My Bra is designed to “Lift and Align” but I love how it releases when I take it off!

Last week I decided to go shopping for a bra. The one I wear every day is finally losing any possibility of holding anything up! You may be wondering why I only have one bra. Well I do have several, but each one has manifested tortuous methods that include pain, reduced oxygen supply from underwire hell, and strap marks that resemble gully’s left by dried up riverbeds. Oh, yes I know there are probably bras out there that fit well and believe me I’ve made many efforts to find them. They seem to feel okay initially but then over a period of time they turn against me like a caged animal. I decide this time I’m going to a store that has  “bra specialists”. I’m assigned salesperson with a foreign accent that sounds like she might have been in an old World War Two movie.  She has a full figure, and carries a tape measure as if it were a badge of honor. She takes lots of measurements and then asks me a myriad of questions about my life style. She then decides on several selections that just might do the trick.  Then it’s time to go into the dressing room with “Helga” to get her input and suggestions. But first she explains how to put the bra on. This in itself is an art and one which I have never seemed to be able to imitate. She babbles on about getting proper alignment, and all I can think of is my mechanic who uses the same terminology for the tires on my car. Finally I am in the bra, all lined up and everything is at attention. She mentions that my old bra wasn’t doing anything for me. Well, I never asked it to do anything for me. I didn’t realize we had a partnership. She convinces me that I must buy the bra and a few others that have the same construction. Now I’m beginning to feel like I should have on a hard hat and be able to drive a truck. So I trust her judgment and start to feel euphoric like I finally found the holy grail of bras. But after several days I start to feel twinges of pain. I think I should endure even if it is simply to honor “Helga” and her quest to help women conquer becoming vertically challenged. But then I decide to literally release myself from bra prison and just let everything float freely and naturally. Hey it just may be time to “let go and let loose”.

 

You are what you eat!

One of the most confusing elements of modern-day living is the many messages that come at us daily about food. I often think back to my days growing up in Brooklyn, New York, spending hours with my Italian grandmother whose greatest passion was cooking. Meals were considered to be a special part of the day where we gathered as a family to enjoy conversation and the delights of my grandmothers’ cooking. I never heard anyone discuss how the marinara sauce was found to reduce prostate cancer, that the olives were good for your skin, or that white potatoes would elevate your glycemic level. There were looks of dismay if you put too much on your plate, talked with your mouth full, clinked your silverware, or interrupted when someone else was talking. I hardly ever saw an obese person. Being grossly overweight was just not part of the culture. Perhaps it was because snacking was frowned upon. You ate three meals a day and that was it and they never included donuts, French fries, soda, or anything that was smothered in some suspicious looking sauce. Today, you are surrounded by fast food, and barraged by ads for junk food. Other ads tout weight-loss programs, some of which promise you that you can eat anything you want as long as you drink their special elixir and exercise five minutes a day. I love the ones that say you will lose ten to fifteen pounds in the first week. It might happen if you have your head cut off, but otherwise this is nothing more than a scam! Scientists and food activists at Yale University call this a toxic food environment. The sad fact is that certain people are making a lot of money selling foods that are unhealthy. Many of the individuals who were brought up in this culture have become hooked on fatty foods, excessive sugar and lots of salt. Once they are on the path to having illnesses related to their diets, they are put on drugs to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin levels. The sad fact is that many of these health problems could be solved by paying attention to better dietary habits. Unfortunately health insurance payments don’t go down if you’re at a healthy weight, exercising or monitoring your stress levels. Perhaps it’s time for all of us to recognize that food can be a cure or a curse, and to understand that the old axiom “you are what you eat” is really where it’s at!