Monday, November 06, 2006

No Fiber Content - In More Ways Than One

Last Thursday when I stayed home with the migraine I watched Oprah.
One of the doctor guys who wrote the new book "You: On A Diet" (they
have a series of You: books) were the guests and they had some pretty
gross visual aids. I'm talking body parts from dead people: a fatty
liver, an enlarged heart, a tongue, fatty omentum, a giant, clogged
aorta. ewww! The show reminded me that I'm still about 30lbs
overweight and that last time they checked it my bad cholesterol level
was inching up into the not so good range. I should really do
something about that. So I went over to Amazon and ordered their book.
I'm going to try to eat more healthy stuff and less not so healthy
stuff like the partially hydrogenated, enriched, corn syrup filled
junk I eat now. The husbeast and I grew up in the 60's and 70's -
otherwise known as the era of tv dinners, kool aid with so much sugar
in it that it made your teeth ache, and Wonder Bread full of so many
preservatives that it would keep on the shelf for a month without ever
growing mold. I ate "Sugar Frosted Flakes" and "Super Sugar Crisp" all
the time! (YES kids, the makers of breakfast cereal used to actually
promote the sugar content right there in the name of the food!) Back
then you never heard of any kids getting hyper from eating too much
sugar either. Hell, there was no such thing as too much sugar as long
as you remembered to brush your teeth. Dinner wasn't complete without
some red meat or SPAM or something, and partially hydrogenated
vegetable oil spread was considered good for you. We hadn't heard of
cholesterol or trans fats or any of that stuff, and Mom put a big
spoon of bacon grease or margarine in the canned veggies to add some
flavor. Oddly, there weren't any really fat kids running around either
because I guess everyone was so hyped up on the sugar that we
literally DID run around a lot. We just ran around outside so the
adults didn't notice and label us hyperactive I guess. haha Kids today
spend most of their time indoors sitting in front of the tv or the
computer or the video games. Maybe that's why they get noticed when
they twitch.
So anyway, neither one of us grew up with much of a taste for healthy
goodness. I haven't really been making sure Ian develops any healthy
habits either. We get pizza once a week and I let him eat an entire
medium if he wants. (He's 14! Try to take a pizza away from a 14 year
old boy and you'll pull back a bloody stump cause he'll eat your
hand.) The rest of the week he pretty much lives on enriched white
flour bread, peanut butter with added sugar and partially hydrogenated
oil, cholesterol filled cheese, chocolate milk, and soda pop. He
sometimes eats oatmeal, but he puts about half a cup of sugar and a
tablespoon of butter in it. geez.
SO, starting right now no more regular sodas for me. I'm going to
start weeding out the really horrible foods (goodbye Doritos! I'll
miss you!) while I wait for the book to get here. I'm hoping the
recipes in the book aren't horrible and aren't full of fish cause eww
I totally am not down with eating any fish or fish products no matter
how good for me they are. Sadly, I also have to stop eating Campbell's
Tomato Soup for lunch every day because holy crap, the 4th ingredient
listed is high fructose corn syrup! Who knew? I'm also replacing Ian's
bread and pasta with whole wheat versions and no more pizza from the
delivery place. He's so gonna hate me.

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