Weight... wait.

It's all coming together so I might as well write about it now.  By it, I mean weight, body image, fitness, nutrition, all that stuff.  A couple of weeks ago, a doctor my husband used to see and I did see once and paid about $475 out-of-pocket to do that emailed people, including me, a video and short article about the supposed toxicity of sugar.  You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM although make some time because it's an hour and a half long.  I was viewing the NYTimes website and saw an article about the speaker in the video and his claims about sugar's badness.  The article is here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all 

I went to see that doctor because of my chronic yeast infections thinking that my problem might be based on my bad nutrition.  Well, it turned out the infection was bacterial and I was just using the wrong lubricant.  So much for a systemic cause.  The doctor wanted me to do this food allergy test which involved all sorts of powders and shakes and weaned me off nearly every type of food even the most healthful American is eating.  The powder sits untouched in the pantry of an unoccupied house.

I make being healthy a top priority.  I am fortunate in that the majority of my recent ancestors on my mother's side had no propensity for bodily disease and they were all thin.  I can't say much for their mental health as we have evidence of great-grandma having a "nervous" disposition which in modern terms can likely mean she had regular anxiety attacks.  And there's nothing inherently good about being skinny as at least two people in my family have/had an.or.exi.a.  I thank God nearly every day that He did not afflict me with that disease.  I continue to enjoy a healthy appetite.

So, I've got a good base but as I and everybody else ages, it can be hard to maintain one's weight or at least you probably have to work at it.  I've been involved in sports and dancing since I was a wee tyke and I love, love, love being active to this day.  In fact, I start getting anxiety attacks when I haven't worked out for two or more days straight.  I do anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half of high intensity aerobics, weight training, pilates, shadow boxing, and dancing.

I don't exercise that much to be thin although that does happen.  I do it to be in great physical shape.  I like knowing I've worked nearly every muscle in my body and I've got the strength and flexibility to do anything I want.  It's also motivating to know I can control what others seem to not be able to.  While women around me (and some men) complain about how they can't lose weight, I secretly know exactly how to master this and can drop anywhere from three to five pounds in four or five days.

What I consider my normal weight is what I can maintain with regular exercise and not eating too much.  If I eat a lot, I'll be about two to three pounds over normal. If I am working out really hard and long and am fasting, I can be two to three pounds under weight.  I don't get nervous about my weight fluctuating a few pounds since I had be back to normal within a week if I half to.

Up until about age 25, I could eat anything I wanted (I would sometimes eat Haagen-Dazs and drink Grolsch for dinner) and not gain.  But, all that changed when I was around 27 and living in Washing.ton. D.C. and trying to escape a super bad work situation by eating my way out of it.  I never weighed myself in D..C. since I didn't have a scale but I would estimate I was about ten to fifteen pounds heavier than when I moved there.

On my month-long road trip back to California, I resolved to lose the weight and I remember it took about a month to six weeks to do that.  Getting away from a bully boss and lots of exercise was about all it took.  And for six years, I've maintained the same weight.

My nutrition was marginal up until I met my husband who by the nature of his work and how his mother fed him as a child, he was used to eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and enjoyed it.  I was never really a salad person and would throw a fit when asked to have one for dinner, but now I actually like salads and happily make them for dinner.  I get nervous when I've eaten too much food that's white, white bread, white rice, white whatever.  I run to something with color.

This winter/spring we keep the fridge stocked with fresh berries and I eat a mixture almost every afternoon.  That helps with fiber!  And it also cuts my appetite for dinner.  Lately I've had a rule that I stop eating by six o'clock every night although I have a far from perfect record.  Late meetings on Monday and Tuesday caused me to eat two McD cheeseburgers and fries and five oreos for dinner, respectively at 9pm both nights.  I hope to get back to the salad tonight.

Back to sugar... it stands to reason that people should eat as many non-processed foods as possible since that's a recent invention and the human race has gotten by pretty good so far eating natural foods.  But, temptation abounds and I would hate for anybody to have to quit yummy foods cold turkey.  So, for me, I eat well as much as possible but when I have the craving for a cookie, a brownie, and cake, I eat it.  There's no point in being miserable.  Amen!