Oh please G-man, save me from my fat self!

When I decided to write this blog, I wanted it to chronicle my trip to a healthier me. More and more, I have been finding other topics to write about. Now don't get me wrong, it has been a great exercise eating healthier, and feeling healthier. What this comes down to is personal choices; personal freedoms. Freedom being the key word here. I am FREE to eat as healthy as I want, or as poorly as I want. I am FREE to exercise and get fit, or remain my favorite shape, which is round. I am proud to live in a great Nation that affords me all these freedoms, right? Well, looks like I am wrong.

The latest attempt for the government to control what and how we eat involves forcing movie theatres to now display the calorie count of all the snack foods it sells. Maybe I am being narrow minded here, but when was the last time you ordered a large tub of popcorn with extra salt and butter and thought to yourself, "Gee this is so-o-o healthy for me!"  Yeah, I can't remember having any other thought about that big tub o'corn except yay! Free refills!

Little by little, our Government has had a hand in controlling what and how you eat by forcing fast food chains and other private businesses to post the calorie count in their meals. I for one do not go into a McDonalds and order a Big Mac because I am counting calories. All I am thinking about is that oh so greasy goodness. I also don't go into a Burger King looking for a salad. There is a group of people out there that think no matter where they eat, they should be able to get healthy food. That's great, I sometimes want to eat healthier food too. Tell you what, lets all pile into our Hybrid vehicles and go to the nearest healthy fast food joint. What's that you say? There aren't any? Well golly I wonder why?

We have restaurants like Burger King, Taco Bell and Arby's. We DON'T have a Tofu King, or a McBean Sprout or a Falafel Bell. If it is so important to have healthy eating options, why doesn't the loud minority open up affordable and healthy eating fast food joints?  I guess the key is affordability. Case in point, last week Tom and I decided to load up on fresh salad and veggies to continue our healthy eating journey. We purchase some tomatoes, some salad greens and some shredded carrots. We spent about $30.00. Thats right, for three ingredients. We could barely afford the tomatoes, but whats a salad without tomatoes? We could not afford the cucumber and the peppers we wanted either. And forget the fruit prices! No wonder more and more Americans have developed poor eating habits, they simply cannot afford to eat healthier!

The point I am trying to make is, I strongly feel that the Government should not be instructing private businesses on how and what they can sell. If the Government feels so strongly about my eating habits, then they should stop importing my vegetables from other countries and charging me three bucks per pound for a crappy tomato. One dollar for a cucumber from Mexico. That's right, a single cucumber! Five bucks for three peppers from Guatemala. It's very hard to find vegetables grown by local farmers, thereby supporting my local economy. Get the picture?

Now, if you will excuse me, I am about to go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries for a Big Ass Burger. As a nod to my oh so concerned government, I will pile said burger with some fresh lettuce and tomato. Bon Appetit!

Time to pick a pack of pickled peppers!

For those of you that read my last post, you know that I started a walking program that began with mastering the mountain I like to call, my driveway. I am happy to say that the walk back and forth to my mailbox is starting to get a little easier to tolerate. Not that I still don’t huff and puff, it’s just that I don’t mind it as much. I figure this higher altitude I now live in is turning my brain to mush. I mean, who in their right mind would continue this bodily torture, right?

I am also trying my hand at gardening. By this, I mean I dutifully watched Tom dig holes to plant some new rose bushes. Not to be outdone by this manly display of energy, I have planted a little indoor greenhouse, starting some fresh veggies and flowers inside so they will be ready by April to plant in the garden.   This is satisfying on two levels. One the one hand, we plan on canning and freezing the vegetables come harvest time. Not only will this save money on buying costly produce in the stores, but the health benefits of growing your own veggies without the use of pesticides and other nefarious agents cannot be discounted.  Also, since our flower garden is situated on an incline, we will be able to work off more calories planting, weeding and cultivating our babies all summer long.

This made me think about how many calories are burned with simple gardening chores. For example, we have about two acres, if not a little more of lawn that needs to be mowed. Then there is the weed pulling, edge trimming and mulch hauling that is inevitable. I did some research, and came up with the following list of gardening exercises and the benefits thereof. These calculations are based on the average body weight of 150 pounds:

Digging, spading, filling and composting, 340 calories per hour

Lawn mowing with a power mower, 306 calories per hour

Raking the lawn,  292 calories per hour

Laying down crushed rock, 340 calories per hour

Planting seedlings, 306 calories per hour

Watering the lawn and garden,  102 calories per hour

Weeding the garden,   306 calories per hour

Light duty, picking flowers/vegetables, 204 calories per hour

Chopping and splitting wood,  408 calories per hour

Carrying and stacking this same wood,  340 calories per hour

Wow! Just think, a few hours in the garden, a couple of days a week, and before the summer even gets started I should be able to see a marked improvement in my overall well being. Just the time it took to put this article together has gotten me excited enough to put on my workout clothes and get digging. Of course, I will need to shovel the fresh snow that is now covering my workout canvas.  I wonder how many calories you can burn shoveling snow? I guess that will have to wait for another blog!

Happy Trails!