Lost In The Supermarket

This conversation is being recorded for "Quality Assurance".

For most of us that reach our 60's, the elephant in the room isn't the old cliché about an unacknowledged social taboo. It's our excess weight. Although I hit the gym six days a week, and ride the exercise bike for at least thirty minutes each session, I still can't get rid of my gut. Counting calories. That's all I do. Only allowed about 2,000 a day. Sometimes I'll diet for a month and drop five pounds, but with a slight slip-up, I'm back to square one. Pizza. Burgers. Ice cream. It comes on quickly. Not to go existential on you, but it's like The Myth of Sisyphus. As soon as you push the boulder to the top of the hill, it rolls back down to the bottom, and you have to start all over again. It's a vicious circle.

There's many different diets to chose from: South Beach, Keto, Atkins, Weight Watchers, Nutisystem, Paleo, Vegan, and Jenny Craig. And those are just the most renown. Volumetrics, Flexitarian, Engine 2, and Ornish are relatively new and highly regarded. A multi-million dollar industry. I don't follow any of them. Too expensive, or, too complicated. Being Greek, I've somewhat been on the Mediterranean Diet since birth. Primarily sensible eating with the foods I prefer. Always believed it's calories consumed vs. calories burned. You see Hall of Fame athletes hawking nutritional supplements on television. Shannon Sharpe promoting Tru Niagen to increase energy and stamina. Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas endorses Nugenix which supposedly does the same. Those guys are about ten years younger than me. They can claim whatever they want, but it's not going to do me any good. I got old.

Once you get past 40, metabolism slows, muscle mass decreases 10% per decade, and a sedentary lifestyle becomes common. There are three main body types:

• Mesomorph - Lean and muscular simultaneously.
• Endomorph - Stocky build, Wide body.
• Ectomorph - Long and lean.

The triumvirate of anatomical structure. If you weren't born an Ectomorph, it's very tough to be lean and mean in your later years. Most of us aren't that fortunate. Nevertheless, people of all shapes and sizes still exercise, and as a society, our life expectancy has significantly increased from 35 years ago. In the mid 1980's, you worked, you retired and in a year or two, you died. On average, people now live into their late 70's, early 80's. Granted, that number has dropped somewhat because of the opioid epidemic, but for most of us, lifespan has increased. Some of this actuarial development can be attributed to improved diet and exercise, but a lot of it has to do with advanced medical technology.

I'm a prime example. My primary care physician suspected cancer ten years ago through routine screenings. It was soon confirmed by a specialist after examining the biopsy results. That same cancer diagnosis twenty years prior would have been a death sentence. I elected a robotic operation with the Da Vinci Surgical System. No chemotherapy. They removed an aggressive and enlarged tumor, plus the surrounding lymph nodes. I'm still going strong today. But two of my close friends didn't make it. Esophageal and pancreatic cancers. I owe a lot to MD's. Most notably, my life.

Because of the HITECH Act of 2009, the medical profession has moved quickly into the digital age. This can be exemplified by the numerous Electronic Health Record (EHR) Companies. Epic. All Scripts. GE Healthcare. Cerner. Athenahealth. If you follow the stock market, you're probably familiar with these names. At times they've been good investments. But what about the next generation of EHR technology, the microchip implant? A subdermal RFID semiconductor. Veterinarians incorporate this technology to track lost dogs if a pet owner utilizes Tractive, an injectable GPS device. It would be beneficial for Alzheimer patients, but I am wary of its use on the general public. Frank Sinatra once sang "I've Got You Under My Skin". He had no idea. Get a knee replacement, pacemaker, microchip implant, and now you're a Cyborg.

Continuing with an ongoing theme in this blog are the negative consequences of technology unchained. What if we do reach the point of subdermal implants? If you look globally, some companies are employing it on a small scale to do manual tasks like opening car doors. It may make some things easier, but I am concerned about getting hacked or tracked. This is especially true where your medical information is concerned. Most notably, because medical records are tethered to your Social Security number. Once a rogue agent has your Social Security information, all bets are off. That's the conduit to your entire being. Womb to tomb. It could happen. Walk through a WiFi HotSpot, and a hacker could theoretically load you with a drive-by software infection. Some sort of extortionist malware. Once they receive the pertinent information, they can do some credential harvesting. With a little social engineering, there goes your bank and brokerage accounts.

I prefer to remain a paranoid android.