I must admit - I spend way too much time in front of the computer.
Being self-employed for the last 10 years is the main reason for this, and if we do not work, we do not get paid.
And getting paid is getting harder and harder to do these days with the economy as it is.
Working from home though does have its benefits when it comes to time.
Taking 10 minutes each hour to get up and walk around outside the house is easier to do when there is no boss hanging over your shoulder.
And these short spurts of movement really wake you up and make your feel more energized.
The ability to concentrate is renewed and you can actually feel your metabolism still in gear after you have returned to work sitting in your chair.
I took my last walk for the day a few minutes ago.
It is almost 8:00 pm and the twilight is moving in. I hear the peepers in the distance. The robins are protesting my walk, and the cool air from the edge of woods caresses my arms and legs as I pass by.
These walks are not good for just the exercise they give - the spirit gets a boost too.
All the senses are enhanced and it all works for a more healthy person in all aspects - body and soul.
I discovered this new fat completely by mistake.
Since I always read my food labels, I purchased a box of graham crackers for a recipe, and was happy to see no partially hydrogenated oils as I scanned the ingredients.
Once home, I was interested to see what they used for a fat substitute in the crackers, and I came across a new term - Interesterified Oils.
Thanks to the good old internet, I was able to find out what exactly this new ingredient was in about 2 minutes.
And was I surprised.
The first thing that came to my mind was a line by Shakespeare:
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
Only it isn't sweet - and no matter what they call it - it is still a trans fat.
To make this "new" fat, they take fully hydrogenated oil and mix it with liquid polyunsaturate oil.
They claim fully hydrogenated oil is healthier than the partially hydrogenated variety.
My thought: If the partially one is bad, then the fully one has to be doubly bad.
So, like lambs to slaughter, the food manufacturers keep leading us down the wrong path, again.
Take an minute to read your labels, and keep this new term in mind as you scan them.
After all, we are what we eat.
Here is a scary fact:
On average, Americans consume about 175 pounds of sugar a year - that is almost a half pound each day.
Find it hard to conjure up what a half pound looks like?
Well, it is about 46 teaspoons.
46 teaspoons each day.
I find this figure unbelievable and it is no wonder that diabetes is on the rise in this country.
And we are lead to believe that artificial sweeteners are the answer to this problem.
Well, since I am not an artificial human, eating artificial food is not an option.
In the past I have used fructose, which is about 70% sweeter than sugar, so you don't use as much.
It is still a refined sugar though.
I do know that if I eat very little sugar, the body quickly adapts to the intake amount.
Where you wouldn't notice a sweet taste in a certain food before, when you eat very little sugar, the tongue picks up it's taste in the food. When you actually add more, it becomes too sweet.
I think our bodies develop a tolerance - over time you need more of it to taste it.
There is no nutritional value to sugar at all. It hits a pleasure sensor in us, and naturally we want to consume more of it.
It's hard, but try cutting back on it. You will discover a whole new taste to food.
That romaine lettuce is a sweet treat, but you will not know it unless you go without all the added refined sugar in your diet.
Celery and carrots are also sweet.
Who would have guessed the alternative to refined sugar is none to little in the diet!
Strength or Endurance
From reading, I have found that there are basically two types of exercise - endurance or stamina training and strength training.
I was trying to find out which is the best so I could concentrate on building my exercise routine around it.
But what I found is that they are very entwined and you really cannot do one without doing the other.
I have always considered walking to be my endurance or stamina building exercise, and I found I was correct in thinking that.
But what I didn't know is that walking also builds strength, and if you were to use small hand or ankle weights while walking, it increases the strength part even more.
The terrain, speed, and distance of the walk all work for building endurance and strength.
The more you walk, the greater the endurance gets, but the strength will eventually begin to reach a plateau.
So, doing some strength building exercise is also needed to keep those muscles performing and burning the calories and fats.
I have always used hand weights and ankle weights for my strength training, which I try to do at least twice a week.
From what I have been reading, if I walk 30 minutes each day for endurance, and do the strength training for 30 minutes each week, then I have the correct basic formula for retaining my current weight and keeping a healthy body.
By increasing the walking just a few minutes, and adding another day to the strength training, it will go a long way towards loosing these extra pounds over time.
And slowly, over time, is the best way to loose those pounds and keep them off.
These are inexpensive and easy things that I can incorporate into my daily routine.
Keeping it simple is my motto, and these exercises fit my plan for working towards a healthy lifestyle - frugally, of course.
Real Food Ingredients
I once read something years ago that has stuck with me and makes me think each time I look at something new in the supermarket.
I don't know who said it or who came up with the idea, but it made sense to me.
It's called the Rule of 1900.
This rule states that if a food ingredient didn't exist before the year 1900 as a food ingredient, then it doesn't belong being consumed by the human body.
This brings to mind all the artificial flavorings, colorings, and fillers that are in many of the processed foods today.
Also, the ones we do not think about - the partially hydrogenated fats, and the numerous artificial sweeteners that are on the market that are supposed to be a "good alternative" for us.
All this modern knowledge and all our high technologies, and we do not have the sense enough to consume real food.
Food is a precious commodity in many countries, and finding ways to increase the production and amounts is a necessary thing, but pushing "fake" food isn't doing any of us any good in the long run.
Take a minute to scan the food ingredients on the next package or box before you put it in your cart and try to keep the ones that only contain real food.
You'll feel better in the end!
