You Really Are What You Eat
Most of us consider ourselves ‘healthy’ individuals. We may, however, just be blissfully unaware of the grim reality!
I fall into that category. I've been blessed with relatively good health most of my life, but as a Baby Boomer I found that as I got older, my health started to show signs of rust.
I've always had to watch my weight (usually increase). In fact, I've fought the "battle of the bulge" so many times I can't even count that high! I tried every diet under the sun and saw only short-term benefits.
One of my most amazing diets was the Liquid Protein Diet that was popular 20 years ago. Most doctors and dieticians say that it was a bad idea, but I was under the care of a physician, so I felt safe. The only thing we consumed (I say "we" because groups of dieters met weekly in a moderated group session, where we talked about our dieting adventures the past week) was a powdered protein mix that we added ice to, mixed it all up in a blender, and enjoyed what sort of passed for a "milk shake."
The weight loss was dramatic. In nine weeks I lost 50 pounds. I looked anemic. I was running three miles a day, too. The weight came off like a winter overcoat. I knew it was time to stop when I looked like a walking skeleton. You could see the ripples of my larynx in my neck. The last straw was when I was walking down Michigan Avenue at lunch time on a beautiful sunny summer day when I passed by a friend with whom I had worked two years earlier. He stopped an looked at me and said, "are you sick?" I said "no, I'm on the liquid protein diet." He said,"Boy, that's a relief. I thought you had the Big C" That's when I decided enough was enough. And two years later I had gained all the weight back!
And as I got older I started to develop health problems that were in large part attributed to carrying an extra 25 or 30 pounds on my body. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and eventually Type-II diabetes. Any one of these can shorten a person's life, and diabetes can be a tough way to go.But it took me a long time to come to grips with this fact.
I finally selected a physician who really convinced me that unless I made some lifestyle changes, changed my diet, exercised regularly, lost 50 (I thought he was kidding)--that I would reduce my life expectancy by ten or fifteen years. Since I was pushing 60, fifteen years was a really big deal!
So I did it. I did the South Beach Diet, made changes to my lifestyle, exercised every other day, and lost 30 pounds. My blood pressure is now normal as is my cholesterol, and my blood sugar is good. Two years have passed and I've gained only 5 pounds back. And I really don't mind it. There are some foods I love that I've cut back on--some dramatically--but there are other choices you can make that make it pretty painless. So hopefully I got those 15 years back.
I really believe that "You Really Are What You Eat" and that lifestyle changes can help contribute to a better and longer life. In the coming months I will post articles, letters, comments, and my own "words of wisdom" on how you can improve your life by making some modest changes in the way you live. Plus, I'm going to discuss other natural health topics and encourage anyone who is interested to add his or her comments.
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Tags: cardiovascular disease, Diet, growing-older-health-problems, Health, high cholesterol, hypertension, liguid-protein-diet, type-II -diabetes
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