Speaking up and offending people. My specialty.

Yesterday at work I saw a sign announcing an event for the American Heart Association's Go Red campaign. It's nice to see the company supporting heart health...supporting it so very much actually, that they are giving out FREE SUNDAES to anyone that bought a pin! Anyone catching on to the irony yet? Here's the discussion that followed:

Email from me to 2 high ranking people in my company who I thought might be involved in this event:
"I think it's great to promote awareness of heart disease. But I'm having trouble with the idea of incentivizing people to come by giving away sundaes. It sends a mixed message, don't you think, since saturated fat from animal products is a leading cause of heart disease? Are you guys the right people to talk to or is someone else managing the actual event?"

At this point I was feeling nervous about having sent this email. I anticipated a negative response, or no response at all.

First response:
"You raise an interesting point. Maybe we serve healthier food! Mau, what do you think?"

After reading that someone saw my point and had taken it under consideration, I felt great! What a win!

Then this, from a woman at the front desk. She is a long-time employee, somewhat of a grandmother figure. Someone must have forwarded my message to her. Turns out she is involved in the event:
"Ice cream – very lo-fat, strawberries – no sugar added meaning they are healthy fruit and I mashed them myself in my kitchen, the chocolate sauce is fat free - I have kept this healthy and inexpensive since money is at a premium for these events that people want us to have but put on WORKLIFE budgets.

This is a fundraiser – we want to give the American Heart Association some money – if the kids here are worried about their health – that is their personal choice – they do not have to buy a pin or eat the sundae – and personally – I would not do anything to jeopardize their health - SUNDAES ARE FUN!!!

We are also trying to save money – I am not charging for the strawberries, or the M&M peanuts (some healthy item there), I am donating all this to save money – it’s a charity that is “close to my Heart” no pun intended – "

After reading this I was extremely frustrated. Clearly she means well and seems to feel insulted by my thoughts on food. But how to explain that even though SUNDAES ARE FUN, it doesn't mean it's the responsible thing to do? I decided that I'd said enough at this point and at least had a small win with the first response.

I replied:
"I just could not live with myself if I didn’t suggest a healthy alternative for food. Ice cream is certainly the kind of processed food/animal product that causes heart disease, although I respect your attempt to keep it all low-fat and such. I’m still interested in the mixed message it sends to combine a heart-healthy event with ice cream. It’s a point that can be taken, disregarded, or simply considered next time! Thanks for responding."

Speaking my truth was exhilarating, truth be told. But what could I have done better? How could I have handled this in a way that would have made a real difference? And have you had experiences like this, speaking out about food choices in a way that maybe offends other people? Please share in the comments!

Taking Care of Number 2

There are a lot of good blogs out there about health and wellness, food and exercise. But you know what I've yet to come across? A blog post about something incredibly important to everyone, from babies to senior citizens, meat eaters and raw vegans. I've never seen a blog post about having a Proper Bowel Movement (PBM).

Yikes! I said it. That's right. Poo. Shit. Crap. Dookie. Whatever you call it, or maybe shy away from calling it, it happens. Right? And it's also an extremely important part of good overall health that seems to get ignored. Yet we have an aisle full of Pepto and Immodium at the drugstore so I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has suffered from digestive difficulties.

So what constitutes a PBM? I'm no doctor and everyone is different. But here are some general guidelines I've picked up along the way.

Frequency
Three times per day is great. Two times per day is good. Once is ok. Any less than that, consider yourself constipated. Why is that bad? Your body is full of toxins. ("Toxins" are a nice way of saying putrefied foodstuffs and chemicals).

Size, shape and texture
A PBM should be soft, but formed, and easy to move. A nice medium brown is what we're going for (unless you've been eating beets or other colorful foods). Finally, a PBM should be pretty large. A newborn baby has a small yet perfectly clean colon – what comes out is still sizable. If your BMs are skinny or small amounts, your insides are clogged up. This can make you feel tired and even lead to disease. Putrefied food wants out. End of story.

So, obviously our bodies don't always move things along like we wish they would. When was the last time you had 3 PBMs in one day?? Ok, you don't have to answer that in the comments unless you really want to...

There are lots of colon cleanses out there, things like hydrotherapy, laxatives and enemas. I personally have not tried any of these so I can't speak to how they work. In my mind, it's always better to at least start with natural, common sense techniques. Here are some things you can do to create PBMs for yourself. Start now and you could see a difference in just a few days.

1. Eat lots more fresh fruits, vegetables and beans, especially things like fiber-rich kale. Eat plenty of RAW items.

2. Eat less meat and dairy. Eliminate greasy, processed and sugary foods. Pretend your insides are metal pans and your intestines are doing the dishes. Eat things that clean up easily. (Hint: it's not animal fat) And as an older gentleman I used to know would say "cheese is a plug." He was right.

3. Try adding ground flax seed to your food. It's got good fat to keep things inside well-oiled, in addition to extra fiber. Start with 1/4 tsp. every day and see how it goes. Also try drinking hot water first thing in the mornings, maybe with a little lemon.

4. Kick caffeine. Our adrenal glands are necessary for PBMs, so you may be becoming dependent on your latte habit for your morning movement. Let your adrenal glands work as they are supposed to and you'll have many more PBMs to, er, look forward to.

5. Drink plenty of water. Drinking after meals instead of before helps because you are not diluting the acid and flora of digestion.

6. Exercise. Movement on the outside makes movement on the inside. Literally. In yoga, twists and inversions are especially helpful.

6. Finally, just notice each day the quality of your output. Gross as it seems, it's an excellent indicator of your overall health. Plus, it's hard to be Little Miss Sunshine when your insides are tied in knots.

I'm sure by now your New Year's Resolution is for awesome PBMs! I mean, how could you not be psyched about this??? If you have any additional tips for natural laxative alternatives, please leave in the comments.

The promise of obesity sparkling in his eyes

I usually have a sense of humor that borders on sick and obscene, but the Heart Attack Grill is treading a little to heavily on my sense of right and wrong. The menu offering doesn't bother me more than any hamburger joint. And the sexy nurses don't bother me, not even the complimentary wheelchair rides to your car. It's just the idea that people would purposely promote and actually create...HEART ATTACKS. There's even a zipper club for people who, I suppose, have the telltale zipper scar from open heart surgery.

I have an idea for a restaurant. It's called Kill Your Kids Grill. You come in and order and then I shoot your kid in the head. HA HA Funny!

America kind of grosses me out sometimes.

The China Study: Less beef. More Broccoli.

In college I never went to Chemistry class, but showed up for exams and got straight A's. (Kudos to my highschool Chemistry teacher.) Anyway, that was probably the last time I paid any attention whatsoever to real science-y stuff. You know, experiments, data, statistics, bell curves.

The China Study is full of that stuff though, and I loved it. The author makes the case, simply put, for eating fewer animals and more plants. This sort of diet has been proven to reduce or eliminate everything from cancer to diabetes to MS.

Not as sensational as the Atkins diet or as sexy as the South Beach Diet, this suggestion of eliminating animal products definitely doesn't sit well with industry and government. Nor does it make for a best seller. But it does make a whole lot of sense when you consider the areas of the world afflicted with the most cancer, heart disease and other "Diseases of Affluence", then consider the diets that prevail in those areas. The China Study compares rural China to America and finds patterns that help us understand how diet is the key to solving so many health problems.