"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."– Marcel Proust
This is a powerful sentence. One way to view this statement is by thinking differently about something that you have thought or typically do. The expression “thinking outside of the box” fits here. I have been thinking about competitiveness and the possibility of that topic being a central theme for my next book. We are all competitive and we express it in different ways often varying by degree. Competitiveness takes different forms such as comparing oneself to another. We compare such things as: possessions or toys, wealth, socioeconomic status, degrees of schooling, power or control, or simply running faster than someone else. One question I have is how to quantify or measure the degree of one’s competitiveness.
A few days ago, I did a training run with Chris Turney. For those of you that do not know, Chris was an outstanding runner and a super ride and tie competitor. He was very fast, knowledgeable, and likes to win. He was telling me about one training partner Rod and their running competitions. It appears they were always competing during training runs. If one guy got ahead of the other, it wasn’t long before there was a race. So, for Chris he was very competitive during running. Is he competitive with his running today? No, where did all that competitiveness go? This might be a question worth pursuing. Do we sublimate? Do we channel it? Does it just go away?
By the way, there was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal dated June 28, 2011. In the article, a study of over 21,000 Australians was followed from their mid-40s to the mid-80s. The findings showed that each 0.1 increase in the waist/hit ratio was associated with a 13% increased chance of developing an early stage macular degeneration (AMD) in men. Apparently, abdominal fat releases estrogen and other chemicals that may contribute to inflammation associated with AMD. Men, better reduce your belly fat or run the risk of an eye disease.
Good news: one study reported that drinking seven or more cups of coffee a week reduced the risk of type II diabetes 63% in middle-age Chinese coffee drinkers. Sorry, to get more information about this study you will have to go to the European Journal of clinical investigation.
How is David Zabriskie doing in the Tour de France? Remember, he is eating vegan. The other day I told you about his breakfast meal. The article then identified his on-the-bike snacks. They include six Cliff Z bars (Vegan), two Cliff bar shot blocks (Vegan), two Cliff bar gels (Vegan), dates, and 6 to 8 bottles of special team race drink. David may or may not win the tour but you can bet that he looks good and he does not have any belly fat.
How competitive is David? If you remember, in the past year he changed his diet dramatically. He no longer eats like the typical American: steak, pasta, alcohol, cigarettes, amphetamines, or other drugs. Nor is he eating red meat, dairy, or eggs. His thinking and his behavior drastically changed. He is not following other Tour de France riders in their eating patterns. Good for him.
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