Your idea of "Healthy"

Americans Falsely Believe Their Diet Is Healthy

A friend of mine posted this article on her FB wall yesterday. I was immediately smitten. But LOOK at what it says!!! I'm shocked... yet, not that surprised.... sadly...

- Nine in 10 Americans say their diet is healthy but only a quarter limit the amount of fat or sugar they eat, and two-thirds don't eat enough fruit and vegetables

- Few Americans count calories or weigh themselves, but when they were asked to self-report their weight, four in 10 were off-track. - A third said they were at a healthy weight when they actually had a body mass index (BMI) of an overweight or obese person

- One in three adults is obese

- Losing weight is the second most popular new year's resolution after quitting smoking

- When asked why they didn't eat more vegetables, the most common reason given by the poll respondents was

1. that they thought they consumed enough already
2. they are hard to store or spoil too quickly
3. someone in their household didn't like vegetables
4. vegetables take too long to prepare or are too difficult to prepare
5. fresh vegetables are too expensive
6. don't like vegetables

I'm still kind of FREAKING OUT! What happened to those mothers who used to make you "eat your vegetables!"?!?! WHY AREN'T THESE MOTHER'S AND FATHER'S EATING THEIR VEGETABLES?!!? ugh!

This weekend I would like to encourage everyone to do a little bit of HOMEWORK:
1.) START TRACKING YOUR FOOD - watch what you're eating (write it down, count it, make post-it-notes, use a calorie tracker app on your phone, whatever) and your calories. Get a method going and stick with it... we need a good weeks worth of info/numbers, but two weeks is better.

2.) KNOW YOUR 5 - For any hardcore Dr. Oz fan, you'll know what I'm talking about. This weekend, find out the following numbers [or at least 3 out of 5]:

• Blood Pressure
• Waist Line
• Weight
• Fasting Blood Sugar (everyone probably knows a diabetic who checks their sugars - don't eat or drink after 10PM and before you eat/drink in the morning, go visit your friend/family member and check your blood sugar)
• Cholesterol - Okay, I know if you don't know this number you can't get it over night w/o a MD appointment. So, if you haven't had your cholesterol taken in the last 12 months MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! If you have had it checked, how was it? How are is your HDL (good stuff), LDL (low-down dirty stuff) and your Triglycerides?

Now, next week we will channel Dr. Oz and help make sense of these numbers and I'm going to start  talking a little more about food labels, fat, sugar, etc.

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend. Get outside, regardless the weather, and enjoy yourself. Take the kids. Take the dog. Take a friend. Take your mother-in-law. Take your spouse... or just go alone. Get some sunshine on your skin (yes, even in the snow the sun can still shine). 

Rest up. Recharge. Relax. Your WHOLE you probably needs it. :) 

I love you guys! Keep working on you and loving every fabulous inch of yourself!  xx