I am currently in Seattle. It's a progressive place with lots of high income, educated people. It's the Pacific Northwest where people buy organic vegetables, eat seafood and do lots of outdoors stuff. They should be healthy. But they're not. Nearly 1 out of 3 people in Washington are obese, nearly 1 in 10 adults have diabetes and nearly 1 in 3 have hypertension. Nowadays, those numbers are fairly average for the US. But in 1990 even the state with highest obesity rate in the entire nation, … [Read more...]
Does Walking Burn More Calories than Running?
Have you ever seen someone walk so hard that they threw up? Me neither. If you stand at the finish line of a marathon, seeing people collapse or throw up isn't entirely uncommon. It's obvious that these runners went through a tough ordeal. Standing there you'll also notice that most of them are anything but fat. And that's not just because they throw up their banana at the end of the race. It's because they burn a metric ton of calories. Imagine you could burn a collapse-and-throw-up amount of … [Read more...]
That Gap Between Expectations and Perceived Reality
I recently talked to a fellow entrepreneur who seemed quite stressed out. Despite business going well, being healthy, and otherwise not having any complaints, he felt stressed. Very stressed. I could relate because I tend to feel the same way. Despite being in a very good position - no shitty boss, no looming deadlines, no dreadful finances - I feel stressed. A while back, it dawned on me that stress isn't necessarily the result of any tangible, or even any external, factor. It can be … [Read more...]
An In-Depth Guide to Fitness in Bangkok: Activities, Locations, and Prices
Staying fit in Bangkok isn't easy. Liquid calories come in many forms, and with significantly more holidays than months in a year, there always seems to be a good reason to imbibe them. Even if you set out to stay in shape, the city puts up quite a fight to keep you at your desk, on your bar stool and in your bed. Last time there was a census on green space in the city, the report opted to count traffic islands and roundabouts in order to make the number slightly less depressing. Limited park … [Read more...]
Thai Health Insurance: Here’s What You Need to Know as an Expat
When I wrote about my cost of living in Bangkok a few weeks back, the most common question I received by e-mail was what health insurance I'm using. If that's all you want to know - that's easy. The company is called ACS. If you never heard of them, don't worry, neither had I until 3 days before signing up with them. However, those recommendations don't stay up to date for long. My insurance prior to ACS was a French insurance that shall remain unnamed. They were pretty awesome ... until they … [Read more...]