Top Cities for Staying Young

According to Real Age, I live in an area ranked #2 for "real age" youthfulness!  Check it out... are you living in an area known for good health or staying young?

25 Best Cities for Staying Young


Hopefully you are not living in one of the following areas... 


25 Top Cities for Aging Too Fast.  (Good thing I don't live in the Knoxville area anymore!)

Of course, we can make healthy choices no matter where we live.  It's just fun to see the ranking.

DAY 363 -- New Year and old temptations.

We're not over the holiday hurdles yet... New Year's Eve (and even New Year's Day), for many of us, offers traditional food temptations.  Snacking at New Year's Eve parties and feasting on New Year's Day.

New Age (website) suggests resisting temptations by picturing or imagining a pleasant activity that does not involve food, such as lounging at the beach, or recalling a favorite scene from a movie.  Here's the link if you want to read more about that:  Halt Cravings with this Mental Image.

Zen Habits also gives suggestions for fighting the urge to indulge during the holidays.  Read about it: 12 Tips for Beating the Social Overeating Habit.

Maybe with some helpful hints, some planning, and strategies I can say hello to the new year and goodbye to the old temptations.

DAY 356 -- Sharing an article

One of my nieces shared an interesting article with me... Dopamine: why "just one bite" doesn't work.


The article explains the situation I referenced in my post "Special Occasions" ... how allowing treats on special occasions opens up a can of trouble for an addict.

Food addiction is tough.  One has to eat.  I can avoid sweets, but how can I avoid food?

DAY 353 -- Desire diary

This is from the December 2011 Reader's Digest:

"The next time you get a craving, ask yourself if you're stressed, sad, or bored.  If so, you may be eating to fill an emotional void.  Keep a "desire diary" for a week or more, and note your mood whenever you're hit by an irresistible urge to chow down.  If stress is your trigger, exercise more to relieve the pressure.  If loneliness drives you to the Doritos bag, call someone. Remember that true hunger is easy to satisfy; any food will do.  Emotional hunger, on the other hand often manifests itself in desires for specific things like ice cream and fast food."  


I added italics to the part that I keep "chewing" on.  First of all, "true hunger is easy to satisfy; any food will do."  That's probably true, to a point, for me; however, if I allow true hunger to go too long (what I call "beyond hungry") I become extremely picky because nothing sounds good to me, even though I feel like I'm starving.  A friend of mine experiences similar reactions when she's overly hungry.  We're both hypoglycemic, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

I've struggled for years with emotional eating, and I've heard of keeping a food or eating diary before, but for some reason reading the suggestion of a "desire diary" struck me: I need to do that.  I'm not sure I will learn anything more about whether I'm stressed, sad, bored, or lonely, but I think the desire diary will at least help me stop before eating and acknowledge what I'm really feeling and hopefully recognize it's not true hunger.  Plus, I think it will be interesting to determine what specific things I crave for various emotions.  I don't think I've ever made that connection before...if I'm craving something specific it might be a manifestation of emotional hunger.

DAY 288 -- Borrowing a post.

It amazes me how much my life has changed over the past ten years, but those changes didn't come all at once; and some of the changes just came about naturally as a byproduct of other changes.  I came across a blog post today that nicely sums up how to go about making changes in our lives, and since it is uncopyrighted and the author allows others to re-post, I decided to share it on here.  He says it far better than I can.

(The following is from the site: Zen Habits)

How I Changed My Life, In Four Lines

‘What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.’ ~C. S. Lewis

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Changing your life can seem an incredibly tough and complicated thing, especially if you’ve failed a great number of times (like I did), found it too hard, and resigned yourself to not changing.

But I found a way to change.

And I’m not any better than anyone else, not more disciplined, not more motivated. I just learned a few simple principles that changed my life.

I’ve written about them many times, but realized they’re spread out all over the site.

Here is how I changed my life, in a nutshell.

tl;dr The four lines you’re looking for are at the bottom.

How I Started Running

In 2005 I was sedentary, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make exercise a regular habit. At the end of 2006, not only was I running very regularly, I finished my first marathon. These days I can run a half marathon race at the drop of a hat, have run several marathons.

How did I do it? I started with just 10 minutes of running a day. I focused not on how hard it was, but how much I enjoyed the movement and the outdoors. I increased slowly, until I could run 15 minutes, then 20, and later a couple hours. I was grateful for every run I was able to take.

I got healthier, fitter, slimmer, happier.

How I Started Eating Healthier

In 2005 I was overweight, and addicted to junk food. I ate fast food, chips and cookies, fried meats, anything fatty or sweet or salty … and I had no idea how to change. Today, I am 70 lbs. lighter, I eat almost all whole, real foods (almost nothing processed), I eat a sweet treat now and then but am happier eating healthy food.

How did I change? I started with small changes like drinking more water, eating more fruits and veggies, cooking at home more and preparing my lunches for work. One at a time. I gradually improved my diet, eventually cleared my fridge and pantry of junk, and stopped going to fast food places. I found healthy foods I really loved. I was grateful for every delicious healthy meal I ate.

I felt better about myself, trimmed down, and feel great every single day.

How I Got Out of Debt

In 2005, I was way over my head in debt — it was so bad, I had creditors calling me, and I would ignore my phone calls. I struggled to make it paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes didn’t even make it — I had to borrow money from friends and family. It was one of the most stressful times of my life. At the end of 2007, I celebrated with my wife Eva when we paid off our last debt and were free!

How did I do it? I started one little change at a time: I started cutting back on expenses a little, saving a little at a time, paying off the little debts and then the bigger debts, found some breathing room, and saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I gradually changed my financial habits and got into better shape. I was grateful for every debt paid off, every dollar saved, every inch of breathing room.

I’m debt free and will never go back. It’s the most liberating thing ever.

And On and On

I was planning on writing the same capsules for how I decluttered and simplified my possessesions, how I started focusing and accomplishing more, how I turned my passion into a living, and so on … but the truth is, the story starts to repeat itself.

I used the same principles, over and over. More on that in the nutshell below.

And Then I Gave Up Goals

About two years ago, I started to give up goals. Just as an experiment.

It turns out, I could still accomplish the same kinds of things, but I just didn’t plan it out. Instead, I just followed the same principles (more on those below). They still work, even without goals.

People say I can give up goals because I’ve already accomplished a lot … but the truth is, I can give up goals because I have learned a few things that work, and realized they work with or without goals. And if you follow these things, you can change your life, with or without goals.

The Nutshell Principles

So what are the principles that changed my life, repeatedly?

If you read the brief stories above, you already know:

1. Start very small.
2. Do only one change at a time.
3. Be present and enjoy the activity (don’t focus on results).
4. Be grateful for every step you take.

In programming, this is called an algorithm. It’s a series of steps that you can apply to make any change, no matter what your situation.

It works. This is the Zen Habits method, the Change Your Life App, in four lines. I hope it helps.

DAY 183 -- Research on diet soda.

I think the first time I heard about diet soda adding to weight gain was while watching the Rosie O'Donnell Show with Richard Simmons as her guest.  After he walked on stage, Rosie commented that he looked like he'd lost weight.  He had lost 15 pounds by making just one change... he eliminated diet soda from his life.

I stopped drinking diet soda years ago when I first realized that artificial sweeteners wreak havoc in my system.  (I posted on that awhile back... click here to review that post.)  Now research backs up what Richard Simmons told the audience that day.  Research reveals that diet sodas do not help promote weight loss, but might actually cause weight gain instead.

Recently a reader shared this article with me:

Diet sodas can make you fat?  Say it isn't so


The following is a CBS news story based on the same research:


New study is wake-up call for diet soda drinkers


Don't worry... if you have a stash of Diet Coke in your house, it's still good for something.  It works great for removing rust, and cleaning corrosion off battery cables.

DAY 135 -- Article about sugar.

I recommend reading this...

"The Dark Side of Sweet"


Very informative...made me grateful I gave up sweets years ago, and grateful I started to avoid packaged foods for My Healthy Eating Challenge!