Let me see...should I scale Mt. Everest or should I maintain my weight loss? Hmmm. It's mountain climbing season in Nepal. Got me thinking. A TED talk on the meaning of work did also. A summit peak or a number on the scale, no matter how difficult it was to achieve, may be why we begin the journey but it is not the only reason we continue. www.artofthediet.com/141

Beethoven counted out 60 coffee beans each day to make his cup of coffee. Rituals for our drug of choice transcend centuries and artistic abilities but they do bind us together. Today we discuss rituals and habits on view at the recent Boston Marathon and on view daily with anyone dealing with weight issues. It is a marathon without a finish line. But, we all are a combination of habits as well as rituals. Some more interesting than others. My combo is coffee. Listen to Balzac, though: "Many people claim coffee inspires them, but, as everybody knows, coffee only makes boring people even more boring." This from a man who reportedly drank 40-50 cups of coffee a day! I only drink 4-5 cups. www.artofthediet.com

A recent routine Dr’s visit included the now standard question asked by the physician’s nurse to people my age: 
Have you experienced feels of depression and hopelessness recently? Years ago, Blind Eye Disease was one of my conditions when I didn't want to deal with an obvious weight problem. I avoided the truth, the facts, the number on the scale. If I didn't see it, I wouldn't have to deal with it. I’d pretend it was someone else’s problem. Not mine. (Yeah, how's that for a strategy?) It's now the exact same approach a vocal minority of this country is suggesting how we deal with this country's volatile, infantile, incapable of truth telling President of the US. This approach didn't work for me. It won't work for the US. But, not before, real damage is done. Ask me again, physician’s assistant, “Have you experienced feelings of depression and hopelessness lately?” The answer is, “Yes”. www.artofthediet.com/139

Hold Your Breath. Diet Tips from Houdini. Who knew? If you can learn to hold your breath for longer and longer increments, you might also be a able to manage other impulses, addictive impulses that produce dopamine in our brains. Drugs produce dopamine. Certain foods, like sugar and processed foods, produce dopamine. Addictions like online shopping produce dopamine. The problem is these behaviors also create the need for more and more dopamine until freedom of choice has vanished. So, breathing may be necessary and fundamental to our life on earth but Doritos are not. What do techniques for learning to hold your natural instinct to take a breath have to do with food management? That's what episode 138 talks about.