How bad are group lunches for you?

What happens to your waistline when circumstances cause you to not be able to eat your usual healthy lunches?

I’ve been asking myself this question for the past couple weeks as I’ve gone through the orientation activities at my new college teaching job.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s been great. And it’s very nice of the university to provide lunches. (Throwing that in there just in case my new bosses read this) It could be worse – they could just tell you to get lunch on your own.

But when you usually eat a homemade salad with fat-free dressing, a piece of fruit, yogurt and unsweetened tea for lunch like I do, navigating your way through all the great food provided for a group can be difficult – especially when you’re new and trying to make an impression. You want to go along with the crowd.

However, I don’t want there to be too much of an impression on my waistline.

At least they have had unsweetened tea at most of the events I’ve attended. And they have had salad, although I doubt the dressing is fat-free.

But I’ve also eaten chicken breast covered in cheese and marinara sauce, slabs of some kind of vegetarian lasagna, rolls, barbecue sandwiches and Mexican food.

All of the food has been delicious, but heavy. On the day we had the barbecue sandwiches, I must not have had my healthy thinking cap on, because I took the bun, smothered it with delicious barbecue and chowed down. It wasn’t until I got halfway through the sandwich that I realized what I should have done to minimize the damage: leave the bun off and just eat the barbecue with a fork.

That’s testimony to the fact that my head was spinning with orientation information, and my healthy eating had taken a back seat.

Oh, well. I only have a couple more events to attend, then my lunches will be my own again. I’ll just minimize the damage as much as I can and not worry about the pound or two I may gain.

At least I’m on a college campus now where I can walk it off.

Fitness doesn’t come in a pill

I saw an article the other day about a “fitness pill” being developed.

First reported in the online journal Cell, scientists are moving closer to developing a pill that could deliver some of the benefits of exercise -- even for those who don’t exercise. Researchers now have two possible pills that appear able to build muscle, increase stamina and even burn fat.

The very idea of this bothers me, and it should bother anyone who works for their body and their health.

The drug is controversial because of the possibility athletes could misuse it to enhance sports performance.

Yes, that’s bad enough, but that’s not what bothers me about it. I am bothered by what the lead researcher said in a BBC story about the drug.

“If you like exercise, you like the idea of getting 'more bang for your buck,’" Professor Ronald Evans said. "If you don't like exercise, you love the idea of getting the benefits from a pill.”

Getting the benefits from a pill. This is what worries me. I am afraid this will give the already lazy, obese couch potato license to say, “Well, I don’t have to exercise. I’ll just take a pill.” Such a thing would not urge them to make the healthy changes they need to make. They would rely on a pill instead.

If the work can be transferred to humans, Evans said it may have potential for treating people with certain muscle diseases, as well as helping hospital patients, veterans and people with obesity maintain a minimum fitness level.

“In our society there is an ever decreasing amount of time for either healthy food or exercise,” Evans said.

So his answer is to encourage obese people to continue to make their health and fitness a low priority by giving them a pill.

We all have the same 24 hours. It’s a matter of priority. If your health and fitness are important enough to you, you’ll find the time for it.

As of now, the drug has not been approved for use in humans, and it may never be. I hope it isn’t. Such an idea cheapens the hard work that I do, and other people who exercise do, to make our bodies stronger and healthier.

A pill will not give you the pride of achieving a new exercise goal. It can’t replace the ability to do push-ups, or put one more plate on the exercise machine, or pick up the next heaviest dumbbell.

What do you think of the ‘fitness pill’? Will such a thing be abused?

Bigger is NOT better, Part 3

I talked in my last post about knowing your Body Mass Index to help you get started on a healthier path and reverse the trend toward a fatter world.

But the BMI is not the only number you need to know to be fully aware of the state of your own health. You also need to know your total cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar.

Why are these numbers important?

First, let’s look at cholesterol. According to the American Heart Association, cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found among the lipids (fats) in the bloodstream and in all your body's cells. It's used to form cell membranes, some hormones and is needed for other functions. But a high level of cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.

The total cholesterol number breaks down into three major components, HDL, LDL and triglycerides.

HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, is known as "good" cholesterol because a high HDL level seems to protect against heart attack. However, a low HDL level indicates a greater risk of heart attack and may also raise stroke risk.

LDL, Low-density lipoprotein, is the major cholesterol carrier in the blood. If too much LDL cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can slowly build up in the walls of the arteries feeding the heart and brain. Together with other substances, it can form plaque, a thick, hard deposit that can clog those arteries.

According to the Mayo Clinic, triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts calories it doesn't need right away into triglycerides. The triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglyceride levels.

Now, let’s look at blood pressure. The AHA defines blood pressure as
the pressure of the blood against the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure is expressed as systolic pressure over diastolic pressure. The systolic number is always stated first. The higher systolic number represents the pressure while the heart contracts to pump blood to the body. The lower diastolic number represents the pressure when the heart relaxes between beats.

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is a serious condition that can lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and other health problems.

The last important number we’ll look at is blood sugar. Wikipedia defines blood sugar as glucose in the blood. Glucose, transported via the bloodstream from the intestines to body cells, is the primary source of energy for the body's cells.

A blood glucose test measures the amount of glucose in your blood. Glucose comes from carbohydrate foods. Insulin is a hormone that helps your body's cells use the glucose. Insulin is produced in the pancreas and released into the blood when the amount of glucose in the blood rises.

Normally, your blood glucose levels increase slightly after you eat. This increase causes your pancreas to release insulin so that your blood glucose levels do not get too high. Blood glucose levels that remain high over time can damage your eyes, kidneys, nerves, and blood vessels.

My former company conducted a health risk analysis in February of this year, and I got all of my numbers. Overall, they’re good. My analysis showed I have a low risk of heart disease and diabetes, but that there are still a few things I can do to improve my health. I was pleased with my results.

Do you know your numbers? What would a health risk analysis show for you?

BIgger is NOT better, Part 2

In my last post, I talked about the CDC's 2007 data for the fattest states in America. Mississippi weighed in as the fattest state, and Colorado was the leanest. But almost all 50 states have gotten fatter.

Kentucky, my home state, ranks as the seventh fattest state.

According to the World Health Organization, this is not just a problem in the U.S. The whole world is getting fatter. Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese.

Like I said in my last post, this is bad news. But if we are going to even begin to turn this trend around, we need to be armed with some information.

Starting with this: What is considered overweight and obese? How do you know when you have crossed the line?

The CDC defines overweight and obesity as ranges of weight that are greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height. The terms also identify ranges of weight that have been shown to increase the likelihood of certain diseases and other health problems.

Overweight and obesity is most often measured with the BMI, or Body Mass Index. It uses weight and height to calculate a number that, for most people, correlates with their amount of body fat. An adult with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, and an adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

Here is a BMI calculator. Try it. Are you too fat, underweight or just right?

Now, what are you going to do about it?

A good series of 10 topics on the Workout IQ blog highlights weight loss problems and how to deal with them. The series addresses such topics as challenges to working out, having unrealistic expectations and fear of failure. It's a good starting point for those of you wanting to lose weight.

If you have calculated your own BMI and faced the results, you've armed yourself with the information you need to get started on a healthy path. It may not be all you need, but it's a good start.

And if just one or two people can take this step toward a healthier future, maybe there's hope yet for Mississippi, Kentucky and the rest of the world.

Bigger is NOT better!

Each year for the past few years, when the Centers for Disease Control releases its data on the fattest states in America, I’ve felt sick. Disgusted. Appalled.

This year is no exception. How is it that we have let ourselves go so badly? And what is it going to take to reverse the obesity trend?

According to the CDC’s study of the fattest states in 2007, Mississippi tops the list for the third year in a row. Mississippi is the first state ever whose obese population exceeds 30 percent over a three-year average. Another 35 percent of Mississippi adults are overweight.

Colorado is still the leanest state – but its number of obese adults increased from 16.9 percent to 17.6 percent. Even the leanest state can’t rest on its laurels – or its love handles.

This Web site has a nice analysis, along with a map and ranked list of all 50 states.

And, where does my home state of Kentucky rank? It’s in seventh place, with 28 percent of the population obese and 66.4 percent obese or overweight.

That only leaves about a third of us maintaining a healthy weight in Kentucky. This means that as a healthy weight person in Kentucky, I’m a minority. Now, as a white female, I never thought I’d be a minority. I wish I could say I was proud, but I’m not.

In addition to all of the overweight adults in Kentucky, my state also has the third highest rate of overweight youths aged 10-17. So our children are getting fatter, too.

Fellow Kentuckians, you need to get off your fat arses and take that weight off!

I am not enough of an expert to know the answer to the growing obesity problem in America. We can start by laying off that extra soda and bag of M&M’s in the afternoon. Try some fruit or yogurt instead. We can also get up and walk now and again instead of sitting so much.

It seems pretty simple to me. So why is it so complicated?

Keep your mind healthy. Learn something!

Did you know that John Adams, second president of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson, third president of the U.S., died on the same day, within hours of each other? And that day happened to be July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day of the Declaration of Independence?

Cool stuff, huh? And I learned this from a historical drama, but that drama caused me to go to the Internet and do some research on the real guys. (By the way, the drama I refer to is “John Adams,” an HBO series starring Paul Giamatti. I highly recommend it.)

I write a lot about healthy diet and exercise, but a fully healthy life also includes a strong, healthy mind. Just because you’re done with high school and college doesn’t mean learning stops. In fact, your learning has only begun.

You’ll learn new things for your job, and you’ll learn how to manage things in your life like finances. But it’s also good to learn things just for the heck of it. When you’re not in school anymore and don’t have to follow a prescribed curriculum, it’s fun to pick up something and learn it because you just want to.

It is widely believed that keeping mentally active will prevent age-related mental decline. This article quotes a 2003 study that found mentally active seniors reduced their risk of dementia by as much as 75 percent, compared to those who do not stimulate their minds.

Even if you’re nowhere near being a senior yet, keeping your mind active and stimulated will help keep it strong and flexible, the way physical exercise does the same for your body.

So how do I keep my mind active? Besides learning all I can related to my job, I learn other things just because it would be cool to know it.

My husband and I buy college-level lectures from The Teaching Company. I am listening to a lecture set now about England during the Tudor and Stewart periods. You know – Henry VIII and his three children, one of which was Queen Elizabeth I. This week, I will learn about Elizabeth’s reign, and I know almost nothing about the Stewart line that came after her, but over the next few weeks, I’ll learn about it. It’s great stuff, and I bought it simply because I was interested.

I always try to learn new things, partly because I consider myself a lifelong learner, but as a believer in the importance of a healthy life, I want my mind to stay just as healthy as my body. I’m many years yet from being considered a senior citizen, but I hope that when I do get to be one, all of this effort now will pay off then. And I won’t plan to stop learning, either.

There’s a recurring line in one of my favorite book series: “All knowledge is worth having.” I agree. It’s true at any time in your life.

What new stuff have you learned lately? How much fun did you have learning it?

Emotional eating takes its toll

Why do you eat?

Is it because your body needs nourishment? Or is it because you are unhappy and depressed, and you think that piece of cake will make you feel better?

Luckily, I've never been an emotional eater. I've always eaten for nutrition. If I indulge in a piece of cake, it's because I want a treat.

But I've seen people who are emotional eaters, and they are not happy.

I have known people who "can't resist" so-and-so's wife's cookies, or people who "have to do something" for someone when they have a birthday or leave their job.

In their eyes, "have to do something" means getting a large cake or a colossal cookie.

Since an emotional eater ties their gratification to food, the only way they can show their appreciation for others is also through food.

I saw an example recently of someone who is not very well thought of at his workplace who bought lunch at a sit-down restaurant for a group of nine people. Once you include appetizers and tip, the bill had to be around $100!

Funny thing is, this person will complain that he never has any money. If that's the case, how can he afford to pick up a $100 lunch bill? Was he genuinely doing something nice for the group, or was he hoping the group would think better of him in return? In other words, was he trying to buy friends with food?

I don't know for sure, and probably will never know, but I suspect it's the latter.

I've also known people on weight loss programs like Weight Watchers who just can't stop cheating. Weight Watchers and other programs like it cost money. I never have been able to understand why someone would pay money to be part of a program that they are not even going to follow. Does the emotional eating get in the way of their weight loss?Are they afraid of losing weight for some reason? Do they like being fat?

I think emotional eating comes from deeper problems than just being overweight, and that if an unhappy person loses weight, but doesn't work on their other issues, they will go right back to using food as comfort. Which mean they will go right back to being fat.

A Good Housekeeping column agrees. The author says, "If emotional eating is a challenge for us, if we suffer because of the size of our bodies and our relationship to food, then somehow we end up believing that getting rid of the fat will take away the suffering. When it doesn’t, we feel so betrayed that we eat to comfort ourselves."

She recommends an experiment: Instead of waiting to be thin to be happy, try being happy right now. Live as if you were already thin, as if you liked yourself, as if you chose to have the life you have right now.

I like that.

An entry on The Fit Shack says, "If you do not work on your inner self and find the things in your life that you are happy about now and cultivate them to create more happiness, that unhappiness will more than likely follow you even if you lose weight, and you’ll find yourself either an unhappy thin person or an unhappy person who regained the weight they previously lost."

My favorite poem, "Desiderata," ends with the line, "Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

If you are an emotional eater, I hope you can take this advice to heart and find it within yourself to break your attachments to food. There is much happiness to be found in this world, and it lasts longer than a piece of cake. You only have to look for it.

Are you an emotional eater? What struggles have you had? How did you overcome them?

How hobbies keep you healthy

What do you do in your spare time? Do you sit around and watch TV or stare into space? Or do you do something that keeps your mind or body active in some way?

In other words, do you have a hobby?

I hope so, because hobbies are good for. They engage you in different ways that your typical work or other obligations. A hobby often teaches you something new. Hobbies can also relieve stress and help you cope with other less-than-satisfactory areas of your life.

What is a hobby, exactly?

According to Wikipedia, a hobby is a spare-time recreational pursuit. Hobbies are practiced for interest and enjoyment, rather than financial reward.

How does a hobby help your health?

I found a Web site that addresses this very question. According to the article, hobbies can engage you physically and mentally, and people who have a hobby are generally healthier. Hobbies that require expertise are more satisfying because developing an expertise in something requires commitment, and commitment results in a higher level of engagement.

The ideal hobby engages us on three levels: first as a diversion that helps pass the time, second as a passion where we become truly engaged in doing something we love, and third as something that creates a sense of purpose.

Who doesn’t need that?

You may be wondering if I have a hobby. Yes, I do. I have several.

I love to read. Every night before I go to bed, I wind down with a good book. I do some gardening. I have a project underway in my backyard, for which I have drawn up a diagram and made specific plans. As I’ve mentioned before, I like to exercise. I go to the gym twice a week and take a yoga class once a week. I also enjoy writing and blogging, hence the reason I started Healthy Life. I also enjoy roleplaying. I have a couple of imaginary characters that I play in fantasy settings.

My husband also likes to read, and he goes to the gym with me. He runs the roleplaying game in which I play. In addition, he is learning Latin.

What does all this mean? We are keeping ourselves active and engaged. Reading and roleplaying keep our minds active and spark our imaginations. Exercise keeps our bodies strong and in shape. Gardening makes me feel good to cultivate something living outside of myself. There’s something about digging around in the dirt, connecting with the earth and making something beautiful out of my backyard space.

When I’ve had a bad day at work, or when I just need something to do, these hobbies fill in the gap. You might or might not enjoy your career, but it takes more than that to have a healthy, fulfilling life. Hobbies give me that, and they can give you that, too.

So, what are your hobbies? I’d like to know!

Make your whole household healthy

Committing to a healthy lifestyle isn't easy. Sometimes, it's downright difficult.

But if you don't have a supportive partner or family, it's almost impossible. One person can't do it alone when everyone else in the house is eating junk food.

I know from experience. When one partner’s favorite dinner is Hamburger Helper, and they are eating potato chips and M&M’s all the time, it’s hard for you to focus on eating vegetables, fruits and lean meats.

Healthy eating also requires expanding your palate to include new recipes, flavored in different ways with spices and oils instead of creamy sauces, and cooked in healthier ways, such as sauteeing, broiling or baking. It’s hard to do these things when your partner wants everything deep-fried and won't try healthier ways of flavoring foods.

Luckily, I have a supportive partner now, one who is just as committed to healthy living as I am.

As I’ve written before on this blog, my parents modeled healthy eating habits to us kids. Our daily snacks mainly consisted of fruits, and dinners included meat, potatoes or rice and vegetables. We drank milk on a regular basis. Potato chips, desserts and soft drinks were kept to a minimum.

The key was that the whole family supported healthy eating habits.

Exercise is also an important component of a healthy life. And it's much easier to keep exercising if your partner or the whole family is involved.

Your exercise partner can be your spouse or significant other, or it can be a good friend or family member. My stepfather and stepbrother used to go to the gym together. My husband and I go to the gym together now.

A partner can keep you motivated, urge you to exercise when you just don’t feel like it, spot you during weightlifting and encourage you to do new exercises.

An article I found here says one of the single best things you can do to help ensure your health and fitness success and give your efforts a much-needed jumpstart is to embrace your family and draw them into living healthier with you. It offers tips for getting the family started on a healthy lifestyle together.

So grab your partner and your kids, fix a healthy dinner together and then go take a walk afterward!

Are you trying to be healthier? Is your family healthy? What obstacles stand in your way?

What kind of body do you see in the mirror?

When you look at yourself in the mirror, what do you think?

Do you generally like the way you look, or do you frown at your nose, your eyes, your too-small or too-large breasts, your round hips or your big butt?

A poor body image can cause you to obsess about everything you perceive is wrong with your body. It’s no secret that quite a few women have body image problems. We are bombarded with pictures of young, thin, tall models in the media. Fitness magazines show women on the covers with willowy figures and perfectly flat abs.

Body image is all about perception -- how you see yourself. Sure, media messages can affect our body image, but so can our own inner voice.

I long ago accepted my body and all of its good points and bad points. I have a bit of a pot belly. I’m not going to achieve those perfectly flat abs any time soon. I also have a bit more cellulite than I would like on my thighs.

But you know what I like? My arms and chest are well-toned and strong, much more so than they were a few years ago. My legs are strong, and my muscles are flexible. Underneath my perpetual layer of belly fat are some pretty strong ab muscles. I also practice yoga, and I am able to achieve some fairly advanced poses.

Overall, not bad. I work with what I’ve got.

I ran across a study in the American Journal of Public Health that found the difference between actual and desired body weight was a stronger predictor of mental and physical health than the body mass index (BMI). This study raises the possibility that some of the health effects of the obesity epidemic are related to the way we see our bodies.

A great women’s heath Web site says a poor body image can lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, dieting, anxiety, depression and eating disorders. Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness.

The site gives some healthy lifestyle tips that can help you improve your body image.

• Healthy eating can promote healthy skin and hair, along with strong bones.


• Regular exercise has been shown to boost self-esteem, self-image, and energy levels.


• Plenty of rest is key to stress management.

Although body image problems are more common among women, we can’t forget the other gender. Yes, men can have body image problems, too. This article says that males with body image disorders are showing up with increasing frequency in psychiatrists' offices, and more men are abusing steroids in an attempt to build muscle.

I don’t think this trend is good for either gender. We should be worried about being as healthy as we can be, both physically and mentally, and not trying to attain some impossible standard that the media promotes.

Sure, you do want to be at a healthy body weight. And sure, you want to wear flattering clothes and have a nice hairstyle. But it’s not until you accept the reality of your body – and I mean the good points as well as the bad points – that you will be truly carry yourself with confidence and pride.

What do you like about your body? What do you dislike? What can you change, and what do you have to simply accept?

A mid-year's resolution: How I'm going to keep living healthy

Since we are now halfway through 2008, it's a good time to reassess our healthy living goals for this year. As I wrote in my last post, it's a good time to recommit yourself to the goals you may have set back in January, or to set new goals for the second half of the year.

Here are some of the goals I've been thinking about during this mid-year week.

Examine my diet. I have already begun doing this, and I have written about it here in previous posts on coffee creamer and whole wheat bagels. I have a few other foods I'd like to investigate to get a sense of what I'm really eating and make changes accordingly.

Strength training. I have set a concrete fitness goal to be able to do an unassisted pull-up within the next few months. Right now, I'm lifting about two-thirds of my own body weight.

Develop this blog. My Healthy Life blog is about two months old now, which is young in the blogosphere. I am quite enjoying it so far, and I have done well with establishing a regular posting schedule and sticking to it. My goal for the rest of the year is to promote my blog and expand my audience, and get feedback from you, my readers, about what you would like to see here.

Professional development. I work at a newspaper, and newspapers have been notoriously slow to embrace online and multimedia. An online media specialist named Howard Owens laid down a challenge for journalists to become "more wired" in 2008, and I took up his challenge. This blog is one of the results. He laid out a list of ten goals to meet, and I still have some work to do. This list has inspired me more than anything else professionally this year, so, over the next six months, I will continue my "getting wired" gameplan.

Reconnect with friends. It's hard sometimes for me to find the time to send a simple e-mail to friends I haven't talked to in awhile, but we need friends as part of a well-rounded, healthy life. Thus, I would like to reconnect with some of my old friends, and renew some relationships that have languished. I have also recently found some old college friends on Facebook and MySpace, and I need to keep up with them and what's happening in their lives now.

Enjoy my hobbies. Among all of my other goals, I want to keep enjoying my hobbies. The main two things I do in my free time are gardening and roleplaying. I hope I don't get so busy doing everything else that I neglect these hobbies.

The first half of 2008 has had its ups and downs, and I hope that by sticking to the goals above, I can have a better second half of the year.

One of the cores of living a healthy life is consistently growing, changing and improving. These goals will be my blueprint for the next six months to make my life as healthy as it can be -- physically, mentally, professionally and socially.

What are your mid-year's resolutions? What's your blueprint for the rest of the year?

A mid-year’s resolution: Vow now to keep living healthy

Today is the last day of the sixth month of 2008, which means the year is half over. Six months down, six to go. Wow, time flies so fast!

This is a good time to reassess your goals for this year. Did you make a New Year's resolution? Take another look at it. How are you doing with it? Are you sticking to your plans? Did you falter?

Whatever your resolution may have been, if you have faltered, it's not too late to get back on track.

Do you have other changes you wish to make in your life? Make them now. Don't wait until next year.

If you take a look at your goals for this year and feel down on yourself because you have failed to meet those goals, don't despair. Remember, 2008 is only half over. You still have six months to go!

Resolve to make the last half of 2008 better than the first!

So, what's your mid-year's resolution? I'd like to know. I'll give you some of mine in my next post.

How do you handle emotionally unhealthy people?

In my previous post, I highlighted some of the traits of emotionally unhealthy people, and discussed how 20 percent of the people in your life can take 80 percent of your time and emotionally energy.

In this post, I’ll talk about some of the strategies I’ve used for dealing with the emotionally unhealthy people in my life.

A healthy life includes emotional balance, and emotionally unhealthy people can throw off that balance before you know it. If you arm yourself with a few of these strategies -- or others that you have come up with -- you'll have a much better chance of keeping your own emotions in check.

The best strategy for dealing with an emotionally unhealthy person is to minimize contact with them, or if you can, cut contact altogether. Don't force yourself to interact with the emotionally unhealthy person any more than necessary.

However, if we could always use that strategy, there would be no need to defend ourselves against emotionally unhealthy people, would there? That would be too easy.

Here are some others for those times when you are forced to deal with these types of people.

• Minimize their influence in your life. Put them in a little box in your mind. They belong there, and only there. Don't let them sneak into other parts of your life.


• Let them have all the attention they want. Or at least, pretend to. If you are in the same room with an attention hog, it may be best to just let them have it. If you try to compete with them, you'll likely just escalate the situation. Keep your facial expression polite and neutral, nod or comment when appropriate, but don't give them anymore than that. Believe me, if they are an attention-seeker, they'll fill in the rest.


• Seek respect elsewhere. If you know an emotionally unhealthy person who expects, or perhaps even demands, respect from you, but doesn't return it, realize you are never going to get the respect you deserve from them. Don't beat your head against the wall about it or let it upset you. Seek someone else out with whom you can form a respectful relationship.


• Don't argue with them, even if you know they are wrong, and even if they are treading in your domain of expertise. If you know their fear of failure or being wrong overrides their desire to learn from you or find the correct solution, arguing with them is a bad idea. It just makes both of you angry, and it won't solve anything.


• Along with the strategy above, if the emotionally unhealthy person in your life is a know-it-all, let them show off. If it's clear they are not going to learn from you, or anyone else, don't waste your energy trying. Find someone you can influence and concentrate your efforts on them. It will be much more rewarding.


• If they are the type who asks for your ideas then argues with or rejects them, don't expend a lot of energy trying to come up with the best or most original ideas. If you are asked to give a list of ideas to your boss, unfortunately, you have to do it, but you don't have to give all of your effort. Just give enough to satisfy his or her request, and no more.


• If they ask you a question, but don't really take the time to listen to you, give them short answers. When they ask something like, "How's work going?" don't launch into a long, detailed explanation that you know they are going to interrupt anyway. Just answer with something like, "Oh, about the same as usual. You know how it is." Then let them take over the conversation again, just like they would have anyway.


• Establish your boundaries and stick to them. If you work with someone who wants to get more personal than you wish, you are under no obligation to respond. Even if it's a boss, you can say, "That's a boundary issue, and I'm not comfortable discussing it."


• Have another outlet. Find another person or place where you can express yourself the way you want, such as a partner, a blog or a hobby. If you find another outlet to express yourself, it makes it easier to get through your encounters with the emotionally unhealthy person because you are not dependent on them for your own self-esteem and expression.


• Shut the person out of your mind once you are away from them. Don't get away from the emotionally unhealthy person after a peaceful encounter, then spend the next two hours ranting and raving about them. This can be difficult not to do, as you may have pent-up emotions that you have been holding back all day, but the emotionally unhealthy person doesn't deserve that much of your mental energy. If you must vent, pick three things you want to say about the person, say those things, then move on.


• Do something for yourself. It will help restore your emotional balance if you have something planned for yourself after your encounter with the emotionally unhealthy person. You'll feel much better!


These strategies have helped me survive when dealing with emotionally unhealthy people, and perhaps they can help you, too.

What strategies do you use for dealing with emotionally unhealthy people? I'd like to hear them!

Emotionally unhealthy people can hurt you

I am lucky enough to have many wonderful people in my life who love and support me. My husband, my family, most of my co-workers and most of my friends don't really give me cause for complaint.

But there are those few people in my life with whom I don't think I'll ever be able to establish a healthy, mature relationship. For a long time, I wondered if it was me, but after observing them with other people, I think it's them. I don't think they are able to have a healthy adult relationship with anyone.

Why? Because they are what I call emotionally unhealthy. They are the people who react in strange and unexpected ways to you simply being yourself, leaving you quite unsure of what just happened.

If you’re trying to live a healthy life – one that includes self-examination, learning and growth – these emotionally unhealthy people can harm it by causing you extra stress, draining your mental energy and screwing up your emotional state.

It's like the Pareto principle, also known as the 80-20 rule, which says that for many events, 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. When applied to the people in your life, it means that 80 percent of your emotional stress comes from 20 percent of the people. Consequently, 80 percent of your time and energy also goes into managing and dealing with that 20 percent.

I've had some experiences with emotionally unhealthy people, and they certainly cause 80 percent of my mental stress. Here are some of the unhealthy traits they can show.

• They have to be the center of attention. Sometimes they become childish and petulant if they don’t feel like people are paying attention to them.


• They seek acceptance and respect, but they don't return it.


• They have to win an argument at all costs, sometimes even saying things that are “below the belt” to do so.


• They are know-it-alls. They have to show what they know, but don’t let you contribute your knowledge.


• They always have to be right.


• They ask for your ideas, then argue with them.


• They want to influence you, but won't let you influence them.


• They ask you a question, but then don't take the time to listen to your answer. As soon as they think of something else to say, they interrupt.


• They change the rules. As soon as you think you’ve established something about them and learned how to deal with them, they change on you, leaving you confused.


• They have bad boundaries. They either use you to fulfill some emotional need that is outside the purview of the relationship, or they take everything you do and say personally and make it about them.

If you have people in your life with these traits, instead of allowing them affect you in unhealthy ways, you need to devise strategies for putting boundaries on them so they don’t suck away your mental energy and harm your emotional well-being.

In my next post, I’ll explore some of the strategies I’ve used for dealing with the emotionally unhealthy people in my life.

Do you have emotionally unhealthy people in your life? In what ways do they harm you? What traits do they show?

Coffee creamer: What's really in it?

They say you are what you eat. If that's the case, I've been inspired to examine the ingredients in some of the items I eat or drink on a regular basis.

This inspiration comes from a couple of other blog posts I've read recently. Scott Kustes of Modern Forager urges us to eat real food, and Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple discusses foods that contain high fructose corn syrup.

After reading these posts, I caught myself looking at the ingredient labels of various foods around my kitchen. I feel like I do pretty well with focusing my diet on vegetables, fruits and meats. For the most part, I stay away from too much processed or high-fat foods. But in our highly-processed world, it’s hard not to let a few creep into my kitchen.

But still, these posts made me wonder if I was doing all I could to help my body be healthier. Sure, I keep the fat and carbs pretty low, but what about all that weird stuff in my foods that I can't pronounce? As Scott says, real food doesn't need an ingredient label.

So what about the ingredient labels on the foods I eat? I plan for this to be an occasional series of posts where I'll take one of the foods in my diet and try to define as many of the ingredients as I can. And then see what I can do about decreasing my intake of those foods or eliminating them altogether.

First, I'll take on coffee creamer, specifically Coffee-mate Original powdered creamer. The reason I pick this one (and here's the disclaimer so the folks at Coffee-mate don't get mad at me) is because I put it in my coffee at work, five days a week.

First let's look at the nutrition facts. As you can see in the nutrition label, which I've pulled from Coffee-mate's Web site, a serving size is 1 teaspoon, and it has 10 calories, 0.5 grams of total fat -- all of which is saturated -- and not much else in the way of nutrients.


All of this comes from the ingredients, which I will look at in the order in which they are listed.

Corn syrup solids. From Wikipedia: Corn syrup is a syrup, made using cornstarch as a feedstock, and composed mainly of glucose. … Its major use is in commercially-prepared foods as a thickener and for its moisture-retaining (humectant) properties which keep foods moist and help to maintain freshness.

I further found an entry on The Fit Shack that says corn syrup solids are manufactured from corn syrup liquid through a process that removes 97 percent of the water from the liquid.

Vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated coconut or palm kernel, hydrogenated soybean). From Wikipedia: Vegetable fats and oils are substances derived from plants that are composed of triglycerides.

As for the “partially hydrogenated” part, Wikipedia says: Triglyceride-based vegetable fats and oils can be transformed through partial or complete hydrogenation into fats and oils of higher melting point. The hydrogenation process involves "sparging" the oil at high temperature and pressure with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst, typically a powdered nickel compound. … Partial hydrogenation results in the formation of trans fats, which have increasingly been viewed as unhealthy since the 1970s.

So, by ingesting this coffee creamer, I’m drinking nickel compounds and trans fats. That doesn’t sound healthy.

Sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative). If you search for this term, Wikipedia redirects you to an entry for casien: Casein (from Latin caseus "cheese") is the predominant phosphoprotein that accounts for nearly 80 percent of proteins in milk and cheese. … Casein is often listed as sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate or milk protein.

I have to wonder why a product described on Coffee-mate’s own Web site as “The original rich and deliciously creamy non-dairy creamer” has a milk derivative in it. I am not lactose-intolerant myself, but what does such a product do to people who are?

Dipotassium phosphate (moderates coffee acidity). From Wikipedia: Dipotassium phosphate -- also phosphoric acid, dipotassium salt; dipotassium hydrogen orthophosphate; potassium phosphate, dibasic -- is a highly water-soluble salt which is often used as a fertilizer, food additive and buffering agent. It is a common source of phosphorus and potassium.

So I’m putting a product that is also used as a fertilizer in my coffee? Ick!

Mono- and diglycerides (prevents oil separation). This requires a search for two different terms on Wikipedia: A monoglyceride, more correctly known as a monoacylglycerol, is a glyceride consisting of one fatty acid chain covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through an ester linkage.

A diglyceride, or a diacylglycerol (DAG), is a glyceride consisting of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages. … Mono- and diacylglycerols are common food additives used to blend together certain ingredients, such as oil and water, which would not otherwise blend well. … The commercial source may be either animal (cow- or hog-derived) or vegetable, derived primarily from soy bean and canola oil. They may also be synthetically produced.

So I have no idea where the mono- and diglycerides in this particular creamer came from. Are they real? Synthetic? Also, if oil and water weren’t meant to blend together, should we be forcing them to do so?

Sodium aluminosilicate. From Wikipedia: Sodium aluminosilicate, also referred to as sodium silicoaluminate, is a chemical with the formula AlNa12SiO5 and CAS 1344-00-9. It is an aluminosilicate compound with sodium cations, taking the form of a white crystalline solid.

All this definition told me is that sodium silicoaluminate is an aluminosilicate compound. No, really?! I had figured out that much from looking at the word. So I clicked on the term aluminosilicate and found this: Aluminosilicate minerals are minerals composed of aluminium, silicon, and oxygen.

I’m still not sure this tells me anything. And since I’m not sure what it is, I would rather not put it in my body.

Artificial flavor. Note that the ingredient list does not say what this artificial flavor entails. But if you type the term “artificial flavor” into Wikipedia, you are redirected to the entry on flavor, and specifically to the part about flavor creation, where you read this: Most food and beverage companies do not create their own flavors but instead employ the services of a flavor company. … The flavor creation is done by a specially trained scientist called a "flavorist." The flavorist's job combines extensive scientific knowledge of the chemical palette with artistic creativity to develop new and distinctive flavors.

Hmmm … so a flavorist has decided now my creamer should taste, and has added who-knows-what to it. So, again, I have no idea exactly what I am putting into my body.

Annatto color. From Wikipedia: Annatto, sometimes called Roucou, is a derivative of the achiote trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a red food coloring and also as a flavoring. Annatto is produced from the reddish pulp which surrounds the seed of the achiote.

This last ingredient doesn’t sound too bad. At least it comes from a natural fruit. But the entry does say it can cause allergies in some people. Personally, I can take it or leave it.

So what's my verdict after defining all of these ingredients? I'm not so sure I really need that creamer in my coffee. In fact, for the past few days, I've been leaving it out of my coffee. There is a little more bitterness to the coffee’s taste, but it's something I can get used to, especially if it means leaving these unnatural ingredients out of my body.

I consider the loss of coffee creamer a worthy sacrifice to live a healthy life.

So how do you take your coffee? Creamer? Milk? Black? Will knowing what these ingredients are change your mind about putting powdered creamer in your coffee?

Defending my healthy choices

On my recent vacation to Washington, D.C., I had endured a turbulent airplane landing, my stomach was upset, and I didn't want anything greasy or fried.

All I wanted was a salad. Only crisp, cool, soothing vegetables and salad dressing would do it.

I wasn’t trying to make a point or show off how healthy I was being. I just wanted a salad.

However, one of my travel companions commented on my salad. As she ate her hamburger and fries, she explained how she didn’t like salads because they took so much work to cut up and so long to eat.

There have been times when I have been a little offended when someone feels the need to point out, or even put down, my choice to have a salad. Luckily, that day, I was too hungry to care what she thought. I simply nodded at her and kept eating. And boy, was it tasty. It was just what I needed to fill my stomach and settle it down.

But later, when I reflected on it, it made me wonder if my action made her feel guilty in some way. I can see why my action might have been interpreted as some sort of example or statement, especially if she somehow felt she hadn’t made the best choice for herself.

I’ve had other occasions when people feel the need to point out my choices of salads, fresh or steamed vegetables or fresh fruit.

It is at times like this when I call upon the nine qualities of a healthy life, which I wrote about in my last post.

Since I was not feeling good as a result of the air turbulence and not having any food in my stomach, I tuned in to what my body needed, and I was honest about it. I needed pure foods, not grease or fat.

I also called on my defiance. Although those hamburgers and french fries looked really good, and it would have been easy to say, "I'll have them because everyone else is," I did not give in.

I also was defensive. Not with words, because I was too busy stuffing lettuce into my mouth. But I was defensive with my actions. The fact that my response to her comments was to simply keep eating what I had chosen was my message that I was confident in my choice.

In most cases, I’m not trying to be self-righteous or snobby in my healthy choices. I’m simply doing what I feel is best for myself. If others wish to take an example from it, that’s fine. If they wish to comment on my choices in an effort to defend their own, that's when remembering the nine qualities comes in handy.

If you want to make a healthy food choice, you should do so, no matter how it makes other people feel. What's important is how it makes you feel.

Maybe, just maybe, if you are seen as an example of what it means to be healthy, it will make a difference for someone around you. If you can influence just one person with your good choices, you have done your part to make the world just a little healthier.

And if you can't, well then, you can still influence yourself. And that's what really matters.

What examples do you have of times people commented on something you were eating? How did it make you feel? How did you respond? Leave me a comment!

Nine qualities it takes to live a healthy life

What does it take to live a healthy life? Why are some people able to maintain a healthy lifestyle while others just can’t quite seem to stay on track?

I have always wondered this. After all, I’m not really all that special. I’m just an average woman who tries to eat as healthy as I can and exercise on a regular basis. Why am I able to stick with a healthy lifestyle while other people I know are not?

So I thought about that for a few minutes, and I came up with a list of qualities I think it takes to life a healthy life and stick to it.

First, you have to have a desire to be as healthy as you can be. But desire is not all it takes. I know many people who want to be healthier, but they just can’t seem to start in the first place or stay with it.

So it also takes dedication and commitment. It takes a mindset to consider healthy living a lifelong choice, not just a temporary thing.

It also takes a lot of honesty, mostly with yourself. You have to be willing to look at your life and your habits critically, and be willing to admit when you are not doing something as well as you could be. You have to be willing to not make excuses for the areas that need improvement, and you have to be willing to change.

You also have to possess enough courage to embark on a healthy path and stick with it. This is especially essential if you have a lot of changes to make. If you are eating a lot of unhealthy foods now and not exercising at all, or if you need to lose a lot of weight, you’ll have to tap into the courage to tell your family and friends – and yourself – that you want to be better, that you want to make some changes. You may have to find the courage to stand up to those who ask why you are doing it or tell you that you can’t do it. You have to find the courage to tell yourself over and over that it’s worth it.

Living a healthy life also takes just a little bit of defiance – the defiance to do what you need to do even when others don’t. I would, however, advise you to keep your defiance to yourself. It’s not a good idea to criticize your friends’ choice of foods; otherwise they won’t be your friends for very long. Simply go for your healthy choice, no matter what they may choose.

You also have to defy all our societal messages for easy, fast foods. Healthy foods are not easy, nor are they fast. I spend quite a bit of time each week slicing my greens and vegetables for my salad. I do so because I am defying the easy path – which would be to go out for a hamburger and french fries.

Along with defiance, a good quality to have to live a healthy life is a bit of defensiveness. In an ideal world, you shouldn’t have to defend or explain yourself. But people will ask why you are eating a salad when everyone else is having pizza or why you don’t want a piece of chocolate cake. And you need to be prepared to answer, strongly and honestly.

Another important quality for living a healthy life is compassion and forgiveness toward yourself. You won’t always be perfect. There will be times when the right foods won’t be available to you, or you just won’t have the will to pass up that huge slab of chocolate cake. It’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up, consider yourself a failure or give up on your healthy lifestyle just because of one piece of chocolate cake. Vow to do better next time.

Living a healthy lifestyle also takes a willingness to grow, learn and change. Your body’s needs will change over time. What you need to maintain your weight in your 20s and 30s may not be what you need in your 40s and 50s and beyond. Health and nutrition experts are also constantly uncovering new information. You need to always be finding and learning new health and nutrition information so you can look at it critically and apply it to your life. You’ll need to make adjustments, but once you have a healthy foundation in place, it’s not so hard to tweak it here and there.

Finally, you need the perseverance to stick with a healthy lifestyle over the long haul. You’re not just doing it for this week, this month or this year. You’re doing this for your whole life. You will need to constantly renew your commitment and remind yourself why it’s important to you.

Living a healthy life is the most important thing you can do, not only for yourself, but also for your family and friends. If you can tap into some of these qualities, you stand a much better chance of getting healthy and staying that way.

These are the qualities that help me. What qualities would you add to the list that have helped you or someone you know life a healthy life? Leave me a comment!

Do you want your kids to be healthy? Show them how!

When I was a kid, I didn't have carbonated soft drinks or potato chips very often, and desserts after dinner were not a given.

"Oh, you poor thing!" you might exclaim. "Did you never get anything good to eat?"

Yes, I did. All the time. My mother made me eat my fruits and vegetables. And today, I thank her for it.

Because of her early lessons in what was "good" for me to eat and what wasn't, I have formed lifelong habits that keep me healthy today.

If I wanted a snack when I came home from school, I reached for a piece of fruit. Dinners were rounded out with meat, potatoes or rice and vegetables – and we had to eat a little bit of everything. Our drink with dinner? Milk.

We did have desserts, soft drinks and chips, but they were reserved for weekends and other special occasions.

Because of this, I learned how to eat right. I learned like nutrient-dense foods and what they do for my health. I also learned that it's OK to have junk food sometimes -- as long as it's kept in perspective as a treat and not as a diet staple.

An article here says helping kids lead healthy lifestyles begins with parents who lead by example.

Poor eating habits are often established during childhood, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than 60 percent of young people eat too much fat, and less than 20 percent eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day, according to this article.

I think there’s a lot of truth to that. Because of the examples my parents set for me, I learned to think about my food choices and eat foods for their nutritional value.

I’ve known other people who are examples of the opposite – because of the habits they learned, they don’t eat so healthy as adults.

Someone I knew several years ago in college had a mother who would fix him his own meal every day, giving him total control over what he wanted to eat. She didn’t force him to eat anything he didn’t want to. The result? A very picky eater who ate nothing but junk food and didn't want to try anything new. I don’t even want to imagine what his blood sugar and cholesterol numbers are like now.

A family I know has two overweight parents – and their three kids are on their way to being overweight. In the past couple years, they have tried to make some changes as a family, and I wish them the best of luck. If this family is going to change their kids’ lifestyle habits, they’d better do it now. Their oldest child is a teenager, and as she gets older, her eating habits will be more and more difficult to change.

I’ve also worked with people who make the same New Year’s resolution year after year – to eat better and lose weight. They start off great, but by March, if not sooner, they’re back to their old habits, claiming they “just can’t give up” their hamburgers, pizza and beer. I’ve also seen people who eat for comfort, not for nutrition, and they stay fat because of it.

So, I appeal to the parents. Your kids will learn from you. Sometimes, they will learn only too well. You want to prepare them for a successful future in terms of education and career, don’t you? What about a successful future for their health? Set them on the right health path, and they’ll be more likely to live a long life so they can enjoy their other successes.

What kind of health example are you setting? Think about it.

11 ways to keep sweets at the office from ruining your healthy diet

Are you committed to healthy eating and limiting your intake of sweets, but work in an office where there are many occasions to eat cake and cookies?

If it seems like your officemates want a cake every time someone has a birthday, leaves the company, graduates from school, or any other occasion they can dream up, you might find yourself in a dilemma. You have to strike a balance between not being too self-righteous about your healthy habits, which might make you look snobby and non-participative, and not letting all of the sweets ruin your weight and your health.

This can be even more difficult to navigate if these parties are the boss's idea. You might feel even more pressure to eat dessert in order to show your appreciation or to avoid offending the boss.

What do you do?

I've been in this situation many times, and I've come up with a few strategies that have worked so far.

I'm full from lunch.
This especially works well if the party occurs soon after lunch. Simply claim that you are full. It is even more effective if you rub your stomach, groan and bulge your eyes slightly, as if you can't possibly eat another bite. If your co-workers pressure you, you can put them off by saying, "I'll have a piece later." Then just don't get any. Once everyone goes back to work, they won't notice you.

I have an errand that I must get done today.
If you are trying to eat healthy, but your department has scheduled a pizza lunch, this strategy works. Just before everyone gathers together, jump up with a worried look on your face, grab your purse and tell a co-worker that you have to handle something urgent, and could they please let the boss know you'll be back as soon as possible. Then run out the door. Of course, your "urgent" errand is to go out somewhere for a nice salad. Or, if you bring your lunch, have it stored in your car and sit outside and eat.

Take advantage of chaos
If you are attending a company-wide lunch party where there are many people and many conversations going on, your co-workers are much less likely to notice what you eat. If it's a pot luck event where everyone has brought a dish, you may not know what's in them, but it's simple enough to choose dishes that emphasize vegetables and de-emphasize creamy sauces. And if you skip the sweets altogether, your dessert-less plate will get lost in the crowd.

Take advantage of the meeting
If cake is served during a meeting, politely accept a piece and set it further away from you than your notepad. Then, pay really close attention to the meeting and take lots of notes. If you're busy writing, you can't eat! Then, when the meeting is over, you can do one of two things with that cake. You can say, "Gosh, I really have to get on this task. I don't have time to eat this. Do you want it?" and offer it to someone. Or, you can take it back to your desk and promise to eat it while you work, then allow it to quietly make its way into your trash can.

Strategically timed bathroom break
This one works if the cake is being served at the end of a meeting. When the meeting leader calls for a break and people start to get the cake and plates out, sneak out to the bathroom. Stay there for a few minutes. By the time you come back in, the cake server will be eating their own piece, and you might just be able to hang out in the back of the room or sneak back to your seat without anyone making a big deal out of the fact that you don't have a piece.

Let everyone else get a piece first
This works especially well if the dessert is a small cake or a cookie cake, where it looks like there might not be quite enough for everyone. Just say, "I'm not sure I want any. I'll let everyone else get some, then I might take a piece if there's any left." Chances are good that the cake will be gone by the time everyone else gets theirs, which solves your problem. Or the person who asked you will be distracted by their own cake and forget that you don't have a piece.

OK, maybe just a little piece.
You can kick this one in if you have tried the other refusal strategies and they just haven't worked. If the well-meaning co-worker serving the cake insists that you have some, politely accept it. While holding your plate and talking to someone, eat three or four bites slowly. Then, when no one is looking, set it aside on a table.

Ask for half a piece.
If you just can't get out of having a piece, or if you have decided that you can indulge just a little, ask the cake server to cut your slice in half. Then eat it slowly. Chances are, you won't want to go back for more, and no one will say anything more to you about it.

Eat a healthy snack beforehand
If the cake party is a few hours after lunch, when you are more likely to have the late-afternoon munchies and think you might be persuaded to indulge despite your good intentions, eat a healthy snack first. A piece of fruit, a handful of nuts or a carton of yogurt will take the edge off your appetite and help you withstand the pressure.

Simple refusal
It is okay to simply refuse, saying, "No, thanks, I don't want any." If you feel comfortable saying this without offending your co-workers or the boss, this is the most honest and straightforward strategy. If a co-worker persists, simply repeat yourself. They can't force cake down your throat.

Alternate
A good way to strike the balance between being a non-participating health snob and ruining your diet with the weekly cake-fest is to alternate. If you refused the last time, take a slice of cake this time. This can be used in conjunction with the "OK, maybe just a little piece" or "Ask for half a piece" strategies to minimize the damage to your waist.

It seems like every time I turn around, cake or other desserts are being served at my workplace. With a little preparation and the strategies above, so far I've been successful at keeping extra weight off while keeping the goodwill of my co-workers.

Does your workplace have sweets often? What strategies do you have for staying away from the desserts?

Breakfast of champions? Or gut-wrenching nausea?

I have been a breakfast eater as far back as I can remember.

When I was a child, my mother encouraged me to eat a bowl of cereal or a piece of toast with a glass of milk before I headed off to school.

Now, I keep up my breakfast habit. What I eat has changed over the years, partly because of my schedule and partly because I have learned new things about what to eat and what not to.

Currently, I eat half a wheat bagel topped with a layer of natural peanut butter, followed by a serving of fruit cocktail a couple hours later.

Because I am a breakfast eater, does that mean I think everyone should eat breakfast? Not necessarily.

My husband is the other side of the coin. He hardly ever eats breakfast. He says he's just not hungry in the mornings, and if he forces himself to eat before his body is ready, he gets nauseous. Instead, he goes to lunch at 11 a.m., which is earlier than most people.

Should people like my husband be forced to eat breakfast? Common belief says so. And this Web site, Mr. Breakfast.com (the name of which makes me chuckle), backs up that common belief.

This site gives four reasons to eat breakfast:

1. Children who eat breakfast perform better on standardized achievement tests and have fewer behavior problems in school.


2. Eating breakfast has an advantageous effect on late-morning mood, satiety and cognitive performance.


3. Eating breakfast keeps you thin.


4. Breakfast is delicious.

Let's look to my husband, the non-breakfast eater, to examine those reasons. He never had any major problems in school on tests, nor did he get in trouble for his behavior. He works through his mornings just fine until he eats his lunch at 11 a.m. He has maintained his same healthy weight for several years now.

As for the last reason, I have to wonder how many scientific experiments they had to run to figure that one out.

It's interesting to note that not one of those reasons is: because you're hungry. I have always eaten breakfast in the mornings because I'm hungry, and I want to.

I came across an interesting post giving a different take on the breakfast debate. This view lets my husband and others like him off the hook.

Cari Corbet-Owen in her blog post challenges the assumption that an early breakfast keeps you slim. She says, "The breakfast buzz may have less to do with our bodily needs than to do with the clock, custom and breakfast ‘research’ funded by groups with a vested interest in our breakfasting habits."

Hmmm ... so, maybe the research that tells us breakfast is the most important meal of the day may not be from the most objective source. Are you surprised? I'm not.

Cari advocates a body-based approach to eating, meaning you should honor your body's wisdom, eat quality foods and check these theories for yourself.

I agree. In other words, if you're hungry in the mornings, eat breakfast -- and make it a nutritious one! If you're not hungry in the mornings, don't eat breakfast.

In the end, after you've read up on some information and considered the pros and cons, the best person to decide whether or not you should eat breakfast is you

Do you eat breakfast? Why or why not?

How long do you want to live?

How many years would you like to live? Is 50 enough? Or would you like to be around for 60, 70 or 80 or more?

While most of us don't know exactly how long we have to live, recent research backs up a core belief that I have held for many years: Our lifestyle choices influence our lifespan.

The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine and conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, says that life expectancy has declined in nearly 1,000 counties, especially for women, "primarily because of chronic diseases related to smoking, overweight and obesity, and high blood pressure."

According to a New York Times story citing the same study, most of the counties with declines are in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, and in Appalachia, as well as in the southern Plains and Texas.

In the worst-performing counties, all in southwestern Virginia, the drop in life expectancy over the 16-year period was nearly six years for women and two and a half years for men. In the counties showing the greatest improvement, many in the desert West, life expectancy rose nearly five years for women and nearly seven years for men.

This trend reflects the long-term consequences of smoking -- a habit women took up after men did -- and the slowing of the historic decline in heart disease deaths. It may also represent the leading edge of the obesity epidemic, according to the Washington Post.

If that is the case, we ladies can expect our life expectancies to drop significantly across the United States in coming years, ending a nearly unbroken rise that dates to the mid-1800s.

This is not good. Not good at all. The researchers call this decline a "reversal of fortunes."

Aptly put. If we are not making the best choices we can about our diet, exercise and health, then we may be responsible for shortening our own lives.

The Washington Post story cites health trend information that we have seen before, if we've been looking.

But I'll cite it again here, because it seems that we're just not getting it:

• About half of all deaths in the United States are attributable to a small number of "modifiable" behaviors and exposures, such as smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise.


• About 33 percent of women are now obese, compared with 31 percent of men. Extreme obesity is twice as common in women (7 percent) as in men (3 percent).


• Being overweight greatly increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. A national survey in 2002 found that 85 percent of diabetics were overweight or obese.


• In recent years, the prevalence of high blood pressure has been increasing in women, as well -- partly the result of weight gain. In 1990, 42 percent of women older than 60 had hypertension; by 2000 it was 51 percent.

We need to reverse our fortunes back the other way. But can we?

The study's authors argue that their results are troubling because an often-stated aim of the U.S. health system is the improvement of the health of “all people, and especially those at greater risk of health disparities.”

In a 2006 study, the same group concluded that life expectancy disparities would have to be addressed through public health strategies aimed at reducing the risk factors that cause chronic disease and injuries.

Okay, this sounds great, but why wait on them? We can do this as individuals, if only we will. There is enough health information out there that if you just want to badly enough, you can change your lifestyle and get healthier.

Unfortunately, studies like this one make me pessimistic that enough of us really -- I mean really -- want to do what it takes to live a healthier life. How many of us say it's too hard, or that we don't have enough time or money or that we just can't give our favorite foods up?

If you're still using those excuses -- and that's all they are -- then you're not ready to make a lifestyle change.

And if you're not ready to make a lifestyle change, and to listen to what experts like the authors of the Harvard study are telling you, then you are well on your way to shortening your own life.

I realize our choices are not the only factor. There are genetic factors that influence our health as well. We may have a family history of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes.

But our health is not a foregone conclusion, either. We can control whether we succumb willingly to our genetics or whether we go down fighting. Do you want to just throw your hands up and say, "Well, I'm going to get cancer (or diabetes or high blood pressure) anyway, so I may we well eat what I want and not bother"?

Or do you want to fight it?

I choose to fight it.

We make our own health fortunes. What will you choose?

How to keep your vacation (sort of) healthy

I have just returned from my vacation to Washington, D.C. At the same time, I am also getting this healthy lifestyle blog started. Thus, I came home with a few ideas for future posts.

But first, I thought I would give a few short snippets of things I did during my trip to stay a little on the healthy side.

Airplane abdominals

During takeoff on the flight from Detroit to Baltimore, I noticed my husband leaning forward, bracing himself against the upward tilt of the airplane. He said, “Hey, this is great for the abs!” So, of course, I joined him. I leaned forward and tightened my abs to resist the angle of the plane, and a few seconds later I felt a burn in my abs and thighs.

So, if you want to do a bit of isometrics on an airplane, just lean forward during takeoff. You have to do it as soon as the plane lifts off the ground, though. Once the plane levels out to cruising altitude, you lose the resistance.

I’m resting my feet

I am a yoga practitioner, and I am sensitive to the tension in my body caused by daily living. The routine tension of sitting at my desk all day, staring at a computer, carrying groceries and the like can usually be relieved by a series of yoga poses.

On vacation, my body suffers different tension because I put it through different stresses than at home. Walking a lot, sitting on an airplane and carrying a bag on my shoulder all take their toll. Therefore, I often find opportunities to stretch and twist to relieve the tension.

One pose that I like to do after walking a lot always gets a laugh from my husband, but it feels darn good. It’s called Legs Up the Wall, and it’s a great little inversion. He’ll look over and ask what in the world I’m doing, to which I answer, “I’m resting my feet!”

Basically, you lay with your back on the floor near a wall and rest your legs vertically up the wall. This causes the blood to flow away from your feet, which makes your feet happy after you’ve stressed them all day by walking on them. After a few seconds, you’ll feel a pleasant tingling sensation. You can point and flex your feet, and if you’re flexible enough, bring your leg back toward your face and stretch your hamstrings a bit. This pose also releases the lower back and shoulders, and you can lay in it for as long as you need to.

Restrained indulgence

On a vacation, our eating routine is always different than at home. This is partially because of circumstances – the usual salads, fruits and yogurt I would eat for lunch at home just aren’t readily available in a hotel room. You can’t carry any of these things with you, and you can’t always get to a grocery store near your hotel, and if you could, you don’t always have a refrigerator in your room to keep anything cold.

So you’re stuck with eating out for just about every meal. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy going out to eat and experiencing different foods. That’s part of why I go on vacation – to eat things I can’t get or don’t normally eat at home.

But on this vacation, I found myself really paying attention to my food choices. For one meal, I wanted nothing more than a salad. Nothing but crisp green lettuce, a few toppings and dressing would do. I just didn’t want anything greasy or full of carbs. So we stopped at a McDonald’s, and my husband got burgers and fries while I got a salad. And it was delicious.

At other meals, I chose turkey sandwiches or grilled salmon and substituted sides of French fries for steamed vegetables.

However, since it was vacation, I didn’t entirely hold back. We went to this delicious steak house called Bugaboo Creek. I ordered sirloin tips with mashed potatoes. And boy, was it good! That was the same day I had the salad for lunch, so I figured I could justify the red meat and carbs.

When you’re on vacation, you should definitely have a meal or two where you can get something not-so-healthy and not feel too guilty about it. If you watch your choices at other meals, you can minimize the overall damage to your diet.

Although I have no doubt I gained a pound or two during my vacation, I feel like I did my best in striking a balance between indulgence and restraint. At no time did I feel like I was depriving myself or not enjoying my vacation to its fullest extent.

Now that vacation is over, though, it’s time to get back to the gym and the salads, fruit and yogurt!

Take a vacation! It's good for your health

My husband and I really enjoy traveling. We like seeing new places and experiencing new things. In the years we've been together, we've managed to take at least one vacation almost every year.

So far, our travels have taken us to Washington, D.C., Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, Niagara Falls — and we were fortunate enough to be able to take a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon.

We are going back to D.C. this week with another couple, and we hope to take a couple of short trips later in the year.

However, many people don't take an annual vacation. Many people don't even take all of their paid time off from work.

According to the 2008 International Vacation Deprivation Survey results from Expedia.com, about one-third of employed U.S. adults usually do not take all of the vacation days they receive each year. They lose an average of three vacation days per year.

This adds up to a total of 460 million vacation days and an estimated value of $65.52 billion, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

That's a lot of time — and money — to give up to your company. Why would you want to let your company have time that you've rightfully earned?

One reason, according to Expedia.com's survey, is that 38 percent of women and 28 percent of men feel guilty about taking time off from work.

Many people also worry they will lose their job if they take a vacation, according to the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit center for research on the American work force. Their surveys show that in 1977, 45 percent of people felt truly secure in their jobs while only 36 percent have felt that way in recent years.

I have to admit that as a journalist, I'm one of those who is not totally secure about my job, or my industry. But I am not going to let that scare me away from taking my time — time that is guaranteed to me by the employee handbook.

Other people don't take vacations for reasons that have little to do with job security. They consider themselves indispensable or are too competitive to take the time off. Ambition and self-imposed getaway guilt all help explain why workers don't use all of their vacation days, according to a New York Times article.

Research also shows that even when American workers go away, they don't really get away. About one in five people do some work during vacation, according to the Families and Work Institute study.

Ken Siegel, president of Impact Group, a Los Angeles-based consortium of psychotherapists who counsel CEOs and other executives, rebuts this argument far better than I could. "There is no executive who is so indispensable that the enterprise will collapse in his absence. We're all going to die, and our companies will go on without us."

Agreed. This company was here before I got here; it will be here long after I leave.

Vacation time is important because it allows you to refresh, recharge and reconnect with your family. A true vacation - not just away from home, but away from the e-mail and the PDA - can help your health.

The Families and Work Institute study found that overworked employees are more likely to make mistakes and be angry at their employers and at colleagues who do not work as hard. These employees are also more likely to have higher stress levels, experience symptoms of clinical depression, report poorer health and neglect themselves.

However, the good news is former NASA scientists found that vacationers experienced an 82 percent increase in job performance after they came back from a trip, according to a Business Week article.

In order to get the full benefits of a vacation, you need to take at least a week off. Micro-vacations — taking two or three days off — do not deliver the same stress-reduction benefits as vacations that last one and two weeks, according to the Business Week article.

In 2007, 39 percent of American workers anticipated taking a full week off, then using their remaining time here and there, and only 14 percent plan to take a full two-week vacation in 2008, according to the Expedia.com study.

I fall into the one-week category. We'll return from D.C. with a couple days to spare, giving us a nice long weekend to rejuvenate at home before we go back to work. Then, I'll have a couple of vacation days to use for the rest of the year.

You won't find me letting my company have what I've earned. I plan to take every vacation hour alloted to me.

The way I see it, there's too much at stake for me not to take my vacation days, not just in terms of my health and stress levels, but in connecting with my husband. We enjoy new experiences together and the time away to just be with each other in a different environment. It encourages us to dream about changes we'd like to make, and we almost always come back relaxed and with a fresh perspective.

With such obvious benefits, why would you not want to take a vacation? You could do yourself - and your family - a world of good by going away.

What is a healthy life? Or, why am I starting this blog?

I see the world in terms of its impact on the health of any individual's life. Your eating and exercise habits, your relationships, your career, your spiritual values - they all contribute to the level of health in your life.

I'm going to guess that if you are reading this blog, you would love to have a perfectly healthy life - that you would like to be at a perfect weight, have the perfect romantic relationship, have perfect friends, have the perfect amount of money, have the perfect career. Hey, I would, too.

But one thing I have learned is that a life does not have to be perfect in order to be healthy. Perfection is not possible, and the more you strive for it, the less likely you will be to achieve it. The harder you try for it, the more you will stress yourself out, and the less healthy your life will be.

So, if it's not about perfection, what is a healthy life about?

It's about balance, between discipline and indulgence, between stress and relaxation, between the good and the bad.

How do you achieve that balance? Only you can decide that. What is balance for me may not be balance for you. What works for me may not work for you. I can pass along information, tell you how I relate that information to my own life and even give advice on how you can do the same thing. You are, of course, free to take or leave my advice, or modify it to fit your own needs.

Since I am just starting this blog, I should probably answer a critical question before we go much further. Who in the world am I, and why do I presume I can give advice to anyone?

I am just a person with a skill for writing who tries to live the best life I can. I am not a health professional of any sort. I am a communications professional with a background in journalism who is jumping into the “blogosphere.” Go to my Web site to learn more about me.

Since journalists are trained to interpret, distill and disseminate information for an audience, I can do this for you. My chosen topic is health. I have a passion for health topics and healthy living. I enjoy researching and reading about health and applying it to my own life. Sometimes I agree with what I read; sometimes I disagree. It all goes back to that balance thing.

A healthy life is one lived as well as you can, with as much care and attention to the only thing you will have for your entire life: yourself. You only have one body, one mind and one spirit. It is important to nurture those three aspects with the choices you make.

I realize that genetics play a big role in your lifelong health, but so does lifestyle. It's the lifestyle part that we can - and should - control, to the best of our ability. How do we do that? Well, that’s what this blog is all about. I hope you’ll share the journey with me.