Good Stuff - Crio Bru Cacao

So ... this stuff is VERY interesting!

First - the smell is pure heaven! Deep, rich chocolate, like you smell in dreams, but almost never smell in real life. So, I thought that would drive the taste? I din't want "hot chocolate" ... but damn, it smells good! It has to steep for 8 minutes, so it REALLY got me anticipating!!!

Steep for 8, stir, wait another minute, then gently press. To facilitate easy, slow sipping, I use my Ember mug to keep it warm - right at 145°.

First sip - it doesn't remotely give a "hot choc" vibe. It's good - and now I "get" the coffee substitute intention. No deep, dark, angry coffee flavor - this is light, and the choco-aroma makes it decidedly "happy", somehow. It's not 'weak', but it also won't drive my Tums consumption.

If I added milk & sugar, it might give more "hot-choc" vibe, but that's not my intention. This is definitely a treat, and interesting, and fun ... might have to try adding a scoop of good coffee grounds to the mix?

We grow what we tend

I'm still mentally distilling my "Three for 23" goals, but one idea I'm chewing on is exactly this - what am I feeding my brain? Sure - mostly it's WORK, and that's so stressful that my downtime gets focused on "chill". That downtime is just a fragile chunk of an hour here, 30 minutes there ... but over the course of time, it adds up. Even at just an hour a day - 5 hours a week, that's 20 hours a month - damn near a whole DAY. At the end of the year it's TWO WEEKS.

What do I want from that time? Watch HGTV re-runs? Tabloid TV? No ...

How do I leverage this time to feed my soul? To work on my fitness! Work on my convertible! Read a book that lights my brain up?!?

It's an hour a day. Be careful with it. Someday you'll want that shit back! ;-)

My Three Prong Plan has a three prong plan!

My "Three for '23" can be stated overly simplified as "Prick / Track / Sweat":

Prick: I will track my Waking, Pre-Meal, and Post-Meal blood sugar.
Goal: By reducing my overall blood sugar (the body's fuel tank), I will improve my metabolic fitness.

Track: I will track my food, my sleep, and my activity.
Goal: improve my food quality to support my blood sugar, sleep to improve health & happiness, and activity to support mental and physical wellbeing

Sweat: Monday Boxing Fitness at Title Boxing, Tue "Bootcamp Core" at Schaumburg Park Center, and Thursdays at Orange Theory. If anything gets missed, I have Fri night / Sat morning for a makeup.
Goal: This supports my mental wellbeing (hitting things on Mondays), and of course it supports my metabolic health. These three options are (relatively) cost-effective as compared to Cross-Fit, which I miss greatly, except for the time constraints & corporate programming.