Espresso
Isn't it funny how old habits creep up on you? Sat at the cafe with my americano and getting through some paper work I noticed the reflection on the wall. "Espresso". It wasn't even midday yet and I was on my second cup of coffee!
I had reduced my coffee intake, and tea too, to a maximum of two a day a few months ago. I kept this going for a few months but, slowly but surely, I'm back to drinking about 5 a day now. I don't know when it happened, but it just gradually crept back up. These things have to be actively monitored or it's very easy to fall off the train.
I've also returned to eating some junk that I gave up months ago. Toffees, for example, are nice but in extremely small quantities. I've been eating them frequently, and sometimes with coffee, in quantities that are probably generally unhealthy. First it was one toffee at a friend's party, then it was one at the cafe - it was complimentary on the day. Now I buy a bag of them at the supermarket and help myself to them randomly haha.
I finished the last toffee in my toffee jar yesterday, as well as the last cookie in the cookie jar. I am giving them up again, again. LOL. The thing with me, thankfully, is I have full control of my will power. I can give stuff up at will, and maintain it, as long as I'm conscious of it. the only way I return to doing something I'd previously given up is unconsciously.
This reflection was the jolt I needed to snap back into consciousness and get back on the right track. There is a business idea in there somewhere. Image recognition is so good now. Google Lens, for instance, can recognise items around your house and read text on items (that's a little worrying and deserving of an entire writeup itself). The Amazon app is just as good at recognising items, perhaps even better than Google Lens for actual products since they have all the data. Facebook, and even the Apple camera app on the iPhone, also have quite powerful OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools. Surely someone can come up with an app that can alert you when you're in the vicinity of something you've "given up" with a gentle "bro, you're not going to eat that are you?".
There is an app that can tell you how "healthy" a product is that I have on my phone. The reflection and warning app I described can't be too far a step from that. In fact, thinking about it, it's so obvious that I'm relatively certain that it already exists.
Peace & Love,
Adé