Walking with Walker Lady (and Abby)

As Frosty the Snowman says when he is awakened, "Happy Birthday"! Yes, today is my birthday. Number 58! I can hardly believe I am that old. I can hardly believe I am this young! I realized that my Mom was only five years older than I am today, when she passed away. My baby sister who passed away a few years ago last week, would have turned 50 this year. My oldest son will turn 30 in a few weeks and my youngest son will turn 12, a few weeks later. What a life I have lead! What an adventure! What a thrill to contemplate all the curiosities the future will bring! And I have a much brighter future with a lot better quality of life ahead because of all the changes I've made over the past 24 months. Let's do the boring stuff now, to see what has changed: Year               2010            2012 Weight            291              188           Cholesterol     225              177           Waist              51"               36"           BP      

We can't help what was done to us as children. We can help what we do to ourselves as adults. We can't help how our parents raised us. If you want to blame your parents for not teaching you how to eat a healthy diet, go ahead. Then get on with your life and teach yourself how to do it right! Do not let your past be your excuse to stay fat!  

I am often asked about what I eat on a day to day basis. I really don't eat too many odd things....at least not every day. You'll always find my Fage - 0% fat - Greek yogurt in my fridge. Most of the time you'll find eggs, baby organic spinach, and a variety of veggies. More than 50% of the time you will find some form of chicken, cooked, and ready to add to salad, sandwich, or soup. Pre-cooked oatmeal will be in the fridge or freezer in single serving containers. Today has been an odd day...an "un-meal" day. Breakfast had sauteed onions and mushrooms, wilted spinach, two poached eggs, a fresh orange, and an English muffin. That isn't too radical, but it isn't oatmeal either. I used to eat 99% of my breakfasts as oatmeal. Not strange enough for you? I made up for it at lunch time. I had an organic apple, a half cup of 'diet' trail mix, and ten pickled herring pieces. The Norwegian is coming out of me with that herring. YUM!!! Supper will be

On my way home from weight training class I had to slow down and brake three times for three different cars that all stopped short. All three cars turned into three different fast food joints within a few blocks of each other. See? This goes to prove that fast food can be dangerous to your health!!!

I mean, doesn't processed food have lots of extra vitamins? Doesn't it have less fat and more nutrients?Aren't the pictures on the outside of the box appetizing? That food looks so good....doesn't it? AND it is SO easy to make into a meal! How can this be a bad thing? First of all, let's define "processed food".   My definition is that processed food is any food or food-like substance that is not in its original form. Box mixes are processed foods. Pasta is a processed food. An apple is not. An apple pie is. Applesauce is a processed food. A food that has been 'worked on' is a processed food. Where it starts to get tricky is when you start defining what type of processing has been done. To what degree has a real food been converted into a processed food? I realize that most of our foods are processed to appeal to our modern day palates. Most folks like their peas cooked, not raw. Same goes for meats. Boiling peas is a very basic processing