Q & A and a Few Thoughts

JM from Finally Getting Fit always asks these interesting Monday Mailbag questions and there are two that I want to answer today.

1.  List five things you think everyone trying to live a healthier life should know.

• Everything you put into your body either aids your body’s functions and provides balance, or it interferes with your body’s functions and causes damage.  As a rule of thumb, natural foods are beneficial while processed foods are not.
• Lifestyle, degenerative and auto-immune diseases are quite simply the manifestations of the law of cause-and-effect.   It’s not a case of bad luck or unfairness.  Just like the law of gravity, it’s immaterial whether you believe in it or not.   
• What you eat is more important than how much you eat, when you eat, where you eat and the color of your plate.
•  Exercise, sunlight, adequate sleep and fresh air are essential to good health.
• Make pure, unfluoridated, unflavored, uncarbonated water your default drink.

2.  How do you handle people who force food on other people?

When offered the first two or three times I’d smile politely and say, “No thank you”.  If the person persists, I’d employ one of two techniques, depending on how well I know the person. 

When it’s someone I know quite well, I’d say, “I know you’re only being hospitable, but I’m working very hard day and day out to lose weight and I really want to be able to count on your support.  If you want to know how to provide that, I’d be happy to tell you.  If you can’t be on my team, then I’m afraid I’m going to have to spend less time with you, because this is very important to me.”  Obviously this is not something you say in a room full of people!  It may sound harsh, but let me tell you something, I’m perfectly prepared to cut people who sabotage my efforts out of my life, or at least limit my exposure to them.

With people I don’t know that well, I simply say, “No really.  Doctor’s orders!”  They don’t have to know that I haven’t been to a doctor in years!  And surely they wouldn’t be nosy enough to ask for more details!

Thanks JM!  You questions always make me think!

I also get questions from my readers from time to time, so while I’m at it, I may as well answer some of those now.

Paige wanted to know about green powders and green smoothies.  She felt that her green smoothies were too fibrous and wanted to know whether I use green powder in my smoothies.  I also don’t have a fancy, heavy-duty blender, but I’ve learned through trial and error to first blend the greens (spinach, romaine, parsley, etc) with water until smooth before adding the fruit.  That way the consistency is much better.  The green powder that I use, Barleylife, is a juice concentrate and not blended greens.  I have that first thing in the morning.

I’ll be writing about green smoothies this Friday in my Fertile Friday post, so tune in then for more.  Remember, if you know anyone who is thinking of starting a family or struggling to conceive, send them this way.  They actually need to read the Fertile Friday posts in sequence, as they follow on one another.

Diana asked the million dollar question, “Are you still planning on moving to the States?”  We’ve sold two properties in the last month, including the house in which we live, and were just about to put our business on the market, with a view of leaving for the States within the next few months when we heard the news that our plans had gone SPLAT!  The business opportunity that we were going to develop with my cousin in central Washington has been put on hold indefinitely due to the economic meltdown.  So we’re back at Square #1.

Craig and I will be meeting with an emigration consultant in the next week or two to discuss other options.  Our goal is still to leave South Africa as soon as possible.  Anyone know of a good place that will want us? 

For some reason this news didn’t upset me as much as I thought it would…  Don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to go!  But somehow I feel that we’ve dodged a bullet… And something keeps telling me that a better opportunity will be coming our way.  I have a strong feeling about September / October.  Intuition?  Maybe!

In the mean time we’re going to rent a house and hold on to the business, so that we have a steady income and don’t have to live off our capital. 

I was extolling the virtues of Pilates in this post, and thought afterwards that I should have posted the link for the uninitiated to this article about the difference between Pilates and Yoga. 

My Pilates moment of the week was yesterday when I was shopping with my sister-in-law and actually looked at shoes with heels!  I’ve been wearing flats for so long, but Pilates has given me such stability and balance that I feel confident enough to wear heels again…

Kelly at Every Gym’s Nightmare is giving away a copy of Shape Up With The Slow Fat Triathlete.  It looks like my kind of book!  I’m always irritated with these fitness ads on TV where all the people using the equipment are thin, ripped and smirking.  I’m fat and I want to see fat people use the equipment!  I want to see them break a sweat, for heavens’ sake!