I was reflecting on my post about diet and disease and felt like it needed something more. I want to be clear that I don't believe that everyone knows just exactly what they should do to take better care of themselves and just won't do it. The truth is, I believe there are a whole lot of people out there who know that they need to eat better and exercise and just don't know where or how to begin. There are still tons of people in this county without internet access so it isn't always as easy as Googling something. Not to mention that even if you can look it up, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there and much of it is contradictory.
I am not a very good cook. I can look up how to make something and give it a whirl and it rarely turns out the way it should. I'm not someone you could hand a pile of ingredients to and expect a meal to appear out of them. I know I need to eat healthy, but sometimes I do get overwhelmed at the process and the lure of the drive-thru is a strong one. So while I was mostly ranting at those who know just exactly what they need to do and choose not to do it, I know there is a big camp out there that wants to do it but feels overwhelmed by the process. In those cases I wish we had more programs to help. I love the first lady's Let's Move campaign, and I love what Jamie Oliver tried to do in his Food Revolution program. In order to spend less on obesity we may have to spend more on education and I think that's a pretty good trade off.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Diet and Disease
This post is going to be a bit of a rant and it might make some people mad in the process, but it has been festering inside of me for days and I need to get it out. I want to start out by saying that I am by no means perfect. I do all sorts of unhealthy things all the time and this post isn't meant to be a judgment on others. All that being said, I am so freaking sick of hearing the words "personal responsibility" from a country that clearly has no idea what that means.
I got into a heated Facebook discussion about the various bans on large soft drinks that are popping up around the country. I was in the minority when I said I was in favor of the bans. Every single person against them kept saying how it was all about personal responsibility and how if they wanted the giant soda no one should be able to stop them. Well I was a huge soda addict, so I understand the desire for a vat of the stuff. But the fact of the matter is, that no one exercises responsibility when it comes to their diets anymore! Currently ten percent of healthcare spending goes to obesity related illness and that number is rising. One in three white children, and one in two minority children born after the year 2000 will develop diabetes and most of those before they leave high school, so clearly parents aren't being responsible either. That same group of children is not expected to live as long as their parents. I'm in favor of universal healthcare, but if it is ever going to work, people do have to start taking care of themselves!
I was in a small group of people once and one of the members of the group was morbidly obese and had suffered from Type 2 diabetes (yes, Type 1 is a whole different thing I know) for most of her life. She told another member of the group that she'd heard they'd found a cure for Type 2. I couldn't help myself, I said there has always been a cure (or at least effective treatment) for it and that's diet and exercise. Yes, I know this is where the hate mail will come in. I was not trying to be a bitch. I know how hard she has struggled with her weight and I know that she has many obstacles that are not just food. But, the reality is, there is a cure out there for SO much of the illness out there today and it comes on a plate, not in a pill bottle. The science cannot be denied and it is seriously the cheapest cure there is! In the documentary Forks Over Knives one of the doctors is confronted with the statement that a whole foods, plant based diet is "extreme" when you are looking to cure heart disease. As a doctor who has performed many bypass operations he replied that he considered dividing your chest, stopping your heart and taking a part of your leg to bypass your arteries extreme. Now, looking at that written out, can you deny it?
Someone told me I was being insensitive to Paula Deen when she came out with her diagnosis of diabetes and that I don't know what I would do if I were in her shoes. The answer to that was, "Oh yes I do!" Modern medicine is a fabulous thing. Children no longer have to suffer from Polio the way my ex-mother-in-law did. Women rarely die in childbirth. We can replace insulin in people who cannot produce it. I love medicine! But I guarantee you that if my doctor gives me a diagnosis of any illness the first thing I will do is examine my diet! Why? The real question should be why not? If my doctor tells me I have cancer tomorrow I will take the conventional treatments, but I will also change anything about my diet that may contribute to that cancer. When you suggest radical changes to a diet people always come back with "Oh something is going to kill me, I might as well die happy". Well something is going to kill us and we should enjoy life. But I like to think about what I would do if it were one of my children that was diagnosed with something. Would I say "oh something's going to kill him, so he might as well die happy" or would I look into every option out there to save his life? Prostate cancer has plagued the males in my ex husbands family. Do you think I'm going to just look at my boys and say "well it's got to be something". Hell no! I'm going to do everything I can now, to see to it they never face that. If they still do, then I hope medicine saves them, but at least I will be able to say I tried. So why, if we would do that for our children, would we not do it for ourselves?
When I weighed over 200 pounds I was sick a lot. I developed a chronic cough and became worried that I had something serious. The doctor told me that he believed my heartburn caused the cough and that the cough had become its own irritant. He gave me a prescription for heartburn medication and told me that he thought my weight was a contributing factor. I thanked him, walked out the door and threw the prescription in the trash. The next day I drove myself to Weight Watchers. I was not going to spend my money on a pill for something that was within my control to change. I lost weight, the heartburn went away and so did the cough. I have seen countless people walk through the doors of WW with all sorts of medical ailments and have also watched those ailments disappear or lessen as their weight has left them.
There are all sorts of things in this world that we cannot control. Their are illnesses that are preventable and some that don't appear to be. But the one thing we can control is what we put in our bodies and how much we feed into the illness or fight with modern medicine to cure ourselves.
The father of modern medicine Hippocrates himself said "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. Clearly he knew something that we have forgotten. Let's remember, let's try that personal responsibility thing on for size. Myself included.
I got into a heated Facebook discussion about the various bans on large soft drinks that are popping up around the country. I was in the minority when I said I was in favor of the bans. Every single person against them kept saying how it was all about personal responsibility and how if they wanted the giant soda no one should be able to stop them. Well I was a huge soda addict, so I understand the desire for a vat of the stuff. But the fact of the matter is, that no one exercises responsibility when it comes to their diets anymore! Currently ten percent of healthcare spending goes to obesity related illness and that number is rising. One in three white children, and one in two minority children born after the year 2000 will develop diabetes and most of those before they leave high school, so clearly parents aren't being responsible either. That same group of children is not expected to live as long as their parents. I'm in favor of universal healthcare, but if it is ever going to work, people do have to start taking care of themselves!
I was in a small group of people once and one of the members of the group was morbidly obese and had suffered from Type 2 diabetes (yes, Type 1 is a whole different thing I know) for most of her life. She told another member of the group that she'd heard they'd found a cure for Type 2. I couldn't help myself, I said there has always been a cure (or at least effective treatment) for it and that's diet and exercise. Yes, I know this is where the hate mail will come in. I was not trying to be a bitch. I know how hard she has struggled with her weight and I know that she has many obstacles that are not just food. But, the reality is, there is a cure out there for SO much of the illness out there today and it comes on a plate, not in a pill bottle. The science cannot be denied and it is seriously the cheapest cure there is! In the documentary Forks Over Knives one of the doctors is confronted with the statement that a whole foods, plant based diet is "extreme" when you are looking to cure heart disease. As a doctor who has performed many bypass operations he replied that he considered dividing your chest, stopping your heart and taking a part of your leg to bypass your arteries extreme. Now, looking at that written out, can you deny it?
Someone told me I was being insensitive to Paula Deen when she came out with her diagnosis of diabetes and that I don't know what I would do if I were in her shoes. The answer to that was, "Oh yes I do!" Modern medicine is a fabulous thing. Children no longer have to suffer from Polio the way my ex-mother-in-law did. Women rarely die in childbirth. We can replace insulin in people who cannot produce it. I love medicine! But I guarantee you that if my doctor gives me a diagnosis of any illness the first thing I will do is examine my diet! Why? The real question should be why not? If my doctor tells me I have cancer tomorrow I will take the conventional treatments, but I will also change anything about my diet that may contribute to that cancer. When you suggest radical changes to a diet people always come back with "Oh something is going to kill me, I might as well die happy". Well something is going to kill us and we should enjoy life. But I like to think about what I would do if it were one of my children that was diagnosed with something. Would I say "oh something's going to kill him, so he might as well die happy" or would I look into every option out there to save his life? Prostate cancer has plagued the males in my ex husbands family. Do you think I'm going to just look at my boys and say "well it's got to be something". Hell no! I'm going to do everything I can now, to see to it they never face that. If they still do, then I hope medicine saves them, but at least I will be able to say I tried. So why, if we would do that for our children, would we not do it for ourselves?
When I weighed over 200 pounds I was sick a lot. I developed a chronic cough and became worried that I had something serious. The doctor told me that he believed my heartburn caused the cough and that the cough had become its own irritant. He gave me a prescription for heartburn medication and told me that he thought my weight was a contributing factor. I thanked him, walked out the door and threw the prescription in the trash. The next day I drove myself to Weight Watchers. I was not going to spend my money on a pill for something that was within my control to change. I lost weight, the heartburn went away and so did the cough. I have seen countless people walk through the doors of WW with all sorts of medical ailments and have also watched those ailments disappear or lessen as their weight has left them.
There are all sorts of things in this world that we cannot control. Their are illnesses that are preventable and some that don't appear to be. But the one thing we can control is what we put in our bodies and how much we feed into the illness or fight with modern medicine to cure ourselves.
The father of modern medicine Hippocrates himself said "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. Clearly he knew something that we have forgotten. Let's remember, let's try that personal responsibility thing on for size. Myself included.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Something to think about
Again, I have failed to post like I should. I'm not feeling much tonight, but I saw this and thought it was too good not to share.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Time to Catch Up
Once again I've fallen off the wagon with my daily postings so I figured I'd do a little catch up here and then try to get back on track. My kids go to camp next week so I'll have a bit more free time.
Last week was my first week back at my old job and it was great. I'm still getting back into the swing of things and some things have changed, but it feels fantastic to be back (even if I did get to start on the worst project ever). It was a slightly short week because my oldest son graduated elementary school. That was wonderful and sad at the same time. I'm so proud of both of my boys but I'm not ready for them to grow up.
I'm still trying the no shampoo thing and I really believe the condition of my hair is improving. I'm getting a hair cut this week so we'll see what my hairdresser thinks and how she feels when I ask her not to use shampoo.
My experiment in homemade dish soap did not go well. I think I did something wrong though, so I'm going to try again before I give a final verdict.
Finally, I pretty much finished my second round of clutter purging. I still need to do my storage closet again, but the house is done. I initially thought I would have a yard sale, but with my new schedule I didn't feel like spending a Saturday sitting around. So, I collected it all and took it to our local thrift store. Here's the pile I took this time. I was shocked to see how much more I was able to get rid of after all that went out last time.
Hopefully I'll do a better job of posting here in the future.
Last week was my first week back at my old job and it was great. I'm still getting back into the swing of things and some things have changed, but it feels fantastic to be back (even if I did get to start on the worst project ever). It was a slightly short week because my oldest son graduated elementary school. That was wonderful and sad at the same time. I'm so proud of both of my boys but I'm not ready for them to grow up.
I'm still trying the no shampoo thing and I really believe the condition of my hair is improving. I'm getting a hair cut this week so we'll see what my hairdresser thinks and how she feels when I ask her not to use shampoo.
My experiment in homemade dish soap did not go well. I think I did something wrong though, so I'm going to try again before I give a final verdict.
Finally, I pretty much finished my second round of clutter purging. I still need to do my storage closet again, but the house is done. I initially thought I would have a yard sale, but with my new schedule I didn't feel like spending a Saturday sitting around. So, I collected it all and took it to our local thrift store. Here's the pile I took this time. I was shocked to see how much more I was able to get rid of after all that went out last time.
Hopefully I'll do a better job of posting here in the future.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Busy Day!
Wow today was a busy day! I think I'm having a slight panic attack about having a regular daytime job and feel the need to get everything done at once for fear I might miss something. This is probably due to the fact that my first week is going to be a little weird because of my oldest son's graduation from elementary school and all of the things that go along with the last week of school.
Today I managed to finish cleaning the house, did laundry, went to the store, cut up a ton of fruits and veggies, made a batch of dish soap and a batch of laundry detergent.
First up was the laundry detergent. Here are the ingredients you need.
I used the following amounts...
Next up was the dish soap. I used the recipe found at Frugally Sustainable . I'm not sure I did it right, but it is still processing so I'll report back on how it does once I've used it. Here are the ingredients. Not pictured is water and a few teaspoons of the shredded Ivory soap. I picked lavender scented Castile soap so my finished product would smell good.
Today I managed to finish cleaning the house, did laundry, went to the store, cut up a ton of fruits and veggies, made a batch of dish soap and a batch of laundry detergent.
First up was the laundry detergent. Here are the ingredients you need.
I used the following amounts...
- 2 Cups Super Washing Soda
- 2 Cups Borax
- 2 Bars Ivory Soap Shredded
Next up was the dish soap. I used the recipe found at Frugally Sustainable . I'm not sure I did it right, but it is still processing so I'll report back on how it does once I've used it. Here are the ingredients. Not pictured is water and a few teaspoons of the shredded Ivory soap. I picked lavender scented Castile soap so my finished product would smell good.
Friday, June 1, 2012
The Joy of No Makeup and Boring Hair
I still don't think I'm doing the no shampoo thing right. I don't think I have the "natural" stuff that our hair produces like I should or have been through the transition period. If anyone has done this before and could give me any insight as to what I'm doing wrong that would be so great!
But, I love not fixing my hair every day. It makes a huge difference in the amount of time it takes me to get ready in the morning. It does feel better too. I need a haircut right now and once I get that I think I'll like it even better. It just feels great not to be damaging it with chemicals and heat anymore. Do I look better? I suspect I look worse, but it isn't really about that.
As for the makeup, I hardly even remember what it was like to put it on every day and my skin is really thanking me. A few breakouts around that time of the month (or when it should be in my case) but that's about it. Feels healthier and cleaner all the time.
The added benefit to this is when you're caught in a massive thunderstorm like I was today you aren't at all concerned about the condition of your hair or if your makeup is running down your face. You can run and laugh with your kids and not check the mirror even once!
But, I love not fixing my hair every day. It makes a huge difference in the amount of time it takes me to get ready in the morning. It does feel better too. I need a haircut right now and once I get that I think I'll like it even better. It just feels great not to be damaging it with chemicals and heat anymore. Do I look better? I suspect I look worse, but it isn't really about that.
As for the makeup, I hardly even remember what it was like to put it on every day and my skin is really thanking me. A few breakouts around that time of the month (or when it should be in my case) but that's about it. Feels healthier and cleaner all the time.
The added benefit to this is when you're caught in a massive thunderstorm like I was today you aren't at all concerned about the condition of your hair or if your makeup is running down your face. You can run and laugh with your kids and not check the mirror even once!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Things You Don't Spend Money On
I read a post on another blog that listed ten things the writer doesn't spend money on. I didn't save the link so I can't share her list but I thought I'd see if I could make my own.
So what do you NOT spend money on?
- eBooks - I can't say that I have never purchased an eBook but almost every book on my Kindle I got for free. There are tons of websites outside dedicated to sharing free books. Quite a few of them are books I would have paid for but waited long enough and didn't have to.
- New Clothing - This is more recent because I used to shop a lot. The vast majority of my wardrobe came from the thrift store or as a hand-me-down. There are a few times where I do buy something new for myself if it is majorly on sale and I need it. Recently I needed some tank tops and Old Navy had them on sale for $2. My wardrobe is really simple so I can get buy with thrift store clothes and super clearance finds. It's a little more difficult for the boys because they grow fast and boys clothes are often too worn out to make it to a thrift store. We do find things though and often cut off jeans to make shorts. I'm planning to start making more of my own things in the future.
- Makeup - Again a recent transition, but since I no longer wear makeup I no longer have to purchase any.
- Soda/Juice - Now that I've kicked my soda habit we very rarely purchase these items. Once in a while we'll grab a bottle of something, but it is really rare now.
- Cleaning Products - Technically this is brand new. I have a pretty big supply of some eco-friendly cleaners but once they are gone I won't be buying more. I'll be using vinegar, baking soda, etc.
- Cards - We don't do a lot of cards (something I want to change) but when we need one I let the boys make them. They enjoy it and we already have everything we need.
- Cable (sort of) - I want internet at home and get it through the cable company. The require their most basic TV plan (at least they did, I should check if that is still the case) to get internet so we have that. We do have Netflix but it's cheap and eliminates the need for higher channels.
- Salon Services - This one is reaching a bit too. I do pay for haircuts and waxing, and I'm happy to do it. Sometimes you have to recognize areas where it pays to spend money! But, I don't tan, get manicures (had one once when I had a gift certificate) or pedicures. I can do all of that (except tan, I'm proud to be pasty) at home. About half the time the boys dad will cut their hair so paid cuts for them are sporadic.
- My Weight Watchers Membership - Not something everyone needs or has to be sure, but once I made goal I went to work for the company. While it may not be something you do, there may be something you want that you could trade services for or work for in order to use the service free.
- Feminine Hygiene Products - Sorry guys, but this is an easy way to eliminate spending. Personally I just hate dealing with it and the fewer periods a woman has the lower her risk of cancer so I just stay on birth control that doesn't contain the sugar pills. Alternatively you could purchase a Diva Cup one time and not have to worry about this purchase again.
So what do you NOT spend money on?
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