Vegan motivation

Don't think of it as harping. Think of it as heavy-duty sharing.

We watched a fun video last night, and it wasn't even "fun" with quotation marks. Dr. Michael Greger runs down the top 15 causes of death in the U.S.; he runs them down with plants and current research.

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

He's funny and interesting, and he makes the science accessible. I can muck my way through a paper, but it takes it out of me.

He says things that you won't hear a lot of doctors saying, like (spoiler alert) prescription drug side-effects - not misuse, just side-effects - are the 6th-leading cause of death in the United States. Filling a prescription and taking it exactly the way we're directed. If our lunch can keep us from needing prescriptions, why not eat it?

Can we just exercise more and eat what we want? Watch and find out.

What happens immediately after we eat an animal-based meal? Watch and find out.

I got the link from the Happy Healthy Long Life lady. She's another good and accessible source of food research.

  If you're leaning toward trying a plant-based (vegan) diet, give it a look. It's more fun than that re-run you were about to suffer through.

If you're already vegan, but sometimes feel like a soymon swimming upstream, definitely watch this.
Sandie raises a point worth amplifying. Is there any point to eating fewer animal products? Of course! This fellow makes a great case for losing one meat-based meal a week. USDA, bite my tail feathers.

Where have they been all my life?

It's hard to explain why I haven't been following Cheap RV Living forever. Cheap RV Living - it's my mantra. These are my people.

They got my attention today with their opening article on living without health insurance. As of 2010, one in six of us is uninsured. One in five has trouble buying healthcare, and one in five puts off treatment.

The Cheap RV folks' rationale and attitude toward healthcare rings true for me. Take a look and see if it might for you, too. And, watch for upcoming articles in the series. It's a hot topic.If you're feeling argumentative about it, take it to RV.net, then come back and have a cup of tea with us.


We're unsettled of mind today because we may need to head back to Florida, but we don't know when. Or if. Or when. Or if, for that matter.


Here's a picture I stole from the Internet. Be kind to each other.

Questions for the pre-retirement set.

Okay, you spring chickens!  You young pups!  You crazy kids!  There are things I need to know.

When Annie leaves her job, she'll have cheap and decent insurance for a year.  I won't.





What do you do about health care?  Self-pay?  Buy private coverage?  Catastrophic?  Full-coverage?  Half a fifth of whiskey and a bullet to bite on?

I've been feeling like an old truck getting ready for a road trip.  

• Headlights good?  Check.  
• Reservoirs healthy?  Check.
• Fluid levels?  Check.
• Hoses tight?  Check.
• TMI?  Check.

I'm trying to squeeze everything I can out of insurance while I have it.  

I've always bought into the fully-padded mindset, even when I haven't agreed with it or been able to afford it.  Frankly, lots of insurance is better than no insurance, especially when someone else (employer) is paying for it.  But, if we stay here and look for work we don't enjoy instead of doing something important to us, who is really paying?  (We are, for you non-fans of the rhetorical).

On second thought, I'm not positive that lots of insurance is always better than none.  With insurance, I have gone to the doctor every year, gotten fatter every year, heard higher numbers every year, and taken some new medicine to cure middle-age every year.   Looking into the face of non-coverage, I have lost weight, started getting more exercise, picked up better eating habits, and begun taking supplements.  I guess I'm that guy.

So spill.  What do you do, and how do you feel about it?  Check out our Healthcare page and add something to it, if you'd like.  If you wouldn't be caught hypercholesterolemic without the best insurance available, you can say that.  If you dress in bubble wrap and take vitamins, say that, too.