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Healthy Habits
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Dear Friends of the Medicine Buddha,
As we know gut bacteria can be improved,
https://www.eatthis.com/gut-health/
so can the nose and mouth biome
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/killer-sinus-infection-how-to-tell-if-yours-is-viral-or-bacterial/
How do you improve your health?
3
Comments
LCHF veggie
Keep moving
LCHF, Fasting, cold showers. Supplements: Magnesium, Vitamin B complex. Drinking between 1 and 2 litres of water a day (You can calculate how much your body needs by weighing yourself in Lbs, then halving that figure, and drinking the resulting figure in fl.oz.)
My diet is pretty terrible right now.
Running
Meditation
Intermittent fasting
Water!!!
No flours no sugar no alcohol no smoke no TV/Radio news
Keto diet
Zinc / vitamin C
Sun
Frequent water
Multi-vitamins and essential oils so no matter how bad I get, I keep a few things in line.
House plants for company and to always be reminded of compassion.
With healthy thoughts, which leads to healthy actions/behaviour...
Any examples or some that work for you? My tool kit is needing a revamp.
Great regimes everyone
Particulary like @Jeffrey response.
Can we think ourselves into well being? Believe it.
https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/martin-seligman-psychology/
Hi I still looking for more strategies. One that works for me is to just do whatever I don't want to do and once it's done then I don't have to worry about it. Example is the exercise. Another strategy is to do at least one thing per day that I didn't want to do. Also obviously we are talking about good things to do but that you avoid doing. Not talking about things you shouldn't do that you also don't want to do! Another strategy is to just do one thing per day that you don't want to do. Or do one half hour of stuff per day that you don't want to do. That way in a month you do 30 things you didn't want to do or you do 15 hours of stuff you didn't want to do!
I'm still looking for more strategies though. Do you have any?
I thought I did but they turned out to be fair-weather friends. They all work great until they're put to the test. Your strategy is one of the better that I've tried. I've heard it called "No Zero Days" and even if it is just one push up, you can at least use that one push up as a small grounding point to prove to yourself with direct experience you can do something you don't want to do. Then hopefully build from there. Where I run into trouble is the continuation. If I stop for even a single day, all progress crumbles.
Another strategy I've tried which usually only works when I'm in at least a fair mood is what I call going in with the mindset of "Half-assing" the task. I struggle to attempt tasks due to need for perfection and fear of failure so if I go into the task with the permission and assumption it won't be perfect or even very good at all or even that I'll complete it, then I find I have a much more relaxed attitude about it and will give it an attempt vs not doing it.
Of course ideally on days where I remember to let go of self and attachment, and on days where I can muster the will to do so, I find I can take the energy used fighting the things I don't want to do and reflect it outward as compassion and concentration since in that moment I no longer identify with the desires of self. However this too is much easier state to remain in on fair-weather days, though it works to small degrees on any day I can muster enough care to give it an honest attempt. Sometimes that's enough for the breath of fresh air I need to snap out of my mind-controlled funk. I had actually forgotten how to tap into that and reliving it in the explanation here helped remind me, thank you.
… might all be Greek. Makes perfect sense to me.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself
https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/three-delphic-maxims-to-live-by-a15f55177757
Water, Sun and Air. Get them whilst still free!
https://buddhaweekly.com/the-first-doctor-medicine-buddha-bhaisajyaguru/
Why?
Have you considered edible companions? Herbs for example?
It's been a tough couple of years. Eating healthily / exercising seems a little pointless these days.....
I keep trying.
I'm having a vegetable ramen soup for breakfast. Actually that's better than fruit juice and processed wheat. But I'll see whether I like it.
I have some near my kitchen window but I haven't used them for cooking yet. I feel bad clipping their little arms I helped grow. Except the green onions. Green onions I'll cut with zeal.
Any close friends you could recommend?
The struggle is real. Don't give up! If I spent half the time thinking about exercising actually exercising, I wouldn't need to think about it so much. Just gunna start doing a push-up..maybe two every time I think about exercising and decide not to. Like a mental-processing fee...
I always feel better after exercising even if I have to drag myself kicking and screaming. Why is it so easy to keep setting aside?
Unless following extra precepts, chives and garlic are good. Depends on the tastes you like. You can grow dwarf chillies indoors, if sufficient light. Parsley is slow growing but makes a fun garnish.
https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/herbs-indoors/8920.html
Me too.
Understood. Kicking and screaming is our undisciplined 'monkey/mind/being'. We all know samsara.
What works for me is a realistic regime. At the moment I walk one day and exercise the next.
We are easily persuaded not to do things...if we allow thought to have its own way...
Tis said in Zen when a (beneficial) urge arises just do it before the emotions have a chance to talk the self out of it...
Healthy Habits - Treat your body and mind as the precious priceless treasures they are.
So simple - Somehow so d'*# hard.
So wonderful - so frustrating - so rewarding
So downright irritating - So...interesting...
More cheesecake, please.
Good breakfast.
Sometimes make my own. Korean buckwheat noodles, spring onions, Ayurveda herbs, vegetarian stock … that sort of thing …
https://www.yummly.co.uk/recipes/ramen-soup-with
Mood changers:
Smell. You can buy essential oils and just sniff as required. For example citrus makes many of us happy.
https://www.goodnet.org/articles/5-essential-oils-that-make-increase-happiness
Sound. Music, background chanting sequences, binaural beats …
Tsk, tsk. I think my diet may have to change.
Today found out I am nearly dead. High blood pressure. I am sacking the Medicine Buddha. Better still may get her working harder … or should that be gentler.
Prayers and puja for my well being welcome.
Save the wail lobster
My blood pressure is on the high side as well @lobster, my gp has been on the case trying to get me to do things about it. Diet and exercise, losing weight…
I had high blood pressure.
This is what I found: medication helps, but only to an extent. It lowers it (ball-park figure) by 10-20.
To significantly lower it, medication plus lifestyle changes work best. Do not underrestimate lifesyle changes, combined they will lower it more than just medication.
Get thin (1kg = 1 lower)
No salt
Exercise
No/limit coffee, alchohol, black tea,smoking
It is possible to drastically lower blood pressure just with medication and lifestyle changes. Good luck!
Thanks everyone.
Exercise and cutting salt. Great plan. 
Already feeling better.
I agree with marcitko about lifestyle choices being as important as blood pressure medicines.
Is higher or lower blood pressure a symptom or a cause of poor health?
The more you study blood pressure, the less agreement you may find between the leading scientists specializing in this particular field of inquiry. It would seem that not only is there great variations in what will affect each person's blood pressure treatment but there are also great differences in who is medically impacted by blood pressure variations and who does not seem to be.
While scientists would very much like to find a reliable correlation of a human's health according to their blood pressure readings because of the ease by which it can be measured, most of it is at best, is just a hopeful generality.
I am not advocating here that one shouldn't try to either lower or raise one's blood pressure levels where ever they are detrimentally affecting one's health, just that this is one medical puzzle that still has too many missing pieces to blindly follow without asking a lot of hard questions about our assumptions about it all.
Thanks @how
I only did my own reading because I was left a loaned blood pressure meter by a paramedic for my mother.
However … it did make me aware that I am inadvertently eating too much salt, butter, cheese and dead animal carcasses.
Could do better …
https://www.livi.co.uk/your-health/8-ways-to-make-healthier-food-choices-every-day/
I am interested in hearing more about this. Do you use oils for smell? How so? I like incense but do not like the particulates. Any places of recommendation?
Rubbish. You can't have too much of those.
The REAL 'killer' is carbohydrates.
For example:
You take metformin for Diabetes II. Metformin lowers your blood sugar levels by improving the way your body handles insulin. Carbohydrates are all basically different forms of sugar, in the end. Now comes the kicker:
In order for Metformin to function adequately, it needs carbohydrates to work on.
So you need to increase your intake of Carbs, which in turn, leads to an increased dosage of Metformin. Which needs higher levels of carbs. Which mean that,....
Getting the picture?
The food industry and the Big Pharmaceuticals, working in harmony to make you sick, while making them rich.
Yes, I admit it. I have done the 180.
I am currently supporting my daughter in a lifestyle of a carnivore regimen, which, after careful consideration and not a small amount of research (quite a lot, actually) seems to be an excellent fit and commendable way of life.
I'm not about to attempt to convert anyone here to doing likewise, but am confidently enjoying it very much, and have already, one fortnight in, seen some remarkable changes, convincing me quite persuasively, that it's actually got a lot going for it.
I find eating rubbish and salt is not nutrition.
As for killer carbs, many people would die and are for lack of a few more.
Still … faddish eating is a Western privilege.
Anywhere they sell essential oils and allow you to sniff out your mood changers.
https://www.redstormscientific.com/10-best-essential-oils-for-mood/
For me:
Lavender just a great oil
Frankincense for spiritual remembrance/association
Chamomile - relaxation
Citrus fragrances for happiness
Sandalwood - concentration
What about GABA found in tomatoes and produced by meditation, yoga and tai chi?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Γ-Aminobutyric_acid
https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/meditation-boosts-your-gaba/
I have been eating Boemboe, a spicy kind of green beans dish from Java. Very nice.
I've been eating pickles as a source of fiber, but when I next go to the grocery I'm looking forwards to the seasonal fruits. I like strong tasting food so I don't mind the extreme sour of the pickle terribly.
A mysterious stray bird poop started a cherry tomato plant in my back yard which has grown into quite the thing. I'm happy to learn they are meditation approved nourishment.
I've reduced caffeine and sugar to rather trivial levels of consumption and feel more level in energy and emotion as a result. Next up is increasing physical activity..
Tomatoes, garlic and onions are not eaten by monks on the full precept attachment/detachment but of course they can be mantrad into kosher dana, which I have seen done.
Kava or Kava Kava is high in GABA but in the UK can only presently be used on animals. It is a psychoactive substance … wait … does that mean we Buddhist yogis/meditators are drugees?
Answers to the usual address with a side salad
I try to stay on a WFPB diet but sometimes eat the processed meat replacement foods. No animal products, lots of water, no alcohol and progressively less cannabis. I take a daily multivitamin and supplement ginseng. I sometimes have a vegan protein drink as well. I try to be mindful about what I consume mentally as well as physically so stay away from overly violent and sexual media but keep a good dose of Star Trek flowing.
Then there is the morning and night time meditation, lots of reading and Karate 3-4 days a week.
sounds like an excellent regime @David 🙏🏽👍🏼✅
… here you wisely regard consumption to include non-junk input.
Here again we have to remind ourselves of the balanced middle way. For example I had to delete twit tear twathere twitter from my Ipad as I was binge eating nature stories … and political emergencies of the wholly worst additives …
A year ago I bought a velomobile to commute to work, 12 miles each way. I actually did it a few times, until things got busy and the habit lapsed. The other day I dusted it off and rode it to work. What a great ride! I should do this more often. Better for me, better for the human environmental biome. Also have a new dog to go hiking with. Life is good.
que? Oh … Ecosia search engine she say: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile
I WANT ONE!
Mush husky! mush! Pull that velomobile … mmm I may have healthy plan
Life is good? That is for suckers eh sukkha devotees … 😇
I have opened an unopened 2 month old package of camembert and had on bread in oven and then drizzled honey. Tastes good but I have never had camembert so wondered how aging affects?
As always, check your use-by dates
It is good to restrain the eye.
It is good to restrain the ear.
It is good to restrain the nose.
It is good to restrain the tongue.
Dp 360
I'm currently working hard on improving my health (physical, emotional, mental).
Keto Diet - no bread. no sugar..a few carbohidrates
Intermittent Fasting - no food until 9:30hs and dinner at 19:30hs
Yoga daily
Zazen daily
Definitely watch your carbohydrates and sugar.
Moderate food intake
Moderate exercise
CHEER UP!
Peace to all
Mine are:
Seems very sensible Tosh, especially small bills mutating into big obstacles unnecessarily can be a pain.
My healthy habits…
I had a small leak in my porch roof. It only troubled us when it rained, which is fairly frequently in South Wales (UK). In spite of Mrs Tosh's 'encouragement' I managed to delay fixing it long enough for the plaster board ceiling to collapse.
So not only did I have to fix the roof and make it watertight (which was quite a simple fix in the end), I had to replace the plasterboard ceiling which was a massive pain in the arse.
But I've also done similar with relationships too.