.

 Preventing Illness

I have done earlier posts on how being healthy can keep you stress free. Depending on how sick you are you will need medication, and that medication can have side effects. The side effects can cause stress. If you run out of the medication, you have the anxiety of getting more or what happens if you cannot get more.

As I said in my earlier posts there are foods you can eat to keep you healthy. You see I come from a family that has high blood pressure, diabetes and colon cancer. My relatives either take pills or inject insulin. I don’t want to do either of those things. Once you start, there is a possibility you will have to buy the pills and insulin for the rest of your life. I don’t want to worry about spending a certain amount of money every month for the pills and/or insulin, with or without insurance.  I decided a long time ago, I would do everything in my power  not to have high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer. If I was diagnosed with it I could control it with my diet. I have done a great deal of research on the internet. What I discovered is this, the same foods can either help prevent or keep diabetes, high blood pressure as well as cancer at bay: apples, asparagus, avocados, beans, blueberries, broccoli, carrots, cranberries, fish, flaxseed, garlic, kale, melon, nuts, oatmeal, quinoa, raspberries, red grapefruit, red onions, red peppers, soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, yogurt. *

I have found that having a diet with these foods has really helped me. Some of these foods don’t taste the greatest, I know. But they can be chopped up so small and included in other foods that you don’t taste them. What happens with me is I chop the food up really fine, tolerate the taste, or learn to like the item. I asked myself this question…If I had the choice between becoming ill or eating a food I did not like the taste of which could possibly prevent an illness, which one would I choose? Well, I chose to eat the food. Granted I am a work in progress. I am not saying I will never get diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer or any other illness. But I have a greater chance of not getting those health conditions, or beating them if I do get them, by eating healthy. These foods can be eaten raw or cooked. As I have read, studies have shown that cooking makes some if not all of the vitamins and minerals go away. But if the foods taste better to you cooked than go ahead and cook them, like the green vegetables forexample. One thing I changed was how long I cook the vegetables. I used to eat the vegetables soft meaning they cooked for over five minutes. 

When soft vegetables are eaten they sit in places like the colon and rot (the colon is shaped like a roller coaster and foods need to be pushed out of the bowl shaped ‘u’) unless there is fiber like crunchy vegetables to push it along. Now I cook things like green beans and carrots for two minutes, three at the longest, so they still have a crunch.

Please understand I still love foods like potato chips, cookies, and candy bars. But I eat them in moderation, a little here a little there. Just the other day I bought a box of ice cream sandwiches. You know the vanilla ice cream that is between two chocolate wafers? Yum. Well, I cut those in fourths.  I eat a fourth after certain meals and I am happy with that. Even that small amount satisfies my sweet tooth. Because I know I want to focus on my goal, which is keeping the health conditions my relatives deal with at bay. 

For those of you who already have a health condition like diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer, I believe it can be controlled with diet. Now I am no expert or doctor. I am just speaking from my own opinion. A health condition does not have to be an immediate death sentence. I mean, we will all eventually die, but your life can be prolonged with healthy eating.

I have not talked about exercise. But exercise is a key part to a healthy lifestyle. Any exercise is good. You don’t have to go to a gym or get exercise equipment to exercise. Yes these things help. If you cannot afford to go to the gym or buy exercise equipment, you can walk around the block, walk inside your home from one end to the other, use food cans as weights, jog in place, move your arms back and forth, etc. There are ways to get exercise if you want it. Be creative.

Making these changes in my diet and doing some creative exercising, has helped me and will help you in the long run to live a healthy life.

 

*There are other foods besides what I mentioned. Please do your own research. The food listing is taken from http://diabeticlivingonline.com/, https://www.aicr.org and https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-blood-pressure