Eat to Your Heart's Content!

A squirrel in the wild eats to survive. He chooses healthy stuff like nuts, seeds, fruits, and insects (yummy!). Domesticated animals like your husband, wife, children, and other furry house pets eat pretty much what is offered to them or what they find most convenient.

If together we owned a million dollar race horse (we have very little money--hope you do!), we would probably not feed him/her junk food. We would want "Lightning Bolt" to have a winning advantage. By the way, we would also encourage and lead our horse to play and exercise to reach their healthy, swift, graceful, successful potential...but that's .

Skillions of internet articles, and exotic messages found in bottles along beautiful shore lines and beaches tell us today that fitness depends 80% on nutrition and 20% exercise. And along with fitness, for an Active Positive Lifestyle, we also have to include things like work, play, genetics, environment (the amount of volcanic ash in the air), all the people with whom we surround ourselves, and how we deal with stress (Is our horse winning for us?).  

Back to healthy eating: Contemporary marketing is working hard to undermine our healthy resolve. Haven't we been trained to use food as social recreation and reward? Do you think they want us to be tail wagging, food chasing, puppy dogs, excessively salivating and opening our wallets? You can bet your love handles on it! Ever see a TV Ad with people eating? They are all laughing and smiling knowingly, as if the food was not only tasty, but also an aphrodisiac! Ooh Baby, ooh…I want what they're having, don't you! And “Hey! Let's have a party…” is usually followed by “what shall we eat?” or what about “All You Can Eat--$6.99!”

So, what shall we do: Eat drink and be merry? You know we can do that! But if we really care at all, we will be smart about what we feed our winning race horse! For us “people persons” to win, I guess it depends on things like self image, lifestyle plans, and the friends with whom we live and surround ourselves.                  

About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese. And approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese… that's a LOT of food for thought!  Since our eating behavior is guided by how we truly see ourselves, and we want to change our eating habits, why not first try changing our self image?  That way, when our favorite cake is offered we will automatically "check in" with our invigorated self-image:   “I am a healthy bride-to-be, and I must fit gracefully into my wedding dress.”   “I have 3 grandkids who want to play Frisbee with me” Or “I am a Sumo wrestler, and I must eat everything in sight--including you!”

When you "check in" and see yourself as a healthy person that got that way by eating like a healthy animal, you will eat more like a healthy person.  Then, when you hang out with likeminded friends, statistics show you will be even more successful in making this an instead of a “feel good designer Diet du Jour.” 

It's good to "eat like a healthy animal", but first you may want to figure out "which animal you want to be" – that winning race horse? Then take it to heart, eat healthy, hang out with like-minded friends, and eat to your healthy heart's content!

Positively yours, Sheri and Bill

"....so you see, it's all up to you, you can be better than you are--you could be swinging on a star...." (J Burke and B Crosby)