My Dad was morbidly obese and died of a heart attack. It was terrible. My whole life I was afraid my Dad would die, particularly, because he was so overweight. Obesity is a thief that hides in plain sight, stealing life away of its victims. My Dad tried every diet possible, but nothing stuck. I used to try everything to get him to eat healthier. Finding him having a heart attack, attempting CPR, the ambulance, all of it was so traumatic, I suffered from flashbacks for months and was diagnosed with PTSD. To this day, I hate the sound of ambulances. I also get upset easily by fat jokes or thoughtless comments people make about overweight people.
My own weight dived dangerously low as a Caregiver, and it’s ironic because I was eating toasted pound cake for breakfast and some really odd, unhealthy meals based on what my Gramps wanted to eat. So my first experience with weight issues was rapid weight loss due to stress. I felt like my body was out of control and I really thought I was going to waste away, and die, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. Now, I found myself a little overweight and working out with a trainer 3x per week to try to lose weight – it’s hard! My how the pendulum swings!
I think the best healthy eating advice I ever heard can be summed up quite simply as this: Don't eat the food (unless it's "whole food")! Focus on ingredients not food. Buy ingredients to make your meals at home. When you go to the store, shop the outer aisles of the supermarket where the produce, daily, and deli sections are located. Avoid the center aisles where packaged “foods” like cookies and cakes are located. Who would’ve thought “food” would be a dirty word? It is when it comes to eating healthy. There’s fast food, frozen food (fruit is okay), packaged food, processed food, and the list goes on. Basically anything that has “food” in the title on a box is not healthy for you to be eating, and whole food is the only acceptable food to eat.
Make good health your priority for you and your loved one. Caregivers must stay strong, physically, mentally and emotionally. Be good to yourself and make healthy choices!
No comments:
Post a Comment