Eat to Live

Recently, I've been reading a book called "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Furhman and have been taking a serious look at the kind of foods I've been eating in my diet. Having a child puts a new spin on your life- it changes your priorities, your responsibilities and ultimately, your long term goals.

I've also been witnessing how a person's diet can affect their body and it is an extremely serious topic with me these days. I feel strongly that we should be aware of the kinds of things we put into bodies- I mean, we're so concerned if we're around people that smoke, take drugs or drink too much, yet we don't pay the least bit of attention as to what we put into our mouths on a daily basis. Most people don't read labels close enough nor do we get enough of the good stuff into our bodies. The most important thing we can do to ensure our good health is to make sure we're getting enough fruits and vegetables in our diets each and every day and keep the amount of processed foods to near zero. End of story.

With Isabel, I look at baby food and am shocked and appalled as to what is made for babies to eat. I looked at some Gerber Wagon Wheels the other day and found that they were made with high fructose corn syrup. It is no wonder that over 30% of children in the United States are obese. That is a very scary number to me.

The book "Eat to Live" has some very interesting view points and some may seem a little over the top for some. However, Dr. Furhman's bottom line is this- we need to eat more fruits, vegetables and beans and less meat to be healthier individuals. I've made a conscious effort to eat more of these each day and I've been more energetic, lost a few pounds and have felt better over all. I haven't followed his diet strictly, as I don't think I really am there yet. But a few small changes have made a big difference.

As I grow older, I am seeing more and more people close to me with cancer, heart disease and other ailments. You start to wonder if people die of "old age" anymore. I saw an interesting article on Oprah's website the other day about "Blue Zones". Blue Zones are places in the world where people live to well into their 80's, 90's and 100's. Some of the common factors in the health of the people that live there are moderate exercise, legumes and a plant based diet.

You are what you eat. I don't think there could be anything more true than that.