Ninja Training Update # 2

So sorry I've been gone so long! I was visiting various family members and being visited by various friends and the time got away from me. But here I am again and I've got some awesome news!

As you might remember from my previous Ninja Training Update, I've been tackling added sugar in my diet. I am so happy to say that my efforts have paid off. Doing this simply and slowly has ingrained it as a habit for me. I no longer have to strictly write down and add up grams of sugar. I naturally eat under the cap. My cap is 25 grams, but I've naturally been eating way below that. On a typical day I might have 12 grams or, more likely, less. It feels great to have a healthy habit down! Now I have the willpower to spare on another step.

I'm uncertain what my next step should be. Sugar isn't entirely defeated in my diet yet. Through a little bit of research I've learned that certain bread foods, while not containing added or natural sugar are digested as sugar in the body. These are foods like white bread/rolls/pasta, white rice, fruit juice, potatoes, and even corn. In the case of white bread and white rice, my understanding is that the refining process takes out key nutrients and fibers that counteract the sugar digestion. Without those fibers the food is digested quickly and spikes your blood sugar. White flour and white rice is refined. Potatoes and corn are starchy. Fruit juice is an interesting one. You would think that fruit juice is a healthy choice. But the juicing process strips away the fiber part of the fruit, adding together the natural sugar content of many fruits into a one place. I personally think fruit juice is a little strong and and have heard that it's bad for tooth decay.

My next step could be cutting down and out white breads and white rice. I despise white bread, but I do eat other white bread products like rolls and bread sticks. I love white rice so that one will be more difficult. But cutting down on these things will positively impact my health and make me even further away from getting type 2 diabetes, which runs strong in my family. I don't drink fruit juice. I can limit potatoes, they're not the best veggie for you. However, corn would stay. It's one of the few veggies I really love. Why cut out one of the good guys just because it's not perfect?

My other choice for a next step could be measuring my baseline for sodium and working it down like I have sugar. One of the first things the doctor does after you have a heart attack is put you on a low sodium diet. I would know, many people in my family have had heart problems and high blood pressure. I know my sodium is probably through the roof and I'll feel much better when it's down to a reasonable amount. Right now I'm really not sure which of these steps I want to take first.

I've come a long way already and I still have a long way to go. But this journey isn't terrible or torturous. It's actually quite fun and I feel physically better than I have in I don't know how long, maybe ever lol. This is only the beginning. I have much more health to enjoy in the future!

That's all for this update. Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback, questions, or comments just post a comment at the end of this post or email me at thehalflingninja@gmail.com

You're never too small to make a difference in the world!

The Halfling Ninja

+50 Nerd Power!

So much has happened since my last post. I've had an amazing family reunion, many visits from friends, the Fourth of July, and so on. However I don't want to cram all of this into a haphazard post. I realize I've missed my usual posting time, so this post is a late one. So sorry, I've been so busy and really sleep deprived lol. But I will tell you what happened yesterday.

After work yesterday my two roommates and I decided to run some errands together. This involved picking up a car from the mechanic, dropping off a car at the mechanic, some light grocery shopping, and, just for fun, a visit to a game store. We had never been to this game store but it was highly recommended by a friend. To clarify, it's not a video game store. It's a nerdy strategy board game store.

I knew we'd struck gold when we first walked inside. At first glance I saw plastic cubbies full of dice in various sizes, colors, and number of sides. I love to customize. The first shelf we glanced at was full of promising looking game boxes. The atmosphere was inviting and we could clearly hear from the back of the store that a game was in progress (ex. "I equip the Broadsword of Vanquishing which gives me +4 strength which raises my overall combat strength to 11 thus defeating the Menacing Minotaur).

We browsed the shelves for quite some time. So many games looked so fun! If my roommate had a million dollars we would have walked out with one of everything. The store associate was incredibly helpful. He recommended several games of different types to us. He plays many of these games himself. He let us know about the demo games in the back area of the store that we could try out. I'd never heard of demo board games before but I love the idea! One game in particular caught my eye. It was a type of strategy board game that we hadn't tried yet (involving resources). The store associate had just bought the game and hadn't gotten the chance to play it yet. He offered to play it with us so we could see if we liked it.

Now, I had to use the bathroom. There wasn't a public restroom in the store. Also, I was a week and a half's worth of sleep deprived. I knew if I said something to my roommates that we would end up telling the man we might try it some other time and leave. However, I had a gut feeling that if we played the game with him that day we would leave the store as members of a gaming group. My two roommates are introverts. We're all nerds. A gaming group would be really good for us and this was a prime opportunity to find one. So I held it lol.

The game was amazing! It's called Evolution. The premise is that the players are species of animals struggling for survival. You start out with one species each and as the game progresses you can add more species, increase the population of your species, and increase the body size of your species (a protection against carnivores or an edge for carnivores). Various cards aid you in helping your species survive. The limited resource is food. If you don't have enough food for your species, it's population goes down to the amount of food you do have for it. If you have no food for a species or all of them get eaten by a fellow player's carnivore your species goes extinct. So many strategies can go into play in this game! I took to it like a fish to water.

Like I predicted, we were invited to join a group. We now have a regular game night! We have now joined a thriving community of nerds! We have a social life outside of church! Lol. I'm so excited! Not to mention we get to add our library of games to our new friend's library of games, plus the huge wall of hundreds of demo games (which are the full game shipped to the store taped shut instead of shrink wrapped). So many options! So much to learn! So much fun ahead! I look forward to meeting new people and learning new games and just having a blast! God is so awesome to us!

That's it for this post! Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback just leave a comment or email me at thehalflingninja@gmail.com

You're never too small to make a difference in the world.

The Halfling Ninja