327. Are you part of the RADICAL culture? (I hope so..)

I have been thinking a lot about health lately because I know for me how much I’ve struggled to be the size I want to be, how hard I work to maintain and optimize my health and so much of that has to do with weight.    I also see so many other women struggling the same but it always seems like an uphill battle. Like my sweet yoga instructor who is giving herself grace because the baby weight is not coming off as fast as she would like or an acquaintance who at 55 just can’t stop gaining weight and it’s really destroying her confidence.  I understand the feeling of not wanting to look in the mirror with no clothes on.  I used to turn away from the mirror so I didn’t have to look. I don’t have to do that anymore and I turn 50 in June.  Yes I work out but I always have. I had a lot more fat on my body at 30 then I do now. I worked out then and I work out now. It’s all about the food I’m choosing.  And let me just say before I get into my rant here. I love you guys.  I see you I am you.  honestly I never used to be I never used to think I could be a person that was super disciplined about what I eat and drink.  I would say I’m not that person.  I don’t want to be that disciplined, and then I realized I am that person I am disciplined I just had to shed the part of me that wasn’t. Deep down inside I believe you are too and maybe you can shed the part of you that isn’t. Food is a struggle for most people I know.  It’s either what the heck do I eat or I don’t even eat that much and Im still gaining weight.  It’s a common problem. Like I said on Fridays episode 70% of Americans are overweight.  And it has everything to do with our food.   And everyone has an opinion on food. Some will tell you this diet works best or you should eat this way or that way or for only this long. There’s so much information out there, it’s almost impossible to decipher what’s true and what isn’t.  But there is one thing that I think is especially damaging to us and it’s said in a well meaning way.  But its damage goes beyond word value.  And look I could get on board with that statement that it’s not our own fault if we are overweight because the food industry has manipulated our food into something that is no longer food. It looks like it and tastes like it but there’s no nutrition so it simply isn’t food.  And then on top of that they add ingredients that make you addicted so you want more and more. So yes,  if I didn’t know the deeper consequences of believing its not my fault then I would agree with it. But I can’t do that. You know why? Because by saying it’s not my fault, it takes the power completely out of my hands to do anything about it.  When it’s not your fault then you are powerless to change it. That makes you a victim of an unseen monster that isn’t going away. I don’t want to be a victim and I don’t think you do either. And people will say well it’s kind to say it isn’t their fault because the big bad food companies have made it impossible to be healthy.  No!  The big bad food companies what they have done is create options that if we choose them make it impossible for us to be healthy. But as long as we get to decide what we buy at the grocery store or what we eat at a restaurant, all the still power lies in our hands. That’s the ugly truth.   That’s the truth no one wants to hear or say. Listen in to hear the entire manifesto!