 Lipids
One of my recent articles (click here) talked about a conversation I had with my friend and workout buddy, Carol. It discussed the trouble her Mom was having with recovery (from a broken hip) because her upper body is weak. Carol told her mom that she works out regularly so that she can have that upper body strength should she ever need it.
A few days later, we had another discussion. This discussion was about blood.
I have written in the past about the fact that the foods that you eat end up traveling throughout your entire body; fat, sugar, salt, all of it. Healthy foods heal and strengthen, unhealthy ones do damage.
I'd like to give you a very real picture of that scenario.
Carol works for a medical lab that processes, among other things, blood samples drawn at Doctors' offices.
She mentioned to me that nearly every day they get a vial of blood that is opaque and pinkish. Normal blood sampes are translucent and red.
When they spin the blood in the centrifuge to separate the serum from the red blood cells, the serum is opaque and white, a bit like skim milk. Normal serum is translucent and yellow.
The reason for the difference? Fat.
These people have so much fat in their blood that it is actually visible!
Clearly, this is a situation toward the extreme, but note that they see this nearly every day. Not typical, but not rare, either.
After the article (mentioned above) appeared I received an email with feedback from a 52 yr old woman. She asked me to write more articles focusing on overall health rather than weight loss.
I reviewed my last several articles and she was correct. Most are focused specifically on weight loss. The reason for this is that I feel that 90% of my audience is overweight and is primarily interested in that issue.
In my case, I do love that I am no longer 300 pounds. I like what I see in the mirror much better and I like shopping for clothes and all of the things that go along with being at a healthy weight.
But those things are not what motivated me to lose the weight and KEEP it off. That took a Diabetes diagnosis.
Losing weight is a task, something that you start and finish.
Being healthy is a lifestyle, a permanent personal change that you make consciously.
You can lose weight in a myriad of unhealthy ways. But if you live a truly healthy lifestyle, a healthy weight will follow. AND it is permanently maintainable.
If you are tired of "dieting" – of losing weight and gaining it back (and more) – perhaps it's time to quit dieting. Shift your focus from the outside to the inside.
Think about that vial of blood.
Think about being older and being able to stay active.
Think about being nicer to your body and your body will be nicer to you. |
