The People Behind My Eyes

Eating For The Future
Sunday, January 28, 2007-3:36AM EST

I figure that at 35 it’s not too late for me to really take charge of my health. Certain conditions known to creep up on African-Americans at my age have been on my mind lately. I’d like to avoid them if possible so I’ve been tossing around different thoughts about how to better care for myself with better nutritional choices. I don’t plan to diet but to think about the long term effects of my food choices. Today I got this awful craving for something sweet and I swear I could smell chocolate. There is no chocolate in my house at this time and the closest place it could be is about a block away. I doubt I smelled chocolate coming from the quickie mart but it didn’t stop me from peaking out the window to see if the Hostess truck arrived yet.

I think about my cholesterol levels and about my blood pressure quite often. At this point I don’t have issues with that but it doesn’t mean I should ignore the fact that I can do something to avoid having those issues. In my family diabetes is thick. The only two people that don’t have it are me and my younger brother. A doctor once told me that he thought my food choices helped to stave off diabetes then but my food choices now invite it. I was a vegetarian from the age of 8 until 33 I think it was. I’ve lost some of the good eating habits I use to have. In two years I’ve lost those good eating habits. My how time flies when you’re eating cream pies. Even though it is not possible for me to go back to the life style that I dearly loved I can pick up the good eating habits again. I can long for the Hostess guy but I don’t have to walk over there and buy it. I can just pretend to smell him a block away and laugh while I do it then celebrate because I made a good choice for my future.

A friend of mine has a little sticker that she sends on the back of post cards and gifts. It says not to give up five minutes before your miracle happens. A nice man once put it, “Don’t give up forever for a moment.” This applies to my eating in that I can use such reasoning to walk away from over eating or simply not eating at all. If my goal is to have a healthier future then is it worth it for me to risk that health for one moment with a Twinkie or a Ding-Dong or say hot chocolate cake with thick icing and a side of ice cream with hot fudge topping, nuts and a cherry on top? Okay, I need to stop with that crap because I’m weakening as I speak. My point is, I’ll enjoy it for the moment but in the long run it may come back to bite me. I’m only 35, it’s not too late for me to make strong choices for my future in the way of nutrition. I intend to do that this year. I started about two weeks ago actually. I haven’t frequented said quickie mart to the extent that I use to. Oh yes, and I watch my posture as I sit in my chair at the desk. That’s another thing I started doing.

A goal I’ve kept for awhile now is to dedicated one day out of the week to drink nothing but water. I eat but when I take in fluids on that day it’s water. It’s just my way of making sure I get enough of it. I’ve done that for quite some time so my next step has to build on that. It’s an easy thing for me to do just one day a week, put down soda and coffee and drink only water. I can only hope that whatever my next step will be will be as easy.

While I may look like that lady right now I do not plan to feel like she looks. I swear right here and right now that even though my breasts hang, my butt sags, and my eyes may barely open to share their red streaks with the world I will not add to those things by not caring for myself today.

Austin

PS. Thanks for the card Beauty. It was the perfect picture for my entry.