Warnings for decades from the Surgeon General on down have made it clear.
Americans eat too much, and of the wrong kind of food.
Our blessings are also our undoing. True, genetics has something to do with it. There are folks that just seemed destined to gain weight easily. There are those who will be lean.
Behavior has lots to do with this national epidemic.
As a medical student I was once quizzed about what could I name as a health problem. I stated
overnutrition. I was already noting in 1973 that there were more fat people out there, and that the abundance of food was driving a generation to the CABG patch.
Most of this tirade is fueled by an reintroduction to how the other half lives by way of a book
"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolover. If you haven't read it, by all means, I recommend it.
It is a reminder of the toil people have just to feed themselves. We have become so used to having a drive through life of convenience, and busy ourselves with trivialities to fill the voids.
Paying to exercise? Yes, we have tried to balance our lives by paying good hard earned greenbacks so we can bend and stretch. Unbelieveable. Schools had more balance for children and taught good habits of daily physical activity. At least one hour a day was routine, and more if you liked. Kids are harnessed to computer monitors and have become sedentary. According to recent reports one third won't be able bodied enough to serve in the military, even after basic. Now it is a national security problem!
Back to women and weight. It has been my observation that by 18 a woman will have lived out her ability to lose weight easily. This is different for men. They hit the wall around 30.So that driver's license weight at 16 is about as low as you go without moderation in food intake, and physicial exercise, and women will start off as a 120 lb teenager but by age 30 will have put on the freshman 15, 15lbs for the first year of marriage and another 20lbs apiece for each baby. Now at 30 we have a woman who is teetering at 200 lbs. This only accelerates after menopause. Not good. Increases in metabolic rate are only through physicial exercise.
This is now a lifetime problem that gets thrown in the GYN's lap of "it must be my hormones". True a few people will be hypothyroid. I have been wishing for that my adult life. No such luck.
The moderation in food intake is where we commonly make all the mistakes. Portion sizes are out of control. Most women complain they only eat one meal a day,and it is a salad, and can't lose weight. The mathematics of weight make it simple to calculate. More is going in than being used. The extra is sticking to you. FIND IT and BANISH IT FOREVER! Look at how much salad dressing you are using. REALLY GIRLS, did you think the salad dressing was water?
Look at the cokes, crackers, chewing gum, snacks, and how your food is prepared. IT IS CREEPING UP ON YOU AND ALL AROUND YOU..........FLUSH IS OUT AND TURN YOUR BACK ON THAT LIFE. Don't be so busy you don't prepare your own meals. Mealtime with the family is a sacred event that should be attended on a daily basis. It is the glue that keeps a family together and healthy. It is where communication happens, and lives are shared. It is a cornerstone of the family.
Throwing a bag of take out on the table is just not right.
It means high fat, high salt, and heart attack city for you and your family.It teaches your children you are too busy to care about nutrition for yourself or your family. Just quiet their bellies and get it out of the way.
Pay attention to caloric intake, physicial expenditure and you will open a new chapter of health and wellness in your life and those you love. Stay away from prepared foods as much as possible, and find fresh foods that need to be peeled,cut, washed and otherwise "prepped". Buy a good knife and a pair of sneakers.
Until next time..................
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