If you haven’t been living in a cave in the last month or so, you’ve heard about the salmonella outbreak in tomatoes. At least the FDA “thinks” that it might be tomatoes carrying the salmonella - according to a report I read this week, they weren’t even sure that tomatoes are the culprit.
When I first heard about the problem, I was initially annoyed - I mean, lettuce, then spinach, now tomatoes -and I’m sure I missed some of the problem foods. The FDA is always announcing one vegetable or another that is “unsafe” to eat.
And then when I heard that someone close to my hometown was infected from a tomato, I was scared.
“Maybe I should stop eating tomatoes!” I thought.
And then I did a little research. Turns out, salmonella is rarely fatal - only in infants, very young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems can salmonella be fatal.
The FDA says that the rest of us, if infected, might have diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pains.
Hmm. That’s not quite the devastating illness that I thought was happening.
The bottom line is that we should be eating as close to home-grown vegetables as we possibly can. Buying at a Farmers Market, a grocery store that specializes in organic foods, or even the organic section of your traditional grocery store, is safer than buying tomatoes that are non-organic.
The reason is because non-organic tomatoes are treated with chemicals & pesticides, and the water used to nurture those tomatoes is extremely questionable.
But even if you can’t buy organic for whatever reason… take care of your body & your health enough so that if you get a little salmonella bacteria into your body, your immune system can handle it. That’s what our immune system is there for - to attack “enemy” bacteria and keep you from getting sick!
So eat healthy. Eat natural, unprocessed foods whenever and as often as possible. And when you do eat processed foods, get as close to natural as you can get. Buy whole grain pasta, bread, tortillas and flour.
Keep your immune system at its peak, and things like tomatoes or spinach or whatever the latest “scare” is won’t be quite so daunting.
Okay, I have to admit that I don’t particularly enjoy running. I mean, it’s a fantastic way to burn calories… and more importantly, it gets your lungs working, your heart rate up, and makes you sweat. It’s a generally great way to improve your overall health & boost your metabolism.
Another great benefit I experience when I run is an amazing emotional boost. Running is just something that is not natural to me - it is a challenge for me, and so when I accomplish my goal, I feel POWERFUL. I feel like I can take the world on and make things happen!
And of course there are all those natural endorphins that go pumping through my brain and body after a nice cardio session.
But that doesn’t change the fact… that I HATE running. It’s good for me… I love the benefits… but I don’t enjoy it.
So how do I make myself run, twice a week, on Tuesdays & Fridays, without fail? What makes me do it?
The first thing is that I have a plan, and I have a system. On Mondays, I work my biceps, triceps, and shoulders. On Tuesdays I run & work my abs. On Wednesdays I work my legs. On Thursdays I work my back, shoulders, triceps & biceps again. On Fridays, I run & work my abs again. On Sundays, I do an all over body circuit & stretch routine.
Each day has a purpose, and each day is part of a system. So if I skip one day… I “mess up” the system. I don’t give my arms the workout they need, or my back, or my heart and lungs, if I skip the run day. More importantly, if I skip one day, it’s sooo much easier to skip the next day… and the next… and the next… and before I know it, I’d be not exercising at all, wallowing in depression.
See, exercise for me is key to maintaining my emotional equilibrium. Exercise recenters my emotions and my mind. When I take my body through a healthy, balanced routine, I set the stage for my mind to follow.
But the real honest reason that I get up and run, even though I don’t like running, is that I have built a ritual out of it. Tomorrow morning, my alarm will go off, and I will jump out of bed. I’ll brush my teeth, put my hair up, put on deoderant, put on workout clothes - they will be easily accessible, of course. Then I’ll drink a bottle of water and get in my car to go to the gym. And once I’m there, well, I’m gonna work out, right? Right!
That’s the beginning of my morning ritual. I’m almost on autopilot. Get up, get dressed, get gone. And then I’m at the gym.
More on how to make the actual run enjoyable later… there are ways! At least to make it tolerable, anyway.
The one thing that is pretty consistent between the various popular methods of losing weight is the need to write down what you’re eating. I know, I know - I’ve been there and done that too, and it is a pain in the butt sometimes. But the truth is… the reason that so many programs ask you to keep a food journal is that it works.
Let me say that again - IT WORKS.
There is a certain level of accountability in writing down what you eat that automatically makes you THINK about what you’re putting into your body. And THINKING about what you eat is the absolute first step to losing weight.
But how can a busy girl keep a food journal without pulling her hair out?
I’ve done everything with food journals. I’ve written down exact portion sizes of foods, their exact calories, what time I ate them, what mood I was in before and after I ate… you name it, and I’ve journaled it.
But none of those complicated methods lasted very long. So this series of blog posts is designed to help you learn to keep an effective food journal.
First, you’ll need a small notebook. Something small enough that you can carry it to work and back home each day and it’s not a bother - perhaps something that fits in your purse.
Next, just do the obvious - write down what you eat, every meal, every time you eat. Although it’s great to have the notebook with you in the moment, I keep mine on my desk. When I get back from eating, I write down what I ate as soon as I sit down.
That’s the basic fundamental start to keeping a food journal - simply write down what you eat. I don’t write down the portion size, or the time, or my mood - but all of those things are extremely helpful indicators at certain times.
So if you’re trying to tackle a specific mood problem, keeping track of that is a good idea; but for now I just want you to get in the habit of noting down on paper what you eat every single time you eat.
You’ll automatically begin to make better choices with food, knowing you’ll be recording your food intake later. So go get the notebook, and start recording! Tomorrow I’ll be talking about other things to record in your journal, and what to do with what you see written there.
This is an interesting video… not quite sure yet what I think about it, but I definitely agree with the concept of fruits and vegetables being incrediby good for our bodies. And I found the body shapes interesting. What do you think about it?
