some priorities clear in my life, but close knit community is so difficult to build these days, and trustworthy people seem to be becoming more rare. I think scarcity is driving this.

Construction, heavy equipment, and transportation. We’re in the process of pivoting to small scale farming and homesteading. It’s been an adventure, ultimately I’d like to have a line of value added products made largely from farm produced resources. Like anything else, it’s effortful working through regulatory briar patches while still staying true to the grass root ideals.

Regarding assisting people, what I look for are people at 100% effort who just can’t quite get on the sustainable side of the resource curve. Sometimes it’s a car that keeps breaking that they can’t afford to replace. It’s finding those few things that will allow them to move forward. It takes time, and a lot of knowledge about the circumstance and honesty. So many interactions between people these days are curated. It’s difficult to know real people well enough to really be helpful.

Sure. I’m a blue collar guy, bought into Bitcoin early and overnight I had no debt and became a multi-millionaire. The dream had always been to retire from work so we suddenly had the means and moved to a tropical paradise. I thought it would be ok, even enjoyable but having no purpose was difficult for me. Alcohol was cheap and it’s my preferred medication so why not? My wife saved my life, got us out of there and I realized that being adrift at sea in a boat with no bearing is not fulfilling. Returning to the US I used financial leverage to work in an industry I prefer and have the privilege of crafting my pursuits. It’s interesting, I think I’d really enjoy assisting people with challenging situations, but finding those people who are genuinely trying to help themselves, and who will continue to elevate their lives on opportunity are difficult to find.

Pretty scary. Forces of nature, floods, volcanos, hurricanes, tornados. Terrifying. I hope it works out for you and you stay safe.

There are few things I used to enjoy more than quality donuts and coffee, such a great flavor but man did I feel awful two hours later. I find that eating anything (though sustainability requires meat and veggies for satiety) and as much as I want in that late evening session relieves the FOMO through the day. It’s a dopamine release looking forward to my feast. The other thing the prolonged fast brings is decreased stomach capacity. It really doesn’t take much to feel satisfied, particularly if there is adequate fat to stimulate leptin, our satiety hormone.

I’ve never been through a tornado. I hope you have a storm shelter?

So true. I hope you make a full recovery, it’s always sobering to have a health related setback. For me, it always leads to re-evaluation of how I’m spending my time.