Tag Archives: diet

Is food worth dying for?

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I doubt everyone has done some soul searching over this, but I know I did. I had to decide for myself what was the right thing for myself and my family. People who study our behaviors have come to a few interesting conclusions. Only two have any relevance to this post. The first is that most of us spend too much time dwelling on our faults and not enough time celebrating our successes. The second behavior we share as humans is we are great at blocking out negative factors in our lives we choose not to think about. For us, it seems if we do not think about them, they do not exist.

The reality is they do not exist until they come to pass, then if we are still around to reflect, we chastise ourselves for not seeing this extreme risk, and taking steps to prevent it. A great example is smoking. Growing up in my generation more adults were smoking than not, or so it seemed. There was a major not smoking campaign throughout my school years, and of course like well brainwashed children I was convinced about the evils of smoking and would harangue my parents about their smoking.

After I was out of school a few years, I found myself buying cigarettes for my own pleasure. Over those few years from leaving school to that point, I managed to dull down the dangers of smoking, and turn it into something real men did, so I should be smoking too. There is nothing like a group of men all standing around smoking and joking to make a young man think about how fun it would be tpart of that small social club.

After some years passed, and I went to some funerals of friends and family members who all seemed to have died too early, smoking started to lose its appeal. The biggest factor in changing my mind about smoking was my children. I did not want them being exposed to smoking so they would be less likely to become smokers themselves. It didn’t happen overnight, but one night I smoked my (almost) last cigarette and started down a new life path.

Time marches on I arrived at forty, and a new set of challenges were waiting for me. Mostly about what and how I ate. All men see and hear of other men who were fine one second and dead the next. Men that fell over from massive heart attacks. At first it just seemed like it was the destiny of men to fall over dead form heart attacks. After all heart attacks caused the demise of several male members of my family. That’s just the way life was.  Of course other men came out of the woodwork, and we now know that is not the way life is at all.

We have access to more and better information regarding our health and welfare than we ever had before. In just a few hours of serious net searching, we can become familiar with just about any health subject. One area we still lack in is denial though. There is no medical breakthrough to stop us from living in a state of denial. If there was, I doubt as free adults we would subject ourselves to that particular cure either.

The biggest health concern I see for us is the foods we choose to eat. We are surviving on some really poor food choices. Most of us pretend poor food choices are okay. If eating fast or fried food had the ‘side effects’ of smoking, many people would not be eating those foods. Because the major health problems poor food choices have on our bodies are not visible we go on pretending that eating how most of eat is okay. It is okay, until you find yourself falling over from your heart having exploded in your chest, then it is too late. Company advertising is not going to tell how deadly these foods are either….

I am urging everyone who finds that a major part of their diet is fast food, or fried food to really think about how good that food is, both in health and in taste. Are those food choices really so good that they are worth the risk hidden in those foods? If anyone has children, is eating fast food and feeding it to your children worth dying for and leaving your children to grow up without you around, and facing the same health problems? We can ignore a lot of bad things in our lives and usually it is okay, but poor eating choices have no warning signs until it is too late. Make aware food choices, and be there for your kids. Don’t allow them to grow up eating the poor food choices you are making.

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Grease, sugar, and flour…learning how to eat correctly

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I started on a lifestyle change right before Christmas. I reached the point where I knew without a doubt that anything readily wrong with me was my fault, and if I did not change, I was not going to wake up healthier one morning. I thought about all the foods I eat that I knew I should not eat, and what they were doing to me. I had made the decision I was going to improve my eating habits, or I was going to die trying – hopefully a little literary extravagance in the expression. This time I was very serious, and I was going to make it work no matter what it took.

I started out well, at least I thought I was starting off well. I traded the man sized burgers, fries, and a coke for the woman sized portions, and the sugary soda for a diet soda. I added more vegetables to my meals. I ate a little less white foods, making up the difference in meats. Over the following two months I had lost about ten pounds. I lost that by eating little for dinner and waking up very hungry. Of course over the two months, I started making up for being hungry at night by eating more for breakfast.

It is really an interesting situation we Americans have ourselves in when it comes to eating. We generally eat more in some meals than we should be eating in a whole day. I won’t go on with what those meals are, other than to say they meet the taste requirements of the new American food groups are: grease, sugar, and flour. The more of these bad foods in combination the more we like them.

I used to work with a guy whose diet consisted of: Twinkies, canned vanilla pudding, and pop. That is all he ate every day. We all knew he was not going to live to long on a diet like that. We would talk about his poor diet while we ate burgers and fries. Later I worked with a woman who lived on toaster pastries and coffee. I was sure she was not going to make to another birthday. I thought these thoughts as I was giving up eating most pork, and all gravy – with a few exceptions of course.

Now it was my turn to really look at myself and help myself eat better. I thought maybe if I made sandwiches instead of burgers and had some corn chips, and diet coke my diet would be better. After a month of sandwiches, nothing had changed. Somehow my idea of eating better just was not working.

I did what I think I do best in these and similar situations. I decided I was suffering a case of wrong think. All I was really doing was substituting one poor food choice for another poor food choice. All the while thinking I was really changing my eating habits. All I was doing in reality was changing the composition of what I ate, while not changing what it was all made of. That was a hard pill to swallow, but it was better to admit I did not have a clue how to eat healthy, than to continue eating what I was eating. One meal out of the house I have always enjoyed was going to a salad bar. Watching other people at the salad bar, and their food choices started me down a whole new way of eating.

It is important to remember the idea that salad bar sounds healthy. Everyone there should be slim and trim, but they were not. Just like anywhere else, there was a mix of sizes. I grouped the people at the salad bars into two main groups. Those who were over weight, and those who were not. I started watching what the two groups ate for their meals. What I discovered really took me by surprise!

The more rotund people were eating about the same things I ate, a small plate of salad, followed by muffins, pastas, and ice cream with toppings. When I looked at the slim people they were eating salad, light soups, and one bread or muffin, and perhaps a small amount of ice cream for desert. What a difference in eating habits! I knew right then I needed to start eating like the slimmed down people were eating. I also knew I did not have a clue how to eat like they were throughout the day.

I found a book that promised to get me on the right track. The book suggested I would lose all the weight I wanted in the process, plus I would feel better each passing week. I had to ask myself, how many books make that promise? Well, when I went online to the bookstore, I found eighty-seven people gave this book an overall four point five stars on a five star scale. I thought conspiracy right away, what else could it be? There is no book that good. I read through some parts of it quickly and decided I liked what I read. It was straight forward, talked to me in a way I understood, and it made no frills attached sense. Except it was a vegetarian diet! A VEGETARIAN DIET! Who in the world ate like that? Obviously the authors and eighty-seven other people eat that way.

Thirty plus pounds later, I can attest to everything the book says is true, for me at least. Besides losing a lot of weight, I am still losing weight, and generally my health has improved more than I ever thought possible. I can’t say I am total vegetarian even though I ate tofu scrambled and spiced to look and almost taste like eggs today, along with a bowl of three bean chili and some bread that contains no grain, toast with almond butter, and an orange, all for breakfast! I still enjoy some chicken now and then, and I ate two pieces of beef, and two eggs, in the last month. Overall I can say I really enjoy the way I eat now, for no other reason than I am getting the results I want. I am also learning what it means to eat healthy, to eat right, and it feels so good!

I don’t have any intention of selling you on my new way of eating. Friends and family find it pretty bland, and can not believe I can eat the way I am learning to eat. For me it is the first of many baby steps as I learn how to eat right without following a manual of eating. What I am suggesting, is if you are willing to admit what you are doing in any area of your life is not working, there is hope and help waiting when you are ready to change. All you have to do is want to change bad enough that other things in your life become second to achieving your goal. If I can do it, anyone can do it.

That means you can do it too if you are willing to set aside what you think you know, and admit what you know does not work for you, whether it is eating, relationships, or life in general. Go to the book store, get on the net, or talk to people who seem to be doing it better than you do. When you want it bad enough, you will find a new way that works for you.

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Synchronicity, walking, dogs, and diet

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I was lucky enough to see synchronicity in action this morning! It is so nice to see it in action, although it always amazes me when I see it. Perhaps it is a form of pass it forward, or maybe it is just coincidence, but I am grateful to see it all the same. I went out for my morning walk and what did I see? I saw a group of people out with trash bags picking up trash along the walking path!

What a sight, there was a group of about eight people out with their bags and some sticks with nails on the end to spear the trash on the ground. They were out there with their bags half full, or half empty, depending on your personal take. As I walked along the walking path I made it a point to thank each of them. I want them to know I appreciate their time and effort making the park cleaner.

They appeared to be enjoying themselves, which is a normal feeling from knowing you are doing something of value for others even if they do not see you doing it. I hope this group whoever they are, out there cleaning up the walking path decide this is something they can do on a regular basis, and not just a one time spring clean up effort. It would be good to see more people involved in keeping their walking areas clean.

Which brings me to another sore spot of walking paths besides the trash people drop all over the place. People walk their dogs along the paths too, and do not bother to clean up after them. My guess is they don’t think about it, because for many of them they make a quick walk through and they are gone. But what their dog’s leave is not something that is cleaned up by the fairies that come out of their homes after everyone leaves, and turn dog crap into gold dust. Here in the desert where we get twelve inches of rain a year on average that dog waste is there for a long while. I suppose my point is if you have a dog and you take it for walks, it is likely a public area, and kids and other adults use that area too, so please clean up after your dog.

I have rediscovered and enjoyable way to get outside and enjoy the day now that spring weather is here. I found a book on diet and health that explains eating, health and exercise better than any book I have ever read. One of the ideas the book promotes is strolling after meals. Strolling is a slow meandering walk. You are moving, but not trying to walk for exercise. I have been wanting to actually lose weight rather than starve for about five months now, and this book came along. Synchronicity in action?

This book promotes strolling for twenty minutes after each meal. Not less than twenty minutes and not a whole lot more than twenty minutes as it tends to make your stomach stop the digestive process which is not the intent. I have been strolling after meals for a week now, and I find I am really enjoying this slow walk. Walking at a slower pace lets me observe more, and pay more attention to what I see. For example the Crocus’ are starting to bloom and walking slower gives me a chance to enjoy them.

During my work week, strolling feels like a nice a extra break after my meal, and a chance to walk away from the job for twenty minutes. In the past I would eat and cruise the internet for those twenty minutes. That twenty minute walk away from work is a nice relaxing break. I have noticed the afternoons now seem to go more quickly, probably because I have broken what was a boring pattern of lunch, net, work.

So, I really do not know if the people collecting trash was because one of them saw me out more than once collecting trash myself, or it is something they are doing because they wanted to do something for their neighborhood, but I would like to think it is sychronicity in action.

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