Alcohol, Nicotine, Caffeine, Cannabis, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, 2C-B, 4-MMC, Kratom, Psilocybin, Muscimol, Cocaine, ODSMT (tramadol), Amphetamine.

Alcohol I consider the most dangerous and destructive of all. It is very hard on my body and tolerance as well as dependence build up quickly and often noticed too late due to social acceptance.

MDMA is great taken responsibly with loved ones. My wife and I enjoy it every few months for a “free parents weekend”. It really helps opening up emotionally and makes physical touch even more enjoyable.

My almost daily vice is weed. I use it to manage stress and unwind after work. It works best when I do it together with exercise. The workout high is my personal favourite.

Shrooms are also great. They are easy to grow and very pleasant to me. After I’ve done a high dose (6g) I can do 2-3g as a chill daytime dose that mellows me out. It’s especially great for playtime with children - brings me kind of to the same mental level without losing my mental capacity.

Not cheap but worth it, when you use it not only as your personal task list, but also for habit tracking, small projects management and sharing with others.

TickTick has been my weapon of choice for several years now. Still loving it.

Build a consistent bodywork routine. Don’t bother with any high-flying goals, just stay active. A 30 minute routine done consistently every day beats hulking out in the gym two times a week by a lot. Fokus on functional mobility and flexibility exercises and throw in some full-body strength work like pull-ups, push-ups and squats.

All sorts of bean stew. Legumes are filling, rich in protein and fiber, and really easy to prepare. Make them with coconut cream and curry, olive oil and garlic, in a veggie broth … cheap, tasty and loads of variety.

When I got heavily involved in karate and kickboxing, training barefoot 5x per week, I lost almost two shoe-sizes. After I stopped, I gained them back year by year. Now I wear mostly barefoot shoes and again have lost at least one size. I attribute it to the ability of your feet muscles to maintain the arc and keep your middle foot together,

CBT for actually getting out of a rut and sitting meditation (zazen) for staying out of it. There are many more things that help, like reducing alcohol and caffeine, regular exercise…. but meditation is what really changed the game for me.

I’d just recommend you start it with a qualified teacher. Or at least read up on it (I recommend https://www.mctb.org/ and “the mind illuminated”).

By personal (yet anecdotal) evidence, I can testify that at least camomile works. The regular tea is not concentrated enough for me to have any noticeable effect, but the oily extract (apigenin) does wonders for my stressed-out brain!

Yeah, there still are heaps of MSG in them and therefore a lot of traditional “cucina povera” recipes make use of them.

Still, at least for parmigiano reggiano, modern food science has found that the mold living in the cheese dairies penetrates the rind several centimetres deep and is almost ubiquitous.

Likely it is as always: the dose makes the posion.

That is a very coarse categorisation. Really hard cheese, like parmigiano reggiano, is almost always already “contaminated”, which is why the last few centimetres towards the crust shouldn’t be eaten.

For anything softer than that, f.i. middle-aged Gouda or Emmental, I wouldn’t risk it, as the mould will already be spread far wider than visible.

As a SW-German, I’d say it is way more a rural vs. urban thing. In the greater Stuttgart area f.i. don’t worry about openly living a gay lifestyle. If you live out in the woods, it might be different, but not necessarily so.

That being said, SW’eners are generally way more conservative towards any kind of “fun” or “flamboyant“ things - legacy of the very pietist history here.

I‘d generally advice against sneakers. If you want shoes that last, get some quality leather shoes, ideally Goodyear welted ones. When properly taken care of, they can last many years and can then be repaired. Also they will fit very well, after being broken in.