It has been a long time since I posted, which should come as no shock. I mean, the blog was started as a project for a business law class, so once the class was over....
Well, here I am several months later, having graduated and wondering, "what's next?" While I do hope to pursue a BA in the not-do-distant future, now is just not the time. Which leaves the questions of what to do with myself totally open.
The hard truth is that there are things I SHOULD do with myself. Things that I have been putting off for too long. Things like exercising and eating better. Things like losing weight and taking better care of myself.
Just the other night I watched "FORKS OVER KNIVES," a documentary about the benefits of eating a whole foods, plant based diet-and the pitfalls of a diet full of meat and dairy. I have come to the conclusion that I need to reevaluate what I thought I knew about food. I grew up being told to drink my milk and eat my meat because my body needed the calcium and protein. I have told my own kids the very same thing. But is that true? I am beginning to think not.
I am not going to go into the science of the debate-much better minds than mine have tackled that issue. But I will say that I am not motivated by politics or by life style or by trends. I am motivated by getting, and staying, healthy in whatever way works for me. Diets don't work-I have lost and gained and lost weight over and over again with diets. I need a better, healthier way to approach food. So why not start by taking a good, hard look at my believes about food? And then compare what I believe to what science has proven? As I go through this process I am discovering that meat and dairy may not have a place in my life anymore.
It makes me kind of sad to think that if I take meat and dairy out of my diet I won't be eating a nice, hearty bowl of beef stew again or dipping an oozy cheese sandwich into tomato soup! But if it means I won't have heartburn every day, that my headaches will lessen, that I won't pee my pants when I cough (yeah, I know...TMI), and that my back will get stronger, then I can deal with letting some foods go.
I keep thinking that maybe going to a plant-based diet is drastic. But really, the things I have done in the past to lose weight are what was drastic! I remember going on near-starvation diet to lose about 10 pounds. By the end I weighed 132 pounds, which was the lightest I ever was. And I felt like complete and utter crap. And the weight came right back. And it brought some friends. Rewind, repeat, replay.
