Redlining Another Addiction

This whole self-improvement thing started with the keto diet maybe getting out of hand. I caught a news report the other day that says a study of people who consume a lot of diet soda leads to tooth decay because of the acidic content of the diet soda – yikes!

The study said this only applies to people who consume mass quantities of diet soda daily – double yikes!!  I’ve never had a cup of coffee but I drink enough diet coke to float a fairly large boat each day for my caffeine requirements.  I would normally dismiss such a medical study out of hand, awaiting the Coca Cola company financed study refuting such questionable medicine but this caught my attention.

Since I’m in the old self improvement zone I’ve decided to cut way back on my diet coke habit.  I was worried once that I was addicted to diet coke so I quit drinking it for six months and felt no ill effects.  It will be interesting to see how my body reacts to this on top of the keto diet. 

Last night was the first day I felt really tired from the diet.  Maybe my body is running low on fat to consume but I got home and had no energy whatsoever.  Of course it could have been my late Wednesday night with the thunderstorm stricken Pendejo Buddy or the 90 degree weather and 100% humidity (New England weather strikes again).  Instead of spreading mulch I went into couch potato mode and saw a very entertaining Red Sox win.

Yesterday I finished another David Drake book, Redliners.  This was one of the best military science fiction books I’ve ever read.  The action is visceral and never lets up.  You can see Drake’s own military service screaming off the pages as he obviously knows Soldiers and there are some timeless themes to military service.  The story revolved around a crack infantry unit that is badly mauled on a failed mission and then considered for retirement because of the effects of that mission.  Instead they are sent to recover their humanity by protecting a bunch of colonists as they are dispatched to a planet where every plant and animal is a deadly threat.

Interspaced amongst the relentless battles Drake weaves the stories of individual Soldiers recapturing their humanity by seeing the gratitude of the civilians they are called to protect. Likewise the civilians learn to appreciate the sacrifices made on their behalf by the Soldiers.  Since this has been a theme in my own life on a much, much smaller level since I retired from the Army this book really spoke to me.