Healthy Living

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Our culture sends a breakneck, unattainable message that we should be lean with great muscle tone and yet be well endowed in the breast and gluteal area. (Buttocks would be the word for those who aren’t too much into the fitness side of things. Oh, and “guns” means the biceps-the muscles of the upper arm.) We are to be beautiful and glamorous yet domesticated and practical. We are to love sports as much as the football players and yet be petite and dainty as the cheerleaders. We are to be bubbly and girlie and yet smart and brainy. We are to have children and raise them and yet not look like we’ve done either. We are to do all we have to do and yet have time for others. We are to play a thousand roles and have enough energy at the end of the day to play a thousand more. Everywhere we look and everywhere we go, we see pictures, ads, and commercials of perfectly shaped models doing everything right from vacuuming the house to drinking beer with the guys. Come on, world, give us real live women a break here!

Anti-aging creams, anti-cellulite lotions, anti-wrinkle procedures, and, well, anti-EVERYTHING! Everything is made to go against who we are. Society wants to change us! So we hear and see the messages of the ideal woman. As the years go by, the vision of the perfect woman gets more and more unrealistic and unattainable. It used to be that the round, overweight figure was glorified for that meant wealth and contentment; a life of luxury and leisure. The round figures were honored by kings and cherished by artists as you may have seen in many paintings that grace the walls of museums. These were created by painters who received large amounts of money from those of the higher social economic class to paint these works of art. They honored and cherished the full-figured woman.

Then out with the round and in with the stick. Twiggy was the latest craze! No body fat at all, straight as a rail. That was the “in” thing. The skinnier, the better. Anorexic was in and anorexia was it! That was the look that people worked towards.

These looks that have come and gone-the round figure with the bosom and hips and the Twiggy look with no bosom and hips-but they were realistic. If you are going to gain weight the first places you’ll naturally gain weight are in your breasts, hips, and buttocks. (There you go, I left the gluteus maximus words out for those of you who aren’t into the fitness field.) Then with the Twiggy look, that too, was more realistic than what is demanded of us today. If you are going to be skinny, you will not have much of a chest and butt. You are just going to be string bean skinny! This means no curves at all. That’s how nature intended. That’s how God made us. Out with the fat, out goes the curves. Hello curves, hello fat! Get the picture?

Today, however, we are expected to be lean and toned with large breasts and a perfectly rounded rear end with just the right about of muscle. Not too fat, not too lean. What??? Be thin and yet have these clumps of fat strategically placed in areas society has deemed acceptable and beautiful??!! Egads! It’s more than I can take. It’s more than anyone can take!

So we either go out and try to achieve the unrealistic look of beauty by dieting, working out, taking supplements, pills, and whatever powdery or liquid-y drink that is on the market. We color and cut our hair to the perfect style. We eat what is told of us not what we want. We think the way the media has led us to believe we should think. We even go to extreme measures of paying to go under the knife, a.k.a. surgery, to have those clumps of fat removed in certain places and strategically added to areas that will make us more appealing, more attractive, and more desirable.

Now keep in mind that many of you may not do these things and don’t succumb to these pressures. Also some of you do choose to have yourselves surgically improved and you do it for YOU and no one else. That is fine and I admire you for that. There are women out there who have done these things for themselves. But I challenge you to HONESTLY think about the time up to the point when you had these procedures done. What was the real driving force? Be honest with yourself. Then think about the extreme stress and pressure you were under mentally and physically before, during, and after surgery. (Now remember, I know that some of you out there, after having honestly thought about this, can still say that you made changes for you and you alone and I commend you.)

I know for me that my driving force to a rock hard body and hydrogen-peroxide lightened hair was because I like the look, yes. BUT the deep-down true reason is also because all the beautiful girls look this way. I’ll be the first to admit! Finally, my point is that I don’t think there is any woman out there who can say that she is not directly or indirectly affected by the mixed messages we are getting and that the expectations are just too unrealistic.



Weird Science
“Hey, Mom, what’s this nandrolone phenylpropionate I’m eating?”

Technology has even moved into the areas of the foods we eat. If our founding fathers, or should I say, our founding FARMERS could see what we eat now, they would roll over in their graves or, more appropriately, their gardens! Do you remember the days of the open markets and farmer’s markets? I know there are still farmer’s markets and I love them and support them all the way! As you read further, you will see why I encourage shopping at these farmer’s markets and health food stores. Natural foods without chemicals and additives will be a part of your individualized program because we are what we eat!

It used to be that when you needed to purchase some groceries, let’s say meat in this instance, you’d pick out a live chicken or one that was already dead but hanging on a hook. You’d get vegetables and they’d still have the roots, dirt, and all. Now you can hardly even recognize these foods! Chicken is already cut up, wrapped in cellophane, with no trace of blood and the color is not even recognizable. I’ve never known chicken to be yellow but a clear pinkish color and I grew up on a farm where we raised chickens. So let me tell you, I know my chickens! But chicken marketed in grocery stores today are YELLOW. The yellow color, my friend, is from synthetic hormones pumped into or fed to the chickens in order to fatten them up and get them to the grocery stores sooner. Synthetic hormones are made from some of the most dangerous and strangest chemicals such as horse’s urine!! And yes, dear ladies, a lot of you are on horse’s urine a.k.a. estrogen replacement! So think about the synthetic hormones that you are getting from your meat, eggs, and milk. That’s got to be doing something to your hormones and health; throwing your system out of whack slowly and in some cases, quickly.

What about fruits and vegetables? They’re healthy, right? Well, let’s look a little deeper. Have you ever rubbed your hands on a piece of fruit and have it feel extremely waxy? Well, inside the wax are pesticides. Yes, carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals to KILL bugs and insects. What do you think this is doing to you slowly? Now think of cutting into an apple. Sometimes you’ll get an apple that is so fake red that it stains your cutting board or countertop. Dye and food coloring have been added.

Other “healthy” foods that we consider to be healthy are raisins, dried fruit, nuts, margarines, low fat or imitation butters, mayonnaise, and dressings. I want to also educate you on these healthier choices. The dried foods contain preservatives so that they maintain their freshness and don’t brown or spoil. The nuts are roasted in oils, which even if you used a “healthier” oil, when heated, the “healthier” oil becomes a carcinogen putting you at risk for cancer. Vegetable oils, canola oils, and all those other oils, which are healthier than lard or saturated fats are still bad for you since most people heat the oil. Once again, when oil is heated, it becomes dangerous. This even applies to olive oil, one of the healthiest oils in the world!

Then take a look at your low fat margarines and spreads. Take a look at low fat anything. Most have the words “partially hydrogenated” or “hydrogenated” in their ingredients list. This means that if the fat is somewhat better for you, it is made bad because of the processing method. It has been recently reported that these bad fats are definitely linked to cancer!

Now we get to the nonfat items or the items that are low calorie or light/lite. These items have ingredients that aren’t real sugar or real fat. There are a couple of dangers with these foods. By eating something that doesn’t naturally grow in a garden, once again by eating something modified by technology, you are adding chemicals and substances that will put you at risk of illnesses and diseases especially cancers, mental problems, and hormone imbalances. Also when eating these foods, most of us have in the back of our minds that they are light or lite and with less calories, sugar, and fat so we can eat more. But a calorie is a calorie so even if it has no fat, it still has calories! Once again, don’t put yourself at risk for developing cancers and diseases. Know that the mixed message that our society sends us is even with the foods that we eat!

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