But I fell in love the first time I entered a smoky hole-in-the-wall bar and took the spotlight on the gritty tile floor. So long ago...I was 13. This year makes two decades.
Even earlier, I spread blankets across the living room floor and sang into a hairbrush while I danced across the makeshift stage.
I would be lying if I said I didn't still do it, only now I have actual microphones. Proved it to everyone the other day when I posted a video of myself singing "Thank You" in the style of Alanis Morissette on my Facebook timeline.
I had some wine that night; I cringed a little the next morning listening to it. Did I consider deleting it?
Well, not really. I'll just leave it here too.
I quite honestly posted as an act of self-acceptance and self-love, two very important things I intend to share with others as much as I possibly can. Things over the past 20 or 30 years have changed a lot, including my ability to truly love and accept myself. My love of singing and performing has been constant. As has my love of writing and creating. Maybe the artistic side of me went into hiding for a while, hell-bent on figuring everything out.
But that simply sucks.
Time to emerge, whole and unafraid.
Art and helping others always were the best at helping me figure things out anyway.
Lovely to have embraced my inner nerd lately. I've also found my professional side in the past few years since college, and that's great too. I believe I can successfully embrace both of those pieces and all the rest of me.
Nerd, I say. It's funny being called that by new friends and clients. My old friends are mostly nerds like my little family. We all call ourselves nerds, so it's not like we don't hear it or even wear the name with great pride, but it's just strange when an outsider expresses it emphatically. I suppose that can account for the feeling of many "groups" in our "us vs. them" way of thinking.
Feels good though ^-^ I like when anyone sees all the things and people we love. When we are free to be ourselves.
Maybe I don't mind labels as much as I thought I guess. I've learned there are few concretes in life - no need to go to extremes trying to covet or avoid anything. And it's all what you make of it in perception and reaction.
OK, so I'm a nerd this moment regarding the title of this post. Yeah...I've been doing that for years-the thing that rhymes with the year that I half-ass. Maybe it started in 2005...Alive! Because that's the farthest back I can actually remember. Beyond that, I start guessing if I named my years poetically more than ten years ago (ten years ago?!?!?!). 2004...The Whore? 2003...Who Me? 2002...So Boozed???
No, really, I didn't half-ass those or name them that I can recall. I think I've only formally named most of the years where I really cared for myself well. Or tried to at least. You know, growth.
Life is different here in 2015. My son is an inspiration beyond measure (b.2006) and my husband's (est.2014) support strengthens me daily.
My dear friend, Erin, took this photo of our family feet at our wedding 5~24~2014
Many others have had a hand in what I'm about to announce, but Fisher and Nicholas are my reason. My inspiration. My constant reminder of what I'm working for. Of who I am and want to be. Because they make me want to be the best mom and wife I can be. And that, along with loving myself, my life, and those in it, energizes me. Drives me.
I have been ill the past week, and sometimes not being able to commence with daily life-supporting habits-like eating or staying hydrated-can bring one even closer to the truth. Mortality sets in; life flashes before your eyes.
Starting this afternoon I finally felt well enough to start cleansing the germs that infected us. And the rest of this mess was killing me. So I've been spending my Valentine's night cleaning my office and listening to music.
My office is home to my business and it needs to be productive and comfortable.
Because I am running a business. My business isn't just Pure Romance or the fitness training that I'm excited to explore, but it's ME. I believe in myself and have more confidence and ambition than I've ever had. I know I can educate and empower myself to succeed and have everything I want in life. And I can help others achieve their dreams also.
This year I will go full-time, full-throttle into dreams of working for myself! Intimacy Specialist and Relationship Expert with Pure Romance by Stephanie Bragg (c.6/2014), ACE Certified Personal Trainer (c.6/2015), Home-School Educator of Fisher Taylor, and Self-Made Superstar dba Stephanie Ann Bragg.
Why not? Life is short.
Do what you love and be of value to the world with your most beautiful talents.
Wow, 2014. What a year. So full of love and change and plans. And marriage. Been waiting for that one for a while. Wow.
I am thankful for my husband and my son and their abiding support. I have an incredible and fun family full of laughter and hope.
I will be working hard to make them proud and show them how beautiful the world can be.
We are surrounded by so much love that we are often overwhelmed by it. We just couldn't ask for better people to care for us. Our friends and family are boss.
More writing to come soon. And more changes. This is for you. And me.
The past couple of weeks or so haven't been unbearable. They have been expensive and inconvenient and enraging, but completely bearable, especially since we have help. Not everyone affected by the ongoing water crisis in West Virginia is so fortunate to drive for over thirty minutes once or twice a week to enjoy family time refuge with a hot shower and clean laundry. I weep for them--those people who have no choice but to use their tap water for everything, especially right now, at a time when we're certain of the poison because we can smell it, when the rest of the time we just figured subconsciously there was probably poison in the water. I weep for those who feel like those of us who still won't use it are crazy and I worry that their internal systems are at risk. I weep for many things lately, actually. Every day. But it's all really the same thing that makes me sad. Chemicals. And that's driving me to activism amid a very complex storm of issues.
But let me start at the beginning.
When I was a child in the 1980s, I ate whatever our family plucked from the aisles of grocery stores or from restaurant menus or fast-food drive-thru windows. We didn't read nutrition facts or ingredient lists, and much of the time they weren't available. We didn't concern ourselves with the ingredients in our beverages, our lotions, our medications, our soaps and shampoos, our make-up and nail polishes and removers, or our cleaners beyond putting the Mr. Yuk stickers on the bottles so we children knew not to drink the poison. And mind you, we only stuck them to the under-the-sink type poisons really, and just to warn the kiddies not to drink them.
We were just living life with modern conveniences. Poisonous unnecessary, cancer-causing "conveniences."
We smelled these chemical plants daily on our bus and car rides to and from our schools, where we practiced shelter-in-place drills from the time I was in kindergarten to the time I graduated college. A large number of occurrences throughout the years were not drills, but some semblance of public protection from toxic leaks, because the government has got our backs.
Now, I'm not surprised at all that many people are ready to "go back to normal" or "go back to sleep," depending on whom you may ask, a week or less after shaky public and private administrations tell them their water is safe*, one strand of words that should never end with an asterisk in my humble opinion. Pregnant women feel much better and so does the general public, right? *According to the CDC, “At this time, scientists continue to recommend 1 ppm as a protective level to prevent adverse health effects. However, due to limited availability of data, and out of an abundance of caution, you may wish to consider an alternative drinking water source for pregnant women until the chemical is at non-detectable levels in the water distribution system.”
I'm not surprised that the spotlight is again on the coal industry for their role in this and other disasters throughout history. I'm not surprised at the lack of attention we are getting in the world, the nation, the state, down to our own neighborhoods and homes. I'm not surprised by the Freedom Industries' bankruptcy I'm not surprised by the politicians who are eager to shift the blame away from the corporations and entities who fund their campaigns. I am not surprised that many are concerned about what happens to jobs if we take away big coal and chemical or even the privately owned water provider. I am not surprised that those things are cyclic with the apathy so pervasive in Appalachian and Kanawha Valley culture. It is not to say that I'm not disheartened by these things, but I am anything but surprised.
I am not surprised by any of this because I think about it everyday to some extent. It baffles me that so many of us continue to keep these cancer-causing chemicals in our cupboards and refrigerators for use and exposure every day, even as we learn what Mr. Yuk really means, and that his green sticky face belongs on all the things we slather on our skin to clean, moisten, or fragrance it, clean our counters and floors, spray in our air we breathe, and even consume in our food and beverages. How many of us actually take the time to think about what we force through our bodily systems daily that truly has no business in or on (which is also in) our bodies? It's all cancer to us and the environment. We are giving the Earth cancer. We are, after all, consuming the energy, the chemicals, and the minerals like greedy little children gobbling up their candy and making sure we have the most, the best, we are looking and smelling the prettiest. And tan, don't forget how important it is to darken your skin with harmful ultraviolet cancer-causing rays. Slather on more harmful chemicals to ensure that attain the desired crispness.
And I'm on my soapbox all guilty of being a hypocrite too; I am well aware, and I am sorry for that. I like beer and Hot Fries, and I indulge in Taco Bell garbage occasionally still. However, I have been working for over four years to try to live a cleaner life and consume less toxins so I maybe wouldn't die in the terrible ways that take my family and my neighbors down early and make them suffer every day. This is a poem I worked on during part of my awakening as I started to comprehend the high hereditary risks to my health with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, mental illness, fibromyalgia (is that considered hereditary? If not, blame the chemicals?), failing eyes, bad backs and teeth, and all the environmental risk factors the we can't even stop from seeping into our sinks and showers or filling the air we breathe or comprising the majority of readily available foods that are catching up where our DNA and our environmental toxins leave off.
I started exercising for cardio, strength, and flexibility. I quit smoking cigarettes. I stopped eating as much processed, additive rich, unnatural food. I limited my sugar intake, which is something nobody wants to face the bitter truth on, but our over-consumption of sugar is killing us. I bought a reusable glass water bottle and refilled with filtered water I will never trust again in this valley if things don't change. I stopped wearing make-up two years ago this spring. I rarely use perfume. I stopped using lotions as I learned about endocrine disruptors, which, along with other useful information, you can read about here.
And people think I'm nuts, I tell ya. Maybe I am nuts, but, pun intended, that just doesn't seem natural. People make fun of my fiance for eating egg whites and caring about his once out of control baconator-induced cholesterol. People scoff when he talks about quitting soda, something he insisted he would never do until he learned more about what it was doing to his body. People tease me about my flax seed and eating chia seed and ask me if I'm on a diet because I'm eating a spinach salad for lunch. I am dubbed "The Food Nazi" because of the way I grocery shop for my mother (53), whose illnesses do not permit her to drive or shop for herself. I can't blame people for teasing us or thinking we're snobs; it's not the norm here, to care about ourselves or our health or to question what's given to us. I'm sure everyone remembers world famous chef Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution coming to Huntington some years back. I never have watched the show, so I'm not promoting it, and I'm sure we could rage on about this subject; it is merely the first example I thought of and it works. Editing *cough* comments *cough* sure makes for an emotional response, eh? But, for our apathy, we are a joke in many parts of the country, even to idiots much like the idiots we know and love.
But I digress.
I started reading labels. And realizing we poison ourselves all of the time.
Why would we care about our water? And why would anyone care about poison in our water when we are knowingly and willingly eating and drinking poison and cleaning with it and rubbing it on our skin (or else it gets the hose again?), even in the name of staying more safe and clean, and breathing it all day because we can't stand the smell of humans and who the hell can blame us!? I don't want to smell our dirty rotten illusions anymore either. Whether it smells like Freesia or Eau de Dupont, it's all the same. Tricking our brains or telling the all too familiar truths that we are steeped in years of dirty convenience and chemical-induced stupor.
And did anyone else enjoy the bitter irony of having to turn to chemicals to clean our hands because we couldn't use our water and soap because of the chemicals? I've been using my essential oils, baking soda, bottled water, and vinegar, but I can't say I am not using harmful hand sanitizer daily and I'm either sucking down the chemicals in the plastic bottled water or I'm dehydrated. Saving for recycling, yes. Still a complete garbage move. More terrible irony is that we can't really afford to exercise; with our limited water supply we can't afford the extra hydration it requires or the extra bathing to stay clean. And we're forced back into the arms of many unhealthful convenience foods to avoid messy preparing, cooking, and cleanup that our water supplies can't match.
I'm actually using this as a jumping point to join the growing anti-shampoo, or "no poo," movement. I made myself sick the other day when I opened a bottle of nail polish. The smell was overwhelming. I'm turning into my Aunt Sandy, who can't even stand the smell of scented candles and insists our allergies are affected by every bit of this. She isn't the only one who believes in the allowable threshold of one's body to such irritants. The exposure compounds in your system and you're feeling awful, gaining weight, getting cancer, needing prescriptions, which is another issue in itself, as well as the same issue of us poisoning ourselves for pleasure OR relief. I do believe that some medication is necessary, but clean nutrition and exercise would be first and general healthful knowledge, like food safety and water cleanliness and chemical safety data. But we can't get all that when it's not so profitable. Or when people just ignore it and care more for traffic jams and Justin Bieber and their favorite television shows. Squirrel!
Today is the 16th day that my family has not used the water in our home besides anything but flushing the toilet and flushing our plumbing system. We have brought water into our home from the distribution sites that were set up the first week (not the ones that reeked of MCHM, but the bottled sites where the Belle Volunteer Fire Department and their gracious families worked tirelessly to help the community--and their brothers and sisters all over the state who helped so many were awesome as well!), the store (can you say $$$), and we fill containers up in Saint Albans, almost 30 miles from our home in Belle ($ gas $ ain't $ cheap), when we travel there once a week for a hot shower and my amazing mother-in-law to be helping us with laundry (<3). Even their water supply was threatened when the runoff from the flushing in Boone County came into contact with the Coal River, which is upstream and where Saint Albans pulls its water, and whose name suggests that there is a reason why West Virginia looks like the proverbial flipped bird. They are supposed to be testing their waters daily per the mayor. Maybe we should call and ask for that data? A huge thanks to all of those who are still coming in from other cities and states to bring in clean water and supplies for those who cannot afford it and the groups that are helping people find ways to feel safer when we cannot depend on our government officials to do so. I hope that we can all find ways to assist more as time goes on and we adjust to our new routines and behaviors.
Aside from our two excursions to Saint Albans, we heat water on the stove out of bottles for washing our faces and hair and bodies so we can work and go to school. We were also lucky to still get to work during the first week of the water crisis, when many companies were shut down, unable to use their water. My boss even let us bring our kids because their schools and daycare facilities were also shut down. Like I said, we have been so fortunate. We have clean-ish bottled water to brush our teeth and cook with. To make coffee with. For now. And some don't even have that. And even the worst of us are more fortunate than the victims of other like disasters or constant life in third world countries have been. Is this the way America is supposed to feel? What does this mean, as our lawmakers move on legislation to weaken water standards? As we still heat bottled water at $1/gallon to wash and rinse our dishes, trying to stay under the threshold of chemicals that makes us ill. And we're still getting higher water and sewer bills. That last link is a valuable resource for all of us, so I again link the main page.
This is honestly just another hazy man-made mist on what should be clean consumable renewable resources. We can't have clean and natural anything, not even water. But we'll keep getting assaulted by chemicals until we stop living on complete garbage and killing ourselves like we're not worth more than a box of Little Debbie cakes or smell good girly goop or pills and bills and chemical spills and licorice-scented water, or ash slurry, toxic runoff, oppression, depression, suppression, repression. Cyclic human failure. That's what some people say, and I feel it when I'm angry.
But I also say we're still people with lives and loves who try desperately to get out of this box we're shoved into. We're sold out and forgotten. Don't forget that we ARE here. And we want clean water and food; it's not like our fish or our local farms are benefiting from these messes. Exactly the opposite. We have no choices with the way things are going. Rural communities and poor communities have no "clean" or clean* water that they want to consume. We don't have enough public education and government and commercial support of cleaner processes all around. We have slowly growing organic, gluten free, natural aisles of grocery stores, and variants of our regular chemically enhanced fare being substituted for minimally processed forms that may be a little less convenient that we need to enjoy more of. And many people can't afford it; that is broken. We shouldn't want to keep the people sick for economy's sake. Many have referred to the timely construction of the new possibly $50,000,000 (WHAT!?) cancer center in Kanawha City that is now well underway and scheduled to be completed and serving our cancerous hordes within the year, I'm sure.
You are what you eat. And drink. And absorb through your body's largest organ: your skin. We have a right to clean food and water and products to use. Supply and demand. Take your stand to lessen the poisons in your homes and your communities and Earth-wide. Without clean water, even healthy food and all vegetation becomes poison before we ever spray it with pesticides and ripening agents and preservatives, all also toxic. Protect your waters. Protect your futures. Hell, protect yourself today.
Anyone who cares, activists, politicians, trolls, democrats, republicans, religious or not, just be accountable for yourselves. Try to help your fellow man. I don't mean to offend anyone. These are just truths that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Your experience may vary. I know many of us have things we do not want to give up. I haven't given up all my toxins, but I have limited them severely, as I discuss in more detail in this earlier blog. I'm not responsible for your views, but I will back mine up and gladly listen to yours.
So, be safe, and live in peace inside yourselves my friends. Protect your families with knowledge and action and hope for a better future.
I'm sorry that you are seeing the first drafts of this (I even had to come back and learn about embedding and sharing links, that's how little I've been writing and that's also broken and needs fixed) and if there are errors of any sort they will be fixed soon. I've been writing this all day (two days now) and researching and reaching out to others who care and chatting with best friends I've been missing so much because they jumped the chemical ship and got out of the state. It's late now. I'm ready to expose my opinion, for better or for worse. This won't be the last of my voice on the subject, and that's a promise.
As much as I would rather have spent these days this weekend with my family, playing board games and video games and building cities that toxic chemicals don't destroy, I spent my days caring about this and caring about others so much that I want to share my feelings. I'd also love a shower to wind down. But it scares me rather than relaxes me. So I relax with a pot of water and pitcher. It's not bad, compared to the alternative. I could explain the daily frustration of living water-less next time perhaps. The nastiness of capitalism or having a privately owned water provider. Or the frustration with anything that's going on in this twisted story. But these past weeks have been more than exhausting for my mind, body, and spirit.
Goodnight. Sweet dreams. Or nightmares that your grandchildren can't find clean food or water to survive.
Well. Things haven't necessarily been going well. I accepted a new job and gave the law firm my notice, only to find out that the new job wasn't really everything I had anticipated. I quit before I started, but the firm has already hired a couple of new people. As I was transitioning to the terrifying barren wasteland that comes with being unemployed and looking (I actually have more hope than that; I'm merely being melodramatic), we got evicted for the first time in our lives and given thirty days to vacate (through no fault of our own, may I add; the owners of our rental sold the property).
While we have found a new rental house, it is more expensive and it won't take our kitty, Phineas. So we have to say goodbye to our cat, who we adopted because our landlord told us we could stay in our house forever. We have to spend a decent chunk (maybe all) of our wedding savings to get moved and through this rough patch.
And. Just. Moving. Ugh.
So here's the deal: I know it'll all work out. I know it'll make me stronger. I just want to figure out what the hell I want to be when I grow up and get on a path to get that started!
I went to school for communications. That's the wrong field for a family woman. I'm considering banking, would love a human resources position, and am even thinking I may get stuck pushing paper in an office for a weekday schedule. Or...and this is my personal favorite...
GRAD SCHOOL!
Which would mean a sacrifice in family time now so that I may have a better job with better pay and more family time later. Why do decisions have to be so hard and stuff. I wish I could just work and enjoy it for what it is and take home my money and live my life. I envy people who don't feel like they need a passion or purpose in their professional lives, I truly do. But I have dreams and I want to follow them.
For now, just riding the waves and applying for jobs to see what happens. And there are a couple of prospects that sound really good. One in particular (that would actually fit with grad school too).
Pray. Hope. Think. Cross Fingers. Light a Candle. I'm not stopping until I'm satisfied.
My number one reason for wanting to be fit and healthy is family. This means many things. First of all, I love Fisher and Nicholas and want to spend my life loving them the best I possibly can and for as long as I possibly can. When I am healthy I am teaching my son to eat healthy and exercise and I lead him by example. I inspire Nick and he inspires me to keep going and push harder. We will get to live longer together. Educating myself and my family means our quality of life will be better. If I can help it (and to this extent I certainly can), I will take care of myself so they don't have to take care of me more than they do just out of love. I don't want them to have to wipe my butt or pay someone to do it. I don't want to lie day after day in terrible pain, give myself shots, endure costly surgeries, take a ton of prescriptions, endure the side effects of my prescriptions, be short of breath, etc, etc, infinity. I would also like to be able to keep up with my child and his friends and my grandchildren if I should have them.
Of course, I also want to look good. I have recently found that I want to be athletic. Even if it's just to help me when I get involved in theater, film, and working on my house and garden or playing ball in the yard.
And damnit, I'm doing it! And now I'll tell you how. Our family has changed our lifestyle pretty dramatically. It's made 70lbs of difference so far, we get better sleep, we have more energy, we suffer fewer illnesses and less pain, we are all learning so much, and we have the confidence that comes from knowing we are taking control of our lives and taking care of our bodies.
Here are some "foods" we stopped keeping in the house. This isn't to say I never have any or that I will never buy them again. They are simply rare treats or things I no longer indulge in at all due to their lack of nutrition and their surplus of fat, salt, chemicals, cholesterol, sugar, etc.
Hot dogs, bologna, corn dogs, chips, candy, cookies, ice cream, waffles, sausage, frozen dinners, sandwich meat, full fat cheese and other dairy products, canned soups, pickles, white bread, muffins, cinnamon rolls, most juices, soda, diet soda, eggs, individual serving packets of oatmeal and other things, donuts, sugary cereals, fruit snacks, most full-fat meats (we have a steak on occasion still), crackers, pop tarts, hot or lean pockets, pot pies, refined (white) sugar, coffee, frozen pizza, and more.
And here are some of the delicious and nutritious alternatives I have fallen in love with <3:
Beans, rice, nonfat greek yogurt, light string cheese, flax seed, egg whites, almond milk, wasa bread, peanut butter, almonds, pistachios, 100% rolled oats, fresh fruits and vegetables (there are SO MANY! Talk about variety!), frozen vegetables, water, granola bars (Kashi and Nature Valley until I start making my own soon), whole grain pasta, quinoa, grapeseed oil, natural sugar, chicken breasts and other lean meats, fish, and more.
Yes, I have even cut back seriously on my alcoholic beverage intake. I also don't add butter, sugar, or salt to much at all. I use pepper generously and I still enjoy my sauces but I'm starting to take a closer look at them and will be trying to find alternative to some of them. I'm already trying to replace my salad dressings with vinegar (Nick hates vinegar and uses orange segments to juice up a dry salad) because the dressings just have a ton of things that aren't good for me.
Up until now I have been running 30 mins a day, about 5 days a week. I play Just Dance games for the Wii (probably around 5 hours a week) and do a little yoga, strength, and medicine ball workouts (currently probably only a couple of hours a week, if that, and I'm about to amp that up). It is fun and really doesn't take that much time, and I often complete a workout while I'm watching my favorite shows when I used to just sit there and eat. I try to take the stairs when I can, I walk briskly, and I also try to keep good posture, which can be a workout in itself, along with proper breathing.
This is definitely a lifelong process that will never be perfect, but the more I learn the better health I acheive, and I can certainly live with that. My mom calls me the food nazi. I'll gladly wear that name rather than feeding my family doses of poison with every meal, which sounds to me more like a German nazi (like when they experimented to see what chemicals and other things would do to people) even if it costs a little more. It will save me money in the long run when I avoid surgery, doctor bills, prescription costs, miracle diets, and more, so rethink your "value" next time you're at the grocery store buying frozen prepackaged meals. I know the convenience is great, but I don't think convenience is worth feeding my kid things that are ultimately harming him right now and for the rest of his life.
I'm thrilled to break the cycle. I get scared sometimes that I'll fail, sure. And I will fail every now and then, of course. I went on a sugar binge just last night. But instead of saying screw it today I got up and ran hard and committed to doing better today, despite my hormones. Never quit <3
A great while back I promised this blog post to my fellow Fit Club members when one of the ladies asked about what kinds of foods to eat if one would like to lose weight. I often climb onto a high horse soap box in our Facebook private forum, but I don't mean any harm; I actually mean to help, and that is the exact point of this particular post that will be continued as well. I created a women-only Facebook group with the expectation that we could share our stories, successes, failures, shame, photos, recipes, exercises, and much more and it's been an inspiration to me daily, even when I don't post or nobody else does. Its mere existence makes me feel my support network even when I'm away from my computer. A co-ed version of Fit Club is coming soon and will be open to men as well since I believe many of my male friends can inspire and educate me and hopefully I can return the favor.
Much of my life I have been an overweight individual. Now, to be clear, I know I wasn't obese and I was often told I didn't look like I weighed 200lbs or that I was perfectly fine the way I was. I know it could have been worse and it would have been had I not reversed it when I did. I had never played sports as a kid and I had never been very active beyond some bike riding and playing hide and seek and a little swimming. I certainly didn't exercise outside of gym class and our family dinners consisted of things like baked steak and gravy with mashed potatoes and corn or Treet meat and macaroni and cheese.
My mother is diabetic and so was her father who basically died from complications from heart disease. They aren't the only ones who struggled as diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer runs rampant in my family and countless other American families nowadays.
A friend of mine just found out that she has diabetes and posted about the horrible lack of educational services in our area. I was mortified by her statements concerning the "class" she attended to try to learn how to better care for her body. Another friend and I had discussed this a couple years ago and it's not just West Virginia that lacks education about health and wellness when it comes to diet and exercise, but it's something that affects every state in our nation.
Furthermore, how do we explain our behaviors when we DO know the difference between what is good for us and what is bad for us, and we still habitually commit to the bad behaviors and choices? (This was my group for a long time, but I had to learn more still to really really care.)
Well, it's actually quite simple for me and can be summed in a word or two.
How about capitalism? Or addiction? Don't worry, you don't have to choose; they are directly related.
Just like the stuff added to cigarettes that makes them more addictive AND worse for you, the same types of things are added to our foods. You already know about pesticides, sure. And many people don't seem to mind that they are eating poison so that a huge conglomerate doesn't lose money by losing product to ravenous insects and animals that want to eat OUR food. But what about the lovely titanium dioxide used to color foods to make them more appealing (sure, respiratory cancer is so appealing afterall http://www.ccohs.ca/headlines/text186.html)? Caramel coloring (it's not as delicious as it sounds...so remember just because you CAN read it, doesn't mean you should eat it http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/facts/caramel-coloring.htm)? Money has more value than human life, sure, why not. And while you're at it, let's thank all the marketing studies that show that consumers like a certain color food. Thanks! And to think that I was eating more natural stuff that just wasn't that pretty beautiful shade of brown, doh!
I recommend watching Forks over Knives if you give a crap. Now that I realize that many of the additives to our food and beverage are placed there to purposely make it more addictive so you will buy more, I feel duped by my old loves chips, cookies, ice cream, candy, and all of the comfort foods that just trick my brain into thinking I'm getting something good when really what's going on behind that false sensation of pleasure is bad, bad, BAD. I don't want to be tricked all of the time! Most "diet" foods are chock full of nastiness too, especially the fat free crap. They have to add something to balance out the loss of taste from fat. Yep, that taste/color/smell...cancer most likely. Bon apetit, friends! Salt is another big one too. Piled onto "healthy" foods to make them taste better as it sends your blood rushing through its vessels at mach speeds and you get frustrated that you're not losing any weight because you're retaining enough water to fill your kid's pool. That's not even the half of it. Just stay tuned and we'll learn together, shall we?
Ok. Here is my big reveal for the day before I go because I have work to do. You want to lose weight? Cool. Wanting a small waistline isn't going to help you change your life or your waistline though, not for good anyway. You know how to do the simple math: burn more calories than you consume. So why haven't you lost all the weight that's extra? You're addicted to poisoning yourself at every meal, probably. I'm not saying never have a five layer burrito or a lean cuisine again; I'm simply saying that shouldn't be the basis for your diet, but neither should starving yourself or only having one or two meals a day. You're killing your metabolism that way and your body is nutrient deprived. No fun!
This has been a journey for me and it will never end. This is a nutshell account of some of the things I would love for more people to care about. Next time, it's getting personal (to me, don't be scared)!
I have lost over 30lbs from my starting weight of around 200lbs and my fiance is nearing a 40lb loss since we started caring. It all began a couple of years ago with reading nutrition facts, which is a place I definitely recommend starting for any of you who do not do that. We pushed further than that with diet and exercise though, and now reading ingredient lists is our main priority in the grocery store. I am more active, fit, and healthy than I've ever been in my life. I have more energy, better sleep, better skin, hair and nails, better relationships, less pain, less illness, better moods, and better balance all around. Balance is a hard thing to acheive and something that I believe we will always have to strive for; I am thrilled to finally feel like I'm doing a decent job of it. It's even hard with fitness; you don't want to be too crazy or too lazy. It's important to find what's right for you and your family.
Best to enjoy a cozy spot where I'm comfortable. And run.
