What's in Your Pantry?

FIY --- Week 3                              

By: Ann-Marie Giglio
Co-Publisher, On the Gay Horizon

Now that we're 3 weeks into the new year, and you've taken a physical and spiritual assessment of yourself, it's time to check on your pantry.

First, we'll recap.  After you did your aerobic test, you added some aerobic activity to your day.  Remember that our bodies have evolved for movement.  Especially walking and running.  You don't need to join a gym --- unless you want to.  But you do need to move.  Add steps to your day whenever the opportunity presents itself.

If your assessment of who you've become in 2008 included the remedy of taking yourself to a gym or walking with a friend, you've got 2 things checked off our list.

So this week, we look into your pantry.  Remember that diet is not some sort of deprivation system.  Look it up in Webster's.  Diet is simply WHAT YOU EAT.  That's your diet.  So first, spend a day and write down what you eat.  Everything.  Then analyze it.  Are you eating 7 servings of fruit and vegetables?  If not, you'll be very susceptible to cancers, diabetes and heart disease in 15 - 20 years.  (Perhaps you're already there...) 

Then choose ONE thing from your pantry --- from your diet --- say it's potato chips.  From now on, whenever you buy potato chips, only buy organic, whole oil chips.

Why organic?  Choosing organic foods makes your impact even larger. First, your own cells will not have to deal with any foreign substances. Second, the planet will not have to deal with foreign substances, like excessive nitrogen or pesticides. Third, you will be supporting farmers who practice clean farming. Fourth, you or someone you don't even know, will not suffer the consequences of ground-water pollution from chemically managed farm run-off, which occurs every time it rains or fields flood. Fifth, you will keep the food chain and the earth more pure by rejecting genetically modified grains which are developed specifically to endure more pesticide application.

Next week, choose a second thing.  And so on.  Need help deciding? Check out how toxic most common fruits and veggies are in When to Buy Organic .  If I had a choice, I'd start adding the organic versions to my diet first.  Over the next 49 weeks, your food --- what you eat --- your diet --- will be completely revolutionized.  And you'll barely notice making the change!  But I bet your body will know.

Small things, big results.  That's the best way.