fat 2 phatt .com

How are you going to let this current recession effect your health?  This economic disaster that we find ourselves in has a lot of us stressed out to the max, which is a health threatening situation to say the least. Everyone knows of someone that has lost their job, or everybody is fearful of losing their own employment with the daily bad news of cutbacks and downsizing

I personally know of people who are forced by the recession to cut back on essentials such as their medications and health care needs.  And, of course, this just adds insult to injury by making an already stressful situation more harmful to their overall health.  Foregoing a visit to the doctor or not being able to afford prescription medicines is a dangerous consequence of our present economic situation.

What are some of the other harmful consequences of this recession with regards to our health?  First off, the place people cut down in spending during hard times is in our daily food costs.  We stop eating out on a regular basis, start cooking more at home, and unfortunately today’s society is less skilled in culinary arts as our parents generation were so it is really easy to choose pre-prepared processed food items to comprise our meals. This can have a dangerous impact on our health and weight because as we all know, processed foods with high calories and that lack nutrition can be way cheaper and easier to prepare than even fruits and vegetables.

Secondly, with everyone caught in this quagmire of doom that I believe we talked ourselves right in to, the upbeat or positive mood necessary for exercising is just not present.  So we don’t go for our walk, we stop going to the gym, we just sit and watch the gloom on the television and we get even more depressed.

So what are we going to do about it?  Numero Uno, as i said the media and us talked ourselves right into a recession.  We can also talk ourselves right out of it.  Turn off the terrible news, stop reading the daily gloom and doom in the paper, and avoid like the plague all negative influences in our everyday life.  Adopt and force a positive outlook. Taking a walk will get you off the couch, let you enjoy this wonderful spring season, and actually relieve some of your stress.

Second, if you simply cannot boil water by yourself, buy an easy and inexpensive basic cookbook.  Cooking at home can be fun and extremely nutritional.  If you have a family then make meal preparation a fun family project.  Get back to the basics of meal planning, vegetables are really easy to cook and are great for your body, cheaper cuts of meat can be prepared in delicious recipes that rival  your favorite eating establishment.  Add a shot of grains, cheap dried beans and some fruit for dessert and you have the makings of an affordable healthier diet.

Third and last, even if you don’t have a lot of room, grow some of your own food.  Gardening is theraputic and not really hard to do.  Planting a garden and watching it grow is one of the most enjoyable activities in my life.  It may seem like a lot of work if you grow a big garden such as I do, but I am going to save a s-load of money on my grocery bill this year.  Even if you are limited on space, such as living in an apartment, you can still plant a tomato plant on the balcony and save some bucks.

Unfortunately, we became accustom to being to frivolous with our food dollar in the pre-recession era and our waist line shows the fruits of that orgy.  We can grow out of this current situation both wiser and healthier.  But in order to do so we have to take the first step towards a positive outlook on life and use this temporary inconvience to our healthier advantage.  Remember, we are the nation that was build on positive attributes and strength, not drudgery.

To your health.

Clink

The meteorologist here in the beautiful Mesilla Valley has publicly declared that winter is officially over, he contends that we will not have any more freezing weather until next winter. Because of his consistent track record, (he’s usually about 60% correct in his predictions) I started preparing the garden for planting.  I fall for this every year and although all I have planted thus far are cool weather crops, I am most certain it will freeze one more time this month.  Thank God I didn’t go overboard and buy the tomato plants that the local nursery’s have prematurely brought out for sale.

I love to garden and reap the rewards of healthy, organic vegetables  that are essential to a healthy diet and consequently a healthier life.  Gardening is hard work at the beginning of the season with all the soil preparation, planting, and daily watering of the new seed beds.  I do find this spring ritual most invigorating and a few scant weeks from now when I harvest my first spinach plants, most delicious.

A diet full of organic fruits and vegetables is a sensible and healthy endeavor that all of us should try to adopt.  This is also the premise of Jordan Rubin’s  book the Maker’s Diet.  His diet plan comes solely from ancient Biblical scriptures on how God wants us to eat.  The diet and scriptures he quotes to support his diet recommend eating organic meats, fruits and vegetables that come from known clean sources.

This natural, organic approach to eating suggests that you should only eat things created by God in the way it was intended which means in its purest and most natural form. That means no processed foods or those produced with contact to hormones, pesticides or fertilizers.  What it also means is following the ancient myths about not eating pork (swine don’t chew their cud and so are unclean), not eating shellfish or catfish (because they don’t have scales).

Mr. Rubin’s book is not only about weight loss but as he puts it, is a truly holistic approach to health and wellness focusing on the four components of total health, physical health, mental health, spiritual and emotional health.  The plan includes related sections preaching how the human mind influences your body and spirit and how you must change spiritually for optimum health.

To quote the some parts of this diet:

• Eliminate your consumption of processed foods and chemicals in Phase 1. This will likely cause a reaction similar to detoxification, but this is expected and healthy
• INCREASE YOUR WATER INTAKE AND REST AS OFTEN AS YOUR BODY NEEDS.
• Remember that if you stray, you’re always only one meal away from regaining success.
• MINIMIZE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAILURE BY AVOIDING SITUATIONS WHERE YOU CANNOT FOLLOW THE DIET.
• DON’T EAT WHEN YOU’RE ANGRY, SAD, SCARED or ANXIOUS. These emotions shut down digestion and depress your immune system.
• GET OUT IN THE SUN. Exposure to sunlight is very beneficial to your health, and can aid in balancing hormones, enhancing mood and building strong bones.

The 40 day diet prescribed by Mr. Rubin includes a modest exercise regime such as walking, rebounding and simple stretching exercise, which is better than not including exercise at all.  The recipes included in the diet plan seem balanced and sound pretty good.  Easy egg scramble for breakfast, Coconut Milk Soup for lunch, and either Cilantro-Lime Chicken Cacciatore or Wild Alaskan Salmon with Pecan Pesto for dinner just to name a few.

In all, aside from the Biblical approach to the whole thing, trying this diet is not going to be as bad for your body as the traditional low carb, low calorie diet fads we saw earlier this year.  And if Mr. Rubin’s diet brought him from the brink of death to excellent health today, it could be worth a try.  As I have always contended, a diet including good healthy fruits and vegetables is just plain good for you.  BTW Amazon has the book going for $13.59 a copy and if you subscribe to the on-line support etc. it will set you back about $5.00 a month.  For a preview of the book, mouse over to the left sidebar and click on the Amazon button.  Thanks and as always.

To your health,

Clink.