I just happened to see a news article on yahoo, ?We?re Eating Ourselves to Death?. It should have frightened the crap out of me. Apparently, poor nutrition and obesity is quickly becoming the #1 preventable contributing cause of death in the United States. Smoking is still #1, but obesity is right up there. Being fat puts me at a higher risk for heart attack, stroke, cancer and diabetes.
Young people are at increasing risk for one of the aforementioned. Now that is scary. It happens so fast, too. Kids are bombarded with food commercials on the TVs they watch instead of going outside to play. It starts even earlier than that! Some parents give their babies sugar-water so they will stop crying. Or they'll put cereal in the bottle so the kids will sleep through the night. One thing that does is grows the kid a sweet tooth!
I have been reading Dr. Phil?s book and trying to digest it. You wouldn?t think a normal person would engage in destructive, dangerous behavior ? knowing what it could lead to! You wouldn?t ? except there is still a payoff. If there wasn?t some sort of positive reinforcer then I think the temptation to overeat wouldn?t even be there. I tried to think about what my payoff is. It?s something as simple as the bad stuff tastes good and it works fast to relieve physiological stress. I?m assuming the idea would be to change the payoff or remove it somehow.
So, of course, when TB left to pick Billy up from play practice, he said he needed to stop at CVS (the drug store). Did I want anything? Well, of course I said no ? right? Wrong!
I used to get so mad at Rich for not keeping the weight off. I really used to stomp all over him and say if he wouldn?t take care of himself for himself and he wouldn?t for me couldn?t he just please do it for the kids? Easier said than done. Could it be a secret death wish? No ? I sort of think we?re all in a kind of denial about it. Yes, I could develop all these health problems ? but maybe not yet. Maybe I?m too young.
Ha.
People younger than me have had heart attacks.
So ? what now? One thing I?ve noticed is a slight change in my thinking. Okay, so it?s not a big change but it?s in the right direction. I?ve become more aware of making a good or bad food choice. It?s not entirely automatic anymore. Now I stop and think to myself, is it a good idea to eat this? Sometimes I actually say no and I feel really good about that.
This is not about losing weight in six months by following a diet. There is no diet. It?s a life long plan.
Dr. Phil is also right when he says it?s not what you eat, it?s how much. One other little change: I am trying to weigh or somehow measure my portions. Instead of going for all the leftover corned beef and cabbage (which I dearly love), I weighed the meat and only took 4 oz. I took only carrots and cabbage, not potatoes. And I didn?t eat butter. I didn?t eat butter on my Irish soda bread either. I used low fat cream cheese which has like a third of the calories butter has.
I didn?t do great, but I didn?t do as terribly as I started out thinking. I?ve been making little changes. Eventually I will get turned in the right direction.
One more change: more activity. I?d begun walking on the dreadmill again when I became sick. I?ve stopped for the moment because I feel yucky. But I must do that again because inactivity is not healthy. And I am really happy that Heidi has a friend living in this development, someone to go walking with.
What I would like to do as I make changes is to effect changes in my kids. I was reading another article that said menus for kids become unhealthier once they get into middle school. Most kids don?t want to go for veggie sticks and fruit if they know they can get pizza and cookies. Maybe we?ll get to a point someday where the unhealthy snack stuff will be banned from schools.
I?ve encouraged the kids to take food to school, healthy snacks. I know Heidi doesn?t like to sit down and eat a big meal so she?s been taking a bag of carrots or broccoli/cauliflower or unbuttered popcorn. Billy?s taken some plain slices of chicken or beef ? no bread for his sandwiches. And Kristin?s begun packing her own lunch, usually bringing yogurt and a piece of fruit.
I think that Dr. Phil is right in that once we get rid of the fatty, salty, sugary snacks and force ourselves to snack on veggies and fruit, we?ll begin to develop a preference for them. I never would have dreamed that I would prefer water over diet soda. I do.
We?re learning to like the Klondike low fat or low sugar ice cream.
Small changes add up and will become a big change.
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Please comment on the following quote: "Don't find fault, find a remedy." ~ Henry Ford
It?s really easy to complain about something that you don?t like. ?It? can be anything, from an object to a person. The problem isn?t solved by whining and moaning about it. That works for maybe the first couple of times but after that, the complaining becomes tiresome. If it?s so bad, make a change! Don?t go there, don?t do that, buy a better one. Change the way you treat grouches, maybe they?ll cheer up. There is another old saying ? if you aren?t part of the solution, you?re part of the problem.