A New Look at Fitness

When it comes to our weight it seems that many of us would rather believe that we have a medical problem before we admit to unhealthy eating habits. Among our favorite excuses are big bones, hormones or genetics. We think a healthy meal is simply eating meals of vegetables, fruit, bread and dairy with no consideration for volume or how the food is prepared. Americas have become hooked on volume. Eating everything on our plate no matter how much is acceptable, because after all it fits on one plate so it must be one serving, meant to be eaten by one person. Thus we take comfort in the assumtion we are eating healthy and our ballooning weight is the result of a medical condition and not related to our eating habits. But consider this:

• 65 percent of our adult population is defined as being overweight.

If you are like I was you are part of this not so exclusive overweight club. If we can draw anything from these statistics it is that we baby boomers are not concerned enough about our health. The question is what are YOU…correction…are WE going to doing about it.

Well the solution for me was exercise but exercise was only part of the battle, diet is the other part and my diet was terrible. I know this because my wife was constantly nagging me about it (thank God). So I figured if I was going to fix this I need to be educated about my body and nutrition. I have tried low carb diets, high protein diets, calorie counting and even (arrgh) diuretics. Then it hit me. A diet is a permanent way of eating, not a temporary change to lose weight. Therefore, I need a cuisine that is easy for me to prepare and helps me to control my body weight and to optimize my nutrient intake. What I really needed was to learn about nutrition, exercise and my own body.

Through my journal I am going to share with you what I have learned. I will share my successes, failures, setbacks. So read along and find out what I have discovered, what is still being revealed to me, and the surprises I found on the way. See ya next week.