REWARD OR RISK
It’s starts out innocently, eat everything on your plate and you get desert, or quiet down or no ice cream, we have been hearing these enticements long as as we can recall. Fact is our greatest reward in life is food, because without it no other reward matters, we need to eat to live but a great deal of us act like we live to eat. Food addiction, obesity, diabetes, heart disease high blood pressure, ect.., all lead to shortened lives and a drastic reduction in the quality of life.
I consider myself a reformed food addict having once been in the morbid obese category and currently with a BM I at 31.5, I spent a great deal of my life planning my next meal, to be sure I wouldn’t miss a meal, in fact I would plan a meal ahead, at breakfast I would plan lunch and onward and life would go on and I got bigger.
I finally realized where I was headed when I reached over 325 pounds and 40 years of age went on a supervised liquid protein diet and had a dramatic weight loss, not a healthy thing to do. I suffered the loss of a gall bladder and severe back pain as a result. Apparently I learned very little from my adventure because 6 months later I regained half the weight I had lost, frustrated and somewhat disgusted I continued on the roller coaster of weight control.
After my 3rd Stroke left me unable to swallow, a feeding tube was placed through my abdomen and into my stomach now I had no control over food, nourishment was reduced to a mechanical function, 3 times a day a nurse would plug my tube into a bottle with a thick liquid in it and I had no feeling of being hungry before or fulfillment after, it was a non-event.
What I learned was all those overwhelming feelings about food originated in my head and after I relearned how to swallow and returned to solid food I changed my entire attitude towards food and I began to look at food as a way to get healthy, as a Diabetic I now had to become very selective as to what I ate, with self testing my blood sugar I quickly learned the foods that made my blood sugar spike. My therapy turned into workouts so I needed solid nutrition to sustain me through these efforts, I began each day with a good breakfast, that is about half my daily calories. See healthy recipes for my quick oatmeal breakfast, for my noon meal I have a lean meat for protein, a small portion of carbohydrates, a vegetable and a fruit, and my supper is a large salad with as much fresh vegetables as I can fit in the bowl, with 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette dressing.
Change up the meats, carbs and veggies as desired, this is not gourmets fare, but try it for a month and decide at that time if it working.
I have been eating this way for a couple years, I was diabetic, severe enough to require medication and Insulin, now normal blood sugar levels as well as blood pressure and every other metabolic indicator dominate.
It works for me and perhaps its preserving my life.
REFUSE TO BE HELPLESS
Jul 282013