"The concept that Western diseases are lifestyle-related and therefore potentially
 preventable and reversible is the most
 important medical discovery of the twentieth centry."
~Denis Burkitt, Md. D., England
Discoverer of Burkitt's  Lymphoma~

I'm sure you will agree with a recent study I read stating that Americans spend about 40% of their food dollars eating out.  Many years ago, people waited until the weekend to  "go out" to dinner.  Now any day of the week, all restaurants are crowded and  it's hard to find parking places.  With all the places to eat and the wonderful tasting food served, we are the loosers.  We are the recipients of unreal amounts of processed foods that are refined, sugared, salted and chemically engineered to make their taste drive us crazy!  The best tasting steaks come from cattle that are given antibiotics and growth enhancers.  They are fatter, making the steaks  juicier and quite irresistable.  It is true that rural populations in China and Southeast Asia who have little access to rich foods are noted for having less heart attacks.

The villians to our life style are low fiber, high fat, and cholesterol.   These culprits  damage the body's oxygen-carrying arteries and upset metabolic functions.   Because of these important disrupted metabolic functions, a new diabetic is diagnosed every 50 seconds. This is a sad, sad statistic!  If you don't know a diabetic, you are in the minority.

In times past, most food was grown in local gardens and nearby farms, with staples coming from a nearby general store.  Not so these days of of dramical taste changes.   Even salads that would be healthy naked, are bathed in toppings that continue us on our journey of artery clogging choices.

I believe education is truly the key to our delimma. The authors of Health By Choice, Not Chance say, "As people learn that refinement robs food of most of its fiber and nutrients, and processing adds calories, subtracts nutrition, and contributes scores of chemical additives, many are willing to make changes." We need three essentials ingredients to change what we are doing now to make our eating lifestyle better.

          ~ Desire:  We have to truly want change in our life to make it happen. 

          ~Knowledge:  We have to understand why this change is so important  and 
                                   then educate ourself to the facts. A fact:  fruit is very 
                                   good for us!

         ~Skill:    Just having knowledge is not enough. It must be put into practice.
                        You have to read labels, plan healthy meals, avoid processed foods.
                        For example enjoy a baked potato, but with salsa instead of
                        butter, sour cream and cheese. (Tomatoes are a very good source
                        of cancer fighting antioxidants. Sour cream, butter and cheese is
                        processed.)

       ~ Until Next time ~

 "High-tech tomatoes.  Mysterious milk.  Supersquash.  
        Are we supposed to eat this stuff?  
     Or is it going to eat us?"  
   ~Annita Manning~