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Thoughts
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Written by Theresa
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Saturday, 03 January 2009 19:00 |
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I have spent the past year trying to figure out why my view that we need to resolve every day and not just on January 1st is so different from other (my husband would say “normal”) people’s style of resolve. Resolution in January, forget by Feb, coast til next year.
I’ll blame 60% on our concept of work (blame the evil corporation) and 40% on our cultural view of human personal responsibility.
The evil corporation 60% portion…we live in a culture where we trade our time for our money in the form of work. In this culture only paid work is valued, which is why motherhood is so damned hard and under supported. In this culture, it takes an hour to get to work and an hour to get back home. In this culture the idea of an 8 hour day is ridiculous, we fool ourselves into believing it is 8 hours but the stats show that it is more like 9, 10 or 11. So, that leaves few hours for the rest of what the human body and spirit needs. (Never mind the grocerylaundrydustingvacuumingcookingshovellingmaintenance duties for now.)
This imbalance has caused us to adapt the “pursuit of happiness” habit, formerly reserved only for royalty and the gods. We feel that we “work” hard enough to have us some of that “rest”. We are not wrong but we gave so much at the office that the movement and joy got squeezed out. When I think about it, my life was most in balance when I hurried around after a small child. Sorry, did I just make you spill your tea?
Really, our lives are meant to be movement and work. We are made to sleep, eat and move in the pursuit of satiety and safety. Which means finding food, gathering wood, cleaning in the river, making safe the nest. All of this work is physically exhausting but it is actually worth it, if feels good, is grounding. Unlike (the mentally exhausting )pursuit of hunting down that client to get him to sign that contract so that the corporation can make a huge profit and pay me a small portion for doing so. How is that going to keep the warmth in the hut? I mean, I know it pays the hydro guy to walk around to read your meter so the power corp can make their money to pay his pittance but where was my body in all that? Sitting at my desk, in my car, on my couch. See what I mean? The money moves so we don’t have to!
Here is the 40% personal responsibility bit…we bought it hook, line and sinker. It is only the very, very excellent corporations and institutions that do something about this out of wack-ness. They all see it, know it, but shrug it off. This brings to mind the DPA (daily physical activity) program in my daughter’s school. At various times throughout the day, everything stops, the almighty voice comes over the loud speaker system and says, “Get up and dance to this song!” or something like that. The teachers and kids groan but they all get up and for 10 minutes each day they wiggle and wave some movement into their lives. They do it (hate it?) together. At least it has been acknowledged that they need some more movement in the sedentary day, yes, it’s a shame that it has come to that but there you have it.
Seems to me, the only solution if for us to push hard at that 60%. Just decide to move that needle of personal responsibility and take back a little bit of the time/effort/oppression. No one is stopping you from bring an exercise ball to work and sitting on it for at least an hour instead of your chair. No one is stopping you from brown bagging your lunch of a huge salad instead of slouching down to the food court. Eat that salad at your desk, on your ball and then walk up the stairs to visit a friend for 10 minutes. No one is stopping you from standing up on the subway for half the ride, it is an amazing ab workout if you don’t hold on! No one is stopping you from walking up the stairs to your desk instead of taking the elevator.
In fact, no one is stopping you from rattling the cage of said corporation and starting a committee to have the stairwell painted a pleasing color, art hung on the walls and music piped in to it. This would benefit all the employees by making the stairs a nice place to walk. The corporation benefits by having more invigorated staff that have less of their lifeblood squeezed out and more of their heart in the day (forgive the pun.)
I know it takes immense effort to roll that rock but this is your life! Not theirs. If not you, who? Who is going to be creative in finding ways that will extend your life and improve your health so you can enjoy it? I don’t want you to put your foot through that new 40 inch tv screen, you did work hard, you did earn it but I think we need to “deserve” the rest differently. Don’t give it all away, steel 30 minutes each day from the corporation or just use them differently, work them your way, you will feel better and be more productive in the long run. Start a “movement movement” that will last all year.
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Thoughts
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Written by Theresa
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Tuesday, 18 November 2008 19:00 |
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Its okay, I get it, no one wants to talk to the nutritionist during the holidays but did you know that the few pounds that you gain every year likely joined you during this time each and every year since college? It could be argued that this is what has contributed to the obesity crisis! It isn’t the fact that you gained a few over the holidays, we all need to let our hair down and enjoy food with our friends and family. It is the simple fact that we don’t get rid of it immediately afterward.
A few tips to help you prevent the spread while enjoying the party:
- Drink 2 full glasses of water before you go to the party. You will feel fuller and be less likely to overeat. Plus, the extra water is needed to process the alcohol.
- Eat a boiled egg, an apple and 1 Tbsp of Salba as a late afternoon snack. It is the protein and fibre content of this snack that will turn your “feed me!” sensor to low giving you more strength to resist.
- The minute you get there, gorge on the veggie platter first but limit your dipping duties. Again with the fill ‘er up correctly while you still have the strength.
- Choose the protein based appetizers. The breads and pastry covered snacks are more caloric than they look and have very little to offer in the way of nutrition.
- Flat out refuse to eat anything deep fried, don’t get me started!
- Dance, baby, dance. Or wiggle, or tap your foot but definitely move throughout the entire evening.
- Enjoy a glass or two of red wine but don’t drink more than that, it is a long holiday season!
- Leave the party before the dessert table gets set. Avoiding 400-800 calories per slice of fruit cake is more important than avoiding your ex’s new girlfriend with the big boots (you thought I meant something a little higher?)
If you do indulge, do yourself a favor and get those pounds off immediately. Reset yourself in the new year with some realistic goals. We will talk again then.
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Thoughts
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Written by Theresa
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Tuesday, 28 October 2008 19:00 |
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In my private nutrition practice I get the question all the time…aren’t vitamins just expensive pee? I mean, why can’t we get all we need from food like the cavemen, they didn’t have magic pills, did they?
I’ll keep it simple…here are Five reasons:
1. We don’t eat the way the cavemen did! They ate nuts and seeds and loads of greens and fruit in season plus the occasional kill that was itself grazing upon the perfect food and was therefore more nutritious.
2. We don’t move the way the caveman did, sedentary like never before, we simply cannot consume the number of calories it would take to get the number of nutrients we need. If we did eat enough food, we would go over the number of calories that we burn in a day.
3. Even if we could fix the above two, our food is nowhere near as nourishing as it once was. Sadly, so, so sadly, our soil is depleted. Our air and water don’t have what they need either to grow the food with all it needs and all we need from it.
4. Stress is a factor that consumes nutrients. Who have you met that can honestly say “I feel no stress” Even if, they are saintly patient, they are likely breathing air that needs more filtering than our ancestors would have. Just getting out of bed in the morning and tuning out all the ringing phones, whining kids, buzzing blackberries, honking cars and flashing lights is stressful.
5. There are some nutrients, like fish oil, that have proven health benefits and eating the right amount of the actual fish could cause more harm than good. A fish oil supplement is the best solution.
Armed with this info I vote “yes” to vitamins. What kind and how much is an individual assessment that happens in my office and countless others, with careful consideration of the vitamins than can have toxic effects. Your body will take what it needs and yes, pee out most of the rest. I’m happy to pay for my pee.
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Thoughts
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Written by Theresa
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Thursday, 16 October 2008 19:00 |
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We hear all about how good green tea is for you, how anti-oxidant rich and tummy slimming such a sip can be, but that’s not why I drink it. And drink it I do! 4 cups before I leave the house each morn. 2 of them while I check my emails and write my thoughts. It is my constant companion.
Yes, like you, I used to be a coffee freak but pregnancy changed all that. Cutting back was not only for the baby, when my hormones changed so did my reaction to caffeine. No medical explanation why I could no longer metabolize the stuff, it just happened. So sensitive I became that even a cup of decaf after lunch kept me up in my bed at night. So the search for an alternative ensued.I drink loose leaf, organic Jasmine tea. So, the same leaf that is in green tea (which is the same as black only unfermented) with the addition of Jasmine leaves.
So my morning smells like flowers. The same flowers that bloom in my friend Babs’ yard in South Carolina in May when we make a girls weekend there. The same jasmine that perfumed my childhood trips to
Florida each and every late winter/early spring. Its the memories of the smells that comfort me. Its primal, our connection to smells. Inviting within (consuming) that which comforts us in our surroundings is instinctive. That’s the good for you part…not the polyphenols, I’m sure of it.
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Thoughts
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Written by Theresa
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Sunday, 28 September 2008 19:00 |
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 Holy Hannah! What a wild ride the markets are on. Yes, Wall street but also the one where we get our food. You see? You see? I have been saying for so long that we need to cook at home! It saves money, calories, time. All those who figured, nah, I have enough money to eat in restaurants forever are singing a different tune. One from Fiddler on the Roof, dadle, deedle, dadle, diga, deedle deedle dadle dum. Cooking is a skill that those who have been through hard times know.
How to stretch a chicken, how beans are cheap, excellent protein. How growing tomatoes and roasting them takes pennies and adds way more nutrients, flavor and pleasure! The good news is when we do these simple things we are actually saving the world and ourselves. The impact of a less expensive, vegetarian diet on the planet is well documented and leaning (no pun intended) toward vegetarian is better for the body too!
How our perspective changes when the paradigm shifts. I sound less like chicken little now and more like Tevye wishing for chickens to fill my yard. But I will always dress a little better.
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