Prayer for the Animals

Hear our humble prayer, O, God,

for our friends the animals.

Especially for animals who are suffering;

for any that are hunted or lost

or deserted or frightened or hungry;

for all that must be put to death, we

entreat for them all thy mercy and pity,

and for all those who deal with them,

we ask a heart of compassion

and gentle hands and kindly words.

Make us, ourselves, to be true

friends to animals and so

to share the blessings of the merciful.

~Albert Schweitzer

Dedicated to our sweet little goat, Gypsy, whom we lost over Labor Day weekend.  R.I.P.

Health and Wellness Again

I'm continuing this topic as it's a very important one and very near and dear to my heart.  I was recently skimming a book I got from the library and was stunned, to say the least, by some of the facts about food.  The book is Fit to LIve by Pamela Peeke, a medical doctor.  I'm just going to list some of the thing she shared:


Americans "spend more of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care - almost 17 percent - than any other nation on the planet.  Most nations spend about 9 percent of their GDP on health-care costs.  If we spent 11 percent (still more than anyone), we'd save $700 billion a year!"


People 100 pounds or more overweight are so prevalent in the United States that if they all lived in one state, it would be the 12th most populated state.


"The average 5-foot 4-inch woman in the 1950s blew up from a 120-pound, 26-inch waist, size-6 body to, in 2006, a 157-pound, 34.5-inch waist, size-14 body."


"Already one-third of our children are seriously overweight; many kids ages 1 to 6 are too heavy for standard car seats."


"One out of every three children born in 2000 will have type 2 diabetes by the age of 30.  They are the first generation who won't live as long as their boomer parents."


Rates of obesity and overweight went from 58% in 2001 to 63% in 2005.


"Over 80 percent of the diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, top three cancers, fractures from falls, physical disabilities, and overall complaints to primary-care doctors are caused by the choices we make in our everyday living."


Dr. Peeke also wrote about portion size in the U.S.  I didn't take notes on that - probably because it was so shocking - but you should know that the portions our grandparents ate at mealtimes would be considered mere snacks to us today.  Even our neighbors to the north, the Canadians don't eat like we do as this Canadian blogger noticed in her trip to New York.  Our portions have gotten larger, along with our plates.  Studies show that when given more food, we eat more.  


Here are some statistics similar to ones Dr. Peeke had in her book:


In the last 20 years, the average serving of pizza went from 500 calories to 850; the average coffee from 45 calories to 330; movie popcorn t from 270 calories to 630; bagels from 3-inch diameter at 140 calories to 5 or 6 diameter at 350 calories; cheeseburgers from 330 calories to 590 calories; and soft drinks in an 8-ounce can at 97 calories to a 20-ounce bottle at 242 calories.*


This slow creep in portion size and the emphasis on snack foods and supersizing has led to our current health care crisis.  What can we do about it?  Just Say No.  We have to say no to the junk food that is pervasive in our lives.  Say no to the supersized meals, even though they're a better "bargain."  Say no to the manufacturers who want us to consume more and more food because now that is the only way they can increase profits.  Say no to the advertisements we see on television by turning it off.  Avoid restaurants that serve oversided portions (or at least take home a doggy bag if we can be that strong).  We need to become educated about good, healthy food and start moving our bodies more.  We need to start paying attention to our food and quit mindless eating.  Is it easy?  No.  Is it worth the effort?  Definitely.  Our lives depend upon it.





*Figures obtained from http://www.divinecaroline.com/79975/49492-portion-size-vs-now

El Paseo

Many years ago, when our family stayed with friends in Spain, we learned of a old Spanish tradition called "el paseo."  El paseo, which means to stroll, takes place after dinner.  During an el paseo, the entire community can be seeing walking the streets, greeting their neighbors, helping their food digest, and burning off calories, as well.  This activity has become part of our family tradition.  My husband and I (and my faithful dog Ginny) try to take a paseo every evening.  When our grown children are home from college and don't have plans for that evening, they join us.  Our modern lives mean we move much less than we need to.  We tend to spend the vast majority of our time sitting behind desks, on the sofa or behind the wheel of a car.  Paseos not only allow us to move our sedentary bodies, but it allows us to reconnect with family and friends.  I would love to see this concept spread as it is one of the most healthy  things one can do.

Health and Wellness

Some of my readers know that I'm currently working on my master's degree in Human Services, with a concentration in health and wellness.  There are so many things I can do with this degree and one thing that keeps coming to mind is working in a setting where I help people with food issues.  In the United States, a large number of people have a serious problem with obesity and weight-related illnesses which contributes to our health care crisis.  


A fellow blogger recently posted an article comparing French diet habits and food packaging to those in the United States.  You can read about it here.  This ties in with my post of yesterday where I talked about quality versus quantity.  Although I was talking about possessions, it applies to food as well.  We're supersizing ourselves into the hospital and an early grave.


It saddens me to see people with severe health problems when most of these conditions are easily preventable.  One day, when I'm done with school, I  would love to be part of the solution to this problem.



Photo courtesy of www.freedigitalimages.net
Photographer:  Suat Eman

Quality vs. Quantity

Yesterday at lunch, I had a most interesting conversation with my husband.  Recently, our son discovered a movie based on a novel from the 1980s, American Psycho.  If you ignore the "psycho" portions, the movie was pretty accurate about the shallowness of the 80s.  My son was laughing about the characters' obsessions with having the best business card, getting reservations at the most exclusive restaurant, and wearing the right clothes.  I told him that the 80s really was about status - what you wore, what you drove, how you entertained.  


Talking to my husband about it, I said the 80s was all about quality, whereas in the present day, it's all about quantity, i.e. consumerism.  While there was a lot wrong with the 80s, I do think in some ways we had it right.  We really should be concerned with purchasing quality items that endure the test of time.  It's much better to have a few quality items that you enjoy for years to come, than to purchase a lot of cheap goods that are thrown away after a few uses.  The problem with the 80s was that we bought items to impress others.  


Today, however, we don't care at all about quality.  It's all about price and getting more, more, more.  Crass consumerism is the new way to impress friends and neighbors.  We tell ourselves that we have a lot of really good stuff and we that we've saved lots of money in the process.  The sad thing is that we really don't save money in the end.  We find ourselves spending even more money to replace the items that didn't last.  And for the few items that do last, we end up having them clutter our homes or putting them in storage because we really didn't need them in the first place.  We were just seduced by  low prices and shiny products.


Although we need to avoid trying to impress our friends and neighbors, I would like to see us get back to caring about spending our limited dollars on quality rather than quantity.  By doing so, we simplify our lives, save money, and reduce our impact on the planet.  

Quote for the Day

"We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do."

~Barbara Ward

A Little Weekend Humor

Hmmm, I wonder if made people think twice before littering.