Dogenzaka said:
I always find it interesting when people use "I'm not fat" as a ruler to measure their health.
Funny you bring this up. I had been under quite a pretense for years that due to my physical shape (rather slender) I was no doubt in good shape. That surely the plethora of things I ate without regard could not touch my infinite and shining godhood. I was wrong, though. Very wrong.
At any rate, I discovered one day that despite being slender I was in very poor shape (not necessarily health, but I'm sure that's quick to follow). It's not easy deciding to get into shape, after all, you trend towards what you do - which was about nothing.
I'm not the sort to give up the things I love - like soda, video games, drugs, reading, etc, insert your favorite activity here. It's just that many (read: all) of my favored activities are sedentary and therefore further contribute to my problem. The only solution is to inject a solution - exercise, water and the like - into my daily routine. Now I try to exercise almost an hour -at least- three times a week - that's my bare minimum. My goal is an hour every day, but I realize I may not always be able or willing to reach that goal. I have shifted to water as my primary source of hydration.
Eating is another matter entirely. I have no idea what to eat. I used to eat out what I would consider "often" (that's to say a few times a week), but I have cut that down to maybe once a month when it is unavoidable (Ie, I was late, couldn't prepare food and starving, etc etc). The thing is, though I eat at home a lot now, I'm not so sure that what I'm eating is any better per se. It's a really big work in progress.
I know one aspect of my love for sodium, sugar, and the like comes from the fact that I essentially grew up in a small town gas station. My parents owned one for the first twenty years of my life and a Coca Cola (among a million other types of beverages) was secondary nature. We traded in the stuff, after all! I remember having such a fascination with salt, my sister and I would occasionally lick the salt blocks we also sold for livestock. But we also took naps on giant rows of corn and dog food as well. Strange.
In fact, I have a completely dangerous love affair with sodium.