Friday, February 17, 2017

Shake shake shake... Yeah, music, dancing, weight loss miracles. Magic and Money

It wasn't that long ago that I was in the hospital for a kidney stone. September 22 of 2015. My weight at that time, 320 pounds. I am six foot two or so, might of shrunk some, as happens as we age. Monday at the gym, I weighed myself on both of their scales, and the readings were within a half pound. I am now 234 pounds. It was hard to do, and yet, incredibly easy. And at no time during the nearly 17 months did I ever once, NOT ONCE, add any money to the already frightening amount of money spent on weight loss in these United States. 

Sixty Billion Dollars is spent annually on weight loss.

And it's all a waste of money.

Harsh, I know. But the reality is there for us to view. One out of three Americans are Obese. And still, 70% of adults are overweight. These numbers continue to climb, steadily. They have not once gone down since scientists started to look at this phenomena back in the fifties. 

Yeah, weight loss spending for individuals might, and here it's a stretch, MIGHT show improvement. For specific individuals over a specific time frame. It does happen. Generally though, the majority of Americans spend their money, adding to that sixty billion dollar total, yet it's for short term losses that return once the money is no longer spent. The weight loss industry is based entirely on lies. Everything about their advertising, their slick marketing driven packaging for convenience and their very basic concept, is all about driving home that basic falsehood. That spending money, utilizing products designed for convenience, will allow you to be slim, trim and healthy. 

It's all a lie. Yet humans are gullible. Always have been, pretty sure they always will be. Politicians that show themselves to be corrupt, get reelected. (Except Hillary, some out there saw through her rhetoric) Diet soda that has had independent studies showing it to cause weight gain as well as a large number of rather detrimental side effects, sell by the billions. And just as our ancestors spent their hard earned money on magic beans and snake oil, the weight loss industries of America keep raking in our money and giving dreams of Paradise, perhaps from a dashboard light. Which isn't far from the truth, advertising for all the crap out there comes from the hottest and best looking models available. 

A friend's wife has begun posting online about her newest mlm group that she is now affiliated with. Shakes that satisfy, provide nutrition and her pounds are melting away. Magic Beans. I have no idea what she pays for each one, but I'm sure they aren't cheap. And as so many of the ones available at the stores, when I look at the ingredients, there's stuff there I can't pronounce, as well as the things that are right from the start, detrimental to any sort of plan to lose weight; either some form of sugar, or high fructose corn syrup. Remember Metrecal? People my age do. The Metrecal for lunch bunch. A food replacement product with all the nutrition of real food, in a handy shake. Made with sugar. 

It's a popular ingredient, it makes humans addicted to that sweet sweet flavor. It isn't exactly nutritious. No matter how many artificial additives and processed vitamins and minerals are added to it. It's still just flavored sugar.

My weight loss has been based on an actual change in my attitude toward food itself. I used to eat meat, processed foods, breads, ice cream, packaged this and that. I stopped all that. I have been a vegetarian for about eight years now, just not a very strict one. That's all changed. I am very strict now. No meat, no processed foods, no sugar, no chemicals and lots and lots of fruit and vegetables. Organic when possible. Which is primarily most of the time as I get my food at the farmers markets and only buy organic at the stores. And never Chinese or Mexican organic. 

It's pretty hard to do. 

My weight has gone up and down during this time. Personal reasons, my inability to deal with relationship issues (always been a problem ** Three Divorces)((Insight into me)) thus giving me an excuse to sit and drink beer to excess. (Yes it's true what she told me, I do so very much enjoy playing the role of victim) (( Although it's not true, I do not feel superior to everyone, only those that I am superior too)) And of course the long term effects from before (black mold) and exacerbation of asthma, causing steroid use which makes you put on weight. However, for the most part, it has been a total commitment to be a smaller man and altering the lifestyle that I have led most of my life. 

One thing that is consistent with me in my food routine, is most mornings I make a shake. Ta Da? No, not one in a can. Mine is simple. And has other health benefits designed right into it. Start with juice of a lemon and a quarter cup of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. Add a half teaspoon of cinnamon, black cohosh root, gingko biloba, mullein and turmeric. Then a heaping teaspoon each of hemp seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds and nutritional yeast. Also called spent brewers yeast. Add a bit of water and mix a bit. then add an organic banana, a tablespoon of local raw honey from a local bee keeper, NEVER stuff from a grocery store. Add some fruit in season or a couple dates. Then top blender jar with organic plain yogurt. Blend, and it has more protein and all the right balance of everything you need to exist in about a couple hundred or so calories that will fill you up and keep you going for five or more hours. For about forty cents. Cheaper if you don't use organic stuff. But why? Be safe, organic is the only real option in today's weird world of toxin usage in agriculture.

Yep

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