Chapter 7 talks about Tobacco, Alcohol, and its different effects both long and short term. Also falling into these categories were e cigarettes and vapes. As someone who has never owned a vape or e cigarette I am not too concerned with these facts, that was until reading further. I have of course used these devices before when my friends had shown me them or brought them along on a trip. Even using these minimally can have pretty serious negative effects on your personal health. While most people including my self believed these smoking substitutes were less harmful than a real cigarette that is simply not true. They can in-fact contain more tar and harmful chemicals than a cigarette.
Another part of this chapter that jumped out at me was how much your health can be effected by just being around a smoker consistently. Living with a smoker can put you at risk of possible death from coronary heart disease. I used to hang out with people who would regularly smoke cigarettes and had no idea how much I was putting my own health and safety at risk. I knew it was not good but did not realize the full gravity of the situation.
Lastly, this chapter exposed to me the full tobacco use situation in this country. I always saw the negative side of things regarding tobacco use in the US. That it was a leading cause of cancer, younger and younger kids were smoking, etc. But many of the positive aspects and changes occurring I was unaware of. Things like making it illegal to advertise smoking to children, more prominent advertising on tobacco products, etc. It was just nice to see that there is some fire power on the other side of tobacco use.
While this chapter may not directly relate to my aspect of clean eating and losing weight, it did reveal to me multiple ways to prevent others from effecting my health, and how I can possibly convince my friends and family to responsibly use alcohol and abstain from tobacco products.
Chapter 8 talks about nutrition. The first part of this chapter that grabbed my attention was the concept of functional foods. Before reading this I had just figured that there was good natural food or processed foods that were not so good for you. It was interesting to hear about things like nutrient rich foods that give more than the nutritional value listed. An example being foods like blue berries with anti oxidants. Anti oxidants can contribute to lower stress levels, and even repair damage done to your body.
This chapter also talks about essential nutrients. The most surprising information I found was regarding the essential nutrient fat. I always knew we need some fat but thought it was best to avoid it for the most part. The benefits of fat in your diet range from maintaining healthy skin and hair to making you feel more full after eating. Without fats in our diets we would encounter a wide array of issues. I was surprised to see that fats (not saturated fats) but dietary fats should be 20-30% of your calorie intake.
The last part of chapter 8 I would like to acknowledge is regarding food safety and foodborne illness. I had never paid much attention or put thought into where the food I was eating had actually come from, where it had been, etc. After reading this section of the chapter I am going to be much more picky on the foods I am eating and feeding to my family in regards to where it has come from, how it was packaged, etc.
Chapter 9 focuses on weight management and body image. The first section that caught my attention was on mindful eating. Most of the mindful aspects in this book seem to impact me as I am a person who is frequently on auto pilot with certain aspects of life. I am beyond guilty of eating while watching tv or having some kind of distraction while I eat. If you pay attention to your meals as you eat them you will notice if you start to eat too much or if you shouldn’t be eating what you got in the first place. Where as if you eat or talk or distract your self while eating you are mindlessly eating and can over eat easily.
The other aspect I enjoyed from this chapter was the idea of having healthy snacks on hand when you are out and about. Instead of wasting money on fast food that is terrible for you, you could simply buy healthy snacks and keep them in your backpack, car, etc. Saving money, time, and improving your overall health. Creating the habit of having healthy snacks on hand is something I will absolutely be implementing into my everyday life.
The final aspect of chapter 9 that stood out to me was the factors that contribute to obesity and overweight life styles. Seems pretty obvious what causes these things. Junk food, lack of exercise, and bam you are overweight. But this chapter pointed out that even socioeconomic factors are to blame for this as well. People who may have super fast metabolisms could be hanging out with someone who gains weight by looking at a slice of pizza. So when these naturally skinny people consumer junk and gain no weight, their friends who are not so lucky try to keep up with them. Another factor is the more obvious being life stlye. For instance I work a warehouse job so I move around a lot which is good exercise. However my other job of being a producer/mixing engineer, I sit in a computer chair for up to 8-10 hours per day. If I transition to doing that full time and don’t start a regular work out regimen along with eating healthy Id more than likely inflate. To be honest that was not something I had thought of until recently because I was so used to getting my workout at my day job.
Progress:
To be honest as of late I have been eating worse to cope with stress in regards to moving from a day job and audio to doing audio full time. I like my day job but it is starting to take a physical toll on my body as I have been doing it off and on for about 4 years now. I am most happy and feeling my self when I am in my studio so the pressure of making that my full time job is immense. It is all I want to do with my life so it is quite literally an all or nothing situation. However, I am acknowledging this and making a written plan to improve my eating habits along with a schedule to spend a certain amount of time in my studio each week. Similar to a part time job schedule. I figure the more hours I log in the studio the better I get. And the better I get the more likely I am to have people asking me to work on their music. I am feeling focused and confident and can’t wait to make the changes I need in my life.
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