That word means making your life less dependent on intermediaries.
An intermediary could be otherwise called a “middle man”.
Any time there is a toll booth standing between you and where you want to be, clipping the ticket with each trip, you’ve got an intermediary.
Consider the GLP-1 problem.
Problem? Indeed so.
This alleged miracle of the phramaceutical-industrial complex is touted as the final solution to obesity and weight-management.
Save for one tiny detail:
You aren’t meant to stop using it.
Based on the research I’ve seen (and it’s always smart to be cautious whenever you’re trusting the research), there’s a serious rebound effect in patients who come off this little miracle.
Worse yet, since our chemical friend strips off lean mass as sure as the unwanted adipose, victims patients come out the other side positioned to put back even more flab.
Not a nice situation to find yourself in.
With the sole exception of creatine powder, which actually has a modest but tangible effect, I don’t even use supplements anymore.
The reason for that isn’t some principled stance about will-power, toughening up, plowing through the pain for the sheer thrill of doing it when there’s a path of least resistance I could follow.
It’s more serious than that.
Do you want your life to depend on complex and highly technical chains of production that could fail at any time?
I don’t know if you’ve paid attention, but things are not exactly stable. Things break and don’t get fixed. Complex products of civilization depend on bottlenecks that can break or fall apart or get fried in a freak electrical storm.
Outsourcing your own heart-beat to Globo-Corp and the fickle whims of an increasingly fragile world-wide economy is not the smart play.
My goal is to expand my sphere of control.
If I depend on it for life or health, I want it in my sight and ready to hand at all times, under lock and key if necessary.
In practice, that means I rely on as little as possible, and I’m always looking to cut dependencies.
Basics always work. Weights. Food. Water. Sunshine. Fresh air. Sleep.
Everything about the supplement industry mirrors everything that is wrong with the “health and wellness” [sic] industry.
Focus on minor details that have no effects on real outcomes. Ignore the big rocks that make real moves.
Get everyone obsessed with pills, quick-fix cures, and the easy path to success.
Then wonder why health outcomes get worse and worse as each year passes.
Hey, maybe it wasn’t that people were ignorant and needed more information?
Maybe there’s something else wrong with the human animals.
Fitness and health and nutrition are mostly solved problems. We know, in broad strokes, what to do.
People just don’t want to do it and they’ll spend the energy of a nuclear reactor to avoid doing it and justify why they aren’t going to do it.
Which situation benefits some parties more than others.
There’s a rule of thumb for you to use:
If I depend on this as an essential to my life, is it under my control?
Can I replace it if my supply should vanish? Worst case, could I do without it?
If the answer is “no”, you might want to look for alternatives.
Basics never stop working and they don’t require a five-figure annual bill plus hoping your insurance company will cover it.
That’s all I got for you today. For more wisdoms and insights in your inbox, use this link:
Matt Perryman