AH, IS THIS NOT HAPPINESS (3)

AH, IS THIS NOT HAPPINESS (3)

This happened on August 25.

Walking with a bag full of tools to repair a window and install a new heater, I saw two young men just about going away with an old beat-up truck with welding tools in the back. So I said hi and asked them if they do welding. After getting an affirmative answer, I asked them to take a look at my staircase, of which the top steel bar was bended, came off and temporarily bonded together with wires. Sure enough, they welded back and almost straightened the steel bar. It only took them 20 minutes and they wanted $40.00. I was so happy that this got fixed out of the blue; I gladly paid them $50.00. AH, IS THIS NOT HAPPINESS!!!

Written by Richard

The Half-and-Half Song by Li Mi-an

The following poem has helped me in dealing with a foul mood today:

The Half-and-Half Song by Li Mi-an taken from Lin Yutang's The Importance Of Living

By far the greater half have I seen through
This floating life-Ah, there's a magic word-
This "half"-so rich in implications.
It bids us taste the joy of more than we
Can ever own, Halfway in life is man's
Best state, when slackened pace allows him ease;
A wide world lies halfway 'twixt heaven and earth;
To live halfway between the town and land,
Have farms halfway between the streams and hills;
Be half-a-scholar, and half-a-squire, and half
In business, half as gentry live,
And half related to the common folk;
And have a house that's half genteel, half plain,
Half elegantly furnished and half bare;
Dresses and gowns that are half old, half new,
And food half epicure's, half simple fare;
Half servants not too clever, not too dull;
A wife who's not too simple, not too smart-
So then, at heart, I feel I'm half a Buddha,
And almost half a Taoist fairy blest.
One half myself to Father Heaven I
Return; the other half to children leave-
Half thinking how for my posterity
To plan and provide, and yet half minding how
To answer God when the body's laid at rest.
He is most wisely drunk who is half drunk;
And flowers in half-bloom look their prettiest;
As boats at half-sail sail the steadiest,
And horses held at half-slack reins trot best.
Who half too much has, adds anxiety,
But half too little, adds possession's zest.
Since life's of sweet and bitter compounded,
Who tastes but half is wise and cleverest.

Why too much sugar is bad for us?

It seems that every one agrees that too much sugar is bad for us. However, nobody agrees how much is too much and why?

First of all, sugars are empty calories.

Secondly, we are not the only ones who like sugar. Some bacteria inhabiting our body but harmful to us seem to like sugar as well.

We all know the sugar causes tooth decay. After eating sugar, sticky glycol-proteins start to adhere to the teeth. At the same time, millions of bacteria known as Streptococcus mutans also adhere to the glycoprotein. In the next stage, the bacteria use the fructose in a metabolism process of glycolysis for energy. The end product of glycolysis under anaerobic conditions is lactic acid. The lactic acid creates extra acidity to decrease the pH to the extent of dissolving the calcium phosphate in the tooth enamel leading to the start of a cavity. That’s what sugar does to our teeth.

Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that cause a chronic low-level inflammation of the stomach lining and are strongly linked to the development of duodenal and gastric ulcers and stomach cancer, seem to love glucose as well (see here).

Most importantly, sugar (which includes simple sugar, disaccharide and refined starch) raises the blood glucose level rapidly, which in turn triggers the release of insulin. Too much sugar intake means rapid fluctuations of blood sugar level, which is not healthy because of the stress they place on the body.

In addition our overall wellness and longevity seem to be closely connected to insulin signaling pathway. Metformin, a drug to treat type 2 diabetes, seems to show promise as a calorie restriction mimetic in the worm C. elegans (see here).

Now we have established that too much sugar is bad for us. How much is too much? I have already cut out processed mono- and disaccharides in my diet. If the sugar you eat comes from whole foods (fruits, vegetables and grains), can you still eat too much sugar (carbohydrates)? The answer is yes and very controversial. There exist two camps on the nutrition frontiers, one promotes low carb and another promotes low fats. There is practically no agreement between the two.

In the end, I decided to calculate backwards in order to find out how much carb. I should eat. I set my daily caloric intake at 1600. My protein intake I decided is 46 gram (1 g per kg of body weight) daily. My fat intake I set at 50 gram.

Fat 50g x 9 = 450 calorie ÷ 1600 = 28%
Protein 46g x 4 = 184 calorie ÷ 1600 = 12%

Therefore, my carbohydrates intake is 100% - 12% -28% = 60%
60% x 1600 = 966 calorie ÷ 4 = 242 gram of carbohydrates daily.

Of course, the ratios are there only as a goal to strive for. In reality, the total amount of calorie intakes varies from 1400 to 1800 a day. Fat intake varies from 20 to 35%, protein from 10 to 20% and carb from 45 to 60%.

Of the above numbers, most nutritionists will agree to the amount of protein I intake.

For the low fat camp, 50g of fat or 28% of total calorie is way too much. As for the low carb camp 242g of carb. or 60% of total calorie is a horror story.

However, growing up in a starving China, and having seen many women lived past 90 on mostly carb diet, it is very difficult for me to accept that high fat diet is healthy. In addition, how do you eat only the fat part without taking in too much protein? In addition, a lot of goodies such as fibers, vitamins and anti-inflammatory phyto-chemicals are associated with carbohydrates.

So I will eat carb, be it rice, pasta, bread, vegetables or fruits as long as non of them contains added sugar or vegetable oils.