Change and Poor Jamie Oliver.

Last night I watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution right before bed.  BAD IDEA.  I had heard it was such a great show, and so I thought I would check it out.  I LOVE documentaries about people who are trying to change America's idea about what REAL FOOD is.  But this one, oh Jamie.  He had a really great idea, but it just went all wrong.  I felt really badly for him. He had really good intentions, but man, it went all wrong.  He tried to change people's ideas, but it felt like he was going about it WAY the hard way.  I couldn't believe how closed-minded and completely blind these people were either.  I get part of their point of view, I mean a total stranger coming in to tell them how to eat, not going to go over well probably.  BUT seeing so many people completely accept so many false ideas about nutrition was SHOCKING.  I mean, kids didn't know what veggies were.  Like, they couldn't identify them.  My sister married a guy like this. He had never had strawberries or pineapple before.  He didn't know what asparagus or broccoli were. It was a real eye opener.

It got me to thinking about change, and what a real PROCESS it is. Real change takes A LOT of effort, and it usually needs to come from several directions all at once.  I know to truly turn around my chronic health problems I have had to change a whole handful things all at once for the real health change to happen.  For me, a pill just wasn't going to miraculously cure me.(And in fact, most doctors I turned to gave me no hope for any change in my health, and basically said I would just have to live the rest of my life that way. Not one of them ever talked about nutrition or other non-drug options. Are drugs and surgery all doctors ever learn anymore? Scary!)  I had to change how I looked at food, I had to start an exercise routine, I had to deal with the emotional and stress-related side of health and disease.  I needed to clear out the negative in my life and turn towards the positive.

It feels like almost all change requires this kind of multi-faceted approach. AND hard work. AND dedication. AND PATIENCE. Patience with the process, patience with self.  Change is a work of endurance SO OFTEN. (Can I add that endurance is really NOT one of my strengths?!)

Sometimes change is hard because we want it all at once.  To be frank, this is me most often.:)  I want it NOW!(<---See, no bueno at endurance...)  When really, the best change happens line upon line, precept upon precept.  Usually one person at a time, one thing at a time. Which can feel a bit complicated because so often you have to change many things at once to change one big thing(like health).  So all at once in big ways feels the most productive right?! oh my....

I don't think I will keep watching poor Jamie tackle the world, but I hope things got a bit easier for him.  I hope he figured out how to reach out to the right people to help them see how to make real change in their health and in their lives. I hope he was able to get people to see that health is really scary in America right now.  We have so many things going for us compared to the world, but health is NOT one of them. Being the fattest people in the world is not something to be great at. Obesity is a scary epidemic in our country right now.  We spend billions of American dollars taking care of people who are sick because of obesity related illnesses and diseases.  Surgeries and medicine aren't going to fix this problem, just keep people from dieing at this point(which is good! BUT not what our goal should be!).  That is not thriving! We need to thrive in America! No one deserves to live an obese life.  And it has turned into a generational problem.  We are passing down really scary things to our children because that is all we know.  I know that I am personally dealing with this.  I can make a great meal in a bag, but to cook whole foods for a whole week can sometimes overwhelm me to the point of McD's!!!:)(<---- I take it to the extreme for sure.:)

The people that have died in my family have not died of natural causes.  They didn't just get old and then peacefully pass away.  They died of breast cancer, Parkinson's, and other horrible health problems.  We deserve better lives and deaths than that.  OUR CHILDREN FOR SURE deserve better.  Not only for themselves, but they deserve to have their relatives around for as long as they can.  I believe we aren't just doomed to die in a sick way.  We aren't doomed to having to have cancer or other horrible things.  We can turn around these health problems, but it is going to take serious effort and PURPOSEFUL CHANGE.  Food change, nutrition change, exercise change, LIFESTYLE CHANGE.  The kinds of lives we are living right now in American is NOT WORKING.  We need change, and people are doing it all over this country.  Biggest Loser has proved that through nutrition and exercise you can totally reverse a whole slew of diseases caused by obesity.  Diabetes is no longer incurable for most people.  People like Dr.Furhman are turning cancer around, as well as many other "incurable" illnesses related to allergies, auto-immune diseases, etc. WE CAN make a change! REAL CHANGES. 

I have to laugh a bit at myself, though it isn't really funny.  I am very passionate about health.  Some people get up in arms about gun rights, or abortion, or whatever else.  Those things are also very important. But health, I think, is my thing.  I have been greatly affected by poor health myself, and through losing close, loved ones from bad health and bad health habits. I can not help but see the connection between health and nutrition, it has been VERY plain in my family.

Hee hee, I try not to get preachy, but like all other passionates, it is hard sometimes.:) Hopefully, I won't get too crazy and offend EVERYONE.:) (shaking the head, poor Jamie.....)

Change is hard.
BUT change is TOTALLY DOABLE.
AND it is important.
SOMETIMES VITAL.

One last plug to America in general:

I really believe that if you could do just these three simple things, AMAZING changes would start to happen in our health. It wouldn't solve all the health problems, but it would be a really great way to BEGIN.:)

1.Before you eat anything else for lunch or dinner, eat a big plateful of salad full of lots of greens and other colorful veggies. THEN eat whatever else is for dinner or lunch. That's pretty dang simple right?:)

2.Get out and move everyday.  Walking is all it takes really!  Start small and add a block or two when you can. Walking is SO THERAPEUTIC!!!  It gets bad lymph and yuck going out of your body, it improves circulation, AND it is pretty easy on the body(athletic wise).  Wear good shoes when you start really going for it. I am telling you, last summer when I was walking a few hours a day(you don't have to be crazy like that, I was working on losing weight and I really just love to walk.;), I bought some gel inserts for my shoes and they were MIRACULOUS. Walking is also a great time to meditate and get some emotional stress out of your body as well as the physical stress.  I really feel stress is one of the leading causes of almost all disease.  We need to get that emotional yuck out of our systems!!!

3.Drink water. Half your body weight in ounces is the current recommendation, but dude, if you are new to drinking lots of water, work up to it.:)

Those are pretty easy things to do right?:)

OK, end of soap box speech.  I really am still in the middle phases of health change in our family.  It is a huge change going from corn dogs and ramen three times a day to applying whole foods principles on a daily basis.  Progress is happening , but it is hard and slow.:) But I am gonna keep at it!

Hope your Wednesday is lovely! I am going to be working on getting ready for this baby to come!

And in case you are wondering, MY health goals for today are:

1.Take all my herbs
2.Get AT LEAST one great, huge serving of green veggies in my body today.
3.Drink three quarts of water(one quart may be red rasp leaf tea)
4.Make sure my kids get some veggies in their bodies today.:)
5. Walk up to campus for my daily, Heidi Rose this could be our night! walk.:)

So simple, but hard to accomplish on some days. I get you America and I am right there with you trying my best.:)