Best Of
Re: Getting better "blog"
@FleaMarket @Kotishka I have company in the thread, most excellent! Feel free to keep journaling 
Today I slept poorly.
I've lost more weight during the past two weeks and am now at -7.6kgs (87.4kgs at 177cm)! I'm noticing improvements as a result in daily life - for instance not huffing and puffing when walking up the hill home, more energy overall, and easier/better exercise. Also, the good and happy kind of pride, when we know we've done something good and difficult. 12.4kgs more to go!
I am again reminded to do and keep doing the right thing and just trust the process. If I zoom in on the weight day to day, I sometimes get discouraged, because it's not fast or linear. Sometimes it looks like there is no improvement, sometimes it goes in the wrong direction. But, long-term it goes in the right direction and all is well. Same thing can be observed in other areas of life. As long as I'm putting in effort/practice, I will improve in that area, and since everything is inter-connected, in other/all areas too. Patience and persistence.
Yesterday, I was acting foolishly/passively. And I was telling myself the standard stupid mantra: "I'll do better tomorrow". But somehow and thankfully, I mustered the determination to do better TODAY (ie. yesterday ). So I did a flurry of positive activities. Going forward, I want to remember that, if I fall, the time to correct my path is NOW/today, not tomorrow, which often is just a lie we tell ourselves in order to feel better.
I've also noticed that I'm a dopamine-addict. I go from one to the other, especially when I'm feeling poorly. My dopamine-vices include: Youtube/phone, smoking, coffee, poker, po**/mast********. Chasing dopamine in this way leads to suffering, that is clear, and I notice it again and again and again. On the other hand, when I do something good, especially if it's difficult, I get the good kind of satisfaction, which does not seem to have negative effects or an opposite.
One problem I have no clue how to solve: I know, for a fact based on experience, that if I keep up the effort to improve myself and my situation, I can obtain excellent results long-term, even better than I can currently imagine. Even having MH difficulties, I can heal them to the extent of being in a much BETTER place than ever before (including before those MH difficulties). However, for the past 10 years I've had a breakdown on average about once a year when much of the progress gets lost. No idea how to stop the breakdowns. On the positive side, I do notice improvement even when taking into account the breakdowns. But, breakdowns or no breakdowns, I must put in the effort as best I can.
marcitko
Re: Recognising bad food and drink
With my diet I've been experiencing the same. There are foods that, apart from their little to zero nutrition value, they make your insulin levels fluctuate in such a way that it causes you to experience hunger more often and intenser, as well as acting in your brain the same way as some drugs: easy and quick and strong reward (feeling good, delicious taste, etc). It also leaves you tired, foggy; inevitably getting fat and unhealthy.
Now that I'm eating clean, I've had two instances were I had these treats: two small pieces of chocolate and, in another ocassion, 3 cookies. They do feel funny, but I guess as long as the quantity is relatively small it does not become a problem.
With alcohol I had the same experience as you, I hardly drink now. Never liked it and I mainly did it because of "social pressure" or "custom". Now I'm a proud water drink.
Though I have a weak spot for sake from Nagano....
Kotishka
Recognising bad food and drink
So after a couple of days ago trying that IJsbock beer, it reminded me why I had dropped alcohol a few years ago. My sensitivity to these things has become such that it just isn’t a pleasant experience to drink alcoholic beverages. If you really pay attention to it, there is a little rush when you start, then you feel a bit ill, then rather dull, then a long period of feeling somewhat unstable. The long tail of unpleasant feelings makes it not worthwhile to drink.
And last night, I had some espresso coffee at about 3 am, and was awake until 6 experiencing in extreme detail how coffee also produces a rush, and then a protracted period of inner energetic grinding. That’s not the first time I have noticed that, and it has put me in mind that really looking at what your body is telling you is a good guide for what is good and what is not. So I have resolved to go off coffee for a while as well.
It seems to me that as your mindfulness increases, you become more sensitive to these things.
Jeroen
Re: Funny Stuff
Our dog has us almost trained. She has been at it for quite some time and is doing remarkably well.
Lionduck