The Path is Too Deep

In the fitness industry, the term "Stack" refers to the specific combination of supplements a person takes. Usually, this is sold as a shortcut to results. I have a different view. My supplements are not "Health." They are Gap Fillers . Ideally, I would get every micro-nutrient from my food. But the reality is that modern soil is depleted, and at 53, my absorption rates aren't what they were at 20. I treat my supplement routine as a "Gap Analysis." I only consume compounds that perform a specific job that my diet cannot fulfill. Here is a transparency report on my current "Stack" and the ROI (Return on Investment) of each. 1. The Traffic Controllers (Vitamin D3 + K2) Living in Canada, Vitamin D deficiency is standard operating procedure. But taking Vitamin D alone is a rookie mistake. The Job: Vitamin D3 helps your body absorb Calcium. The Gap: Without Vitamin K2 , that Calcium doesn't know where to go. It can end up in your arteries ...

 When I tell people I fast for 22 hours a day (OMAD - One Meal A Day), the usual reaction is concern. "Aren't you starving yourself?" I have to correct the terminology. Starvation is a state of extreme, prolonged, and severe deficiency in caloric energy intake. Fasting is the strategic absence of food to force the body to switch fuel sources. But the benefits go far beyond burning fat. The real magic - and the reason I don't have quite as much loose skin as a man who lost a significant amount of weight should - is a biological process called Autophagy . Literally translated from Greek, it means "Self-Eating." The "Busy Kitchen" Metaphor Imagine a busy restaurant kitchen. If the restaurant is open 24 hours a day (grazing/snacking), the staff is constantly cooking and serving. They never have time to deep clean the grease traps, repair the broken stove, or take out the trash. The kitchen eventually becomes filthy and inefficient. When you stop eati...

When most people hear "Blockchain," they think of Bitcoin , bored apes , and volatile stock charts. But as a Manager of Quality and Compliance, when I look at the Blockchain, I don't see money. I see the ultimate Audit Log. At its core, my job is about establishing the "Single Source of Truth." If a student says they took a course, I need verifiable proof. If a food label says "Organic," you need to trust the certifier. Blockchain eliminates the need for "Trust." It replaces trust with Verification . The Google Sheet Metaphor Imagine a shared spreadsheet, like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Centralized (The Bank): The Bank owns the file. They can edit it, delete rows, or freeze your access. You have to trust them . Decentralized (The Blockchain): Imagine a spreadsheet that is duplicated across 10,000 computers instantly. The Rule: You can add a row (a transaction), but you can never delete or edit a row. The Security: To hack it, you...

There is a famous quote often attributed to Teddy Roosevelt: "Comparison is the thief of joy." In the age of Instagram and "Transformation Tuesdays," this thief is working overtime. It is easy to scroll through your feed, see someone who dropped 10 pounds in a week while you have been stalled for a month, and feel a sudden crash in your own morale. But for #MindsetMonday , I want to go deeper than a bumper sticker. I want to look at a line from my favorite piece of prose, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann (1927). "If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." This is not just poetry; it is a logic gate. It describes two distinct system failures: Vain: You compare yourself to someone "lesser" (someone struggling more than you) to inflate your ego. This is false confidence. Bitter: You compare yourself to someone "greater" (someone losing weight faster) t...

In software development and project management, we moved away from the " Waterfall " method years ago. We realized that planning a massive, year-long project in advance was a recipe for failure because life is unpredictable. Instead, we use Agile . We work in short bursts called "Sprints" (usually 1-2 weeks), and at the end of every sprint, we hold a Retrospective . Most people treat their health like a Waterfall project. They set a New Year's Resolution (the plan) and then blindly grind away for 12 months, rarely stopping to assess if the plan is actually working. As a Manager of Quality, I run my life in one-week Sprints. Every Sunday, I hold a personal "Sprint Retrospective." I ask three specific questions to debug my operating system. 1. What Went Well? (The "Keep" Pile) First, we analyze the wins. You need to identify what variables contributed to success so you can duplicate them. Data Point: "I hit my protein goal 7/7 days."...

Way back in my fifth post  ( Our “Second Brain” ) , I discussed the critical data link between the gut and the brain. We know that 90% of our Serotonin is manufactured in the digestive tract, not the head. If you are suffering from "Brain Fog," anxiety, or inflammation, the root cause is often a corrupted database in the gut microbiome. The standard response is to buy a $60 bottle of Probiotic capsules. Being involved in quality assurance and regulatory affairs, I have to issue a warning: Most of those capsules are " Vaporware ." They often contain strains that are dead on arrival, or simply pass through the system without establishing residency. To truly patch the system, we need to look at the original preservation technology: Fermentation. Tourists vs. Settlers Think of your gut like a colonized planet. Probiotic Pills are tourists. They drop in, look around, and leave. They rarely colonize the gut wall. Fermented Foods (Sauerkraut and Kimchi for instance) ar...

One of the common objections I hear regarding the Ketogenic lifestyle is: "I can't afford to eat that way. Healthy food is too expensive." In an era of rising grocery inflation, this is a valid concern. If you try to replicate a standard diet using "Keto-Branded" products (keto cookies, keto bread, keto ice cream), you will indeed bankrupt yourself. However, for this  #FoodieFriday , I want to run a cost-benefit analysis on the actual protocol I follow. When you strip away the marketing and focus on the raw materials, eating "Clean Keto" is often cheaper than the Standard American Diet. Here is how I apply a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) mentality to my grocery list. 1. Protein Arbitrage (The Ground Beef Standard) There is a myth that Keto means eating Ribeye steaks every night. While I enjoy a steak, it is a luxury, not a strategy. My workhorse protein is Lean Ground Beef . The Math: A "Club Pack" of ground beef often costs 50–60% less per...