Here's To Your Health

Prov. 16:24 “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”

I’m going to start with a disclaimer. I am directing this post to an overweight society as a whole, no one person in particular. If you are over sensitive about your weight, then please spare yourself any pain and read no further. If you want to read to learn about bettering your health then read on. 

I would also like to say that I have many members of my family struggling with weight issues, aunts, uncles cousins, nephews, nieces, you name it, but in all honesty, my immediate family doesn’t have a problem (ie: mother, father, brothers). My sister at one time felt overweight after giving birth to six children and has since licked that issue. 

So why the post? Because as all my posts talk about a world that is dying I can visually look around and see why the people are so over medicated and overweight. I am not speaking to those who take medication that leads you to gain weight. I’m speaking to people who don’t care about their weight, because of the ‘we only live once’ mentality so die happily eating the fatty grease burger, smothered in bacon, cheese and mayo. 

What really started me on wanting to write this post was a meme that I’ve seen posted by too many of my friends and family! It really had me thinking about the world and the struggle it takes to take care of ones healthy eating. 

The meme read:
30 day Challenge
No chips
No potatoes
No ice cream
No fast food
No fried food
No chocolate
No white breads
No soda or juice
No cookies
No candy
Could you do it? For your health could you do it?

Not being overweight, I didn’t see where the challenge was but I imagine for an overweight society, this is a challenge that none would be willing to take. My parents were never overweight but they drank beer which gave them a few extra pounds and only when they quit drinking (for health reasons, they were forced to quit drinking and smoking) and any extra pounds they had melted off like butter on a Texas sidewalk. 

But I can see where giving up beer would be a challenge for people who love their booze so why wasn’t THAT on the challenge list? Why is the list so general? Why didn’t it say no sugar or no cholesterol, no beer? I’m thinking the list was targeted at today’s kids who need junk (unhealthy) food to get through a day of life!

To me personally, I think it is a health choice. People become overweight because of unhealthy choices (unless they have medical obesity). Again, I’m not referring to people who are overweight because of medications they take. Childhood obesity is on the rise mainly because kids stopped playing outside, riding bikes, or skating. Everything is done inside behind a screen and if you’re a parent who is overweight sitting behind a screen, you’re teaching your child that it is okay to be unhealthy and overweight. What are we teaching our kids?

Are we teaching our kids about the health concerns overweight people face? Like I said, my mother wasn’t overweight but she did develop type2 diabetes. She had an addiction to Whitman’s chocolate and a need to add at least fifteen shakes of salt from the salt shaker to all of her food. My mother never taught me about health I had to learn on my own but from my own experience in my family, I NEVER wanted to be overweight. So I watched what I ate, ate in moderation, exercised (not fanatically) and watched what I drank. 

People wonder why I don’t like chocolate, let it rot your teeth, let it place unnecessary pounds around your belt-line, let it cause you diabetes, no thank you, my preference is to not eat unhealthily. Hard lessons were enough for me to learn how not to love chocolate. I developed a dislike for it at a very young age, I’d say about 15 is when I started to become health conscious. 

I remember making Chicken noodle soup for the very first time and I gave my mother some. (She had given me the recipe but I withheld the salt.) She couldn’t get over how good it was and asked me what I did differently, I told her, no salt added. She was shocked. It didn’t curb her love of salt but a stroke in later years curbed that unhealthy intake real quick.

Have you noticed the rise in lactose intolerance? Gluten intolerance? From Scientific American: “Gluten is the primary protein component of wheat – it is what gives breads their delicious chewy texture. The only known cure for celiac disease is complete elimination of gluten from the diet – so no pizza, bagels, pasta, pancakes, waffles, doughnuts, cookies, soy sauce (it has wheat in it), licorice (ditto) … you get the idea. Even communion wafers are verboten.”

What I want you to GAIN from reading this post is that HEALTH matters! Nutrients matter! Vitamins matter! Taking care of yourself NOW matters before it is too late. Yes, there is a time when it is too late. My overweight aunt got cancer and lost weight until she died. My dad who had heart disease and wasn’t overweight just didn’t take care of himself and died of COPD. I want my son, my nieces and nephews and their children to live a long life so they NEED to take care of themselves NOW before it becomes too late. And no, never having the problem I more than likely don’t understand.

Another honest moment of why I’m writing this post. Last week I went to facebook and almost every single post the people were in pain, their meds weren’t working, were not arriving on time or the pain was too much to bear and here I was fighting my simple arthritic back pain feeling on top of the world. 

I draw concern on my friends fighting ailments. Why was I feeling so good? It just shouldn’t be so. Here I am taking the only thing I know that has helped me and that’s B12 Stress Complex (purchased at my local WalMart) and not very expensive, and B12 tablets. My fear rises when I think of going to the doctor and being diagnosed with MS or worse, cancer, so I try and take care of my weight and my health now before I NEED the medication to keep me alive.

If you say to me… ‘Well you haven’t had this, or that, or the other thing’, let me tell you, I’ve fought drug addiction, alcoholism, anxiety disorder, low self esteem, stress along with PTSD, I’ve lost two children and still to this day suffer with ailments but all without prescribed medication. I will find any herb, any vitamin or nutrient I’m lacking and I will holistically heal myself. It is what has worked for me for well over thirty years.

Now some people might ask why I don’t see the challenge above as a challenge? I’ll tell you why. Moderation that’s why!

30 day Challenge
No chips – I eat chips. Not every day and an entire bag!
No potatoes – I love potatoes. In moderation!
No ice cream – Ice Cream is a treat not a pig-out FOOD! And definitely not a stress reducer.
No fast food – Maybe once a month. I always choose the healthy menu meal. (fish or chicken) 
No fried food – I love fried food but I prefer baked or in my slow cooker. I always drain fat!
No chocolate – not a big fan of chocolate, too much as a kid pretty much deters any liking of binge eating of chocolate.
No white breads – I eat in moderation, so I’m ALLOWED to eat breads and pastas!
No soda or juice – I have one soda a day. (not fat free or diet)
No cookies – Chocolate chip are my fave! I might have one or two…or  three!
No candy – RARELY! Three times a year! (Easter, Halloween, Christmas)

Could you do it? For your health could you do it? I do do it...for my HEALTH

I just want to add that I rarely eat cakes and pies, sure they’re good once a year but every night? Once a week? No, no, no, not for me. My son is always telling me that I eat like a bird. Well hey, maybe them birds are onto something. I never glance out my window and see an overweight bird fly into a window now, do you?

I also drink about a gallon of water a day, maybe more (in winter too). I don’t drink booze, I drink Green Tea. We have an iced tea maker and I make a gallon of green tea (3-4 tea bags) and refrigerate it and heat it up a cup at a time before bed. Some people say green tea is too strong so that is why I use three or four per gallon, to get the HEALTH benefits of Green Tea without the bitterness of the taste.

I’m sorry if you’re battling weight issues, I’m more sorry that your health and living is not important enough to you to stay alive for your children and grandkids and great grandkids. Please don’t tell me that a salad is more expensive than a burger, it is all a matter of CHOICE and MODERATION, not price!   

Below are some links that might help with your battle with over medication. I have to put God in here somewhere don’t I? ‘I’ believe that God placed a resource for EVERY ailment we face on this earth in the form of herbs and vegetables. For me, prescribed medication will be the last resort. When you read that *I’m* on medication, then know I’m in my last days and the meds are only being used to prolong my life. 

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am NOT condemning anyone for taking medications for what ails you. I’m only saying that maybe, JUST MAYBE there is a cheaper alternative to prescription drugs. My mother pays well over $200 a month on prescription drugs. When my dad was sick in the hospital last year she didn’t take them for almost two months. After he passed, she told her doctor and the doctor told her, but they’re keeping you alive! She LIVED two months without taking them. Do your research.  

Links below:

Foods that will clean, repair and produce new cells in your body

12 Healing Herbs

25 Healing Herbs

75 Safe and Effective Herb al Remedies

10 Turmeric Benefits Superior to Medications

Turmeric – Pros and Cons – Be sure to click the tab for side effects

18 NATURAL Sleep Aids

If you're going to argue how expensive the herbs and vitamins are, think about that the next time you're at a fast food restaurant splurging, or food shopping for chips and soda. Think MODERATION!