Happy Thursday. We had a wonderful dinner last night at the Uruguayan restaurant and enjoyed some amazing steaks and wonderful company.
However, our dinner reservation was at 9pm and we didn't leave the restaurant until 11:30pm, this is Very typical timing for dinner here in Spain. As much as I loved the night, I already knew it was going to negatively affect my sleep pretty severely. I actually slept all the way through the night, but the quality of sleep I got was just very poor after eating so late because my body was working hard to digest all that food while I was sleeping.
I wear the Whoop tracker and it measures the quality of my sleep. The 2 pictures below show my "stress" when I sleep. Sleep stress is measured by my heart rate, respiratory rate, and deep sleep etc.
Look as this wild comparison of what happens when I eat dinner (picture 1), vs when I don't eat dinner (picture 2). And not just from the tracker but I can definitely tell a difference in how I feel throughout the day (I am already dragging today and adding more caffeine than normal). This is how I came to realize that on a regular basis I can't be eating dinner, and I now know that any late meals will result in poor sleep and I'll pay for it the next day.
You don't need a fancy tracker to figure that out, journaling how you feel vs when you eat and what you eat can be a big eye opener for you in learning what's best routine/approach for you.
Are there anythings around meal timing and food that obviously affect how you sleep or feel?
Cheese is good! I ate a block of chipotle oven baked cheese with lunch yesterday and it was divine. I love it, but know that it halts any progress I'm making, and will even trigger eating in excess to where I'll gain weight. It's sad but I have accepted it. If I eat it in small quantities with a meal, it's ok, but I really have to work to keep it in check.
What's your favorite cheese? How do you incorporate it? Do you see negative results when eating it?
Happy Sunday! Sharing a video today from our week, one of the highlights. This was Wednesday evening church, normally they have a more casual prayer meeting where someone plays the guitar, but they were doing some construction in the fellowship hall so they had their prayer meeting in the sanctuary. No one was there to play the piano so my my Grandma did it, she's been playing the piano in church for probably 80 years.
For context, she's 88, she had a really bad fall 5 years ago now and hit her head and ended up with a lot setbacks, similar to having a stroke. She has a lot of dementia like symptoms also (I am sure related to her Type 2 diabetes), she really can't read music anymore, and she has trouble seeing well, and she needs to wear hearing aids to hear but hates wearing them, so on this night she didn't want to wear them. My 93 (almost 94) year old grandpa takes care of both of them on their farm. Anyway, on this night she sat down on the piano and led worship as people called ...
Happy Saturday! I hope you are all doing well. I know some people in the group have had some recent tough news for themselves or family members. It really puts the day to day issues we face into perspective, and reminds me to just focus on doing the best I can to be as healthy as possible. To those who are having a hard time, we are all here for you and sending you some prayers and support. 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Just focus today on doing the best you can and remember that food isn't going to bring you the comfort you are looking for.
Here is a little video of Penelopes performance from her piano recital l last night, she's been taking lessons for about a year and a half. 🎹🤍🖤
*Livestream Monday night at 4pm pst/7pm est
Last weekend we had a young elk buck hanging outside our cabin. It was amazing being so close to such a huge wild animal. Ironically a buddy of mine shot an elk this week and brought me a bunch of meat for my freezer. Full circle. I've never been much of a fan of game meat due to the gamey flavor. I think the ground meat and sausage will be fine but there's also a chuck roast.
What tips do any of you have for preparing it? Are you a fan of deer/elk?
