The Oasis

Are You Eating Too Little?

Now that's a question that really makes me think!

Just looking around, at least here in the States, it doesn't appear to me that most of us are eating too little...quite the contrary.

All the latest statistics say that obesity in America is increasing at an unprecedented rate. In plain unvarnished English, that means we are all too fat. A glance around at the people who are visiting your neighborhood mall or grocery store seems to bear this out. A few years ago, it seems I almost never saw anyone using the scooters in the large stores such as Wal-Mart, and even when I did the person was very likely to be thin and using an oxygen tank as well.

Not any more. Now the folks who are driving the scooters, at least from my observation, are etremely heavy.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying that people who suffer from obesity should just get up and walk around the store. Obesity is a serious medical condition, and many times, obese people also suffer from painful arthritis in their joints, breathing problems and a host of other ailments.

Many people don't understand at all that obesity is an extremely complex condition and is caused by a combination of genetic predisposition, the body's individual metabolic rate, cultural and psychological influences and a variety of other factors. Beloved members of my own family struggle with obesity and since I hit those lovely menopause years, all I have to do is sniff food to put on a couple of pounds.

Our hectic, stress-filled lives and fast paced culture do not help. And neither do the golden arches, biggie fries and "super-size me" boys. Where else but in our culture can you purchase a day's worth of calories for two ninety-nine and scarf it down in less than five minutes, all without removing yourself from the comfort of the front seat of your car?

So how can I even pose a question like this one: are we eating too little?

Actually, I'm not the one who asked the original question. For that, I defer to Bruce Ames, a biochemist and researcher at the prestigious Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Dr. Ames readily admits that the typical American diet is loaded with calories. But in 2004, at a meeting of the top nutrition scientists, which took place at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Ames proposed a radical idea...

Americans are fat...and getting fatter...

not because we eat too much...but because we eat too little.

Not "too little" in terms of total calories, but "too little" when it comes to some crucial nutrients.

There are more than forty minerals and vitamins that we absolutely have to have for our bodies to function properly and for the most part, we can't get them by popping a handful of vitamins. So...

when we eat a meal that doens't supply us with what our bodies need (and fast food doesn't come close to passing that test!) our brains get the signal that we have not had enough to eat!

So what should we do?

A good multi-vitamin doesn't hurt but many studies show that food is our best source for vitamins and minerals. And unlike vitamins, we can't overdose on the vitamins we get from food.

So be aware of what you are putting into your body. Choose fruits and vegetables and whole grains over fast foods and juice and soda. Your body will thank you and you will be on the road to having good health for years to come.

Earth Day

Another Earth Day. Hard to believe somehow that since last April 22nd we've all taken another trip around the sun.

All the local papers will have the usual friendly and unthreatening articles about recycling and the addresses of places where you can take your tin cans and glass bottles.

No one seems to notice the other news articles, usually buried in the back of the paper or deep in the network news websites, about how we are literally destroying the very home we live in...our precious Earth.

Instead, we talk about the latest war casualites, the most recent child abductions and murders, the anniversaries of the Columbine killings and the tragedy of the Oklahoma bombing or the latest outbreak of a killer disease in Angola.

Hello...is anyone home?

Yes, the war...the murders... the bombings...the disease outbreaks are tragically awful.

But has anyone considered that the destruction of the Earth and all of the horrible things that are going on in the human realm could be related?

With our alienation from the Earth, the source and sustenance of our very lives, comes the breakdown of our humanity. Ecological philosopher Paul Shepard (1925-1996) writes eloquently of our human predicament:

"The infantile atmosphere of modern society---its gluttony, instant gratification, and simplistic values, its unwillingness to risk or endure, its lack of a cosmology that recognizes limits and otherness---continues to demand that living things be cartoons, warm and lively in their imagry preferably projected by or seen as electronic and mechanical devices...Most people seem to agree that we cannot and do not want to go back to the past, but the reason given is often wrong. The truth is that we cannot go back to what we never left. Our home is the earth, our time the Pleistocene Ice Ages. The past is the formula for our being. . . . The attempt to revive our humanity and recover values and behavior does not mean giving up science, art, medicine, law, machines, music, or anything else." 

As important as recycling may be, the solutions to our problems demand far more...nothing less than a return home, to the true Eden...and an end to our separation from the Earth.

Pill Popping Americans

Are we overmedicating ourselves?

Yes, says Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. "We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments. What the drug companies are doing now is promoting drugs for long-term use to essentially healthy people. Why?"

"Because it's the biggest market."

By some estimates, more than 125,000 Americans die from drug reactions and medication "mistakes" each year. That could make prescribed drugs the fourth leading cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke!

Of course, modern pharmaceuticals have saved lives and continue to play an important role in patients with heart disease, high blood pressure and the like.

But for those of us who are essentially well, what can we do to stay away from potentially dangerous medications?

One way is to look at increasing our stress resiliency. Why?

Because stress has been implicated in a whole host of diseases, ranging from heart disease and cancer to the inability of a woman to conceive.

So what can you do?

One of the easiest ways to increase your stress resiliency is to exercise...

oh, no...I can hear the collective groans. But I'm not talking about push ups or running a marathon here.

So what do I mean?

Just go for a walk. A simple walk, starting out slowly for the first couple of minutes to warm up, then gradually increasing your speed until you are walking like you are late for an appointment. Walk for about twenty to thirty minutes, three to four times a week. That's it!

After only a week or so, you will find that your resting heart rate has lowered and you don't get quite so out of breath when taking the stairs. Your sleep will impove and you may find that your tendency to reach for those unhealthy snacks will diminish.

Who knows, perhaps you will think about training for that marathon after all!

Relax...It's Tax Time!

If you haven't heard, Saturday, April 16th is National Stress Awareness Day. This makes a lot of sense doesn't it, seeing that the 15th is tax day!

Actually, April is National Stress Awareness month here in the States.

But just what is stress anyway?

A definition I like a lot is this...

stress is the body's reaction to any change, and that reaction can be mental, emotional, physical or spiritual...

or a combination of all three.

Notice I said "any" change...

that covers a lot of ground, doesn't it? Also, stress is the BODY's reaction.

It's funny isn't it, because we are a culture so obsessed with our bodies...

yet, most of us really live mostly in our heads. That's the bad news.

The good news is that because stress is a bodily reaction, we can use our bodies to change our reaction to it. By making our bodies more resilient,we can literally increase our ability to bounce back from stress.

How do we become more stress resilient?

One easy way to begin is to simply become aware of our breathing.

What does breathing have to do with stress resiliency?

Everything!

Take a moment, right now, if you are willing...

to try a small experiment with me.

Breathe in through your nose and you may notice...

the slight coolness in your nostrils as you breathe in and the feeling of warmth as you breathe out.

In coolness...

out warmth.

Allow your eyes to close if you would like and continue for a few more moments.

What did you notice?

Perhaps a relaxation of your muscles, a calming of your heart.

This intentional breathing can be done several times during the day, or anytime you feel stressed or anxious. So breathe...

and let go of your worries for a moment. Breathe out worry...breathe out tension...breathe out stress.

Breathe in calmness...breathe in joy...breathe in love.