As I was doing my post workout 10-minute walk around the neighborhood to get some sun, I was listening to a podcast where the host explained how easy it is to lose weight: "Eat less. Move more."

 

It spurred this short rant:

 

 

Instead of the oft quoted "Eat Less. Move More." I offer a new mantra that is far more likely to bring people closer to their body composition goals.

 

 

As I mention in the above video, we have an obesity epidemic. And shortly after posting the video I saw one of the early comments:

 

 

Is it the consumer's fault? Is it the food industry's? 

 

I've thought a lot about how to fix the obesity epidemic. For some perspective I wrote a 50-page high school senior thesis on "The Obesity Remedy." 

 

In trying to find the remedy, I started with the question "what caused the obesity epidemic in the 1st place?" Is it the food industries fault? Is it science's fault? The government? Is it the lack of personal responsibility?

 

While my thoughts have evolved over the last 17 years, I still believe the cause and the solution are multifactorial. There is "public responsibility" which includes many sectors like science, technology, corporate, government, healthcare, and ultimately education. For example, just because technology can enable the engineering of higher yields and corporations can sell the crops for less money, that doesn't mean it's right to stack children's lunches with processed junk. And there's also "personal responsibility" that is needed. For example, it's generally known that pizza and donuts aren't good for you, yet the average American eats 25 pounds of pizza/year and the 25,000+ donut shops in the US serve out over 10 billion donuts/year (granted most people don't know just how bad these foods are for them...which ultimately brings us to education).

 

And while the solution is complex and largely out of the hands of any one country or corporation, there is one thing we can control.

 

I tweeted earlier this week how I feel like there is tremendous enthusiasm towards "public health" and if we could shift some of this enthusiasm towards individual health we could make great progress. Controlling the one controllable factor in our lives.

 

 

 

 

A 9-year old boy, Alex, wanted a dog. His parents agreed as long as he took care if it. A few months after getting the dog, Barkley got ticks. Alex went to his grandma asking her what to do. His grandma said to give Barkley some garlic. So Alex got some garlic but Barkley refused to eat it. Alex returned crying to his grandmother, "Barkley, won't eat the garlic!" The grandma explained, "you can't just give him garlic, you have to wrap it in bacon." Alex wrapped some garlic in bacon and Barkley ate it right up, and the ticks left.

 

This story impressed upon me how important it is to meet people where they are. For example, someone might come to me for whiter teeth (i.e. the bacon), but then I can wrap it up with proper oral hygiene and diet (i.e. the "garlic"). Luckily, when it comes to diet, it's bacon wrapped in bacon :)

 

Present what they want, and wrap it with what they need.

 

 

Here are 10 ideas that can profoundly influence the way you see the world.

 

 

 

 

 

In my short "Getting Started with Bitcoin" resource list I lists topics including what is bitcoin, why people choose to get some, how to get some, and just briefly how to store it. To simplify, there are basically 2 ways to store it:

There are pros and cons to each, but if you are doing the 2nd option, it's important to understand seed phrases and how these 12 or 24 words enable you to take your savings with you, anywhere in the world, without a trace.

 

 ❓ What question to ponder:

 

 

A Saturday morning roundup on health and wealth, art and science, creativity and innovation, laughs and life by Kevin Stock.