Eat Better
“You want to eat better, but until someone lights a fire under you it’s not going to happen. Here's how to feel the burn.”
The cold, hard truth is that most of us will eat healthier to look or feel better before we’ll do it to lower our risk of disease (like heart problems, diabetes and cancer) 69% vs. 18%. However, the old saying is still true today: -An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.- A recent study shows that every dollar invested in prevention produces four times the results vs. each dollar spent in treatment. Not only is it better, easier, and less expensive to do things that prevent disease than to try to deal with them once they happen just imagine your quality of life. If you think you’d be motivated to start eating better if you had a diagnosis of diabetes, then why not just do it now and avoid the whole thing? Not only will you prevent many issues, you’ll immediately start to look better and feel better the two things that motivate us the most. It’s a complete win-win situation.
Clueless about weight loss and weight loss surgery of any kind.
Yup and my exact thinking on why every single person who had wls should be doing absolutely everything in their power to change their children's weight destiny, no matter what it takes. Growing up as a fat kid is a nightmare, and its not any more fun today then it was when I was a kid. No one wants to be called names, or picked last in gym or any of the other horrible things that happen when you are the odd kid out. Prevent it now before it gets out of control. I won't profess to be an expert because I think my son was genetically predetermined to be thin via his fathers genes, but I did everything in my power to make food into a non-entity in my sons life. Now he is 23 and lives on sushi and fresh fruit and vegetables and is a health nut. Can I take credit, not really, but am I thrilled, for sure.
I wish that the notion of disease prevention was the motivator for us to eat. But unfortunately this does not take into account that in our culture we have learned that it is normal to live to eat ....not eat to live. Our lifestyle does not promote healthy living. In the US we have not integrated the philosophy of living a healthy life. We have learned to view "eating well" means deprivation. We are actually nutritionally deficient even though we are obese. We have not incorporated healthy habits into our lifestyle. Exercising has not been a daily routine like brushing our teeth. Our career is a means to gain more "things"; no one addresses the idea of "contribution". We seldom take time to have gratitude. Being healthy is more than what we eat.
I may not be talking for all weight loss surgery patients but I know for the majority we are addicts (with the addiction to carbohydrates....sugar). We have learned to comfort ourselves with food. We would not be morbidly obese if this was not true. We often eat with "head hunger". Seldom before surgery did we eat because physiologically we were hungry. For me I knew it was time to eat because the clock said so, when I was stressed or angry, at a family celebration, while viewing a television commercial promoting a snack food, when I smelled a cinnamon bun candle burning, as I walked by a person eating an ice cream, because there was a candy dish sitting on the desk, when my mother served my meal...... I was not in touch or even aware of what "true hunger" was. I never recognized my stomach growling or that I was irritable when I was hungry.
Having had a RNY (11 years ago) has given me the opportunity to learn not only what to eat but how to eat. I have learned to eat to live. To eat to be the healthiest me possible. I have made lifestyle changes.
