ZenAlex

The emotional impact it has on you.

@Keryo Koffa @Leo Gura Something of great significance?

Well, I usually think that it means something of emotional significance to the individual, but i'm not sure if this is the truth and am looking at the wrong thing.

Not all fish have the same mercury levels, avoiding fish completely for this reason is silly. Tuna definitely avoid, Salmon is not so bad.

Why not just advise to eat Fish? Unless they're vegan obviously

For the last 6 months of my Veganism I ate 1, sometimes 2, portions of soy per day. No avocado, Tahini. No olives, although I did have some olive oil with salad/cooking. I was eating 1 portion of nuts, sometimes 2, and one portion of chia seeds 5-6 days a week. There may have been some variation depending on how many calories I needed.

I was Vegan for 8 years. I consumed a lot chia/flaxseeds and an EPA/DHA algae oil supplement daily, and my omega 3 ratios weren't good and despite only taking half of the recommended dosage of DHA, my fatty acids tests put me above the suggested range for DHA, and the test even said DHA supps are the cause. I switched to eating just Salmon and stopped eating seeds and DHA supps and my omega 3 levels are better. IMO just eat Fish and you'll be ok.

I was Vegan for 8 years. I made sure to pay attention to what I ate. I was eating 200-250% the RDA as a vegan (because vegan iron is non-heme iron), my Iron levels were all perfectly fine, except Ferritin was sometimes as low was 45 which is still normal, but I was surprised it would sometimes be normal but not optimal despite lots of iron in my diet. I'm still 90% vegan, but eat salmon 3x a week and a few more animal products. My ferritin has just test as 160. Some places say that's optimal, others say that's a big high, although I know ferritin can fluctuate, because when I was vegan it was fluctuating between 45-75.

Long story. I'm still mostly vegan but the way I feel and my blood work is better. I couldn't optimize my Omega 3 status also as a vegan, despite consuming plenty of omega 3 sources and DHA supp. 3 months of salmon resolved it. Veganism isn't a bad option, I just don't necessarily think it's optimal for everyone.

My inflammation levels have been checked, they're good. My inflammation levels are very low and the doc commenting on the test says no concerns with that. Only slightly higher than they were as a vegan.

I've been trying my best to live mindfully over the last 5-6 years. The goal of things like meditation I believe is to be more aware and more at peace, and there are ways to do this that are not meditation. E.G. Exercising without headphones can bring me to the present. I've tried different meditation techniques over the years such as the standard focusing on the breath, labelling, do nothing etc. I've fully realised that there is simply only so long my ADHD brain can focus on anything if it is not stimulating/interactive enough. This is the reason why I've loved to hike so much, it's so good for calmness and also mindfulness. I find sometimes that I find it easier to remain present if I keep my eyes open and just observe the room, because if I keep my eyes closed there's just sometimes not enough going on and I end up having days where not wandering off is just physically impossible. It's literally a physical force. I know people will just say "this is just you placing limiting beliefs on yourself", but I don't think it is. I've managed to learn how to live my life to become very aware of what is going on inside of me, but achieving this level of awareness took an entire lifestyle change. And many of my "aha" moments where I noticed this and came to realisations came while I was simply undistracted on a walk or standing in a spot in nature, mind clear for a moment and just aware of my feelings. TL;DR - Standard meditation will only ever be so effective for me unfortunately, but sometimes I notice if I make it a more stimulating or interactive experience, it can help like e.g. doing body scans or noting/labelling. But despite this, I still only get so much success, as the energy that makes my mind wander is sometimes incredibly strong. Sometimes I just cannot do it and have no choice but to go out for some exercise or just wait for things to calm themselves down. My mind has it's ups and downs. Some people just don't get it when it comes to ADHD. I'm trying to experiment more with alternate/custom methods, but not sure what to try at this point. What are the most interactive types of meditation you guys can think of?

In my therapy sessions I was taught a technique called "fluttering", where you flutter your hands on your collar bones and the extra activity/stimulation helps keep your mind more present. I did it during emdr to test the audio cues + fluttering with eye closes vs the visual stimulation of the dot moving on the screen + audio noises. It was so irritating to have to pay attention to the dot. Focused attention is hard lol.

I'm very confident now the issue I have is likely dysautonomia caused by Long Covid. Have mentioned this to the doc, being referred to the right clinic. Have spoken with work who are getting me in touch with occupational health. Don't want to get my hopes up, but we'll see what happens. Will continue to use this difficult period as an opportunity to better understand myself.

Sometimes you may have to accept that science may not always be able to explain things and everyone's body is different. Listen to your body, it doesn't like lentils. It may be intolerance/allergy. It may be the high fibre content. Have you had extensive blood work done.

Sure but there have been times where i'm not that anxious or depressed and my life is in order and it's still the same issue. I suppose it's not a huge issue since I can manage it but it always makes me believe there's an underlying undiagnosed issue still waiting to be resolved.

I can still eat OK. But I remember during my 20's I lost tonnes of weight because despite eating healthy and exercising, I wasn't eating enough calories and didn't realise it because I wasn't that hungry. I was at a caloric deficit for months at a time and eventually ended up getting to 135lbs about 5 years ago. I'm back up to 160lbs now, because I have incorporated medjool dates, nuts etc into my diet to bulk calories. My hunger is a bit better now that it was before, but I could still easily go long periods without eating much. I'm doing it out of habit. I've had low hunger for about a decade now. I can help stimulate it more with exercise, but it's still not great. I am about to do a gut test via stool sample, but is there any advice you guys could give me in terms of 1) What to test for? 2) What to try? I have had depression/anxiety in the past, but I've had good times and bad times with mental health, and the appetite was still the same. I feel like the only way I can get myself hungry is through exercising enough to make it come, but I almost feel like it's not compelling me to eat, it's just discomfort that I could ignore. I have went long periods of no alcohol, pop and don't eat much junkfood. I did used to drink diet coke in the past, and I didn't notice sugary/carbonated drinks fuck with appetite so I rarely drink them now.

You're crazy lol

Also OP do you exercise? If I don't exercise I don't sleep best. If I do at least 30-45 mins of walking I sleep better.

So basically Lower consciousness - Just let survival fears and instincts dictate your decisions Higher consciousness - Realise survival is of no value without quality of life and make informed decisions about how to maximise quality of life, which involves sometimes not having kids.

Also do you guys ever get concerned about the impact of putting unnatural things in your body like supplements? Do you ever worry about side effects, depletion of other nutrients etc?

Subjective meaning is still meaning.

If heard of noting, saw it in a shinzen young video. Will look more into it.

1) Get comprehensive blood work. B12, D, thyroid etc done. 2) Sort out the sleep schedule the best you can.

I don't disagree with your comment as a whole, but I don't think it's men as a collective that do this, I think giving anyone that level of power over someone else, including their spouse, regardless of gender, is a bad idea because even though many wont abuse their power, many will, even if they're not a terrible person, we're all a bit corrupt. This is why people need to be able to make their own decision, even if it harms them, because the alternative is giving someone else power over them, which may work out for the best, but may lead to terrible abuse. But I disagree you making it out to be a problem with men, because there are a lot of women that abuse their spouse, children and others in their care also. Have you heard of lucy letby? Many women abuse those in their care, but the difference is men simply have more power to do what they want. I don't believe either gender is more evil than the other, one simply has had more power. Males and females are just are capable as each other of being corrupt.

I've eaten lentils before when someone else cooked them and they still sucked.