I found out Friday that I have celiac disease. It's basically when gluten proteins cause your immune system attack the villi of your small intestines, the part that is responsible for nutrient absorption. Long term affects is malnutrition, which can cause all types of issues, ranging from headaches to depression to cancer in the small intestine and eventually, death. While there's no cure, eating a gluten-free diet would give my small intestines the time to repair itself.

Since finding out, I have been reading up in it and learning more about this new change in lifestyle that I have. For a little over a month, I've been eating like 95% vegetarian. I lost some weight and felt lighter, but a friend of mine suggested the opposite approach and reintroduce meat in my diet. He told me to read "The Primal Blueprint," which is a book that mainly talks about the Paleo diet, except not as extreme. Both diets are basically about eating the ways humans have been eating for the past 2.5 million years, mostly meat from hunting and whatever you can get from gathering like some fruits and seeds, but absolutely no grains or legumes.

It's interesting that after some research, everyone who goes on it, swears by it. Yet those who have never tried it, would think its counter-intuitive where conventional wisdom tells us that consuming mostly fat and protein, and cutting out carbs, is a bad idea. The backers of the primal/paleo/"caveman" diet believe that we have trained ourselves to be a carb consuming society, but our bodies have not adjusted.  One interesting point is that there is a correlation between how much insulin your body produces versus how long your life span will be.  Those who consume huge amounts of carbs all the time, statistically have a shorter lifespan than those who do not consume as much.

Since I am going gluten-free for the rest of my life, I'm going to try this primal way of eating. Only meat, vegetables and fruits,--basically eating as close to natural as possible. I will be going to a gastro-intestinal specialist and getting a second opinion on this celiac disease.  Hopefully, what I have isn't too serious yet and all I have to do is basically eat better. It seems like its so hard to be healthy these days, because despite how much you try to exercise, your choice in food really does dictate your health.

The saddest part about this whole gluten-free thing, is that I won't be able to consume any of the beers I like for the rest of my life.  

Just the other day, while going to Facebook, a friend of mine posted a rant about people who are always asking her the baby question, when is she planning, is she working on one now, what are they waiting for, etc.

She's been married to her husband for a few years and for whatever reason, do not have kids. I'm never curious about these things, but since getting married, I've gotten that question quite a few times. While it doesn't bother me, I can certainly understand what my friend is going through. Would people really feel better knowing the answer? It's a very personal thing--something that should be between two people.

What would these questions accomplish? So they can know that they might not want children? To know if they're having sex? To know that maybe there's a problem? Whatever the response is, it's no one's business.

So next time you bump into a friend and you want to catch up, maybe a simple "any kids yet?" is sufficient. If the response is in the affirmative, great, but if it's in the negative, it's best to stop right there and not venture into private territory. I don't know anyone who ever wants to be pressed for answers when it comes to these questions--cliche, but we should always remind ourselves that we should treat others in ways we wish to be treated.

This past weekend, I went to a wedding where I heard some of the worst speeches I have ever heard in my life. After going to over 70 weddings in the past 6 years, I definitely feel like I've heard them all. I was wrong.

The Best Man speech was hands down the worst speech ever. I've heard very long and dull ones where the story and speech was going nowhere. I've heard some inappropriate stories. This one topped it.

The Best Man began the speech by calling the groom a "dick." As soon as I heard that word, I knew it wasn't going in the right direction. There's no place for profanity in such an environment, not only because you're on video, but mostly because friends and family, including children are there. The speech goes on to tell a somewhat story about underaged drinking, laced with profanity throughout and that's when disaster struck. He then basically tells everyone the groom was a manwhore/womanizer and was always about "quantity over quality." Instead of saying he's a changed man after meeting the bride, he then tells everyone that that bride is on the top of that quality list.

The Maiden of Honor and Maid of Honor speeches were not as bad, but that's only juxtaposing it to the Best Man's. Maiden of Hour was crying throughout her speech, often mumbling words where no one could hear. Maid of Honor was giddy and bubbly, but gave off the feeling of bitterness in her speech that she was always the one just tagging along--always the third person between the bride and the Maiden of Honor.

If any of you reading ever get married, do what I did and tell whoever is giving the speech that it shouldn't be more than a minute long. I've been timing speeches in the past 15 or so weddings--the average Best Man speech is about 4 mins. The average Maid of Honor is about 6 mins. It's way too long. People's attention is lost within the first 30 seconds if your speech is not interesting. After 2 mins, people don't even listen to it anymore. Make sure you also tell them to make it funny, but also keep it classy.

I've noticed that the guys tend to try and talk about random stories that don't have a point or punch line or they go extreme and try to embarrass the groom.

The girls usually get very emotional and usually in most cases, seemed to google every positive adjective they can find and then say the bride is all those things. I've heard speeches from maids of honor where you could substitute the bride's name from the speech with anyone else--very generic.

If you're the one making the speech, follow a very simple formula--
1. Introduce yourself.
2. Quickly thank everyone for coming
3. Quickly tell everyone where/how you met the bride/groom, focus on a trait and then tell a funny, but not too embarrassing story as an example of that trait.
4. Then be serious and tell everyone 1 or 2 extremely positive traits about the bride or groom.
5. Focus your attention on the new spouse and congratulate him/her for marrying your friend.
6. Congratulate the new couple.

Luckily for me, my self-proclaimed "Best Man" made an awesome speech, probably the best I've heard. People remember who gave the good ones and who gave the bad ones. Don't be remembered for giving the bad ones.

Lately, I have spoken to a couple of people who tell me they can't do certain things. I understand inability because there are really things we cannot do, but these people tell me they can't because they tell themselves they can't.

Last night I was chatting with a friend about running together this Sunday for the 10k race. She loves to run, but has not been able to complete her training three days in a row because of pain in her knee. Yet, despite my repeated attempts to tell her that rest is just as important as training, she insists that she has to run today. She told me she can't stop, which was the most bizarre thing I've heard in a while and it didn't make sense to me. What do you mean you can't?

This weekend I was at a camping trip with a bunch of younger fraternity brothers, mostly to provide a workshop for them to try and lead themselves. One brother wanted to get into the medical field, but felt awkward talking to professors. This kid is pretty social and did not appear to be socially inept. When asked if anyone ever told him he was weird or awkward, he answered that no one had-- he only feels awkward when talking to professors and it's not something he can do (though he's made several attempts).

And then there was this one brother who said he aspired to be a trader for the past year, yet had no idea what traders do or how investments work. When asked what books has he read, he said none, yet still insisting he "really wanted to learn to be a trader."

To me, these are classic examples of people who put up mental roadblocks. They feed themselves excuses or reasons to justify their inability or their lack of motivation to act. My friend, who has learned to take down these roadblocks in his life told me that "there's a fine line between being a dreamer and a visionary--they both have goals, but the visionary acts on them."

I think people should really try to tune out whatever excuses they tell themselves and begin trying to break out of their comfort zone. My friend who loves running is obviously addicted to the endorphins she feels when she runs. But a big part of it may also have to do with her fear that her knee is in fact injured and if she stops running, she may not be able to run anymore. As strange as that sounds, it's probably what she tells herself.

Some things to think about: What's a goal you want to accomplish in the next two years and what's stopping you? What's in your way and what steps can you do to tear it down?

I've read many world ending novels the past two years. It's easily my favorite genre and I wish there were more/better books out there. Reading them always make me wonder--if I was there, would I survive?

While many scenarios are improbably like a zombie apocolypse, there are quite a few that may be probable like an economic Armageddon where a country like the US, no longer believes in the value of fiat money overnight and hyper-inflation happens (google Weimar Republic hyperinflation). Or if some terrorist country decides to nuke us, either with many nukes and hitting many critical spots like major cities and some of our inactive volcanos, or if they use 2 or 3 and create a massive electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) over the country, causing us to lose usage of virtually every single electronic that runs on any kind of computer/microchip, even your car.

When situations happen like that, chaos happens and everyone will do what it takes to get food and non-perishables. Those who are lucky or somewhat prepared may survive for a little while, but those who are not prepared or depend on daily doses of medicine would probably die very soon.

Maybe nukes are a bit extreme, but an economic Armageddon may happen. What happens when we finally realize that this Ponzi scheme the government is doing is not working? They borrow from the Fed for virtually nothing since interest rates are next to zero, and they pay their debts with it. Where does the Fed get the money to loan to the government? They print it. So money is constantly being printed and pumped into the economy. I don't know about you, but if you think about, cost for everyday items like toothpaste or shampoo have been going up in price, yet the government will tell you inflation is mostly flat. And if you're saving money by having it in the bank, what are you getting back for it? Tenth of a percent? Maybe half a percent? But if inflation is working against you at 3-5%, you're losing money. Ron Paul said it best--"Inflation is an invisible tax."

Most people I know either don't think about this or don't think it's going to happen. But what if it does? How have you prepared for this? Do you own anything important enough to trade with when fiat money is no longer accepted because it's worth nothing? How are you going to get food when demand is so high, and supply will be so low? Will you continue going to work knowing that your paycheck now may not even buy you a bag of chips? And if no one goes to work anymore, who is going to run the gas stations or the power plants?

Many questions to think about. Most people would read this entry and stop reading halfway through. Others might read the whole thing and be amused. Some might read this and begin thinking about it and doing their own due diligence. Some of those may see what I'm saying and might go out and prepare. Those people will most likely survive.

Happy Monday?

I find it interesting when my friends tell me they're not ready for marriage and then go on to explain something that totally does not have anything to do with marriage itself.

Top reason of all is, "I want to focus on my career and be financially stable to sustain a family". Honestly, I don't even know what that means. Maybe if you are neck deep in debt and you're trying to get out of it, I can understand that, but generally speaking, what does having a great career and making more money have anything to do with marriage? Are you only capable of focusing on one important aspect of your life at one time? Will there ever be a point where you are completely satisfied with what you have accomplished and will take a step back?

If anything, I believe that marriage supports that unless you plan on marrying someone who is just gold-digging. If that's the case, you would never make enough. My wife and I support each other in our careers and the because of that, significantly lowers the stress and pressures we have to deal with because even if we failed, we have support.

Another popular reason is that once you get married, you'll be on lockdown and you won't be able to do what you have always wanted to do. The reality is that if you're 30 and you still haven't done most of those things on your bucket list, it's mostly because you have been procrastinating and making excuses. I always wanted to travel more, but the reality was that I kept on saying it was a bad time or I didn't have enough money. The truth was, I just didn't make traveling a real goal and priority in my life and it would probably never be. Besides, why would marriage stop you from doing those things you wanted anyway? If you married the right person, either you do those things together, or they would support you in doing those things if it isn't something they're interested in. Granted, there are some things that I had to rethink like scaling Mount Everest, but like I said earlier, if it was really that much of a priority in my life, I would have done it already.

When I hear these reasons, I feel like people have this idea that marriage is a prison. Once you get married, all yor attention has to be there. In my opinion, that only happens if you've settled and married the wrong person. If you married someone who isn't supportive of you and you in turn will not e supportive of them. You married someone who cares about their own happiness much more than yours. And the mistake here is choosing the wrong person, not choosing marriage.

The older I get, the more I feel like I need to do whatever it takes to stay on earth as long and healthily as possible. I hate running, but I've been running habitually lately in preparation for all the qualifying races I need to do for the 2013 marathon. I have lost about 17 pounds this year, mostly by exercising and eating better, but I feel like I need to go as lean as possible. No point of having any excess fat in my body.

After reading the book "Born to Run," I am convinced that the way we've been eating in the West is terrible for our bodies. I have decided to eat as naturally as possible, avoiding virtually all processed foods and even going as far as limiting meat intake in my diet.

Unlike my aunt who eats without flavors because she deems any kind of seasoning as unhealthy (she doesn't use oil either), I think it's possible to eat great tasting food, even though it's not necessarily meat. We always say we should do everything in moderation, but I think I'll be takin that approach up a notch or two and have meat sparingly.

In terms of exercising, I've been running mostly but I'll be doing weight training and other high cardio workouts (Insanity). I started running with the Vibram Fivefingers and after adjusting to then, they are great. I am convinced that the modern sneaker is detrimental to your health. Did you know that humans have been running marathons every day throughout the ancient times and they didn't have knee injuries? Did you know that knee injuries didn't really happen often until the 1970s, pretty much when Nike invented the first sneaker dedicated to running? Did you know that the more "support" you have in your sneaker, the more likely you're going to hurt yourself because you will be running in poor form?

Tied to my high energy , virtually vegetarian diet, I hope to push the limits in my current physical state. My bestfriend commented that I used to be ripped. Although I don't care much for vanity, having a good strong body is a measure of health. It would severly limit my risks with cancer and heart disease.

As I said before, "you only live once," should not imply "carpe diem." Instead, it's knowing that you only have one life to live and to live it as happy and healthy (and as long) as possible.

There was a recent article that said that the happiest year for most men is when they are 33. I'm turning 31 tomorrow and 33 seems two years too far away to think about. At this moment in life, I know two things:

1. It would really be hard to top my last year in college.
2. My happiness is about an 8 on a scale of 1-10.

Life has been pretty great the last couple of years. No real problems or issues have come up. I've completely gone out of debt (over 22k in credit card debt) and I married a wonderful wife who is not only super supportive, but complements me completely.

It's hard to ask for more, which also makes it hard to blog regularly. I have nothing to say anymore as people just don't like reading happy posts all the time. I'd be lying if I said I blogged for myself.

I think a lot of people don't realize that happiness can be obtained and most importantly, it's from having a healthy lifestyle. You wake up feeling better, both physically and mentally. I've since cut back on binging, whether it's drinking or eating. I try to sleep earlier and try to exercise as often as possible.

You know that feeling of built up stress? Yeah, I don't feel that. Just by eating better and exercising regularly, I am losing weight and feeling more clarity and focused as ever. Happiness starts from living healthy, mostly because of how you feel at any given point.

Maybe I'll be happier at 33, but that's only because I'll be a father by then. You only live once, which many people use as an excuse to go all out. I think of it as something really precious. You only have one chance--make the best of it.

All around Manhattan, on practically every block corner, are coffee carts. They have coffee, tea and all kinds of breakfast selections like bagels and muffins. Some even have hot breakfasts and you can order eggs and bacon.

Along the way from my stop at Lexington and 59th Street, to work, about two blocks, I walk by four carts. Around my building, not including those four, are another three carts, totaling seven within a two block radius. I've been to all seven and only two serve decent coffee. It's interesting that you can tell other people tend to feel that way because the lines for these carts are much longer than the other ones.

What I don't understand is how these cart owners not understand why the cart across the street always has a line, but their own cart barely have any customers. It's obvious that those other carts are doing something right.

The ROI (return on investment) is so much higher if they'd just invest in better coffee. The problem is that once you screw yourself over with crappy coffee, people aren't as likely to come back so essentially, your customers are usually one-time only. I go to the same cart whenever I get coffee and although it's not the best, it's good enough. The guy recognizes me and knows my order right away, just like he knows everyone else's order who is in front of me. We are all returning customers. He even let's us buy on credit! I only had a $20 bill and he told me to give him the dollar next time.

Which brings me to the next thing--customer service. The fact that he remembers my orders and is polite everytime I see him, makes me want to go back. Some of the other cart owners have very poor attitudes and it's hard to want to support a business like that. One time, I bought coffee and two hard-boiled eggs from my guy and as I was putting the change away, I dropped my coffee and eggs. Without missing a heart beat, he quickly made me another cup and packed two eggs into a new bag and told me it wa okay. He wouldn't even take my money despite the fact that it was entirely my fault. How can I ever go back to another cart?

There was an article in the WSJ yesterday titled, "Struggling on $350,000 a year" (javascript:mctmp(0);) referring to a guy who makes $350k and doesn't think he makes enough to live comfortably in NYC. While it's true that his salary may put him in the 1% category, he's nowhere near "rich" (in our opinion), but many would disagree.

It's not my place to criticize how he spends his money, but it's more about choices than actual $ value. My parents made a combined like $40k a year and were able to raise two "successful" children in NYC. They were able to purchase their own home and cars. Obviously, they couldn't send either me or my sister to a $32k/yr private school, but who knows if my parents would have if they could? I think my parents tried to make the most with their money and if they could afford to send their children to a top school so that they can have a better education, then why not?

While that's rational, articles like that really cause bigger disparities between the 1% and 99%. Personally, I don't really understand the OWS movement. Why did they protest banks when they should be protesting the politicians who are being lobbied by the banks? A lot of them talk about redistribution of wealth, but that's communism and when confronted, mention that they "only want what's fair."  But what's fair?  I think there are a ton of jobs out there and if you're not motivated to work, then you're never going to get anywhere.

The reality is that I'm positive an overwhelming majority of those in the 99% want to be part of that 1%, so it's redundant to protest against a group they aspire to be.  I'm sort of off a tangent on this, but the point I'm making is that everyone wants to make more and a lot of critics against the man in the article are just haters.  At the end of the day, we all want to make more money.  

What are your thoughts on the article?  Do you think $350k a year should be more than enough and he's just whining?