I have been an absent Kos person for a couple of months now, struggling with health issues and recovering from my car accident from four months ago. My badly broken forearm is still recovering and my limited use of my left hand has made everything I do more difficult, the imminent freezing of the same shoulder put me in a lot of physical therapy and pain.
I went back to work in the middle of January and found that working has taxed me, typing, using my hand has left very little for writing on the side and I am sore as hell most of the time. The other health issues haven't helped my recovery, my fibro has reared its ugly head and my rheumatoid arthritis is not helping he stiffness in my hand and wrist, making use of my left hand pretty useless. Opening doors is still difficult, doing simple things like putting on my clothes is hard, but I am making progress.
And I've struggled with my health and weight for years now, this just adds another wrinkle to an already frustrating battle. I am attempting to lose weight, yet again. But this time, this time it seems different.
I've written about food issues, I've been involved in Slow Food issues and interested in sustainable food topics for a long time. I've pondered, I have know what I need to do for my health but have never made the leap, it is as if I have been window shopping, not quite there yet.
But I have arrived, I had that epiphany or maybe I hit rock bottom, not quite sure which it was. Maybe it was turning forty and realizing that the odds that I was going to get significantly healthier were slim to impossible unless I made drastic changes and those changes were going to have nothing to do with anything a doctor prescribe to me, it was not going to come in a pill.
I needed to not only lose weight but change my diet, what food I ate if I was going to become healthier because the food we eat is not imbibing us with good health, it is not making us a better and fitter populace, it is slowly but surely killing us.
The answer for me was going away with as much processed and refined foods as possible, removing the crap and it's been difficult. I pretty much am willing to try anything. And this doesn't mean vegetarian necessarily, I am exploring keeping meat in my diet and cutting gluten, dairy and refined sugar. I am basically trying to figure out what works best for me, but it means finding out what foods are doing me the most harm.
I am attempting to stop using my microwave. We purchased a new oven (Smaller and easier to use than the POS that came with our house), got a new blender that has let me make some great shakes, ice creams (Home made better than store bought) and other good things.
The only person who can make me healthier is me. That is it, I am responsible for my own health and wellbeing.
Which to many may not seem like such a big discovery and it is something I've known for a long time, but never quite clicked like it has recently.
But this is not as easy as you think, there is a lot of money riding on you not doing this, being more healthy has a lot of money riding against it (Yes, even with the multi-billion dollar diet industry which obviously isn't working either!). Keeping us sick, dependent on medicine (And yes, I believe we need it, there are many good things that come from it, so this is not anti-medicine).
So, I am starting this journey again, but with a new sense of determination I've never had before. My husband can see it, I can feel it and I know I can do it this time. It feels like it's up to me. I feel like I have the tools and that if I do not do this, I will not get better, I am tired of struggling with so much pain.
The other big change has to do with my involvement with Transition Aliso Viejo, I am on the steering committee and I am so excited about this. My backyard is currently naked and waiting to be the first installation, we are going to make it an edible garden.
Big changes, good changes and I want to urge others to think about these things because you too can take control of your health, not by having someone tell you what to eat, this is not about becoming vegan, becoming vegetarian, gluten free, etc. This is about becoming the healthiest person I can be and walking away from a food system that is not there to feed us, but to make us dependent on the drug they are selling and it's not nutrition.