A new site and a new blog. I might archive my old blog here, however I doubt that the world will spin off its axis without my previous ramblings. I hope you like the new design and, as always, look forward to your comments.

I couldn’t decide on the topic of this weeks blog and wanted something special for the inaugural post of the new site so I settled on something very dear to me. Food. Our great nation is fixated on food. There are entire television stations dedicated to culinary delights and thousands of websites spouting out recipes for everything from squirrel stew to tofu burgers. Like to eat out but can’t afford it? No worries, you can find recipes online for just about any restaurant creation you crave.

So what’s wrong with all this food? Absolutely nothing. Eating makes us happy, healthy, and productive as long as we practice three concepts that we should apply to every aspect of our lives: knowledge, common sense, and moderation.

Knowledge is important in that it gives us a sense of control as to what we ingest. If you suffer from a medical condition that forces you to avoid certain foods then you use your noggin and do a little research into your diet. Read labels and look up ingredients you don’t know. Most commercial food products can easily be made at home with fresh ingredients and will have fewer additives and sodium.

Common sense kicks in to override the commercial labeling of our food with taglines such as “fat-free”, “no added sugar”, and, my favorite, “gluten-free”. Surely common sense dictates that we all could use a reduction in fats and sugars but common sense should also ask “What are these being replaced with?”. Is that non-fat imitation butter that tastes and spreads like plastic really better for you? Does no added sugar mean it is loaded with aspartame or other artificial sweeteners that have been proven time and again to be unsafe in the doses we are all accustomed to? Compare labels on “Light” and regular yogurt and ask yourself if the 40-60 calories you save eating light yogurt really worth the artificial additives and sweeteners. If you get really bored, look up the studies linking low-fat and non-fat milk to health problems, including cancer. As for gluten-free products, they are no healthier for you (but usually more expensive) UNLESS you actually have a problem with gluten. Eat a huge serving of common sense with every meal.

Moderation allows us to enjoy our food stress free. What are one of the main causes of weight & health problems? You guessed it: stress. What’s the point of slimming down or lowering our cholesterol if we are miserable because we have made eating more complicated than necessary? Moderation isn’t always easy and takes practice but the reward is a healthy, happy body without the stress of dieting. The easiest way to explain moderation is this:

If you want a piece of chocolate cake fine, enjoy it. Just don’t eat the whole damned cake!

No diet in the world is worth the effort without exercise. There are many ways to exercise, from jumping jacks to yoga, but the main idea is to get off your ass at least twenty minutes a day. Studies have shown that a brisk 20-minute walk a day has enormous health benefits. Whatever your flavor of exercise, as the saying goes, “Just Do It!”.