The FDA’s recommended Standard American Diet (SAD) is based on super shady “science.” You should eat very little carbs or sugar, and invert the Food Pyramid if you want to be healthy (high good fats, medium protein, and low carbs). The law of economics says, the more you subsidize something, the more of it you will get. The government subsidizes corn and sugar. Americans suffer from *self-inflicted chronic* metabolic disease at an alarming rate, almost 50% of Americans are obese, and THIS is the advice that is being given? Here’s the reality: The Big Biz/Big Gov cronyism is so corrupt now, it is safe to say, if you want to live a long and healthy life, do the opposite of what these clowns recommend. Whatever you do: Stop the denial; it serves no one, least of all you. Get yourself weighed, get on a decent diet (I recommend paleo/keto), and get yourself well. Please.
Health
I have been traveling and dealing with family issues, so have not written my annual summation of 2021, but we were all there, and we all know it sucked balls. ‘Nuff said.
Followers know I like to pick a “word of the year” to guide my mindfulness and meditations, a sentiment or notion to circle back to on those days when I’ve lost my “oomph” or need a little brain-trick to stay on the path of health and wellness I have chosen for myself. Past words have included “change,” “vibrance,” and last year, “sthira and sukha” (effort and ease).
This year got off to a rough start, with a difficult Christmas holiday spent with my parents. We all got the Vid, and on top of that, Pa was hospitalized due to a sodium imbalance caused by alcoholism; and my mother’s dementia, in addition to the damage she suffered after her stroke decades ago, is now undeniable.
Their medical challenges are at least partially because of habitual daily drinking, and the negative effects I started to notice a few years ago on their minds and moods, was one of the reasons I quit drinking in 2017.
I haven’t really picked a “word of the year” yet, other than having NETWORKING very forward on my mind, but I’m going to write a book about my decision to quit using alcohol, one that will hopefully persuade you to do so too.
I feel grateful that I have grown enough as a writer over the past few years that, instead of having to work on motivating myself to write, I have created sustainable habits–daily journaling, meditation, regular blogging and fresh content–to support the following achievable commitments:
- Three months to write an outline and submit book proposal;
- Network with my fellow author friends and publishing contacts to do a formal book deal;
- Finish the book by the end of year.
I have been practicing behavioral modification for the last couple of years. One of the reframing techniques I use is identifying when I am suffering from cognitive dissonance, which is just a fancy way of saying, “moments when my behavior and my thoughts are not aligned.”
Because I’ve had other careers, including working as in-house counsel at Fortune 500s through the dotcom era, I have always treated my writing as a “hobby” instead of a job. This is the year this changes.
In my quest for clean living, I’m actively seeking natural ways to get more dopamine hits, and the feeling I got when my first book, The Ecstatic Pessimist: Stories of Hope (Mostly) was published, rates right up there on my internal satisfaction scale. It’s a feeling worth chasing! Every time I see my book, I get a little thrill. As I was journaling this morning, I realized I can replicate that feeling more often if I churn out more books. Go me!
Years ago, before I got cancelled for my views on gun control, I worked with locally-known New Hampshire journalist and historian, John Clayton. He said something in a workshop that’s always stuck with me. He sold his first story for a nominal amount when he was still in high school. Fine. But the important part was he told himself he would never publish anything for which he was not remunerated. As I shift more seriously into writing career path, I am going to apply this to my own life going forward.
Of course, I will still blog and write for the sake of communicating important ideas, but I will also seek to monetize my efforts… Which is just my way of saying: writing is no longer a hobby, it is a calling for which I want and deserve to get paid.
A friend asked me what my secrets were to my 50 lbs weight loss and other positive lifestyle changes. Here’s my reply:
1. Alcohol: I quit drinking in Dec 2017, and for me, that was a big part of the success story, but mostly bc I was drinking a lot of wine daily, and those calories added up… Also, wasn’t making the best food/life decisions when sauced up.
2. Eating out: I don’t eat out much anymore, and when I do, I usually just get a salad with some kind of protein. Not eating out is mostly bc my home cooked meals are better than 99% of local restaurants, and I’ve gotten REALLY fussy about where my food is sourced. So that’s mostly a personal choice, but I know people who can balance the eating out and keto quite successfully, but you have to be willing to be particular when you place your order (and that’s OK).
3. What’s in the house/microwaving: We did a serious PURGE of our pantry when we switched. Threw out/donated anything that is not supposed to cross our lips. This is an important step. Trust me… My parents came to visit, and my dad put some Pringles in the pantry, and for me, it was like having crack in the house and I ended up eating IT ALL, LOL, and then reminding myself that I can’t have stuff like that around… So my pantry has a million types of NUTS instead.
The crux of my journey–everyone’s is different–but mine was about getting unhealthy ADDICTIONS out of my life. Ones I wasn’t even willing to admit to myself were addictions: Sugar, carbs, alcohol, negative/nihilistic people–I’m working on digital minimalism now (less screen time)…
So to answer your question about “a normal life,” you have to ask yourself what is “normal”? Is society’s definition of “normal” what YOU want, or is what society accepts as “OK” really unhealthy/less than optimal/possibly not what you want or need to be your best YOU? I no longer take my cues from what’s “normal” but rather from: What do **I** want?
I want to be healthy long-term and have an excellent quality of living, which means **I** have to WORK AT IT BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE CAN DO IT FOR ME. I want to look my best for my age. I want to EMBODY a life free of as much statism as I can muster, which means eliminating the toxic stuff that is regarded as “normal” in our lives, but that isn’t normal, acceptable, or good for us…
Like the Standard American Diet (SAD!) and the entire middle part of a grocery store…
The other major change I made is getting enough sleep–we read in bed and are asleep by 10pm, and up around 5am.
Three books I found inspiring: This Naked Mind; Girl, Wash Your Face; and Bright Line Eating.
But, I’ll tell you the secret of my success: STICKING TO THE PROGRAM.
When I stopped making exceptions, and stopped “negotiating” with myself (which created a lot of cyclical/negative mind-talk) and just DID THE RIGHT THINGS, it became EASY. THAT’S how you form new and better habits. (I even stopped biting my nails–after 45 years!)
Now, getting to a place where you can do that, isn’t so easy, but those three books will lead you in the right direction. The other thing is once you get your hormones/sugar levels in balance and are eating right, you genuinely don’t get hungry/cravings anymore, and it all gets pretty awesome, easy and ends up simply being how you live and are.
In other words: *YOU* CONTROL HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE AND IT IS A DAILY CHOICE, SO CHOOSE WISELY. Keep me posted and GOOD LUCK! I’m proof positive it works!
Ep. 3 Three F-Words: Pfizer, Fauci, and Fasting (The Carla Gericke Show 10/20/21)
This week, I get into the corporatism we are seeing with regard to Pfizer and the legacy news, whether it rises to the level of fascism yet, and how fasting can make you feel great and when you are working to enhance your health, who cares about medical tyranny?!? (I do!)
TCGS Iterations and Improvements:
- I designed a brief intro on Canva, using photos I designed with Prima, set to some background musak. I like the intro design enough that I will work to improve upon it, but I don’t like the music and will need to figure out something new there going forward.
- A volunteer came to help me improve the quality of my Facebook Livestream. Something went wrong. The audio was totally awful, as one comment asked: “Are you speaking from inside a hurricane???” I’m not sure what went wrong, but here are a few takeaways: a. Still do your own ghetto recording in portrait that everyone complains about because… it’s better than nothing!
b. Several of you are watching and rooting me on, so THANK YOU! and c. We are all still learning, things will go wrong, and that’s OK. Next time will be better! Hopefully!
- The same volunteer–thank you, Chris Silk!–mentioned how not great Joe Rogan’s original podcasts were. It is important to remember, we all start somewhere! Onwards and upwards!
- I posted this on Facebook when I shared Ep. 3: “This makes me happy for many reasons, but mostly because everything in this frame looks like the “picture in my head”–including me! When I was young, I was… a… handful. If you think I have a lot of bubbly energy now that I’m approaching 50, imagine tweeny-Carla. Yeah. I don’t recall who it was, but I was definitely shut down often enough as a child with remarks like: “Pipe down! What? Do you think you’re starring in The Carla Gericke Show?” Well, yes, Dream Crusher, f-you, I damn-well *AM*. And YOU, my friend, are playing the starring role in YOUR LIFE! Make it what you want it. It’s literally up to YOU. Many hours went into reclaiming my health and retooling my life to take the leap to finally start this show. Candidly, TCGS is still very much an amateur train-wreck waiting to become something FANTABULOUS, but here is what I do know: You can’t get from here to there if you don’t know where you are going, and once you do, you still need all the baby steps in-between. Big goals are only accomplished by breaking them down into smaller chunks and then doing the work. Whether it is dropping that first or last pound, or going an extra hour on a fast, or deciding surely someone, somewhere wants to hear libertarian lifestyle news from an African-American immigrant refugee seeking political asylum in the Free State of New Hampshire–/surely/–you need to relish all the small wins along the way that lead YOU to YOUR Big Picture. Identify ONE goal that YOU want to accomplish before the end of the year. What is ONE step you can take TODAY to put you on the path to getting there? What are two more you can do this week or before the end of the month? Whether you want to be more present with the people you love, or maybe you want to tackle a home-keep project, whatever it is, find something YOU KNOW you will be happier for having accomplished, and then… DO IT! It really is as simple as one step at a time… After all, my book The Ecstatic Pessimist was written one word at a time! Feel free to share a goal you are working on in the comments below… And, saying you want to be a future guest on The Carla Gericke Show is 100% totes allowed!”
Imagine if the CDC and the legacy media had spent the past year actually trying to make people well. A friend responded with, “There’s never any profit in a ‘Cure’ only the treatments.
My response: “My supplement and farm stall expenses belie that statement! 😛 Actually, in a truly the free market, this problem wouldn’t exist because the best solutions would be able to rise to the top. Instead, we have cronyism between the legacy media and Big Pharma. I don’t watch those junk channels anymore, but if I catch them when traveling, I’m amazed at the pharma ads touting all kinds of crap.
You can heal many, many ailments by:
1. changing your diet (high good fats, medium protein, low carb and eliminating processed food),
2. being mindful about your choices, and
3. sticking to a routine that keeps you on track.
Sadly, people have been conditioned to think there’s an “easy fix” instead of understanding the journey of keeping your corpus healthy IS PART OF LIVING RIGHT.”