Skip to main content

The Tao of Low Carb

Readers may be familiar with the Tao Te Ching, a classical Chinese text of philosophy. It has some common themes with stoicism--to live in harmony with nature, to not be concerned with things outside your control. It reminds me of Bible verses about a soft answer turning away wrath and the meek inheriting the earth; of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's work on flow. Maybe that's as dull as watching the grass grow, but I'd rather do that than bang my head on my desk.

From Verse 38.
The Master does nothing
yet he leaves nothing undone.
The ordinary man is always doing things
yet many more are left to be done.

Or as we say here and now, the faster I go, the behinder I get. My own experience is that once I started low-carb, I spent a lot less time exercising and cooking and got better results--twenty pounds of fat and a bunch of health problems, gone.

From Verse 58.
Try to make people happy,
and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral,
and you lay the groundwork for vice.

How much misery have well-meaning low-fat, whole-grain guidelines caused? How many people will look at calorie counts and get the most calories for their money? (I'm one of them.) How much guilt do people feel when they can't stick to diets that slow down their metabolism or leave them hungry? (I'm not one of them. I've never felt guilty for eating anything. Regret at times, but not guilt.)

From Verse 63:
Confront the difficult while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.

Keep track of your weight or your size often, and nip weight gain in the bud. If it's too late to nip it in the bud, you can still build good habits and watch your body's response.

Other readers may be familiar with the book The Tao of Warren Buffett. Buffett is no paragon of healthy eating, but he's very smart--especially about what a person shouldn't do. I think he's funny, too; maybe that we're both ISTJs (at least, he's thought to be that type) has something to do with it.

No. 18: My idea of a group decision is to look in the mirror. 

True on a couple of levels. Looking in the mirror (especially naked) doesn't leave much room for self-deception about your size and fitness. But more importantly, going by your own results is better than following experts, friends or family who don't have to live with ill effects of diets they recommend for you.

No. 16: It's not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.

Much of the good results are from what you don't eat and don't do on LC. Sorry, Jillian Michaels.

No. 57: Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

Sad to say, but many doctors are like barbers.

No. 61: There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.

Scientific shenanigans, anyone?

No. 28: Managing your career is like investing--the degree of difficulty does not count. So you can save yourself money and pain by getting on the right train.


Comments

More haste less speed is an everyday saying that often comes into play. If you want to do something right, allow yourself time to do it. If it should go wrong take a deep breath and try again. I find this works on most everyday type challenges that may come your way. Of course some problems may require more time to try and sort out.

With the weekend fast approaching - hope you have a good one.

All the best Jan
tess said…
thanks a lot, Lori (sarcasm alert) -- now i have to add two more books to my backlogged reading list! ;-)

(really, i should have read Ching's Tao a long time ago.)
Lori Miller said…
I'm surprised you want to read a book on Warren Buffett. That said, it had me literally laughing out loud last night.
RobS said…
Wow lao tzu, flow, buffet and low carb intertwined? Great post.

Popular posts from this blog

Fasting blood sugar & insulin have crept up!

It's pretty bad when even conventional medicine thinks your blood sugar is high. I had lab tests done last week, as I do every year, and saw things were going in the wrong direction. Photo from Pixabay . Uh-oh.  Ideal blood sugar is about 70-90. Your blood sugar can be high because you're stressed or ill, but I felt OK. I can't blame it on cortisol, which was smack in the middle of the normal range. And my A1c, which reflects blood sugar over the past few months, shows that whatever is going on has been happening for a while. My insulin is more than double what it should be. Oddly, my triglycerides, which typically indicate carb consumption, were good.  I don't have an explanation for the triglycerides. I should have suspected something was wrong, though. I've felt very tired and a little sad for the past few months. Unlike many people with higher than ideal blood sugar and insulin, I had only gained about three pounds.  Regardless of my good weight and triglyceride...

Interview: The Microbiome's Effect on Almost Everything

Mark L. Cannon, DDS, MS joins Bret Weinstein of the Darkhorse Podcast for a discussion about the oral microbiome and its downstream effects on everything from acne to Alzheimer’s. Dr. Cannon is a pediatric dentist and professor of otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat medicine). It's an hour and 44 minutes, but well worth your time. Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjkOgCXiMeE

Dana Carpender's Podcast; Dr. Davis on YouTube; Labor Day Sales

Dana Carpender, who's written several recipe books and other works on low-carb, has a podcast and is still writing articles at carbsmart.com. She's a terrific writer and amateur researcher (otherwise known as reading , as Jimmy Dore jokes ). I use her book 500 Low-Carb Recipes all the time and I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I've embedded her podcast on my blog (click on the three lines at the top right if you don't see it, or go to Spotify or other podcast source if you're getting this by email). Carbsmart.com doesn't seem to have a blog feed, so if you want to see the latest posts there, you can sign up for notifications at their site. Dr. Davis has been putting a lot more videos on YouTube, so I've added his channel to the lineup. Click on the three lines on my blog if you don't see it, or go to his channel here .  * * * * * Primal Kitchen is having a Labor Day sale-- 20% off everything. They sell high quality collagen powder, con...

YouTube invites creators back; says Biden pushed censorship on COVID and politics

Google, which owns YouTube, is inviting back creators it kicked off the platform for content about politics, elections, and COVID. Google says the Biden administration pressured them to censor this content, and now Europe is trying to force them to censor lawful content. Jim Jordan, Representative from Ohio, explains on X. Thread here .  Created with AI on ImageFX.  YouTube creators banned or suspended for COVID content (source: Grok). Click to enlarge. Rep. Jim Jordan @Jim_Jordan 2h • 15 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X 🚨BREAKING: Due to our oversight efforts, GOOGLE commits to offer ALL creators previously kicked off YouTube due to political speech violations to return to the platform. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL. Thread: YouTube also: -Admits the Biden Admin censorship pressure was “unacceptable and wrong” -Confirms that the Biden Admin wanted Americans censored for speech that did not violate YouTube’s policies -Details when YouTube began rolling back its censorship policies on p...

Infrared Light: How much is too much?

It's the sort of thing that sounds like quackery: a pad with tiny red LED lights and a few buttons that's supposed to help you heal, just $30 on ebay. I never would have bought it, but Dr. Davis gave a presentation on infrared light late in 2024. Since I was still suffering from achilles tendonitis after being floxxed , I decided to try it.  I wrapped it around my ankle and turned it on the lowest setting for five minutes. Nothing seemed to happen, but the next day, I wrote,  My tendonitis is GONE after one 5-minute treatment! I didn’t feel it doing anything, I didn’t think it was going to do anything (at least not that quickly), but for the first time in several months, I’ve gotten out of bed and started walking normally and didn’t have any pain reaching with my left arm. I'd been shuffling around like an 80-year-old woman after getting out of bed in the morning. The tendonitis returned, but it was improved. I eventually had physical therapy for it, and now, apart from a l...