My eating habits

People are usually surprised that I've been eating the same thing every day for 2.5 years now.
It was 2.5 years ago that I decided to start training and change my eating habits for real.

I realise that there were quite a few different views on the topic of food and diets.
Actually I love the world diet because everyone who is or have been on a diet hates that word I've noticed.

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Before I change my habits I ate a little bit of everything. Some cheap pork with spaghetti...some of this and some of that. And I had to think about what I was going to eat tonight and so on. Sometimes I forgot or procrastinated and got super hungry and ran off to get pizza. I wasn't fat or anything but the most annoying thing was that I didn't enjoy food and a lot of my brain capacity went to thinking about food.

My criteria for my new food habits was this

1. Had to be healthy stuff and a minimal amount of carbs if I wasn't training (add carbs if training)
2. I did not want to have to think about food. I used to think about the next meal and how many times I'd eaten today or if this was too unhealthy - NO MORE any of that
3. I wanted it to take a minimum amount of time to prepare.
4. To taste good

I also read up on the 8 hour window theories and research and I gave that a try. That was great. Common wisdom is that one should have a big breakfast as soon as one wakes up. I've always had porridge when I woken up. I think that's good because as a kid it's not as easy as it is now to change things around. To eat breakfast at 12am just feels so natural to me. I don't have to sit there at 7am and down that breakfast when my stomach is smaller then my fist. Around 12am I get naturally hungry. Another big plus is that it's much easier to not over eat because you just don't have enough time to do it.

A normal day for me would look like

12am
Bake

4pm
Bake

7pm
Nuts, berries and yogurt

9pm
popcorn and milk (if I'm training)

The bakes is consisting of...
1kg chicken
1kg kangaroo minced meat
500g bacon
500g cheese
500g broccoli
300g mushrooms
1 squash
3 eggs + 300grams thickened sour cream
Black pepper and extra hot chilli sauce

I make the bake once a week so it's always ready and does not require any preparing time then microwaving. I can make it in 30min and the cost is 38$
I love it and it seems like I can't get enough. When I'm at home I put some sour cream in there and eat it out of taco breads. I usually eat the bake with 1 or 2kg of sweet potatoes as well.

Boring?  NO! I love it. Even if I eat the same thing every day I get a lot of variety every day and best of all, I don't have to use up processing power thinking about food.

A theory about raising children

I hereby say that the world is not as good as it could be and that lots of people go through un necessary suffering, anxiety and depression. I think we all can agree on that one. 

Our brain has two halves to it, the right side and the left side.

The RIGHT side is

Looking at the whole

Loving and caring

Feels connected with everything

It's the side that artists use when they draw and paint and create

The right side is also very neglected in western society. There is almost no focus on drawing or creativity. So the left side is very dominant in people in these days.

The LEFT side is

Making you feel like you're distinguished from the everything else

Good for abstractions

Math and science and following instructions

Jill Bolte said some very interesting things in this video

When you don't have a left side but only your right, you feel a connectedness and love for all there is yada yada yada...

Too bad then the educational system is on a crusade against the right side. The right side thinks independently of culture, rules, laws. It acts on instinct, it may even be your being.

The left brain has some excellent talent, it can follow instructions really well.

I understand why the educational system is in a war against the right brain and keeps pushing the left side to grow big. Because what would happen if people came to their senses?

And realised that all cultural and religious mind stuff is secondary to experience itself?

It would be way harder to control the masses, that's for sure. 

But maybe it's time...

Everyone says this is up to the individual but I think the government be a part of this. If they changed it up a bit. Waited with abstract thinking till children are around 11years old and ready for it and let them experiment and be kids, creating and cultivating a right brain side before we got into all the abstract left sided thoughts....

Just some quick food for thought

Bedtime over here in Australia

2012/2013

2012 is almost over...

Last night I came back to Perth after 5 weeks of work/traveling.

It was so important for me to get away from the small university bubble I usually live in. To meet people with a completely different view of the world and to see their side of things as well as sharing mine has been amazing. It made me realise again how lucky I'm but also that life should be about fun and not taking yourself too seriously.

I meet this wizard who was probably 65 years old with white hair. He had been traveling non-stop for the last 25 years. Before that he had been very successful in setting up businesses in Ibiza. He was very down to earth and recommended a few places that I should travel to. Goa, the Masai people in Africa and South America. It almost got a bit emotional when I left and said good bye.  

He also taught me that I should listen to myself and do the things I wanted to do without listening too much to everyone else. He was also a lot into enjoying the moment and how people are working themselves to death, saving for their pension but they might be dead in a heart attack before that. I think goals are very important as well and I'm sure this guy is not JUST living in the moment. Interestingly I read in a book recently about two guys that had performed some serious research about heart attacks. 90% of people with heart attacks before 60 years of age is people with a type A personality. I think that if you live a stressful life you actively should try to flush the cortisol out of your body everyday. 

That is possible, a book has been written on the topic, it's called the relaxation response. It's about doing 20min of relaxation, 'meditation' or prayer everyday. I did quite a lot of that in Thailand, it was good for me. I also picked up drawing. It's like being in another dimension when you draw. Sometimes I sat for more then 2 hours completely focused on the thing I drew. 

Well I met a whole bunch of people from all over the globe which is always very interesting. Some alcoholics and they always have these crazy stories. Me and my good old wizard friend discussed this and we came to the conclusion that people should not talk too much about things they hadn't experienced themselves and we had a good laugh because that would mean that in the beginning of life you could only listen and not talk so it didn't make sense but there's something to it and we both sensed it. It's a shame I didn't take a picture of the man but picture Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings.

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This is the first morning in India and no this is not something special this is what they look like.

You see the turban he is wearing, that's because he is a sikh. If I got things right there is a class system in India from the upper class with priests down to the untouchables which have nothing. Then you have the Sikh's which are outside of the system. They are the "morally right" people. I saw this straight away on his demeanour in how he stopped traffic and dominated his environment. Anyways if you ever have troubles in India such as you don't want to pay a taxi or you crash into someone, snatch one of these guys and they might be able to sort things out for you.

This is us in the mornings, loading the cars to go out to different schools to treat. We lived in a missionary as you can see. Amazing to see how the Fathers gave it all to help other people and to be of service. They didn't really have any amazing chest of gold to go home to and eat good food. Their lives had one mission and that was to help others. Touching.

This is how you sat, Andrew had to spread his legs for the driver to be able to shift gears. Personal space is something that doesn't exist in India.

 Me on the first day with Linkan Ray and Chandan Barman.

 Me and Josh in the slum

 These are the kids of people from Bangladesh. They come to India to break rocks. They sit in the sun and literally break rocks with a hammer. The smaller rocks makes good cement and the like. 

It looks like hard work but then again maybe it ain't too bad being with your family and friends hacking away at rocks in the sun. Maybe it's worse making lots of money but you're away from family and friends in an office for 90% of the day?

 Us at Baghdogra with our fabulous translators 

The school bus

Mount everest 5:30 AM

 Me, Ruhi and Oscar up in a monastery for monks. Played some hacke-sack with them. They won. 

 This is a random stop in the mountains with some Nepalese kids

Me and Josh looking good in front of the holy mother

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Then I arrived in Thailand...

 My secret beach

 Twice I did the 2 hour trekk though the jungle, it was warm

 Jungle monkey

 Down there is where we came from

The Muay Thai Champion

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I also read and finished 4 books.

Pulling your own strings

It's great to be humble but not on the cost of letting other people slap you around.

Sex at Dawn

Read on your own risk, this is a great book. But not if you don't want your reality on the human psyche chattered.

My Big TOE (Theory of everything)

Another mind bender. This is not a book for the closed minded. It may be the next big paradigm shift in thinking but in that case it will take a couple of years because he's a head of his time. Then again all great scientists and explorers were ahead of their time. Be open minded but skeptical. Open minded to not miss out on stuff but skeptical to not get sucked into things that will waste your time.

Zlatan

His autobiography. 

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Now I'm off to get some New Years Resolution scribbled down and get ready to tackle my last year of University - unreal. Let's have some fun in the last year.

Being a gardener

Sharing a bit of wisdom today...

Having a girlfriend is very similar to having a piece of land where you grow veggies.

If you water it regularly soil it once a year and pick all the weeds that are growing in it you will have plenty of good tasting veggies.

However if you don't pluck the weeds and don't water it regularly your piece of land will turn into...

Some people call this a bitch. But remember that it might have been your fault for not taking care of your piece of land. 

If your girlfriend has turned into a bitch over the years. See her as that piece of land. It will take lots of work, probably a few seasons (read years) if it's grown over a long time. You just got to pluck the weeds. i.e. force her to tell you what's up and then deal with it, water regularly and soil once or twice a year.

Are you going to man up and take care of the piece of land you own or are you just going to keep neglecting it? Up to you brother

Working class hero

Earlier this year a friend of mine broke this song down for me

I liked it and started listening to it and now want to do my own interpretation of it

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
Here he is pretty much talking about as a child you are not loved for just who you are but instead disciplined into behaviours that others want you to have. Taking away the trust in yourself and that you can figure out how things work and become who you want to become.
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
This is sarcasm. It is what you're told since day one.
But John probably realised that he had a love and talent for music and did not want to follow their plan.
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so crazy you can't follow their rules
Here's probably how he grow up. Disciplined with scare tactics instead of with love and trust in himself. 
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
Here you've been in the system of abuse for such a long time, been shown day in and day out what behaviours that are accepted and not. In the end your brain is so full of fears that you can't connect with what you want to do in life. You do something anyways because it's what you're told is the right thing. No one trust in you that you can do decisions for yourself, not even you anymore.
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
Say you want to be a musician, writer or just hasn't got quite the same talent as your peers of adding numbers at age 10 and rather want to be wrestling and playing soccer, you will be ridiculed and looked down on. If that doesn't work, ADHD medicines will keep you in check.
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still peasants as far as I can see
These three lines are so well known and well quoted. Here I think he means that religion, sex and TV is what keeps you functioning, from not losing it completely. It keeps you quiet. Or possibly occupies you from doing what you really want. But you still think that you have some sort of free will and ability to do whatever you want but you're in fact so limited in what you dare to do because of the conditioning you've received. 
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
I remember my first teacher, she was a 60 something and a very nice lady which loved us all. Her name was Birgitta and I was around 7 when she told us that during the next 10 years we were going to learn a whole lot but that the most important thing was to develop a critical mind and always question everything. That stuck with me.There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
This is the hope, that you one day can get to the top of the hill. 
But I think it's more hope of freedom then material.
If you learn to play by their rules and dismiss your own innate standards of justice and rightfullness you will one day be set free.
But in fact you already have this freedom today. 
The one thing limiting you is your own fear.
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me
If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me
Okay let's think. Follow John Lennon or yourself? This is even more sarcasm. If you didn't realise it I'll give it to you...you have to start listening to YOURself and learn to think for yourself and what's important to you.

Objectivity

It turned out that my brother and I had read the book "7 habits of highly effective people" and mum had just had a course in the book though her work. My whole family decided to go through everything in the book and implement it in to our lives by discussing and giving each other feedback. It's a great book that is quite different from the rest of books out there. 

Anyways my brother is writing his master thesis at the moment. A couple of days ago he started viewing himself as a company. In which he's the boss. It's an interesting idea and I know that many professional writers do this to become more professional and to really separate work from non-work.

It's also a good way of viewing yourself very objectively. I was discussing this with him and I told him how I sometimes make difficult choices for myself. I imagine this little action man that I can control. Like playing Diablo, world of warcraft or any other fun game. What would I do with this little man to take him to the next level, to improve him? 

The question and answers become very simple. Off course I send him to a Toastmaster club so he can develop his public speaking abilities. I then send him to the gym for brain and muscle development. I have him eat only the best food. I have him have some fun so he can relax when he's not doing his work. All this is fun, it's like playing a video game with yourself.

Then I just transfer what I would do with him over to my life. And even though there's resistance in me to go and sign up with a public speaking course I just go. Because I know that is what I would do if there was no resistance in me.

I think humans are inherently trying to save energy and avoid uncomfortable feelings if there are no pressure on us. But if you want a lot of of life and live it on your terms you got to come up with a way of finding out what YOU want to do without letting the lazy you or anything else like society, friends or family get in the way and then just roll with that.

This is my way

Planning every week

Earlier this year my life was a bit blurry. It was taxing to not get any sleep plus a whole lot of other dramas. Now I'm back on track and I feel ready to tackle anything. It has been a good experience and I've taken lots of lessons from the whole thing. Never compromise sleep or rest for longer periods of time again.

One thing that improved my life a whole lot is that I followed Steven Covey's (7 habits of highly effective people) advice in that you should plan out your week ahead. 

He basically says that if you plan out the important things that has to be done in your life, then all the small things can slide around the big things. It sounded very boring and I already had a good well structured to do list so I thought this was just some silly thing but I knew that Steven was one of the sharpest minds around so I gave it a try and I'm glad I did.

I've been able to free up so much time. Gain self respect everyday as I do what's most important to me first. Stress levels are down. When you're done for the day you're truly off and can go and have FUN for real. I haven't found any other effective way to get out of that grey zone which has to be avoided like death, yack!

I got some big plans for life, many things to achieve, many books to read, many projects to finish. 

/Fortunate as few