parenting, Uncategorized

What’s really killing Americans

I had a very interesting conversation today with my plumber. He was in my basement working on my boiler’s pressure valve and he kept getting a little dizzy and lightheaded. Obviously I wanted to make sure the man wasn’t going to pass out and/or die, so I inquired on why he thought it was happening.

Turns out he had, in the last year, lost 100 lbs. Wow, that’s impressive, why would that cause him to have these issues. Well, he was on blood pressure medication and now that he’s lost so much weight, they keep lower the dose. He has an appointment to see if he can get of it completely because, well, he doesn’t want to pass out every time he has to bend over too much… kind of inconvenient for a plumber.

cholesterolawareness_355pxWe started talking about other ailments that he had since he has corrected his eating habits. He’s off of his IBS medication and his gout is gone…. he is like a new person. This was not accomplished by surgery, the medication only treated the symptoms… the change in diet and loss of the extra 100 lbs he was carrying attributed to changes he otherwise couldn’t have imagined.

According to the CDC 75 million or 29% of Americans have high blood pressure 75 million or 29% of Americans have high blood pressure, 137 million have high cholesterol, 29 million people have type 2 diabetes.. and these are just the major diseases.. this isn’t getting into IBS or gout, yet, most of these people choose to treat rather than cure, what is potentially life threatening diseases. In fact, 610,000 deaths a year are contributed to heart attacks… that’s 1 in 4 deaths that actually take place in the US.

I know right now that guns and terrorism and texting while driving are major hot topics, and all of those things are horrible…. but they aren’t 1/4 of the deaths happening in our country.We want to pass laws to ban guns, or ban religions. We already ban texting and download-10driving. Why is it that when anyone wants to pass legislation or even private rules about banning junk food in schools, or putting a cap on giant soda beverages that’s the one thing everyone can agree is outrageous.

Last time I checked there was a law in this country against trying to kill yourself, but apparently death by twinkie is completely acceptable.

 

Love, parenting, Uncategorized

Giving (up) for Lent

My son and I went to Mass the other day for our ashes… much to his protest, and the Priest of the day brought up an interesting take on the whole “Giving up something for Lent” thing.

Now I know that not all of you are Catholic, but I feel like it’s a good message in general. He spoke about how The Bible said to celebrate and worship privately, not to boast about what you are doing to get your accolades. This, to me, speaks to what the Pope said download-9recently about fake Christians who talk a big game about their Christian values and then treat the poor and other neighbors with complete disregard.

This country has been torn in half in the last year between the Conservative Christian party that wants to “take care of themselves”. They shouldn’t have to help the poor. They work for their money, why should they give it to someone who needs it? They are opposed to helping refugees who are running scared from extremely dangerous homelands. They spend all their time talking about making their “America Great Again” and to Hell with anyone who is different. Last time I checked this was not what Jesus preached… but they’re opposed to abortion… so they can check that box.

But as I mentioned, this priest spoke of Lent and of fasting and giving up something.. he said that it’s not just important to give something up, but to think of those who don’t have and maybe, just maybe, we could give to them. He brought up how when he was a child he was always made to give up candy, which is an understandable thing for a child, but he always felt it was superficial. The point of fasting is to grow closer to God and to truly give of yourself.

I was thinking of myself.. and recently I thought about giving up coffee.. then I realized that was crazy and not going to help ANYONE… but I thought about other habits similar to that. I thought about the fake Christians and their inability to give up what is theirs for someone else. I was thinking how nice it would be if we all saved the money from whatever we gave up, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, or even shopping at Target for the non-essentials, and taking whatever money we didn’t spend and giving it to a charity of our choice.

I thought what a great thing this could be if we kept it up even after Lent was over. We all images-12say that we would do more for others if we had more money, but we all have our expensive habits… and if we are really on a tight budget, maybe we could do something like give up TV for the 40 days and actually spend the time volunteering. There is always someone who is in more need than us, and if we are going to give something up, wouldn’t it be great if we could give back, like a real Christian… a real HUMAN BEING should do.

parenting, Uncategorized

Your scale is lying to you

Scales for years have been the bane of many women’s existence. They diet all day and images-11don’t see a change in the numbers. Then at the end of the week or month after working hard at the gym and eating like a bird there’s a drop by one.. maybe two. After a while it’s enough to make someone throw in the towel and just eat the cake. Or the opposite happens. They see a dramatic change in one week and think, “I’ve got this” and then treat themselves to that cake only to see that one “treat” cancelled the whole week’s worth of work. It can be very frustrating.

That’s because physical weight is complicated. There are many factors that go into the lbs per inch being that is you. Most of us know of the dreaded water weight. The bloating that we get during our period, or that quick 3 lbs we lose when we cut out soda, but that’s just the beginning.

I have been feeling very annoyed in my weight-loss adventure because I have been working my ARSE off. I have been working the Beachbody programs, going to the boxing giphygym and Zumba. I have even been taking nutrition classes to make sure what I’m putting into my body is not sabotaging my work. Yet the scale creeps along at snail speed.

I have to admit I’m one of those people who do… what I’m not supposed to.. and weigh myself everyday. Part of it is because as I’m learning I want to track how things are going and what is affecting what.. and the other is because I’m crazy and anal and want to see the scale numbers plummet before my eyes. But they don’t. In fact sometimes after what I think is a great day the numbers actually rise (%^&^%^). But I know that I am losing weight. My clothes don’t fit anymore, my friends and family all comment, but I reply.. no.. I’m not losing weight…. I’m losing fat, and there’s the difference.

Now I know that I named this “your scale is lying to you”, but what I should have said is, “you need a scale that knows how to talk to you”. When I first started my adventure a year ago I bought myself a Weigh Watchers body fat calculator scale50188301. It measures not just weight, but BMI, bone mass, water weight and fat weight. That changes everything. I stepped on the scale yesterday and used this feature for the first time in months and that number BLEW ME AWAY.

When I fist started I had a body fat percentage of 51… a year later… it’s 34. That’s huge. Some people may be surprised that the weight numbers don’t match the % numbers.. but that’s just it. Muscle weighs more than fat. So… for every, let’s say, cup of fat I lost I gained a half a cup of muscle. So my body is getting slimmer and healthier but my weight barely shifts.

In our society especially numbers are so important. The number on the scale. The number in the bank account. Hell, even your IQ. But that’s just one way to quantify a person. We need to learn to look at the whole picture.