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ldjkfkdsjnv

I recently realized that my life is bounded by my ability to regulate:

1. no drugs or alcohol

2. no sugar/carbs/processed food

3. good sleep

4. no porn

When I do all of those things, suddenly it is easier to focus at work, i have more energy, am more out and about, more social, wake up with creative enlightened thought, am more human.

And so all of the motivational material, ideas about stoking passion in craft, therapy, theories about how to succeed, etc feel like a facade. And it feels like the real truth in life is radical health practices. And by radical I mean actually not radical at all, just avoiding the traps of society.

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It's only radical because society is structured in a way that these are hard to do

1. Even if you don't drink, you need to give in sometimes for the sake of socialization

2. All cheap foods are full of sugar/carbs. If you want to eat healthy food, you either need to have access to farm or pay more.

3. Hustle culture promotes pushing yourself to the limit, sacrificing free time and sleep.

4. Technology(like dating apps) was supposed to make us more connected. But it seems that it instead did the opposite. There is much more lonely people in the world. Some of them can only turn to porn to satisfy their primal urges.

I recently quit alcohol for a few months to support someone else doing the same. I don't find I ever have to "give in". I do sometimes bring canned tea with me if I am going to a friends party.

Rice, local vegetables, eggs and basic cuts of meat are all real cheap.

I quit working around 5pm most days (save meetings that get scheduled late, I tend to skip those randomly). I spend my free time working on fun hobbies or reading, a bit of netflix.

Porn is not de facto evil. It is a supernormal stimulus - it will drown out your sex live because porn literally pushes your biological buttons better. If you can moderate it, then great. If it's an issue, cut it out.

Avoid dating apps. Spend your time doing interesting things with interesting people instead.

I would argue that a supernormal stimulus should be avoided at all costs. It messes with your reward system too much.

Get your endorphins from healthy and productive activities and your life improve immensely.

Video games are another for me. They give a huge sense of achievement that real world tasks struggle to complete with.

> I would argue that a supernormal stimulus should be avoided at all costs.

I don’t like these kinds of blanket statements

I had friends that played WoW and were able to have a perfectly functioning life. They got great grades and had somewhat healthy social life.

Unfortunately I’m not in this camp, if I play online games it will consume my life as nothing else.

A better statement is: know yourself. If you have an addictive personality, stay away from supernormal stimulus. Now, If you’re blessed with genes that can regulate yourself, by all means, go ahead, play games and do whatever you like, you won the life lottery anyway.

I wonder if supernormal stimuli are the same for all people. We tend to see differentiation in ideal mate selection, so it's possible we have different biological weak spots to hijack.

Put another way, for some people maybe videogames are just not a supernormal stimulus. I like games but I actually struggle to rack up play time, even when I intentionally clear time to play. I just never find that reward curve, and not for lack of trying.

I do wonder if some situations - games, social media, porn - are adversarial. Meaning we can view this as one party attempting to find supernormal stimulus and trick you into it, while you attempt to avoid the biological hijacking.

If this is an adversarial situation than avoidance is counter-productive (you won't always win the avoidance game) and instead you need desensitization and safe guards.

> All cheap foods are full of sugar/carbs. If you want to eat healthy food, you either need to have access to farm or pay more.

I don't think most people need low carb to be healthy. The hazard ratio bottoms out around a 50/50 split [0] for carb/fat intake. Oats, buckwheat, and lentils are cheap as hell and very healthy. Mix in veggies, leafy greens, and occasional meat and you can be eating healthy as hell for very cheap.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7589789/

> 2. All cheap foods are full of sugar/carbs. If you want to eat healthy food, you either need to have access to farm or pay more.

Not necessarily! Whole grain products (like bread, pasta, and oats) and legumes tend to be cheaper per calorie and more filling than many junk foods. The cost of produce varies depending on your location, but at least in some parts of the U.S., ethnic supermarkets sell fruits and vegetables at a very low price compared to other grocery stores. For foods of animal origin, chicken products like eggs and chicken breasts tend to be more affordable than other meats in the U.S., and can be prepared in a healthy way.

It does take time and effort to cook, but you save money compared to ordering from restaurants or eating pre-packaged meals, and you can be 100% confident that you are only using healthy ingredients.

I agree with all of these except for the no sugar/carbs/processed food. It's important to know that sugars and carbs are good for you. I wouldn't say cutting out fruits are a good idea, but not eating chocolate bars and lollies is definitely a good idea.

I've gone down the no carb approach before and it did not work for me personally. I have found better balance with a reasonable amount of carbs in proportion to the rest of my diet.

Except dark chocolate :)

Agreed :D

Have you removed these individually to see which actually make a difference? I suspect any improvement in well-being is down to the "good sleep".

I can agree that all 4 have significant impact on well-being in my life.

Its ranked in the order of effect. No carbs/sugar and instead eating only veggies and grass fed beef/fish is very noticeable to me. I am absolutely my better self when I am on a keto diet.

Oh my friend, I've found defining good pre- and post-sleep behaviors is crucial.

It's possible that #3, good sleep, is the most important element, and adopting the remaining behaviors largely work because they improve sleep quality.

Drugs or alcohol can reduce sleep quality (e.g. cannabis reduces REM sleep, alcohol can cause you to wake up too early); a diet high in simple sugars can negatively affect sleep quality [0]; and porn at night can mean looking at a screen with blue light, which can cause you to fall asleep later [1].

[0] https://www.sleep.org/sleep-questions/sugar-impacts-sleep/ [1] https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/blue-lig...

Yes, and to me good sleep is highly correlated to physical and mental health and all what is mentioned affects one or both of them.

Is not a matter of just to wanting to have good sleep but try to solve other problems such as food, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, lack of sport, caffeine, …

Each of those rules requires self discipline to enforce. Have you considered that you are more sociable, productive, and creative at times you are able to maintain good self discipline?

I suppose making a habit of disciplined behavior could foster such behavior in the future as well.

Really, it could probably go both ways in my view, though I suppose from a practical standpoint, whether cause and effect are swapped doesn’t matter.

I really think its 1,2 -> better brain functioning -> better discipline -> allows me to acheive 3,4.

This is something I have experimented off an on for the last year, I am certain of the cause and effect.

I'm pretty much the same except I'll eat fruit and whole grains. A bowl of steel cut oats in the morning is like cheat codes for me at least.

Yeah I would not be surprised, one of my favorite meals is smoked salmon and blueberries. The less I eat carbs though, the more I am grossed out by them. Like if I have rice or a piece of bread now, it tastes like sugar, and I can feel it go into my body.

>one of my favorite meals is smoked salmon and blueberries

Are you a bear?

Is this real or a bit of an eating disorder? There's something to be careful of when you're trying to be healthy is if your ideas of what's "healthy" don't start being a psychological problem.

>The less I eat carbs though, the more I am grossed out by them. Like if I have rice or a piece of bread now, it tastes like sugar, and I can feel it go into my body.

Having been around people with eating disorders, this is exactly the kind of thing that they say when they're having problems.

I'm not diagnosing you or trying to make you panic, just a word of caution.

No where close to an eating disorder

No drugs or alcohol, how about caffeine?

I only ask because I stopped caffeine for months hoping it would help me get some sleeping problems under control. I was surprised to find that stopping caffeine, ~cups of coffee a day, didn’t have a noticeable effect.

No carbs, so keto or paleo?

Yes, also exercise and bright sunlight in the mornings.

If it's too early for bright sunlight (winter, Northern hemisphere), thirty minutes in front of a daylight lamp works great for waking up in my experience.

A mix of keto and paleo, I shoot for keto though. Try to eat organic and grass fed.

Caffeine I have not removed yet! But the interesting thing is I notice that I need less when I am doing those 4 steps.

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