I just finished Willpower last night. I had a choice between reading and riding the bike, and I just couldn’t seem to find the fortitude to climb onto the trainer.

Ironic?

Not really. My willpower had been depleted over the past couple of days through some really tough workouts and carrying kids around EPCOT on my shoulders. One of the things I learned from “Willpower” was that it’s not an infinite resource. It gets worn down just like any other muscle, and physical strenuation (is that a word? It should be.) is one of the things that can wear it down. The key for me is to develop some preventive strategies to avoid bad food choices when I’m running low on willpower.

That brings me to my next read, which I started immediately after finishing “Willpower”.

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health

Uh-oh. Two chapters in, and I don’t want to read this book. I’ve already gained enough information from it that I’m now afraid to eat anything with gluten at all. Actually, that’s not a huge problem most of the time, but when my willpower is low there isn’t much better to fix it than a chocolate croissant.

I’m not reading to try to get some miracle weight reduction, although 5 more pounds off would make me a little faster. I’m more interested in the long-term health implications. You know…finding out how I can live forever, or close to it.

Those are Amazon links–click through if you want to buy those books (or anything else). I promise to use it to pay for hosting fees and race entries. Maybe a bike trainer.