Where your treasure lies, you will find your heart.

What you have no respect for you will lose.

If you can't keep a promise to yourself then you can't keep promises.

It takes the average 75 year old person 95% of their body strength to get out of a deep chair. The measure for placement in a old age home is the inability to walk 300 meters.

That is average. Be serious about your health. Put effort into it. The level of fitness you have now is a prediction of the fitness you will have in ten years. Plan, and train for the future. Laziness is punished by increased effort in every aspect of living. Pay now in effort, or pay later with pain and weakness. 

Dates and Pomegranate for your heart.

The Technion-Isreal Institute of technology did a study of two types of phenolic acids which individually reduced oxidative stress on the interior walls of arteries.  One was from Pomegranate,  and the other was from ground up dates  ( pit also).  They each were really effective one at a time, but combined, much better.

The prescription is: 120 ml. and 3 dates a day. If one can't grind up the pit, just eat the fruit. Both together work well as a preventative, and as a treatment.

If one has heard some difficult news from their doctor about the condition of their arteries,  or there is a history of heart problems in your family, then consider this remedy.

I wear my rose tinted sunglasses at night.

Wearing rose tinted glasses at night raises melatonin levels naturally.  There has been a lot of information lately about blue light from the TV and from tablets being a huge disrupter of circadian rhythm.

If one reads about all the implications of sleep disruption, then one realizes a huge negative influence in a modern lifestyle. That is blue light pollution at night.

The problem began to get serious when fluorescent, and led  lighting took over our environment.  No one makes old style lighting anymore. I believe it's outlawed.

Now because of light generation realities of led lighting, TV,  and tablets there is a much higher blue light pollution in our daily life.

This is a huge new problem in daily, and nightly life. It's big and if you love health and life it needs to be addressed.

Do you buy a huge reserve of incandescent lights? Do you revert back to plasma TV?  Do you use only grey scale tablets with three colors, grey, black, and grey-white?  Or just simply give up TV,  video games, and tablets and read paper media?

No you go and buy rose tinted shades ala Bono.

Wearing rose tinted glasses is a huge positive change one can make with little effort. 

Now let's bring the heat. Sweat. Hot Yoga. Sauna. Banyas.

If one has a mildly elevated blood pressure, Doctor's are going to begin to consider prescribing diuretics early. Hey lose water and you lower blood pressure. The volume of your blood changes.

Just sweat it out. Sweating aids in the removal of all the weird junk aging us faster from modern life. Like pesticides and heavy metals.

However today it's about saunas or steam rooms. They are not the same. Sauna is dry heat. Banyas or steam rooms are wet heat.

Medical research says dry heat is gentler on the body, and will actually result in more sweating because one can handle the experience better.

I've experienced both and I do like the steam better. It is hotter. But it's true that one can take the heat longer in the drier heat, and may very well sweat more volume of sweat.

The traditional Russian experience include drinking water or tea. From my reading that might not be enough. One needs electrolytes in the fluid replacement. And it should be warm not cold.

If you had to take a natural drink best suited for replacing sweat loss, it would be coconut water.  Also in health food stores there are non sugary electrolyte drinks.

Here is a recipe for a homemade drink. 32 ounces filtered water, 1 organic cucumber sliced thinly,  1 orange sliced the same way, 1 lemon sliced, and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or Endure performance electrolyte drops.

Drink a glass before beginning,  and afterwards.  Not cold! Room temp is fine. It would be excellent if the mix was shaken up, then  allowed to steep for few hours.

Make it a peaceful experience. A meditation.

There is brown fat, and there is white fat.

Now I've prepared my share of meat back in the day, and I never noticed any form of fat but the white type. Well my experience must be misleading because I have read quite a bit about brown fat and it's role in body temperature regulation.

Most people are so obsessed with comfort that I expect their  need for brown fat is little. However brown fat is found in healthy people, not in diabetics. How does one stimulate brown fat creation?

By being uncomfortable.  By being cold to the point of shivering. If you swim in cold water, and I mean a vigorous pace of effort for 15 minutes, you will do yourself a lot of good.

You will be able to handle temperature shock to the downside.  Your brown fat tissue will protect you.

Babies are born with 5 % of their body weight as brown fat. That's because when they are real little they cannot shiver. They need the powerful temperature protection brown fat gives.

Pure water isn't a given.  Not even from the store. Perhaps especially not from the store. Most store water is simply run through a filter to take out chlorine and sulphur.  That is only for taste, not health. Then it's stored in plastic jugs, often left outside in the sun for weeks.

Sheryl  Crow followed Lance Armstrong around during his racing days with bottled water by the case sitting in her car in the summer sun for weeks.

For her loyalty she developed breast cancer. She is certain it was the high levels of BPA  she consumed in the water from the plastic bottles.  Of course Lance dumped her when she was sick.

I use Zero Water system to filter drinking water at home. It came with a water tester. The advertising in Amazon sold me. I bought 2. One for Russia, and one for my place in the US.  Water taste fine to me.

One caveat though, both of my pitchers leaked. So I keep an all glass bottle for drinking. 

Us Southern folk never heard of a root cellar. But our Northern Great Grand Folk sure knew. That was the small room under the floor hidden by a trap door.

A lot of people living in cold climates all over the world got by all winter on root vegetables.

The nutrition in those vegetables had to count. And the best way to squeeze every bit of nutrition from raw root vegetables is to combine them with eggs.

Vegetables eaten with eggs are up to 9 times more nutritious than with just oil.

Think about it. Mayonnaise is mostly eggs and oil. Just add the eggs and save on the portion size. That is for raw vegetables.  But I'm sure cooked benefits also. 

Allergies: what you can do.

If one goes to a MD with an allergy that you wish to reverse. He is going to put you in for a time consuming and painful ride. He is going to provide you with epinephrine shots. And hand you over to a specialist who is going to test you for everything.

Soon you'll have a list of foods that you should stay away from.

What if you could explore a different way?

There is a study that shows an improvement in severe peanut sensitivity challenged individuals.

The Murdoch children research center just (Like today it was published) did a study on 30 allergic to peanut children. They gave the children a daily dose of peanut protein together with a probiotic in ever increasing amounts over an 18 month period.

At the end 80% of the children could eat peanuts with no reaction. The probiotic was lactobacillis rhamnosus.  The amount taken was equal to 45 lbs. of yogurt. A day.

A more prestigious study found that the probiotic clostridia also shielded against allergic reactions. Clostridia can be bought through Amazon. The product is Advanced Ortho molecular Research probiotics.

If the interrelationship between probiotics and allergies is true. And research is in the process of proving it. Then antibiotic avoidance is even more important. 

You are when you eat.

Natural bodybuilders know that fasting in the hours before sleep generates more active and accurate endocrine responses to exercise.

Not everyone can do this. People with hypoglycemia,  diabetes,  in fact sugar problems in general probably shouldn't.

But for those who's health allows a short fast everyday, should try.

Briefly if one can do this, then their health probably is not too bad. And if then they do the short fast everyday they simply do not age like others. A fast is like a reset button for many body rhythms,  sugar sensitivity,  and immune issues.

Yes excellent relief of painful symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis occurs with this plan of eating.

This is a metabolic action plan designed to counter aging. It is commercialized as 'The Warriors Diet plan'. 

There are foods, and there are superfoods. Broccoli sprouts are a superfood.

To understand this food one should appreciate the reason one takes it.

For the Sulforaphane.  This is the one natural antioxident that occurs naturally that universities and drug companies tried to sue existing farmers of it to stop their production of it. The only natural, preexisting commonly grown plant that was the object of a suit to stop unauthorized growing. That's extreme.

The reason why is that it's freaking effective. Too effective to widely known about in a capitalist medical system.

Here is what it has been shown to be clinically effective for by peer reviewed medical journals.

Type 2 diabetes. Cancer. Autism. And more.

About Autism.  There is only one substance proven by real science to be an effective treatment for Autism, and that would be Sulforaphane.

The blackout on information about this treatment is in the medical schools. But however if a doctor would take the time to review current literature,  he (or she) would know to prescribe it.

You can find it at many grocery stores in the sprout section under broccoli  sprouts.  It's between 50 and 100 times more potent than broccoli by weight. 

Update on vitamin d. I just found out that moderate sun exposure can give you a vitamin d dose of between 10,000, and 20,000 units a day. And 4000 units a day causes prostrate cancer shrinkage. So taking more than I recommended earlier seems fine.

Food sources of vitamin d3 are fatty fish, sardines, cheese, and egg yolks.

So get a little sun. Get some in food. Take a supplement. I would stay under 4,000 units a day on the supplements. Take with fat.

If you're big pharma, and you have a cash cow, what would it look like? It would be a fatal disease that is expensive to cure with drugs.

Ideally the cure should take years.

You would not be interested in prevention of said disease.  Again it's all about the cure.

A little over a year ago I read of an amazing cocktail based on natural foods that were shrinking breast cancer tumors by 80% in a short amount of time. I didn't find this information on a health oriented site. It was written in a peer reviewed journal.  And I saw it in a site that chooses articles from only peer reviewed journals.

The article has been removed.

The point was made in the article that this cocktail did not require massive doses, but one should not omit any component.

Now the reader should know that one component is no longer easily available. It is called lunasin. It can be bought but it's just expensive.

Here are the fab five.

Lunasin
Reservatrol
green tea extract
tumeric
Sulforaphane (ingredient found in broccoli,  Brussel sprouts, cabbage)

If you have cancer in your family history, this sounds like a good idea. Find them and take them all together twice a day in normal amounts.

Hey its better than cutting off various pieces of your body. Amiright? 

All organic dairy isn't the same. Similarly all organic meat isn't the same.

It's all in how the animal is fed. Simply put, you shouldn't feed an animal food it's stomach isn't designed to handle. That would be feeding them grain when their optimal food is grass they get by being free range.

The fat profiles of free range dairy, and free range meat are completely different and healthier for you than grain fed animals. Even if the grain is organic.

The bad Kharma of feeding an animal food that makes them ill every day of their short life, is passed on to you in fats with poor lipid profiles.

Look for pasture raised animal products. Not just organic.

Beware of your gut. Gut health could be the biggest problem you don't know you have.

Two things impact your gut health. Diet, and antibiotics.

If you want to eat meat, or use dairy products, you have to go with organic. It's the only way you can deal with this problem.

You will add your voice to the power of the marketplace.

It's not just the colitis, the irritable bowel syndrome,  the colon cancer,  that you might face with bad gut bacteria.

It's the type 2 diabetes,  the leaky blood brain barrier, the MS, and attention deficit disorder.

The problem is real, and knocking over people all around you. People are obese from sugar cravings not their own.

Not to mention the environmental disaster of growing it. The displacement of native peoples.

Just a logical extention of the evil that was Nazi Germany.  

What has happened to us?

Sugar happened.

 Before all the Nazis paid off the Allied command and began sugar farms as big as states in South America with the money they pillaged,  sugar was reasonably rare.

When people made sweets they used honey. So why is it better?  After all it's sucrose like corn syrup.  And everyone is up in arms about that. It raises blood sugar same as sugar. So why am I into eating honey for any sweetening needs of my recipes?

If I was a diabetic I would be cautious for sure.

Truth is if you are like the 3000 or so Americans whose blood work was followed in a research study, your body reacts differently to honey long term.

Your blood work would show lower cholesterol,  with a higher ratio of HDL to LDL. In fact every ratio including triglycerides would be optimal.

That's why I substitute it for all sugar needs including coffee. And I feel no guilt.

Beans. Beans. What is more basic? I like baked style beans. I make it with honey, hot sauce, touch of mustard, and tumeric.
Now if we're talking chili, I sort of make that also. It's something I make with ground beef that resembles chili.
And of course black bean soup. Mostly I make the baked bean style.

Even out of a can beans moderate blood sugar, like lintels. One cup will give one 5 times what the average person gets in a day in fiber.  And yes you can sweeten with honey, and have the fiber more than compensate whatever fructose (honey) you make it with.

I have a portion of either beans or lintels everyday.

Lentils are the oldest food around. It has been a staple of early man for 8000 years. Every army that were world conquerors ate lentils. I'm talking Greeks, Romans, the Mongols, and even the Muslim Ottoman.

This is the real warrior's diet. This with Barley comprised the Roman Gladiator's diet also. Interestingly when a warrior died, they burned him, then afterwards drank his ashes for mineral content. No waste there.

I make a pot once a week.  I eat it over a bed of buckwheat kasha. Soak it overnight. Put it into already boiling water. They will be more tender.

Most people I know eat way too much fruit, and not enough lentils.

Fish is good for you.

If.

It is wild caught. Not too large. Here where I live in Russia they must love sardines because they have a lot of variety on the shelves. One stands out. It's packaged in a glass bottle. That's what I get.

Now salmon I buy frozen, wild caught of course.  I make a Thai style ginger sauce, and nest it in a bed of chopped cauliflower and onions.

I'm a one trick pony. It's the only recipe I like for fish that I know how to make. But I get rave reviews. 

So what's the problem with gaining weight easy? Looking at this with the 'the glass half full' goggles, there are plusses to being able to maintain weight on a small amount of calories.

The body is running slower, perhaps at a pace for long life.

That is the only plus that comes to mind. It's enough for me.

Natural bodybuilders know that for a youthful endocrine 'squirt ' you shouldn't be eating carbs late. I pay attention to them because they arrived at their expertise by earning it with trial and error.

In the Warriors diet, all calories should be consumed early with a fast before bedtime.

It's what I try to do. 

Bone broth. Serious stuff for pain free life.

Knew a vegetarian once who fell and busted up his knee. Is was hard on him because he was young, and it was his first experience with an injury which just wouldn't heal.

They were newly married and they didn't have a car. They didn't have to climb too many step to get to their apartment, but there were a few. He didn't complain.

I asked him whether it was more important to be a vegetarian or to get well.

He just began to eat the broth in a borscht I made. Yes the was some meat in it.

Since I was close with his wife he came often, and when he did I always had a soup made with my special broth waiting.

In a matter of weeks, he felt his knee renewing,  and pain turning into healing pain. In a matter of months the knee was no longer discussed, and I noticed he stopped eating the broth. No limping, and he seemed fine. Fact.

Bone broth is a soup making tradition from every corner of the world. Traditions are important as they remind us that the old way was less wasteful,  and complemented our genetic heritage.

Bone broth takes time, and deserves a place on your table. 

When the Russian people celebrate army day, they gather is a large place where they partake of traditional military food. That would be buckwheat kasha.

During the Great Patriotic War (WW2) two armies fought and marched in bitter cold.

The German army fought with meals often consisting of two things: beans and sugar. The Russian army on Buckwheat kasha.

Buckwheat kasha is a complete protein. Beans are not, and sugar is useless.

Over time the Germans suffered nutritional deficiencies which hampered their war effort.

The Russians had the advantage nutrition wise.

Buckwheat is my go to food.

A word on preparation.  Pre soak for 24 hours in the fridge.  On top of being a superfood, one can turn the starch into RS3 type starch. Put a lot of water to soak. Way more than for beans. Then cook to boiling. Simmer only just a bit. Then cool and refrigerate. This turns it into super duper food.

This is not traditional Russian style. This is guided by my research into the chemistry of RS3 formation.

I had to give up commercial nut butters because they often screw it up with trans fats and sugar. Which sucks. Shame. (Shaking my finger)

Certainly the 15 dollar (2015) organic almond butter is fine, but I prefer walnut chopped bits. I toast a little of that real black German or Russian rye bread. Slather some honey on it while hot from toasting, and sprinkle an handful of chopped walnuts on it. With a touch of salt.

That and a cup of coffee with real organic cream. I'm good for breakfast.

It's a luxury to be healthy and alive. I appreciate the wonderful gift of life and I treasure it.

Walnuts have been shown to support healthy active sperm. Remember the biological imperative.  If you can't make copies, you will be taken off the board.

Quercetin is a flavonoid,  it's usually the red color in onions, grapes, wine, berries, and apples. It's a super supplement. It's pricey, can cause stomach upset on an empty stomach. Some people say it gives them a caffeine like buzz.

If you take raw buckwheat and make a tea, you can get a good dose.

It is a cancer fighter, inflammation fighter, and all around athletic performance enhancer.  I feel it, I take it only in the recommended amounts with food.

Tumeric is a super supplement.  I take it with food. Have to include fats with it or it isn't as useful. Can cause stomach upset. But you need it.

It's an awesome cancer fighter. Inflammation fighter as well. I add it to stews, baked beans, tomato sauced based Italian.  Find a way to add it to anything with a bit of healthy fat. Bad gut bacteria hate it.

If you like curry,  you're there. 

Hu Shu Wu is the oldest known supplement.

Back in the day Chinese were over run periodically by just about every neighboring warlord. One thing they all had in common was that they all felt that they were too great to die. One of the reasons for conquering this vast country was for the secret of immortality.

So they would round up all the monks, old men, and whoever the neighbors would like to rat out.

They threatened them with pain, death, and whatever. No one knew anything.

Finally they found this guy named Ho Shu Wu who was supposed to be 256 years old. (The number varies). He had black hair and seemed a healthy middle aged person. Considering he would be dead if he didn't,  he was glad to tell them the secret.

The secret was this herb. And yes he would take the royal physician to the plants.

The physician watched the man prepare a tea and drink it. The conquering Emperor observed the man drinking the tea, and ordered his physician to drink it also. In a few months the hair of the physician began to turn dark and young looking. And thicker also.

The Emperor impressed tried it also, and after a while, his hair also changed.

Ho Shu Wu now a favorite person, dissapeared.  Probably because darkening of hair is not immortality, and if he want to keep his real secret to immortality, and his life, he needed to dissappear.

It was a good thing I never took it for its hair darkening quality, because I would have been disappointed.  My hair is mostly grey.

I take it because intuitively I feel my body wants it.

The only vitamin I take is D3. Right now I take a 1000 units a day. It is taken with meals as you need a little fat with it. There is a sweet spot with this vitamin. Anything over 10000 Units per day and mortality rates climb. Anything less than a thousand and mortality rates climb.

The Government guidelines for taking this Vitamin is 700 units. Take it. Supports proper immune function. Usually I'm careful with the immune system because it's a complicated black box I don't understand. I do know if it's overactive it can make your life not worth living. You know, arthritis,  lupus,  inflammation.  So many preparations advertise 'revs up the immune system'.  No thanks.

Last thing I read on Reservatrol was that people were taking too high doses of it. The amount of it in red wine is really small yet the dose seems to be effective. There is also research that says claims of the effectiveness of the supplement is overblown.

I take the precursor.  That is grape seed extract. I follow the instructions: One cap twice a day.  

Herbal solutions take time. Supplements should be taken in amounts that match what one would take in a diet.

Rosemary should be taken twice a day. It supports the healing of varicose vein damage. It heals and protects the eye from damage to the retina.  To the point where it has clinical applications in general medicine.

I thought this was because of its known ability as an antioxident. Yes it is but in a way that changes the cell's ability to thicken walls, create protective enzymes against free radical injury. This is way more interesting than other anti oxidants.

It's part of my regimen,  and I add it to my food as an herb.

There is a raw food that specifically is beneficial to blood vessels. That would be beets. Yes raw red beets juiced, or in a salad. I grate them and eat them as a salad with garlic olive oil and mayo. Beets are an antifungal vegetable. Also it boosts levels of nitric oxide gas in blood. That expands vessels.

Better circulation, better micro nutrition.  Stands to reason right?

In my own experience I noticed quite an improvement in endurance. Perhaps because the blood flow is better. Actually upon reading some scientific literature about the performance increases in world class athletes upon drinking beet juice, I added it to my must eat foods.

Anything that improves circulation I'm interested in trying.

It is interesting to note that nitric oxide is the ingredient that Viagra  uses to give men erections.

Like all things about health. Everything in moderation.

You should know that your urine will be pink, and so will your stool. 

In my case just knowing that my behavior, hunger, and cravings was not my own, made me better able to say no to sugar and simple starches.

Never forget, every spoonful of sugar harms you in your deepest places.

I decided to fight for my life, and my enjoyment of that life.

But have a plan. First is clean out your house of offending foods. Then make a meal plan of protein and some fats only. Buy a pre cooked chicken. Have some eggs and cheese handy. Bad gut bacteria can't eat those things. Do this for two days. On the third day you will be craving sugar and starches. The meat won't be what you want. It was OK for a few days, but.
Gut it out for another day.

While you are trying for the second day.  Soak Japonica rice in water for 24 hours in water in the refrigerator. Then cook it. Place again in the refrigerator for 8 hours or more. The rice has become a resistant starch.

More exactly a RS3 form of resistant starch.  This is a starch that has cross linked chemical bonds and is indigestible to you and the bad gut bacteria.

What does this mean? Does it taste different?

It means fewer calories for you, and big trouble for the bad gut bacteria.  And yes it tastes exactly the same.

When you first eat it you think how you really missed carbohydrates.  But for some reason you'll want less of it. You'll feel full sooner. Your body knows.

Including RS3 starches in your diet will slowly change over your gut. If you are a busy person hire a personal chef to prepare your meals. RS3 diet takes planning, and knowledge.  If you don't have it, hire it. 

A new player in the hunger game has been around longer than humans have had stomachs for them to live in.
The player is the bacteria that live in your gut.

If you cultivate these bacteria with a steady diet of white sugar outside of the body, then suddenly try to change their diet, they excrete hormones.

So what are the purpose of these hormones?

Now if you inject them into a rat's  intestines, you'll find an abrupt feeding behavior change. The rat begins to crave the exact diet of white sugar the bacteria was raised with.

That rat is you.
Gut bacteria nutured with white foods send out signals forcing unatural cravings for those foods when you try to stop eating them.

So then the question is.

What intellegence do I need to deal with this unexpected adversary? 

Be kind to yourself. When you last made a mistake what were your words to yourself? We're you repeating harsh and negative words you heard as a small child?

Before you apply your will, realize you are stalking victory. You need intellegence.  You need a plan. You need intent focus. More focus on intellegence gathering means easier success in what you are trying to do.

A worthy goal is to stop eating sugar, and all 'white' foods. White foods are simple carbohydrates like white rice, potatoes,  white flour, pasta, white bread.

This actually is very hard to do. Just stop like that. So let's play the game as hunter. First one has to know what going with white food cravings.

Who are the 'players' in the contest?
A simple answer is my 'will' verses hunger.
Wrong.

About 20 years ago I had a small tumor growing out of the side of my neck. It seemed minor. I went to a dermatologist to see about it.
He ruled out him being involved. The tumor could be serious. So I went to an ear eye nose and throat guy. He took it out. I was swollen for a week.

There were three more such operations. About every two years. The tumors were always benign. Always lymph nodes growing in odd places. Strange.

I laughingly told my EENT  Doctor that I was back again. 4th time. What a drag. Like all the other times it was to be an in house operation. At the last minute upon my arrival at his clinic he told me he had booked an operating suite at the hospital.
Really?
He said he had a feeling this might be different.

I woke up. I was thinking about my ride. Did he wait? How was I getting home? Oh hell  no he didn't wait. It was an 8 plus hour operation. Over 200 tumors removed. One spit gland was gone also. Plastic was shoved in the spot where it was.
He was tired, but he gave me the fight story.

He had to basically remove my face.  8 hours.

I asked him what can I do about this?

He speculated it might be an environmental hormone exposure problem. But it was just speculation.

I took it to heart. In my readings on the subject I became aware of environmental endocrine pollution.

I removed from my life: Deodorants. Pesticides. Skin creams. Hair products. Scented anything in laundry and soaps.

All precooked foods. All canned goods. Most plastic bottled products.

And I began the process of learning how to cook For myself from scratch.

Haven't had an operation in 13 years. 

The real work appears to be done while one sleeps.
I don't know if I am the one to write on this subject. I have a problematic relationship with sleep.

99.9 % of the time I begin with a reduction in lighting in my bedroom around 9 pm. My favorite is the TV on, sound off. I then read from a grey scale kindle that is lighted.

At the same time I take a full size aspirin (325mg). This reduces my need to go to the toilet. I use a coated tablet.

My last meal usually was a late lunch.

I am not high in any way. My personal rule is a sober sleep.

I like to do an IChing reading if something is bugging me. It soothes me. So I read until it's time.

Since I am a Nei  Kung  practitioner I then do a little exercise where I draw energy through my leg bones to my spine.  The try to feel the energy up to my skull bones. For me it's a sparkly energy following the path of my bones ending in the skull bones as a sparkly crown. It's a warm feeling that I imagine nurtures the point of my 3rd eye area.

It's honestly what I do. 

There are promises.
There are promises kept.
If you don't know someone very well, are they healthy? Do they look like someone who can keep a promise to themselves? Because if one can't keep a promise to themselves, will they keep other promises?

What is the successful promise keeper's instrument?  Its will. As in:

I will.
I will not.

Most are good at one, but not the other.
Being faithful usually is a case of resisting temptation. Not doing.
Going out everyday and providing is doing.

Besides knowing what to do, one has to be willing to do, and not do, in the right measure.

If there is a god, then the best evidence of his (?) way is the justice meted out to individuals who take happiness into their own hands. I like it!

All drugs have targets. Mood altering drugs are the subset under discussion. So how are such drugs used? To create a mood you like, rather than what would happen naturally.

So OK let's think about that.

So for an artificial mood change, a drug has to cross the blood brain barrier in some way and cause a large squirt of serotonin from neurons in the pleasure center of the brain. It would be safe to assume that an extreme discharge of happy juice renders the neuron stressed and in need of recovery.

But no. Happy Boy is in control here. He's going to keep popping the pills, or drinking the juice for more more.
No surprise the neurons become overworked and some of them die. The rest change form. Become bigger and misshapen and the arteriols feeding them, break down in places.

That's brings to mind the photos us kids had to look at in science class. You know the bloody alcoholic brains.

Using drugs destroys the exact place in the brain you are trying to target. That is the punishment which can be attributed to God.

Nice and comfortable.
Would you describe comfortable as the absence of discomfort? Where the temperature is always micro adjusted to perfection? Where the stomach is always satieted, and the remote is close as hand? Where the fridge is always full of beer and snacks. And of course someone is around to fetch you what you crave, so you don't have to get up.

Or is real comfort the total absence of sensation like when you're in a diabetic coma?

Now of course there is a moment of discomfort while you are projectile vomiting in the midst of a sudden heart attack.  If comfort is your goal in life, you might as well cross over, because shit gets real if you have to actually wake up hooked up to a bunch of honking machines with your significant other wearing the sickly smile knowing that the crappy insurance you have through your job isn't going to save your house anyway. Good night there comfort seeker.

Buddha said: "If you find a false Buddha on the side of the road. Kill him."
This is the only time I know of that Buddha advised violence.

We die from the inside out. How we wear our age on our skin is old news to our organs. The skin reflects the overall health of the circulatory system.  Examine your skin closely for tiny broken blood vessels.  Varicose veins are further signs of problems. Everything you observe on the outside is multiplied by many thousands on the inside.

It's all about insulin sensitivity to sugar. There are three different ways to approach this problem.  One is through strict sugar control. One is creating conditions where insulin sensitivity is enhanced.  Finally the third way is to do both at the same time.  Sugar is behind early micro circulation problems. Sugar and loss of insulin sensitivity.

Don't you just love tough guys? The ones who discovered testosterone therapy for their erectile dysfunction.  I knew a guy like that. He started on the testosterone to recover from a weekend warrior injury, liked the treatment more than the recovery. Started to crave sweets. Discovered the gym. Had good success. Was bench pressing more than his body weight. He rekindled his desire for sex.
Then he got a warning about his blood sugar. Being a manly man he blew it off.
His doctor took him off his steroid prescription and tried to get him off sugar. Mr. Manly went depressed and wimpy but the sugar craving stayed. It took a few years but because he avoided the doctor, his problem became very real one day. He woke up blind.
His vision came back but would cut out unexpectedly.  Then return. He was beginning to have problems with his toes. He couldn't feel them. Anyway he lost his feet, went blind, and at age 65 went to a nursing home where they won't allow him to eat sweets.
Don't be that guy. 

There are those who feel that health is a narrow safe path in a minefield.  That might not be true for many. Everyone knows that smoking is horrible. However if you ask centenarians about their lifestyle. And you get a candid answer, you'll find a history of smoking in over half of them.
Are you going to pull into the next convenience store and buy a pack?
Or are you going to consider that the genetic makeup of this group is resilient and is tolerant of toxic environments.
My bet is on number 2.
Life is governed by a series of thresholds.  One side an event does not occur. On the other it does. Everyone has unique parameters.

The endocrine imperative.

The endocrine system makes decisions based on your bodies reaction to the outside world.
The minute adjustments needed to optimize function. And large decisions as to whether you are in a position to procreate.

I believe that if the body feels that you or your situation have in the long term,  no chance to make a copy, then you will be taken off the board. This is not a hard and fast rule for humanity as a whole, but for most it is.

For certain Monks who spend each day in a meditative state. Who are sensitive to their body's deepest workings, they might be exempt by transcendence from nature. Their goal is to leave earthly concerns and concentrate on heavenly ones.

These people are not likely to need this essay.

The first step is to examine your situation to see what might be the reactions your endocrine computer is observing and has been observing.
Are all parameters stable? What is the food situation? Are you repeatedly stressing your body by frequent and long exertions? Are you experiencing high internal stress with no exertions? Are you exposed to pheromones from a fertile individual of the opposite sex? Is such a person aroused around you?
Your endocrine system observes the reaction markers posted in your blood, and makes an overall decision as to whether you stay or go.

Generally the endocrine system will not be hasty to remove you in your youth, but as one becomes older...

There are many forms of transcendence.  All we are exploring here is an overview of the system and how we can order our environment to send optimal signals to our endocrine computer that gives us permission to stay.

Studies say that a person who lives alone, with few interactions,  have high mortality rates. Their happiness with their lifestyle is not a factor.  50 years of insurance statistics bear this out. This is why singles pay more.

The point in time one knows that the kill switch has been thrown is when the sex organs begin to fail. Once that occurs it's real hard to come back to a youthful state. If this happens in a woman when she is young it's called Premature Ovary Failure. A little later it's called Early Menopause.  Later still, Menopause.

In men the word is Andropause.  True Andropause is not just erectile dysfunction.  It's depression, listlessness,  tiredness. HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) in men is very dangerous. There was a clinic in the US that specialized in HRT wide spectrum replacement. It was very pricey.  They have disappeared from the in flight magazine's,  because all the doctors were users and they are all dead. Then the estates were sued until all assets were distributed to the plaintiffs.

If one has a detailed understanding of their body, and they begin to practice correct behaviors with placement in an endocrine supportive setting, the kill switch might never quite be thrown. That's not a pass for eternal life, just a vital long one.