Some ideas of mine: both things that I already have, or am thinking about buying:
a nice pedometer/fitbit—measuring your daily activity is the first step towards making sure you do it more regularly, and a good pedometer (with software to see your progress) is within the price range
a waterpik (to make flossing more interesting and thus more likely)
a really good-quality umbrella (for areas that are rpone to bad weather) because struggling with flimsy ones is more pain than it’s worth to buy a quality one.
a good quality laptop bag/airline carry-on bag (especially if you lug your heavy laptop around a lot...)
healthy snacks for while I work (jerky and dried fruit)
an Ingress addiction (makes me walk a lot and it’s free)
a shoe rack (i have a habit of tossing them all over the floor, and it’s an easy way of tidying up the floor while remaining easy to dump my shoes)
sleep-tracking software and sleep-cycle alarm clock (to wake me up gently during REM cycle—these are often free)
large prints of nice pictures to stick on the wall behind my computer monitor so I have something nice to look at while working
do a defensive-driving course (driving safety is always useful for longevity)
take some meditation classes (for the ability to notice when being distracted and be better able to focus when needed)
take a toastmasters course (so as to be more confident with public speaking which is an importnat part of being a social leader)
take up a regularly scheduled low-impact exercise (eg tai chi)
Recommendation here: Several years ago I bought one of the Eagle Creek Tarmac series of bags because I was flying a lot. They are expensive (less than $300), but have a lifetime warranty including damage done by an airline (every other bag I saw excluded damage done by airlines). They are very tough, well designed, visually distinctive and just small enough to fit into most airlines carry-on maximum size. Last year I bought some packing cube nock-offs and that has also made packing and unpacking more enjoyable.
I purchased a Blunt umbrella for AUD$90 mid last-year when i lost yet another umbrella due to windiness. If you don’t think you’ll leave it behind you anywhere I’d recommend it.
Also just purchased a Jawbone Up, I felt was a good balance between subtly motivating good behaviours without being too involved. Mainly bought it for the alarm function though.
I buy biltong from Byron Bay Jerky, only place I found that uses grass-fed beef. Prices are pretty comparable across providers for this but if you can find someone to split the 2.5kgs with then you’ve got a pretty good deal. Other healthy snack ideas would be nuts (pre-soaked to remove phytates), chia pudding (chia seeds + some sort of milk + flavourings. i use coconut milk but any will do), coconut chips & more involved things like frittata muffins.
Meditation classes seem a good option, I’ve tried a couple though and they had a lot of spiritual baggage that didn’t appeal to me. If you find a secular class I’d be interested.
Cycling is a low-impact exercise, and has the benefit of being able to get you places. Replacing your commute with a bike ride—if feasible—would be a good way to integrate exercise into your life.
“nuts (pre-soaked to remove phytates)”
what are phytates, and why should I be scared of eating them? (given I’ve been eating un-soaked nuts since I was a kid without (apparent) ill effect)
The biltong looks good. I’m surprised about the grass-fed beef thing… is is just that Byron Bay is the only company that claims to use grass-fed beef? AFAIK grass-fed is much more common in Australia than, say, the States—due to our huge outback ranches—almost all sheep are grass-fed, and a much higher percentage of beef is free range too.. though I’ll admit I haven’t done serious research on that front.
I agree re: the spiritual baggage in meditation, but I guess I was hoping to just ignore that part… there seem to be a few classes where I live, so I’ll give them a go and see where they lead. I’ve also sat through a lot of spiritual guff in my past (non-rational) life… so I might have a higher patience for sitting through the BS
Cycling is indeed a great idea, but I work too far away for me to go directly from beginner to cycling-to-work :( I tried various ways of getting there and have come to the unfortunate conclusion that it’s actually quickest to drive (30min vs 1hr20min public transport) Luckily I’ve discovered that I can listen to audio-books while driving, so I’ve started doing that.
wiki has a small blurb on phytic acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid) that highlights its propensity to bind to minerals and render them useless. there’s some rumblings in paleo circles about the role phytic acid plays in tooth decay—they got their info from the weston a price foundation—but i don’t think anything concrete has been discovered. it’s not going to kill you by any stretch but soaking and slowly roasting your nuts is pretty easy to do and makes them better nutritionally.
agree there is a taste trade-off with some cuts of beef, but to be honest i haven’t had grain-fed beef in quite a long time so i couldn’t really get specific with you. depends on where you sit on the health/enjoyment spectrum when it comes to food. not clear that my position is better than yours
i might just be quicker to get annoyed by meditation woo-woo, who knows. the centre i went to made us chant that we were the lowest of the low. not a fan of that
fair enough about the bike, my bike commute takes about 50 minutes which is probably approaching the limit of what you’d want to do as a beginner (which i am as well, literally every other cyclist overtakes me)
sorry about the late reply, new to LW so i haven’t yet done a good job of integrating it into my browsing habits
Soaking and slowly roasting nuts takes more than the time to just open the packet and eat.. so it probably won’t happen. I could force myself to do it—but I don’t see enough value in doing it to do it… (only something that was likely to kill me would make that change) because I have other fish to fry. Thanks for the explanation though—it is interesting to know :)
From my perspective—convenience is a big factor in the food I eat. I like good-tasting food… I really like easy food. That includes easy-to-find (it’s much easier to just go to the local butcher than to hunt down grass-fed beef). and the inertia that comes from this is a hurdle big enough that there has to be a really good reason to get over it. I have other things I’d like to spend my “could I be bothered” points on first ;)
re: woo-woo
urk that does sound awful—yeah I don’t think I’d put up with that for long either.
re: timing
me too… ;)
plus—too many channels, too many things to do...
Answering my own question (re: grass-fed beef in Aus)
“It’s important to know that most big-supermarket beef around the country will be grass-fed meat finished on grain, but if the meat comes from southern Victoria or Tasmania, where grass is more likely to be in abundance, there’s a good chance it was reared entirely on grass or silage”
Also there seems to be a taste/health tradeoff for grass vs grain-fed beef.
wagyu, after all, is the epitomy of grain-fed beef...
The fructose in sugar (50% of the calories) can in general only be used for one thing: to make fat. The exception is if your liver glycogen is depleted (eg after a hard workout, perhaps a teaspoon of fructose could be used to replenish it—and in fact in this scenario it is the most efficient way to replenish your liver glycogen.
Sugar is also quite addictive and binge-inducing. I have a theory as to why this is I will tell you at the next LW dinner.
The case against jerky is less compelling, but you might want to look at the list of ingredients next time you are near a packet.
does it compare as healthy compared to chocolate or mints?
Also a snack with fibre (even with sugar) is better than a snack with little-to-no-fibre—if it helps with satiety and is better from a fidgeting-must-eat perspective.
Sure, there might be snacks that are even better than dried-fruit… but as a first step improvment it was a good step.
See above. If you need more glucose in your blood, small amounts of foods that produce glucose can do the job. Or you can train your body learn to do gluconeogenesis (ie release stored glucose) by regularly having long gaps between meals.
According to the lecturers in the “learning to learn” course, a lot of what feels like the need for food is actually the need for a break. According to them, when working hard intellectually the brain needs a break after a while to restore equilibrium and to remove built-up waste. So a break and a glass of water may be all you need. That’s what the 5 minute break in the Pomodoro cycle is for.
Yes, I am aware that snack/fiddling is probably a signal that I’m not hungry (thanks, though, I might not have been). I will also drink a glass of water rather than snack if I think I’m actually hungry… but I’m quite aware that I’m not hungry when I’m snacking.
The point of these snacks isn’t to ingest nutrition. In this case—i have been snacking as a way of fiddling (I think). I figured that if I was going to fiddle/snack anyway—I might as well make it less-unhealthy—because I have other things that are more important to work on than in stopping this particular habit (I’ll come back to it, but as stop-gap measure… healthier snacks is better than unhealthy snacks.
I also take pomodoro breaks—but it doesn’t entirely negate the snacking need...
Well, I found mine in local shops. A large umbrella with more spokes than usual (12 instead of 8) and sturdy construction. and a foldable umbrella that was listed as being able to turn inside out and be popped back without damage. My finds were accidental.
In this case, I think google is your friend. “Defensive driving” is the codename for driving safety courses in Australia—it may be different where you are located—so try “Driving safety course yourlocation” and you should get a few hits.
In this case, I think google is your friend. “Defensive driving” is the codename for driving safety courses in Australia
Defensive driving often means ‘safety lecture’ in America too. Certain types of traffic offenses can be forgiven if you take a review course on traffic laws and anger management. I had to take one of these, and it was worthless. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t good courses, but I agree that research is very much in order.
Yeah—I’m pretty sure defensive driving course in Australia are all hands-on, not just a safety lecture.
I could be mistaken in that, but when I went looking, that is what I found—courses that get you actually driving in different conditions.
Of course, there could also be dud courses out there in Aus too, and I happened not to find them because they don’t tend to drift upwards in google searches… ;)
I didn’t figure this to be boring advice. This is a repository of it’s own. I’ll add a link to it from boring advice though… eg “there’s lots of things that cost relatively little and can improve your life a lot… see ”
Some ideas of mine: both things that I already have, or am thinking about buying:
a nice pedometer/fitbit—measuring your daily activity is the first step towards making sure you do it more regularly, and a good pedometer (with software to see your progress) is within the price range
a waterpik (to make flossing more interesting and thus more likely)
a really good-quality umbrella (for areas that are rpone to bad weather) because struggling with flimsy ones is more pain than it’s worth to buy a quality one.
a good quality laptop bag/airline carry-on bag (especially if you lug your heavy laptop around a lot...)
healthy snacks for while I work (jerky and dried fruit)
an Ingress addiction (makes me walk a lot and it’s free)
a shoe rack (i have a habit of tossing them all over the floor, and it’s an easy way of tidying up the floor while remaining easy to dump my shoes)
sleep-tracking software and sleep-cycle alarm clock (to wake me up gently during REM cycle—these are often free)
large prints of nice pictures to stick on the wall behind my computer monitor so I have something nice to look at while working
do a defensive-driving course (driving safety is always useful for longevity)
take some meditation classes (for the ability to notice when being distracted and be better able to focus when needed)
take a toastmasters course (so as to be more confident with public speaking which is an importnat part of being a social leader)
take up a regularly scheduled low-impact exercise (eg tai chi)
Recommendation here: Several years ago I bought one of the Eagle Creek Tarmac series of bags because I was flying a lot. They are expensive (less than $300), but have a lifetime warranty including damage done by an airline (every other bag I saw excluded damage done by airlines). They are very tough, well designed, visually distinctive and just small enough to fit into most airlines carry-on maximum size. Last year I bought some packing cube nock-offs and that has also made packing and unpacking more enjoyable.
I purchased a Blunt umbrella for AUD$90 mid last-year when i lost yet another umbrella due to windiness. If you don’t think you’ll leave it behind you anywhere I’d recommend it.
Also just purchased a Jawbone Up, I felt was a good balance between subtly motivating good behaviours without being too involved. Mainly bought it for the alarm function though.
I buy biltong from Byron Bay Jerky, only place I found that uses grass-fed beef. Prices are pretty comparable across providers for this but if you can find someone to split the 2.5kgs with then you’ve got a pretty good deal. Other healthy snack ideas would be nuts (pre-soaked to remove phytates), chia pudding (chia seeds + some sort of milk + flavourings. i use coconut milk but any will do), coconut chips & more involved things like frittata muffins.
Meditation classes seem a good option, I’ve tried a couple though and they had a lot of spiritual baggage that didn’t appeal to me. If you find a secular class I’d be interested.
Cycling is a low-impact exercise, and has the benefit of being able to get you places. Replacing your commute with a bike ride—if feasible—would be a good way to integrate exercise into your life.
“nuts (pre-soaked to remove phytates)” what are phytates, and why should I be scared of eating them? (given I’ve been eating un-soaked nuts since I was a kid without (apparent) ill effect)
The biltong looks good. I’m surprised about the grass-fed beef thing… is is just that Byron Bay is the only company that claims to use grass-fed beef? AFAIK grass-fed is much more common in Australia than, say, the States—due to our huge outback ranches—almost all sheep are grass-fed, and a much higher percentage of beef is free range too.. though I’ll admit I haven’t done serious research on that front.
I agree re: the spiritual baggage in meditation, but I guess I was hoping to just ignore that part… there seem to be a few classes where I live, so I’ll give them a go and see where they lead. I’ve also sat through a lot of spiritual guff in my past (non-rational) life… so I might have a higher patience for sitting through the BS
Cycling is indeed a great idea, but I work too far away for me to go directly from beginner to cycling-to-work :( I tried various ways of getting there and have come to the unfortunate conclusion that it’s actually quickest to drive (30min vs 1hr20min public transport) Luckily I’ve discovered that I can listen to audio-books while driving, so I’ve started doing that.
wiki has a small blurb on phytic acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid) that highlights its propensity to bind to minerals and render them useless. there’s some rumblings in paleo circles about the role phytic acid plays in tooth decay—they got their info from the weston a price foundation—but i don’t think anything concrete has been discovered. it’s not going to kill you by any stretch but soaking and slowly roasting your nuts is pretty easy to do and makes them better nutritionally.
agree there is a taste trade-off with some cuts of beef, but to be honest i haven’t had grain-fed beef in quite a long time so i couldn’t really get specific with you. depends on where you sit on the health/enjoyment spectrum when it comes to food. not clear that my position is better than yours
i might just be quicker to get annoyed by meditation woo-woo, who knows. the centre i went to made us chant that we were the lowest of the low. not a fan of that
fair enough about the bike, my bike commute takes about 50 minutes which is probably approaching the limit of what you’d want to do as a beginner (which i am as well, literally every other cyclist overtakes me)
sorry about the late reply, new to LW so i haven’t yet done a good job of integrating it into my browsing habits
Soaking and slowly roasting nuts takes more than the time to just open the packet and eat.. so it probably won’t happen. I could force myself to do it—but I don’t see enough value in doing it to do it… (only something that was likely to kill me would make that change) because I have other fish to fry. Thanks for the explanation though—it is interesting to know :)
From my perspective—convenience is a big factor in the food I eat. I like good-tasting food… I really like easy food. That includes easy-to-find (it’s much easier to just go to the local butcher than to hunt down grass-fed beef). and the inertia that comes from this is a hurdle big enough that there has to be a really good reason to get over it. I have other things I’d like to spend my “could I be bothered” points on first ;)
re: woo-woo urk that does sound awful—yeah I don’t think I’d put up with that for long either.
re: timing me too… ;) plus—too many channels, too many things to do...
Answering my own question (re: grass-fed beef in Aus)
“It’s important to know that most big-supermarket beef around the country will be grass-fed meat finished on grain, but if the meat comes from southern Victoria or Tasmania, where grass is more likely to be in abundance, there’s a good chance it was reared entirely on grass or silage”
Also there seems to be a taste/health tradeoff for grass vs grain-fed beef. wagyu, after all, is the epitomy of grain-fed beef...
I’d second the recommendation of a waterpik for flossing. Tooth problems suck, so it’s worth shelling out to avoid them.
Citation required.
Dried fruit is very high in sugar.
The fructose in sugar (50% of the calories) can in general only be used for one thing: to make fat. The exception is if your liver glycogen is depleted (eg after a hard workout, perhaps a teaspoon of fructose could be used to replenish it—and in fact in this scenario it is the most efficient way to replenish your liver glycogen.
Sugar is also quite addictive and binge-inducing. I have a theory as to why this is I will tell you at the next LW dinner.
The case against jerky is less compelling, but you might want to look at the list of ingredients next time you are near a packet.
more information required on what you’re asking?
I bought snacks for while I was working.. .that were healthier than the alternatives.
Dried fruit is basically sugar with a bit of fiber, very high calorie density, too. Considering it healthy is a bit of a stretch.
does it compare as healthy compared to chocolate or mints? Also a snack with fibre (even with sugar) is better than a snack with little-to-no-fibre—if it helps with satiety and is better from a fidgeting-must-eat perspective.
Sure, there might be snacks that are even better than dried-fruit… but as a first step improvment it was a good step.
See above. If you need more glucose in your blood, small amounts of foods that produce glucose can do the job. Or you can train your body learn to do gluconeogenesis (ie release stored glucose) by regularly having long gaps between meals.
According to the lecturers in the “learning to learn” course, a lot of what feels like the need for food is actually the need for a break. According to them, when working hard intellectually the brain needs a break after a while to restore equilibrium and to remove built-up waste. So a break and a glass of water may be all you need. That’s what the 5 minute break in the Pomodoro cycle is for.
Yes, I am aware that snack/fiddling is probably a signal that I’m not hungry (thanks, though, I might not have been). I will also drink a glass of water rather than snack if I think I’m actually hungry… but I’m quite aware that I’m not hungry when I’m snacking.
The point of these snacks isn’t to ingest nutrition. In this case—i have been snacking as a way of fiddling (I think). I figured that if I was going to fiddle/snack anyway—I might as well make it less-unhealthy—because I have other things that are more important to work on than in stopping this particular habit (I’ll come back to it, but as stop-gap measure… healthier snacks is better than unhealthy snacks.
I also take pomodoro breaks—but it doesn’t entirely negate the snacking need...
Hi taryneast, these are cool ideas. Could you please give examples of
A quality large umbrella to buy
Where to take a behind-the-wheels defensive-driving course
not taryn, but i can vouch for this one
http://www.bluntumbrellas.com.au/products/blunt
Re: Umbrellas
Well, I found mine in local shops. A large umbrella with more spokes than usual (12 instead of 8) and sturdy construction. and a foldable umbrella that was listed as being able to turn inside out and be popped back without damage. My finds were accidental.
However, if you’re looking on the internet, there are really good umbrellas out there. I was thinking: http://www.wantist.com/products/senz-storm-proof-umbrellas OR http://real-self-defense.com/unbreakable-umbrella/ Depending on your inclinations
Re: defensive driving
In this case, I think google is your friend. “Defensive driving” is the codename for driving safety courses in Australia—it may be different where you are located—so try “Driving safety course yourlocation” and you should get a few hits.
Defensive driving often means ‘safety lecture’ in America too. Certain types of traffic offenses can be forgiven if you take a review course on traffic laws and anger management. I had to take one of these, and it was worthless. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t good courses, but I agree that research is very much in order.
Yeah—I’m pretty sure defensive driving course in Australia are all hands-on, not just a safety lecture. I could be mistaken in that, but when I went looking, that is what I found—courses that get you actually driving in different conditions. Of course, there could also be dud courses out there in Aus too, and I happened not to find them because they don’t tend to drift upwards in google searches… ;)
Please please add this to the http://lesswrong.com/lw/gx5/boring_advice_repository/
added :)
I didn’t figure this to be boring advice. This is a repository of it’s own. I’ll add a link to it from boring advice though… eg “there’s lots of things that cost relatively little and can improve your life a lot… see ”
I don’t think lots of the advice in the ‘boring advice repo’ is boring either :-)
Don’t hurry, looks like we’ll have a re-run soon :).
Yeah. I noticed :-)