Freedom to Eat Anything You Want!

It's July fourth.
I can almost smell the aroma of the grills.
There will be hamburgers, brats and hotdogs at cookouts, fried chicken at picnics and ice cream churned, watermelons cut across our great land. All enjoyed in the celebration of Freedom. Great cause. Good intention. But I wonder-

Is the freedom that we celebrate a freedom to do anything that we want- even to our detriment?
Our fore fathers fought and died for us to have a better life, to live unencumbered by tyranny imposed by British tyrants who subjugated us because it prospered them financially. It made them powerful while making us powerless.
Fast forward 232 years, to 2008. It’s “Independence Day”. Yet, as Americans we are subjugated again, not by a foreign tyrant, but by our own self centeredness. You can see it in any number of crises but none more critical and personal that our national health care and obesity crisis.

Is anyone unaware of the high cost of health care? That premium on our paycheck spits in our eye every month. We are waking up to the reality that there is a very high cost to being unhealthy. Politicians seize the platform to cry out that health care costs are somehow the fault of the government or the insurance company. It is neither.

“There are no victims, only volunteers”

Obesity in America is the fault of everyone of us who volunteers to make bad choices because we have the “freedom” to do so.

It’s not the one brat at the July 4th family picnic, it’s that you have a hamburger with mayo and cheese AND a brat AND potato salad AND Potato Chips with dip washed downed with a six pack of beer or soda AND topped of with a bowl of full cream-homemade ice cream with carmel topping and whipped cream.
It’s that hamburger with fries (biggie-sized) on your lunch hour 4 days this week. It’s that Double cheese, pepperoni and sausage pizza.
It’s the fact that walking enough to sweat is considered “uncomfortable” until it is compared to the level of discomfort of your heart attack and prescribed as cardiac rehabilitation.

So am I advocating that you cancel the family picnic? Hardly.
It will be afun time simply being with your loved ones, so could you alter the menu to include SOME healthy alternatives for that picnic?

• Fruit salad
• Vegetable tray
• Potato salad made with non-fat mayo.
• Salsa instead of ranch dip (which is simply mayo with spices)
• Angel food with strawberries and blueberries instead of ice cream
• Grill chicken instead of frying it or grilling hamburgers?
• Could you modify what you eat the week before and after in anticipation of the impact of this one celebration meal?

Don’t volunteer for an early death or a life constantly fighting preventable disease.
Instead of being captive to our freedom to self indulge, celebrate your freedom to LIVE, live longer and live more active healthy lives.
Make this your “Independence Day”