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!

 

Fatter and Fatter

How many times have you tried to lose weight and failed?
The average person who struggles with weight has been on many different programs and regained the weight in less than a year. Most of us are experts in finding excuses as to why we couldn’t maintain our losses. Pregnancies, children, relatives, spouses, jobs, menopause, age, you name it and it’s been used as away to fall off the diet wagon. Most of the time it’s because the diet we choose is not sustainable.

Goat milk for breakfast, yak eggs for lunch, and buffalo tartare are not very appetizing after a week or two. Of course, I’m being ridiculous, but if you check out most of the so-called plans configured to get you to lose the five pounds a week they promise, they’re usually predicated on boring regimens that end up driving you to eat five hot fudge sundaes at a sitting. The fact that the general population is getting fatter and fatter has created quite a conundrum for the medical community. Researchers in the field of weight loss are furtively seeking a solution.

Every week we are given the results of some study that speaks to the possibility of something that might be precipitating the increases in our waistlines. A virus has been implicated. I don’t know which one, but it certainly adds to my bag of excuses. I can recall a particular cold I got ten years ago that might be the culprit for some of my weight gain. Hanging out with people who are overweight seems to have some legs, albeit heavy ones. That could work for me, only my pals vary in size, so I guess I’ll have to have them weighed so I can spend more time with the heaviest one. I just won’t be able to tell her why.

Having a mate that likes to eat everything in sight is another problem, and so is how much stress you have. If you have a lot of stress and your partner overeat, you’ve won the “excuse” lotto. If the afore-mentioned doesn’t work for you, not to worry, the latest finding is that scientists have discovered “obesogens” found in plastic bottles, high fructose sugar, pizza boxes, vinyl flooring and shower curtains. So there you have it. If people are tired of your excuses, just tell them that you’ll soon be as slim as a knife because you’re not taking a shower anymore, eat pizza or walk on your kitchen floor.