On Monday we got 'immunized'. 6 shots. Hep A, Hep B, Polio, Tetanus, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever. It feels as though I have been lugging around 20lb dumbbells for 3 days. When she said they would be 'tender' for a few days, I had no idea that meant I would be struggling to wipe my butt, wash my hair, or right click on my mouse.
Why is it that eating the right kind of foods is so difficult? I watched Oprah on Monday and this 40 something woman was on who I shit you not, could be me in 20 years. She was haggard and worn down, her skin looked horrible. She complained about chronic fatigue, exhaustion, and was still using the excuse that since having her baby....9 YEARS AGO...she has been so sluggish. Her diet consisted of pizza, a whopping average of 4 - 6packs of diet soda A DAY, candy bars, chips, and fast food. Basically a diet high in saturated fats and refined sugars. 2 doctors came to her home and ransacked her kitchen. Seriously, this woman and I....we could share grocery lists.
Now. I have been blessed with the skinny gene. There is not a single person in my family who has ever or will ever be obese. It just doesn't happen. The only excessive weight that has ever appeared on my body was in my double chin, and well, I took care of that. The most I have ever weighed was in college at 129lbs, and there was that time not too long ago when I took that god damn Seasonal and blowed up like a heifer. Other than that, my weight fluctuates a good 3 pounds between 117 - 120. I am comfortable with that.
However. These svelte genes have enabled me to develop horrible eating habits. I may look good most days, but I have to show: less energy than 70 year old Mr. Buck, horrible anxiety, constant stomach issues (indigestion etc etc), and my power naps take 3 hours. I eat late at night (Finance doesn't get home until after 11 most nights and I wait up to eat with him). I enjoy many of my work meals from the snack machine and I hardly drink fluids let alone 8 glasses of water! Somedays my morning coffee is all I will have all day.
I don't eat seafood. I hate ethnic food. I can't handle anything spicy. And 'greens' hardly ever make it to my plate. I hardly get any protein, unless its from milk or cheese...or a McDonald's Big Mac.
So you see. This is not good. And the older I get, and the less able I feel I can 'function' normally with the rest of the active youthful and fit world, the more certain I become that I will be forced to change my eating habits or turn out looking like this woman on Oprah. 44 ...with the body (health) of a 58 year old, complaining about the 9 year old baby she just labored. So what to do about this...
I have read every book that has ever come about claiming to revolutionize how we will look at food. Sugar Busters, Eat for your Blood Type, The Zone, Atkins, South Beach, French Women Don't Get Fat, Body for Life and the list goes on. And every time I read these books, I am convinced I have become the expert on 'good carbs and bad carbs', the glycemic index, and portion control. You would think I had just acquired a PHd. I will rush out and by all the fresh fruits and veggies, declare to my friends and coworkers that my life is about to change, and sign up for some new yoga class. A week (if I'm lucky) goes by and there is a spuds farm growing on my counter top, the fresh greens are wilted and oozing in my refrigerator, and I am slumped on the couch watching tv, drinking a Gin and Tonic and eating macaroons.
What I have really learned from all of those 'expert' books, is that they all say the same thing. And I don't need a book to remind me which foods are 'bad'. It's common sense. And while there are always 'more healthy' options around, that are good, they usually require work and are expensive. And I am lazy. If I could pay the snack machine to whip me up a Chicken Caesar Salad...I'd be all over it. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.
I am convinced someone needs to make a Whole Foods'esque chain of fast food DRIVE THRU restaurants - popular.
So my latest thing is this. I am running regularly and trying to drink a shit ton of water. I am also starting to incorporate Omega-3 supplements in my diet. Because I don't eat ANY seafood...and because rumor has it Omega-3 is good for anxiety/depression and ADD.
And really it all won't matter in about ohhhhh 3 months time, because Finance and I won't be in America for a year...and I will have no choice but to get used to alternative foods. Or waste away.
