A retirement activity: My daily regimen of Diet and Exercise

I am the cook in the house these days. I really dislike cooking, and I minimize my time doing it. But eating healthily is vital and you do want reasonably tasty food!! 

Almost all my cooking is instant pot cooking. It is easy, convenient, fast, but still nutritious and tasty. I have lots of instant pot recipe books. I draw from that and adapt to make the preparation to be even more nutritious and tasty. Adaptations include adding lots of veggies or making it tastier by selecting the spices to use. For taste, I rely a lot on eastern spices. The key to releasing its flavors is blooming them. Not too concerned about the texture of the food or its looks, or striving for a lot of variety. I don't cook every day. We just decided we will keep cooked food in the fridge for a maximum of 4 days. I frequent Whole Foods, Down to Earth, Costco, Foodland, and less frequently, Safeway and Target for food shopping. I am shifting over to buying organic wherever possible and eliminate ultra-processed foods wherever possible. I am checking food expiry dates before use. I periodically toss expired foods in the pantry and freezer. Some basic hygiene principles must be used when handling food preparation. Wash hands before handling food. Wash all vegetables before cutting. Wash all fruits before eating. Wash everything involved like cutting board and knife after cutting meat. 

Breakfast includes a boiled egg and steel-cut oats. When eating at home, I largely follow veggies rich diet. I mostly limit meats, when used, to chicken and turkey. Occasionally I use 50% lean ground beef and 50% ground turkey to prepare chili. I use Tofu and legumes like pigeon peas, chickpeas, lentils, pinto, black and kidney beans for plant-based proteins. and veggies like broccoli, beets, spinach and Brussel sprouts for fiber. Also, my wife favors Kale and asparagus, while I favor daikon and other radishes, string beans, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower and bell peppers. My wife often likes to drink protein shakes or eat a salad. We favor steamed veggies over boiled veggies when possible. We avoid fried foods. I avoid rice, pasta or noodles in my diet (except sometimes food from restaurants). I avoid desserts except, on occasion, ice cream. I cut down on white or red potato intake, but I am trying Okinawan purple sweet potatoes grown locally as a substitute.  I eat two slices of nonwhite bread (Dave’s bread) in a sandwich for lunch. I am switching to freshly sliced turkey for the sandwich instead of preprocessed mass consumer sliced turkey. I snack on peanuts. My wife snacks on walnuts, pistachios and almonds. Our preferred fruits are berries, cherries, cuties, papayas, bananas, pears, sumo oranges, watermelons, kiwis and apples. We also like Honeydew and Cantaloupe which I don't often see available here. More infrequently, I eat pineapple. In terms of eating, I try to consume proteins before carbs. However, to stay healthy, I must keep battling the daemons of temptation!!

I try to eat healthily in restaurants too. These days I am trying to cut down on restaurant food. However, I do succumb very occasionally to a prime rib or steak at an upscale fine dining sit down restaurant. Other key restaurants we periodically use for take-out are Paniolo's, Paia Fish Market, Maui Mike's fire roasted chicken, Aloha Salad, a local Thai restaurant, prepared food at whole foods or down to earth, and Saigon Vietnamese noodle house - all in Kailua. Also sometimes grab a premade rotisserie chicken at Costco or get takeout from a Honolulu Indian restaurant. On vacations, restaurants are the only choice. 

This essay has the produce and meats rich in the various food groups. https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2023/11/some-key-medical-questions-that-are.html

Bad diet practices still at play: soda, nicotine gum (almost 10 years and going!!), and coffee. Coffee now only in the morning and max 3 cups. Focusing on chopping almost all soda right now.  Eliminating Nicotine will take longer and require more will power but I am working on it. 

I am not good historically with regular exercise. I’m trying to incorporate a brisk 30-minute walk (roughly 2.5 km) into my daily routine. I have been going on this walk at 5:30AM or 6AM lately. I skip walking on Saturday. A reward system is built in - stop at McDonalds on the way for coffee (and if really hungry, plain scrambled eggs). Currently recovering from a pulled Achilles tendon so not walking temporarily but consulting a podiatrist.  

My wife has been watching Dr William Li’s diet and health podcasts on YouTube and reading his last book. I have seen bits and pieces, and it seems interesting.

Update april 2025 end: I have lost 15 pounds. My A1C is finally at the target treatment point. My LDL is a bit elevated but my statin dose was just increased. I feel GREAT!!