Mindconnection eNL, 2010-08-15

Home
 

In this issue:
Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Factoid | Product Highlight | Thought for the Day

Military strategists stress Von Clausewiz's insistence on striking the "center of gravity" of the enemy with maximum force. You have limited resources. By using them where you are most likely to stop the enemy completely, you make the best use of those resources. This is the essence of strategic thinking, vs. tactical thinking.

Just to illustrate, a bit. Suppose you could take out an armored division with the estimated loss of 10 of your troops. Or, you could take out the enemy's main fuel depot with the loss of 20 troops. A tactician would choose the former, because the cost is lower than the latter. But the strategist does not see all battles as equal. The strategist knows that some battles matter far, far more than others. The strategist will deal the crippling blow, even if doing so is more costly. The strategist is looking at the overall effect of each choice, while the tactician is looking at the choices in isolation.

How often do we find ourselves working on periphery issues, rather than turning our attention to what matters and will "win the war?" Do you let non-issues suck away your resources, leaving you incapable of striking that "center of gravity" blow?

Thinking strategically is not easy. The first barrier is that of being able to see the larger picture. But the good news is that the more you practice this, the better your big picture vision becomes. This kind of thinking can't be taught. It must be experienced and practiced. The only way to gain that experience is to just start doing it. You may find books, mentors, coaches, and examples to help you. Ultimately, however, developing strategic thinking is much like developing muscle.

You are the one who has to pick up the weight and start lifting. It doesn't come by osmosis.

1. Install dual position return vents where single position now exist, and make sure they are louvered. That is, cut another hole and install a vent at the top as well as the bottom. In the winter, close the top vent. In the summer, close the bottom one. Think about why this works.
    
2. If you have a west-facing door (especially French sliding doors), install an awning or build an overhang. This shading tremendously reduces the heat load in the home.
    
3. On west-facing windows, provide shade or cover. If nothing else, buy one of those retractable car shades and stick it on the outside to prevent the glass from heating up.
    
4. Think about the west-facing landscape, and update it to shade your home. Hiring a landscaper to help with proper planning is a good investment. Most people think they are experts, and spend a lot of money finding out otherwise.
    
5. Use a good air filter, and change regularly. Once a month is not too often.
    
6. Turn the water heater down. All of the water in those pipes will still give off heat into your home even after you've shut off the tap. Cooler water means less after cooling of the hot water.
    
7. Take cooler showers. In addition to lowering your electric bill, this helps your skin. Scalding hot showers remove too much of the oil your skin needs to stay healthy (and prevent premature wrinkling).
    
8. Run the dishwasher at night. If it has a timer, set for the coolest part of the night. Wash easily-cleaned items by hand, in cool water (hot water doesn't actually sanitize dishes, because it can't get hot enough to do so). But it does help the soap work better.
    
9. Clean refrigerator gasket surfaces, clean refrigerator coils (unplug unit and use blow feature of vacuum cleaner).
    
10. If you don't like your bones and consequently drink soda in an attempt to rid yourself of them, that is your choice. But why make suicide in a can more expensive than it has to be? Give your body and your electric bill a break by not consuming soda during the hot summer months. Refrigerating this garbage before putting it into your body doesn't quench thirst; the salt in the soda makes you thirstier. Regular water works far better, even without expensive refrigeration.

Bonus tip that works if you have the right configuration:

In many homes with a master bath, you access the master bath from the master bedroom. The master bath provides one more vent that both rooms share (via the bathroom doorway). During the day, close the door to the master bedroom. The cool air will "pile up" in there (the warm air leaves via the upper vent).

• To maximize the cooling effect, shower in the other bathroom instead of this one (don't forget to pour water down the drain every few days in the unused shower).
• On hot days, my bedroom is about 5 DegrF cooler than the rest of the house. This is the one room I really care about cooling.
• If you have additional bedrooms without occupants, close those vents and doors.
• If your other rooms have occupants (e.g., kids), leave the vents open but close the doors to give their rooms the cooling differential.

Yes, this works even in two-story and split-level homes, fixing one of the most common problems people have with summer cooling.

Bonus tip that works everywhere:

Install v-strip weather stripping in all exterior doors.

Fall tip:

And here's something to do maybe in late September. Get a can of that spray foam insulation. When cooling season is done and it's safe to air out the house, remove the receptacle covers on outside walls and spray foam on the outside edges of the electrical box. Do not spray inside the box. This foam releases toxic chemicals, so provide forced ventilation for at least 48 hours with each application.

Here, I'll answer the intent of the question (rather than the one composed using an incorrect word choice).

If you walk out my back door, you'll see much of what I eat. This includes:

• Kale.
• Onions.
• Various types of peppers.
• Eggplant.
• Basil.
• Tomatoes.
• Honeydew melons (alternating with squash each year).

It's all organically grown. I eat it raw, as part of a vegetable medley topped with a quartered boiled egg (cage free). This medley has other ingredients....

About 100 days before age 50

• Bok choy (I use the leaves like lettuce and the stems like celery).
• Broccoli.
• Red cabbage.
• Squash (yellow, green zucchini, yellow zucchini, and acorn).

I make up two containers of these at a time, which means I have pre-planned portions for my meals. That's a crucial concept if you want a lean body.

I toss a few garbonzo beans on the top of the mix and put them in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, I've never been able to make dry garbonzos come out tasting all that great so I use canned (this is about the only canned food I buy). This brings me to another meal theme, which is...

Beans. I eat beans often. My back porch as a small table on which I set a crock pot. I make up 2lbs of dry beans (soak overnight, rinse, then cook all day). I'll have a bowl of beans with a couple of baked sweet potatoes (plain), adding some greens. Alternately, I'll have whole grain rice with the beans (also greens added).

On the vegetable medleys, I use a light coating of my own homemade dressing. It consists of basalmic vinegar, olive oil, a little dijon mustard, and various spices. I typically use oregano and garlic powder no matter what. I'll also add my own dried basil, or when in season my own fresh basil. On training days (there are six per week), I usually have a half-sized protein shake before or after one of these meals.

Sometimes, I shred some red cabbage and let it soak in some of this dressing for a few minutes and then have it for a "I have got the munchies!" snack. It's delicious, filling, and loaded with phytochemicals.

Each weekend, I make up a big batch of my Amaranth cookies (very high in protein). See the recipe at www.supplecity.com. I eat four of these four breakfast, along with 3 cups of coffee. I take my time eating these, which is why there is so much to drink....

And those are my three whole-food meals. I have three MRP shakes each day, also. With the first two, I often have a piece of fruit. With the last one, I mix in three scoops of raw oats.

Sometimes, I make scrambled eggs or an omelet  instead of an MRP--I eat that with veggies and follow up with a piece of fruit. A six-egg omelet gives you about 42g of protein, so it's just about right. Sometimes, I have eggs for breakfast, instead of those cookies.

And, of course, there's the water. I don't keep track of how much I drink. I have a half gallon pitcher I use for collecting the output of my water filter. Based on how often I fill it back up, I'm probably chugging a couple gallons a day of filtered water.

You'll notice a few things, here:

• Meals are planned, rather than haphazard, and correctly portioned.
• Green reigns supreme. Lots of green makes a person healthy and lean.
• The variety of textures, colors, flavors, and nutrients is big.
• No sodas, fruit juices, or flavored waters.
• No chips, puffs, etc.
• No cakes, rolls, bread, etc. No processed wheat. Really, no grains at all other than a small amount of raw oats and the semi-exotic ones on those cookies.
• No "instant" anything. The people who make health claims for instant oats should be arrested for fraud. If you want oatmeal, make it the old-fashioned way. It tastes great and doesn't take long to make.
• No decaf. I just have a hang-up about consuming formaldehyde, I guess.
• No "egg beaters." No artificial junk can beat an egg for nutrition. Or safety as a food.
• No meat. I think meat isn't necessarily bad, I just don't bother with it.
• The majority of what I eat comes from the produce aisle or I grow it myself. If you don't have time for a garden, shop at a farmer's market or try bartering with an organic gardener for some of the excess produce.
• No fast foods.
• No restaurants. While today, it is possible to find a safe meal in a restaurant, I really can't see why someone would invest the time and expense in making regular use of them. Yes, you can be lean while eating 100% at restaurants. I just don't see it as pleasurable, compared to making my own meals.

My meal plans are not set in stone. It's just what I've been doing lately (in answer to the question "What do you eat?" which is present tense). It's not unusual for me to have something different just for the heck of it.

In cool weather, I like to pop popcorn on the stovetop (in olive oil). What I have on it is perhaps not for the faint of heart. I load it up with cayenne pepper and garlic powder, and drizzle habanero sauce on it. I have a bowl of beans (complementary aminos to the popcorn, presumably resulting in a completed protein) with it.

Photo notes

In these photos, I was at 5.1% body fat. I dropped to 5% after the shoot and am still there several weeks later, as I write this. One reason I can be that lean is the way I have these workouts scheduled. This kind of scheduling plays off the cortisol/testosterone responses the body goes through when subjected to the kind of stress that an intense workout puts on it. It may be more accurate to say I schedule my recovery windows so they don't overlap, and thus I maximize the time during which my natural testosterone level is elevated.

Of course, eating six small meals a day and paying attention to what's in those meals is another factor in allowing a 50 year old person to be at 5% bodyfat.

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

Schools in the USA don't require students to learn a second language. Actually, they don't require students to learn English all that well, either. But this need not hold you back.

Mindconnection has been a leader in the electronic pocket translator industry since 1998.

With Spanish rapidly becoming a major language in the USA, a pocket Spanish translator is a great idea.

This eNL is supported by sales from www.mindconnection.com. Please shop there, as appropriate.