An intentional yes

When joy is the protocol

This is a dispatch from the field — my visit to Korea and Japan — to share how I’m navigating my 90-day health experiment. Read my intro.

Every morning around 9am, we meet our guide for the day in the hotel lobby.

Lunch time has become a huge variable because it can take time to walk through an historic village or Buddhist Temple, and seldom do we want to eat or snack there.

So our food anchor has become breakfast. Something we can count on that’s included with our accommodations.

With this breakfast anchor, desperate decisions aren’t made during the day surrounded by food galore as we walk through food markets and temples villages.

And when I do deviate from my 90-day plan, it’s not out of desperation because I’m “starving.” It’s because it was the right moment for celebration.

Because enjoying matcha ice cream with Larry at the Golden Temple was right.

Not because I couldn’t say no. It wasn’t a failed attempt at staying “clean.” It was a pause. An intentional yes.

And, I had the “scouring” Japanese breakfast following my morning wake-up stack: meditation, arm swinging, and hot water sips to afford me this slack.

But it took me a few days to get there, mentally.

I was so “good” leading up to the trip, it took some self-coaching to remind myself that there were other ways to clog up my arteries: cortisol.

Negotiation is cortisol. The internal can I, should I creates friction. And cortisol acts like biological glue. It cancels out whatever scraping the breakfast did.

Joy is the opposite. The awe of a moment, the ease of connection — these literally open the vessels. The sovereign choice isn’t always the cleanest meal. It’s the one eaten without static.

Can this become a slippery slope? Absolutely. The trick is to know when you’re tricking or being honest with yourself. And paying attention to your body’s feedback loops: the 3pm audit, 9pm scan, and how you wake up.

I do plan on enjoying some ramen while in Japan. And a wagyu cooking class in Tokyo had already been lined up before I got my blood test results.

This doesn’t mean all is lost. It means I won’t be having Wagyu (or meat other than fish) on any other night. Fortunately I love fish, soba noodles, and matcha tea just as much if not more.

But when it’s time for Wagyu, ramen, and matcha ice cream, it will be enjoyed. Unapologetically.

—Savitree