Today I ran on the beach as opposed to the street near the beach. It was a nice way to start a weekend, a vacation. Afterwards I sat on the beach reading a book, eating yogurt and fruit, watching families and basking in my utter good fortune to be healthy, active and self sufficient. I wanted to start this week’s blog then saying that I am grateful to the “powers that are” for my life. Even on the worst ever days, I am glad to be alive and the important thing is, though I don’t know why exactly, my life is good and I never want to take that for granted.
Now back to blogging:
BIG? Gonna cost you extra: At least one airline has come out and said that they will charge more for overweight passengers and I think that it makes sense (cents). It is extra weight that increases fuel costs and it is excess weights that can reduce the number of persons that can fly on a plane, yes. So if the airline bills by ticket and now its 150 tickets per plane instead of 200 because we really have, as a nation (world) gotten THAT fat, well, what choice do they have. Last week, Parade magazine reported on this story and had a survey afterwards regarding obese persons paying for two seats. http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_06-29-2008/Intelligence_Report
At this time, more have said yes than no. However, what got me going last week was talk of whether or not people were being discriminated against for this disability. Well I have to tell you, I have had enough with everyone claiming disability. There are disabled people and it is an affront to them to say low back pain, bad knees, allergies and obesity are disabilities. It is a disservice to the low back pain sufferer to categorize him as disabled and end his productive working career. As well, obesity is NOT a disability it is an illness. Obesity is the body’s reaction to improper nutrition which does lead to system changes. It requires much effort and even medical intervention to reverse, but it is NOT a disability. One can avoid becoming overweight, genes be damned. One must eat the right amount of food for their output and even their metabolism and sometimes it is down right unfair to have a precondition that means you really have to watch what you eat much more than the average person. The consequences of living ones life with constant excess weight is significant and worth avoiding. We are eating ourselves to premature death, in general, and it has to stop. [Serious medical and psychological conditions are not the focus of this diatribe]
Knees: I have said time and again, though maybe not in the blog, that knee injuries and subsequent surgeries are most often the result of sports injuries OR overweight OR lack of use. In other words, the common thought that runners have bad knees is rarely played out in the real world. Hence, my utter shock at having a spongy knee a week or so ago. All I could think and say to myself was, “it’s not your knee, it’s not your knee, you do not have bad knees.” Turns out, it wasn’t my knee but my IT band. Runner’s World had some IT band stretches to try, I did,, I am fine. Last Sunday’s 15 mile run went without a hitch, well, okay, the toe nail…………
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285--11555-0,00.html
Weight Watchers: I have an appreciation for this program as indicated in one of my side links because they now talk about eating well for life and have a strong message about dining out WELL. Also, my sister is going and I get to hear what they tell her and many, many times it is something I have said or something I too believe. OK, a little side note. The funny thing is, my sister doesn’t listen to me! I told her, hey, if you want to pay me 10$ for advice, if that is what it takes, by all means, pay up. Anywho, I am not the only one that is impressed by this more science based Weight Watchers, so is the renowned Cleveland Clinic. But oh there is so much more. The Cleveland Clinic and also it’s Florida program are setting an example for us all. They have banned trans fats from work menus and no longer hire smokers! Now they are offering the Weight Watchers program as an employee benefit. Employees will also have access to a fitness center and stop smoking programs FREE. The Clinic cares about its bottom line in regards to insurance costs and costs due to lost productivity of unhealthy employers, and that is not a selfish thing. I don’t care why they do it, what an awesome place to work. And they are a health center for goodness sakes, they must BE the change they hope to make.
Water: We have been over the whole water thing (8 by 8) in past blogs, but now the Wall St Journal chimed in, so I thought, ok, let’s review the latest. After reading Melinda Beck’s article I do not think anything much has changed since the last time I addressed this. In other words, there are two or three ‘camps’ out there. I fall into the yes you can drink too much water and yes, it needs to be individualized. Some believe drinking water really helps with weight loss, well of course it does, especially if you are drinking water instead of taking in calories. Some people think you should drink when you are thirsty, others warn that it is far too dangerous to wait until you are thirsty to drink. I say, um, definitely if you are thirsty, you should drink something. If you drink too much, you can get hyponatremia; sodium way too low. If you drink too little you can get constipated, etc etc. I say, fluids in other items count. I say that diet sodas don’t make you gain weight unless you EAT more, which some people do. I say, if your urine is a pale yellow you seem to be on the right track. I say, if you are wetting your panties during gym class…… TOO MUCH WATER.
Happy 4th
