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Let's face it. The deck is stacked against you. The economic are against you. Fat people eat more, so food
manufacturers put MSG in food to make you fat. Fat people drink more "diet" sodas, so it is no coincidence that
the sweetener in diet sodas makes you gain weight. Beef is full of fat. Chicken is full of antibiotics. We have
processed the nutrients out of our food. Even our fruits and vegetables have been genetically engineered to grow
faster and larger at the cost of good nutrition.
It's enough to make you want give up and declare, "I'm going to die anyway."
This is true, but you have a choice between health and life-time of holding yourself together with medical
treatments. But where do you start. It is difficult to stop all eating of meats, stop eating out, stop eating
processed foods, stop drinking sodas and increase your fruits and vegetables all at once. If you give up fatty
beef and margarine, you decrease your risk of heart attacks. If you give up potatoes, you lower your blood sugar
levels. If you give up sweets you gain more energy throughout the day. If you give up caffeine, you have less
stress and your nutrients absorb better.
But all at once is mind-boggling. So do it in baby steps. So pick one thing that you can do and do that.
Give up the diet-sodas, and maybe the headaches will go away. Give it a couple weeks until you are comfortable
with it and it becomes a new heathy habit. That too hard? Then switch from margarine to flax seed oil on your
popcorn. Replace a bad fat with a good one. It might take a couple times to get used to the taste change.
Use your intuition. What little thing can you do that will help a little? Can you do without burgers and fries?
Can you remember to take your multivitamin? Can you eat whole grain foods instead of processed flours. Can you
eat fruit instead of bagels? Can you switch from flavored potato chips to plain and eliminate the MSG? Baby steps.
When you succeed with the first step and are comfortable. Look for another. You don't need doughnuts, do you?
Maybe its time to start taking fish oil. How about trading your coffee for fruit juice? One step at a time.
Little steps. Add one thing every couple weeks. As you get good at it, maybe do two things, or one new thing
every week. Take baby steps.
Here's one thing you can do that doesn't require changing your diet. Read labels. If the list of chemical
additives takes the entire side of a box, you might want to switch to a brand with a shorter list.
One of the biggest obstacles people have to getting heathy is that there is so much information, both good and
bad, and they don't know what to do. Even then there is conflicting information. Studies show eggs are good
(funded by the egg industry)–studies show eggs are bad (funded by the grain industry). Read. Ask people who know.
Take a walk with the dog. Play catch with the kids. Plant a vegetable garden. Put an apple in your lunch
instead of that cookie or candy bar. Switch from chips to nuts as a snack. Stop snacking before bed. Trade your
coffee in on green tea. Buy chickens that have not been fed antibiotics. Order range-fed beef from a local farm.
Baby steps.
You've heard all these things before, they are not news to you. Find the one that you can do and succeed.
Buy organic fruits and vegetables. Eat fresh out of the garden. Drink filtered water. Read a book on nutrition.
Buy low-sodium foods. Baby steps.
Just find one little thing you can do. Take a baby step.
Chip Engelmann is a Certified Nutritional Counselor and owner of Vitamin Connection, 647 Philadelphia St., Suite 405 Indiana, PA, and past owner of
Vitamin Discount Connection. He has written dozens articles on health and nutrition, and his daily health
reports were heard locally on the radio. His weekly Health-ezine was read by thousands nationally, including
several industry leaders. He can be reached at chip@vitaconnect.com or by calling 724-349-0535.
©: 2005 Chip Engelmann
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