Feed your brain and stay on your game

I’m going off on a tangent here today. But it’s a very important one (nothing more than life or death). If you click on my name you’ll see my interest in health and nutrition. I first became interested in this after getting out of college. It has served me well. In my adult life I’ve only filed a medical claim twice, and both were for minor accidents, not illnesses. No prescriptions. No doctor visits. Nothing. (Yet I continue to get ripped off by insurance companies every time a premium is due.) And I’ve mentioned before that I’m older than probably everyone reading this. Maybe I’m lucky. Luck can have a small role in lots of things. But I do more than just “talk the talk” as well.

You younger traders may think you will live forever in great health. It’s a common delusion of youth. Don’t be so naïve. Does being naïve help you become a better trader? Even if you make a fortune by the age of 35 what good will it do you if you are locked in a nursing home with a devastating case of Alzheimers? Wouldn’t you rather be out traveling and enjoying life? Trust me, the grocery stores, the water we drink, and the air we breathe are all full of man-made poisons our grandparents never had to experience. It’s all done in the name of “progress”. Don’t be so naïve as to think illnesses “just happen”. 80% of the time it’s up to you.

Your trading career is over when your brain can’t keep up. When you retire from trading you have no business to sell for a windfall. Your brain is your business. What are you going to do to “insure” your business? In my time I’ve kept lots of notes and written my own reports on food. It’s not hard. But it takes effort and devotion to do it. One of my favorite authors is Jean Carper. You can get her books at a library, or better yet buy some. Another is Charlotte Haigh’s “Top 100 Immunity Boosters”. A whopping $12.95. I’ve read many others. Nowadays the book stores are full of such work. I’m not into exotic solutions and foods. Just as the stores are full of poisonous crap they also have almost all the essentials you need to live long and healthy. You call the shots with your selections. Here’s a short excerpt from my notes on brain health:

“BRAIN: Keep your BRAIN in top shape…. You need anti-oxidants particularly for your brain and mental functioning. Your brain is vulnerable because 1) it’s rich in easily oxidized polyunsaturated fat, 2) and it consumes 1/5 of all the oxygen taken into your body. 3) Your brain has a lot of iron in it, an oxidation promoting mineral, and 4) your brain produces few anti-oxidants on its own. So if you DON’T want Alzheimer’s, or just plain senility, you need to take in more anti-oxidants than the typical person who doesn’t know any better.”

In today’s internet age you can find answers in minutes. But then you have to commit yourself to doing something about it. Ahhh, you know there was a catch. Like everything else in life, if you want to rise above the norm you have to do what the majority (the norm) aren’t unwilling to do.

To be a top trader you can’t be brain lazy and unable to focus. You can’t afford to punish your brain by feeding it garbage any more than an athlete can get by with eating pizza instead of protein. There will be a price to pay somewhere, sometime. If you aren’t vigilant it will creep up on you an inch at a time, almost undetected, until it’s too late. If you want living proof go visit a nursing home. Or for a less active, but still worthwhile manner, go online and look up some stats. Maybe it will “scare you straight”. I know it has for me. Just my 2 cents on a subject worth a million times more.