I was innocently searching for supporting documentation regarding a statement I read the other day. It said that every nine seconds someone in the US dies of an obesity related issue. Additionally in the same article, it was stated that over 40% of all the deaths in the US last year were directly related to lifestyle choices. That means all forms of heart related disease, smoking, most cancers, and cirrhosis of the liver and drug overdoses (both popular with musicians). As I was googling, cutting and pasting, this article popped up and kinda summed up what I was trying to say. So here it is. The author Donald Miller http://www.donaldmiller.com/ also happens to be a MD at the UW and has written on a vast number of subjects, including the Beats, http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller19.html whom will always have a safe place in the reading room of my heart's library (to stay true to the thread). Say what you will of caffeine and cannabis fueled, stream of consciousness, free form poetry, or the libritatrians, or zazen, but he makes six solid points. His six-fold path to optimum health (and hence 90% of nirvana) suggests that we:
1) Eat a Mediterranean Diet.
2) Drink Filtered Water.
3) Control Weight.
4) Exercise Daily.
5) Manage Stress & Meditate.
6) Get Enough Sleep.
Read the entire article here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller10.html
You're either on the bus-or off the bus.
4 comments:
Is the Bainbridge water good enough? That diet is peppers, goat cheese, olives and a ton of dry white wine, right? Read an article in Time magazine today that said 'stress'has gotten a largely bad rap and can be good for you. My criminal law professor was Maynard Pirsig and his son, Robert, wrote 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. I always kind of thought that Robert must have been a little like the beat poets, but don't know if that is true. Maynard though was sure a character; teaching law at age 82 or so and funny as hell.
DUDE, have you read Z&MM???? OMG, one of my ALL TIME faves. I have actually read his follow up to that, Lila, while biking thru Europe. And his Dad was your prof??? Wow. I was thinking about some of RP's ideas today when I was assembling my Dad's new inversion machine and the instructions were (to be kind) more fucked-up than the economy. RP was TOTALLY like the beats, man.
With your comments I had to look at an interview of Robert on the Net and he is apparently about 78 years old now. His son Chris was mugged/stabbed in SF at age 22 and died. Robert's father (my old teach) is described as a "law lecturer" which must be short-hand for former Minnesota Supreme Court Judge and former Dean of the University of Minnesota Law School. Zen is said to be the most widely read philosophy book, ever. This might well be true, as aside from copies sold in general, I think several colleges still have courses that focus on it.
Yes, that was part of the incredible irony of the whole work, is that RP's search for meaning used his son as the metaphor (he is on the first moto trip), and then to have his life end with a brutal, senseless, and ugly tragedy severely tested the author's understandings. When I first heard about Chris's death I was floored, not because of the manner, but more of the impact I knew it would have on his father. I suppose that is a testimony to the honesty and power of the book, that I would take a real caring for the author. I have a paperback (dog-eared) copy here if you would like to check it out.
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