Down with Diets!

Put down the diet book. Step away from the low-carb yogurt. Turn off the infomercials and relax for a moment. Remember what it was like before eating became a science project? All we did was eat sensibly and exercise and somehow we still managed to lose weight.

With the barrage of diet information we're faced with daily, it amazes me that we can manage to have a single meal without a mental breakdown. High-protein/Low-Carb, no carb, all grapefruit, no fruit,dairy or no dairy. Trying to remember the rules makes my head spin.

It's a good thing we can throw them all out the window. A healthy diet is simple, basic and it doesn't require a degree in nutrition. Nor does it require spending hundreds of dollars on books, meal plans or pills.The only thing you really need, you already have. Your own common sense.

14 pieces of bacon for breakfast? An all meat diet? A no meat diet? Those diet plans don't sound like a good idea because they aren't. They may be effective for short term, fast result weight loss,but those results won't last.

With every new fad diet we try we damage our bodies' ability to process vitamins and nutrients. We also disrupt our natural metabolism, which further impedes our weight loss success. The most important aspect of a healthy body has been completely ignored by the diet industry. Of course they can’t make a lot of money on it so don’t expect them to publicize it any time soon.

Here’s the big secret; our body needs food in order to function at its best. That means our brains need carbohydrates. Not empty carbs found in processed foods such as white breads, pastas and bleached grains, but the good, nutritious carbs found in whole wheat products like grain breads, wheat pastas and vegetables. Our bodies also depend on the fibers those foods provide. Dairy products are the best sourceof calcium and calcium is essential to maintaining total body health.Your body needs it every day not just to keep your bones and teeth strong over your lifetime, but to ensure proper functioning of muscles and nerves. Our muscles need protein in order to grow and repair the damage we do to them everyday.

The best diet is no diet at all. A lifelong eating plan consisting of moderation, healthy foods and exercise guarantees a fit, healthy body.

Donuts, fried foods, 3 bowls of ice cream, obviously a bad idea, but you already know that. Baked foods, steamed vegetables, salads andgrain breads, those are foods your body will thrive on. The added weight loss is just a bonus for treating your body right.

No more diets. No more low carb water. Burn the books and ban thepills. You know what your body needs better than the guy on TV trying to sell you 30 water pills for 300 dollars does. And guess what, it’s free! Just try eating sensibly and exercising for 30 days and see what happens. I think you’ll be amazed.

Next time you start to reach for a side of bacon and a bottle of cabbage juice, think how much more you’d enjoy some fresh fruit or a salad. Sit back, relax and giggle at the hungry, half crazed, food deprived woman hawking diet pills on your TV.

Settled Dust

Today I will let the dust settle in my house. The laundry in the dryer can sit for another day.

I’m going to play with my children instead. I’m going to sit on the sidewalk and eat a Popsicle, licking the sticky drippings from my arm. And I’m going to laugh the old laugh of childhood, the one that starts in your belly and shoots out before you have time to censor it. I’m going to smell the sunshine in my sons’ hair, and brush the grass from my daughters’ shoulder.

I’m taking them to the park where we can race down the slide and see who can swing the highest. Every moment today will be spent cherishing these 4 little people who make my life so insane.

Today I will not say in a minute, nor will I say not right now. Right now, and right this minute are more important moments in my childs life than the time I’m spending cleaning the counters. In a minute may never come, and I don’t want to miss out on right this second.

Today I will show my 15 year old that teaching her to dance on the back porch is more important to me than bleaching my toilets.

Children are a gift that never truly belong to us; they are simply loaned to us for a short time. Windows will always be dirty, laundry will always pile up, but children eventually go away.

When I am old and alone in my home, will I look around and admire the vacuum lines in my living room, or will I long for the days when my babies ran through the house and filled it with laughter? Will my children think of their childhoods and smile because mom always had time for a hug, knew all the silly jokes and wasn’t afraid to turn a cartwheel in the yard, or will they think back and say “Wow, my clothes always smelled so darn clean”?

Yesterday I gave birth to my oldest daughter and today she is on the cell phone with her friend. Where did the time go, and why did I waste so much of it worrying about how clean my house was and how polite my children are? Why haven’t I spent every single day basking in the joy of my children?

Some days I think “If only these kids would just leave me alone for 5 minutes”. Exasperated and exhausted I beg them to “Just go away!” One of these days, they’re finally going to do what I say, and they are going to leave me alone. They will head off to lives of their own and I will be left with an empty house, and glass doors that have no fingerprints on them. That used to sound like heaven to me, now it just sounds lonely.

Do you know it takes 2 minutes to answer a Childs question? It takes 30 seconds to get a really wet sloppy kiss from a 3 year old. In 5 minutes your child can tell you everything you never wanted to know about the stuff they found on the bottom of their shoe. 7 and a half minutes. 7 little minutes out of a 24 hour day. Can you think of a better way to spend that time? It sure is better than the 7 minutes it takes me to scrub my oven.

We wake up and expect our lives to stay the same. No one ever wakes up and thinks, I could lose my children today, I had better spend time with them. Turn on the TV, open your newspaper, and see how many mothers lose their children every day.

Take advantage of the time we do have with our children, cherish every moment with them. Kiss them good night and tell them stories of your childhood, hold their hands in the store and cuddle them in your laps for as long as they’ll still fit.

Next time they interrupt you, before you tell them to go away, keep in mind that someday they will.

Spring for TNG

Spring has sprung

My hormones have begun

The sun warming the grass

makes me want to wiggle my ass

No snow falling from the sky

thoughts of your hand on my bare thigh

For a simple kiss

upon the first flower I wish

The bees soon will be loving the flowers

Rolling with you on my bed for hours

Spring breezes caress my face

I long for your touch in it's place

Grass turns green, snow melts away

Sitting on your lap, ready to play

Everywhere I look flowers in bloom

Forget all this sap, let's go hump in my room!