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waveman comments on Low Hanging fruit for buying a better life - Less Wrong Discussion

21 Post author: taryneast 06 January 2015 10:11AM

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Comment author: taryneast 06 January 2015 10:18:56AM 14 points [-]

Some ideas of mine: both things that I already have, or am thinking about buying:

  • a nice pedometer/fitbit - measuring your daily activity is the first step towards making sure you do it more regularly, and a good pedometer (with software to see your progress) is within the price range
  • a waterpik (to make flossing more interesting and thus more likely)
  • a really good-quality umbrella (for areas that are rpone to bad weather) because struggling with flimsy ones is more pain than it's worth to buy a quality one.
  • a good quality laptop bag/airline carry-on bag (especially if you lug your heavy laptop around a lot...)
  • healthy snacks for while I work (jerky and dried fruit)
  • an Ingress addiction (makes me walk a lot and it's free)
  • a shoe rack (i have a habit of tossing them all over the floor, and it's an easy way of tidying up the floor while remaining easy to dump my shoes)
  • sleep-tracking software and sleep-cycle alarm clock (to wake me up gently during REM cycle - these are often free)
  • large prints of nice pictures to stick on the wall behind my computer monitor so I have something nice to look at while working
  • do a defensive-driving course (driving safety is always useful for longevity)
  • take some meditation classes (for the ability to notice when being distracted and be better able to focus when needed)
  • take a toastmasters course (so as to be more confident with public speaking which is an importnat part of being a social leader)
  • take up a regularly scheduled low-impact exercise (eg tai chi)
Comment author: waveman 13 January 2015 09:36:38AM 0 points [-]

healthy snacks for while I work (jerky and dried fruit)

Citation required.

Comment author: waveman 12 February 2015 04:39:40AM 0 points [-]

Dried fruit is very high in sugar.

The fructose in sugar (50% of the calories) can in general only be used for one thing: to make fat. The exception is if your liver glycogen is depleted (eg after a hard workout, perhaps a teaspoon of fructose could be used to replenish it - and in fact in this scenario it is the most efficient way to replenish your liver glycogen.

Sugar is also quite addictive and binge-inducing. I have a theory as to why this is I will tell you at the next LW dinner.

The case against jerky is less compelling, but you might want to look at the list of ingredients next time you are near a packet.

Comment author: taryneast 13 January 2015 09:55:35PM 0 points [-]

more information required on what you're asking?

I bought snacks for while I was working.. .that were healthier than the alternatives.

Comment author: Lumifer 13 January 2015 10:21:16PM 1 point [-]

Dried fruit is basically sugar with a bit of fiber, very high calorie density, too. Considering it healthy is a bit of a stretch.

Comment author: taryneast 14 January 2015 01:41:50AM 0 points [-]

does it compare as healthy compared to chocolate or mints? Also a snack with fibre (even with sugar) is better than a snack with little-to-no-fibre - if it helps with satiety and is better from a fidgeting-must-eat perspective.

Sure, there might be snacks that are even better than dried-fruit... but as a first step improvment it was a good step.

Comment author: waveman 12 February 2015 04:43:36AM 0 points [-]

See above. If you need more glucose in your blood, small amounts of foods that produce glucose can do the job. Or you can train your body learn to do gluconeogenesis (ie release stored glucose) by regularly having long gaps between meals.

According to the lecturers in the "learning to learn" course, a lot of what feels like the need for food is actually the need for a break. According to them, when working hard intellectually the brain needs a break after a while to restore equilibrium and to remove built-up waste. So a break and a glass of water may be all you need. That's what the 5 minute break in the Pomodoro cycle is for.

Comment author: taryneast 12 February 2015 10:25:21PM 0 points [-]

Yes, I am aware that snack/fiddling is probably a signal that I'm not hungry (thanks, though, I might not have been). I will also drink a glass of water rather than snack if I think I'm actually hungry... but I'm quite aware that I'm not hungry when I'm snacking.

The point of these snacks isn't to ingest nutrition. In this case - i have been snacking as a way of fiddling (I think). I figured that if I was going to fiddle/snack anyway - I might as well make it less-unhealthy - because I have other things that are more important to work on than in stopping this particular habit (I'll come back to it, but as stop-gap measure... healthier snacks is better than unhealthy snacks.

I also take pomodoro breaks - but it doesn't entirely negate the snacking need...

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