Perserverance

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
 ~Dale Carnegie

Here it is -- the whole philosophy of mindful eating -- do small jobs well.

Agents of Change



Photographed by JustinLowery.com

 I just loved the title!!  Agents of change, to me, suggest enough action to make the world a more interesting place.  I just got done reading today's post from ProductiveFlourishing (again, another name I like because it seems so positive and action driven).  I loved the whole post -- I won't copy it here but I am going to give you the first couple paragraphs:

We often hear two seemingly contradictory statement from change agents:

1. A series of small steps is the best way to get something done.
2. You can’t cross a chasm in two small steps.

Both are true, but neither are sufficient at fully capturing reality.


There are two dynamics of change that we have to consider. The first dynamic is what I’m calling the stepping dynamic, and the second dynamic I’m calling the tipping dynamic. Both are real facets to the evolution of ourselves and the world.


Consider how an avalanche builds. Proponents of the stepping model would show that it’s just a series of snowflakes that stack on top of each other, but that doesn’t quite capture the dynamic tip that happens at the moment the snow starts moving. On the other hand, proponents of the tipping model often don’t account for the fact that without all those snowflakes, the tip would never occur.

Have you ever noticed that life doesn't play itself out in black and white?  I love the grey, truly, but it sure does make things more challenging sometimes!

So, stepping dynamic (as it applies to Mindful Eating) -- this is the part of the program where you are learning to pay attention to your sensations of hunger and fullness.  This is the part where you are actively journalling, asking yourself if you are physically hungry, and working really hard to listen to the answer.  This is the part that gets clients frustrated because it seems like "so much work".  This is where they envision staying everyday, every bite of food from now until forever.

Think of each time you ask yourself "am I hungry?" or "how full am I?" or "how does this 7th bite of pasta taste right now?" as a snowflake.  You might think that each one doesn't amount to much because each one is only probably responsible for 10 or 15 or 30 calories -- and you know as well as I do, if you have 20 or 30 or 100 pounds to lose, 10 or 30 calories isn't even a drop in the bucket. (yes, I know....mixed metaphors but it was the best I could come up with right now!)

Back to the snowflakes .....So each one individually doesn't really amount to much.  Here's where the tipping dynamic comes in.  Once you have a bunch of these little steps under your belt, the whole process becomes much easier.  You don't have to work as hard to remember to ask yourself if you are really hungry.  Recognition that you have reached a level 8 will just pop into your head without having to consciously remind yourself to check for the sensation.

And...just like the snow piling up in your street (coming soon), consistent flake accumulation adds up.  A big snow shower for 4 minutes isn't that big of a deal.  It's those lazy, large lake effect snowflakes that fall all afternoon and into the evening (even if they aren't falling that fast and furious) that will add up and change how your whole world functions.  And that is what we're going for here!  A bunch of small decisions to eat just a little bit less.  Making a conscious choice to leave somethings uneaten.  This is where weight loss and behavior changes comes from -- the stepping dynamic that turns into the tipping dynamic.

Do something Friday

When was the last time you let your physical hunger guide your eating for a day? 

This weekend, take the time to be guided by your internal cues for a day.  Let yourself get hungry -- not sick -- just growly (think level 2).  Then when you are ready to eat something, sit down in a calm environment with no distractions and pay attention to the taste, texture, and smell of your food. 

Eat until you're satisfied and then -- no matter what it still on your plate -- put the food away until the next time you are physically hungry.  --Just for a day, give it a try.  You might be surprised at how what you notice about your eating patterns.

Ahhhh...the stress of awareness

I just had an interesting experience. I signed up some of my coworkers to receive Eating Coach blog email updates. Right now, I am very hyper aware that they will be reading what I write. Yikes! Now, isn't this kind of strange since I have been posting to this blog for better than a year? --I just celebrated my 300th post!  And I know you all having been reading and thinking about the posts (which I appreciate, by the way). So it really it shouldn't matter one way or another whether or not the coworkers are reading -- but in the back of my head, I feel exposed and want to be on my best behavior -- weird, huh??

So what about you? How easy would it be for you to be mindful if you sat down at a meal with me? Some of you have already experienced that when you attended a Mindful Meal -- most of the clients I have eaten with tell me they are much more aware of what they are eating because I am sitting across from

I don't think it was a negative experience to eat with me -- it think they were just more aware. That's good! When you're eating at a business function, sometimes it's about eating enough food to look social but leaving out the foods that are going to make it difficult to conduct that business over the meal. Again, it's an awareness.

It is much easier to cultivate mindfulness when you know others might ask you questions or be involved in your choices in some manner. We all like to have the correct answers on a test, right? But what happens when you're on your own and there isn't any accountability to others? --when you can eat the whole bag of chips on the couch during a Scrubs rerun and nobody is there to look cross-eyed at you?

This is when you have to set up for yourself. Understand that there are a million ways you can cheat or justifiy the mindfulness system.

The Government's confusing recommendations

Last week, I lectured on the differences between exercise and activity (and there are plenty) for a local city Wellness program. One of the questions I was asked is why there have been all these different target goals published by the CDC. 30 minutes of exercise per day -- 10,000 steps per day -- accumulating 150 minutes of exercise per week -- it can all be very confusing.

In all my lectures, I encourage participants to ask questions but this is the first time anyone had asked me to explain which goal was better (there is an answer to that -- 10k steps) and why there were so many different goals.

Now...I try not to be a nag. If you've followed me for a while, you know I do have a tendency to get up on my soapbox from time to time. So out came to soapbox along with the answer. The answer to the participant's question is: We are not moving as much as we should. The government doesn't know how to motivate us to take care of ourselves. And because of these two things, they are taking good ideas, throwing them to the wall to see which ones will stick with people.

Their eating recommendations are like that too. There are a million ways to eat that are just as good as another -- our problem (unlike exercise) is that we're just doing too much eating (of everything!) Cutting back (9 bites a day) will let you lose weight. You won't have to give up your favorites -- just eat less of them and you won't need to worry about what science says you "should eat" and "shouldn't eat".

Mindfulness is....

More than paying attention so you can lose weight. 

What would you see if you were more mindful???



Ordinary moments, yes ... but the beauty of life is found in the ordinary moments.


Thanks for sharing this, Jena!

Social Antibodies

Why is it hard to eat less?  Most of the reasons I hear center around the idea that it is unfair for some people to have to eat less than others to maintain a healthy weight.

We have a culture (or at least a large part of our culture) that supports that idea that more is better -- more food, more square footage in our homes, more toys in our garages.

Food has become a plague for many people.  It causes stress for them to eat (What is healthy? What is organic? Does this have a provitamin or probiotic?)  And it is stressful to limit ourselves.  We use food like a drug to separate ourselves from the stresses of our days and provide entertainment when there isn't anything on the 183 cable channels.

So what got us through the plagues of history?  Our bodies developed antibodies to the disease. 

And what is going to get us through this plague on our culture and ourselves?  I just came across the idea of "social antibodies".

What are social antibodies, you ask???

Social antibodies are those mindful eaters out there not only walkin' the walk --  They are also talkin' the talk.  They are letting their friends and neighbors know what they are doing -- that there is another, simple, way to manage your weight.  That if you don't overeat, you won't be overweight.  That you have the option of eating really, really good foods.  And if you eat a reasonable portion of those, you don't ever have to give the low-fat, low-cal versions another thought.

So what do you think?  Are you part of the plague solution?  Or part of the problem? Are you ready to become a social antibody?

*and thanks to Paul Graham for the social antibodies idea that got me thinkin')

Don't keep looking over your shoulder....

....you'll trip over what's under your feet right now.

Mindfulness is being involved in what is going on right now.  If you are mindfully reading this post -- you are reading this post.  You are not reading this post and comparing what it is saying to the behaviors you took part in during breakfast.

If you stress about breakfast at lunch, you will not be focusing on making positive lunch choices.

Understand where you are right now.  Don't worry about the choices you have already made today -- you can't change those.  Conserve your energy and put it to use making your next eating choice be a positive one!

Do something Friday

In the last couple days, I have talked with a number of clients about the Eating Scale.  It seems to me, when as a person moves away from their ME training, their use of the scale drops off -- It is worth taking some time right now (and this weekend) to think about your use of the scale.

The reason Mindful Eating is different than a diet is that ME facilitates your eating the amount that is appropriate for you each day.  If you were highly active yesterday, you will feel more physical hunger today.  And conversely, if you laid on the beach all yesterday and only moved when you needed to roll over, you will be less hungry today because your energy expenditure yesterday was less.  If you are eating strictly from a "diet" plan -- there is no way to take into account these day to day changes.

Likewise, if you are working out several days a week and maintaining your weight but then life happens and you can't get to the gym, your weight may creep up because you have no frame of reference to change your eating habits because you are used to eating an amount appropriate for you when you work out.

One thing for sure:  Life will happen.  Even the most  dedicated exerciser will have something happen (kid stuff, vacation, illness, injury....) that will sideline them from their weight management technique of exercise.

If you have a second technique of being well versed in the Eating Scale -- you don't need to worry about your weight creeping up during those times life has you running.

If your activity level is down for a couple days (you've spent several afternoons sitting on the bleachers at Little League All Stars and sure you clapped and cheered but that was the greatest extent of your activity for the day), you may notice that it takes much more time to get to a level 3 than normal -- so you don't eat as much and are matching your caloric needs to your body's activity level.

And on the other end, if you realise that you are eating the same amount of food that you always do but are getting to a level 9 or 10 instead of your usual 8, you have the opportunity to cut back on your portion size to match your activity level.  Calorie balance restored -- voila!

The point is -- we all have limited time and there is no getting around that!  Sometimes increasing your calorie expenditure through movement is not an option.  Your weight does not have to suffer during those time if you have a good practice of using the Eating Scale to help you determine what your body is trying to tell you.

Watching the Grass Grow

This weekend, I spent some time sitting on my deck reading.  The book wasn't holding my attention and I found myself gazing out onto my lawn.

A few years ago, when I moved to this house, the lawn was really new.  It didn't look so much like a lawn as a really short corn field with the grass seeds just sprouting in rows with very larges bare spaces between the sprouts.  It has taken a couple of years but with some attention and fertilizer, the yard is looking pretty good.  There are still some small bare patches where the grass hasn't filled in all the way but I am pleased with the progress.

I am sure it would have come in quicker if I had installed a sprinkler system but I have issues with using drinkable ground water for watering the grass (not to mention paying for the electricity, water, etc to make the grass grow so I can spend more time and gas to mow it).  The point is, the yard is coming in slow but sure and I am happy about how it is looking.  By the end of summer, it might even look great!

My lawn is a lot like creating a habit of mindful eating.  When you start, you might see some nice rows of neatly sprouting mindfulness but there are going to be bare spots between them -- the bare spots might even be pretty big.

But with some attention, education, and practice, the mindfulness starts to fill in and spread.  It might take longer than you want but your mindfulness will grow so that it covers all of your life.  When you work on your mindful eating practices like this, you let the elements of your life (parties, happy times, sad times, busy and boring times) play a role in nurturing your habits.  There might be some times where you forget to be mindful -- but when the practice is slowly (and therefore sustainably) grown, you are putting deep roots down for your behavior change.  This is a natural cycle of grow, nourish, and grow again.  The filling in process will happen naturally without overwhelming your resources and time.

I have to admit, it frustrates me that I don't have a gorgeous yard yet.  On the other hand, I haven't had to give up any of my fun summer activities to make sure I am home to water, fertilize, mow, seed, etc.  -- you know, all those things that are necessary to get a beautiful lawn in one or two seasons.  And summer is too short to let your lawn (or your weight loss) run your life.

The weight is not the problem

Weight loss sells.  Weight is what most clients are worried about and what they want to change.  Weight is the most visible manifestation of what is out of balance in clients lives.  Lose weight and the people at your office are going to notice and give you credit (and possibly be secretly or not so secretly jealous).

On the other hand, if you make changes to your eating behaviors and bring your cholesterol levels down by 30 point,s sans Lipitor, no one can see that.  You won't really inspire jealousy.  But weight isn't the real problem here.

You are not unhealthy because you weight too much.  You weight too much because you are choosing to partake in unhealthy behaviors too often.  Change how you behave and your weight will come down as a byproduct.

Eating a little bit less means less strain on your insulin producing pancreas -- diabetes risk goes down.

Eating a little bit less means less means you are eating less of the things that raise your cholesterol levels.

Eating a little bit less means you will have more energy (because you aren't digesting that big amount of food) after dinner so you feel like going for a stroll with your spouse. 

Eating less and getting a little bit healthier means you won't have to take meds for cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetes -- which means you won't have all that medicine gook in your body that it has to clean up and remove.  You won't have the side effects of the drugs (that really aren't side effects -- they are actual effects of the drugs, we just don't like them).

And don't even get me started on the stress you will get rid of ......

Being more mindful of your choices opens up your eyes to options.  It isn't about being  "perfectly healthy" -- that can't be done.  It is about looking for opportunities to make small changes and letting those changes add up over time. 

You didn't start out overweight.  Your current weight is an accumulation of every choice you have made.  Why not get that process working for you in a direction you like???

Do something Friday

Discomfort -- the absence of ease.

According to research, people have varying abilities to tolerate discomfort and this looks like it is pretty much hardwired into us at birth. Sure, there are things you can do to push yourself into a little bit higher discomfort level but more or less, we are who we are.

I read an article the other day that stated Americans would rather be overweight than deal with the discomfort of being hungry.

Why is that? And why do we have the perception that discomfort is BAD? I understand being uncomfortable it uncomfortable -- what I think the real issue is, is that we aren't taught that discomfort is okay, it probably won't last very long and it usually passes or we just get used to it and it is no longer uncomfortable.

When I first started blogging, I was extremely uncomfortable with having my words in print out there where anyone could read them. But, as I did it, it got easier and easier and now it is no big thing -- my tolerance for the situation went up and the discomfort went down.

Chronic dieters, as a group, have higher thresholds to discomfort than many other groups -- because they are used to putting themselves into uncomfortable diet plans and sticking with it for a while.

The part that struck me about tolerance to discomfort being one of the most reliable predictors of a person's eating behavior change is that we should acknowledge that discomfort is an expected outcome -- not a side effect.

Especially, if you are starting to set aside all of the "dieting knowledge" you have gathered through the years and are replacing it with starting to trust your own sensations of hunger and fullness. That is a big, discomforting change in your belief system. It might be enough to send you running for the Snackwell's aisle because the ideas are new and scary. But you need to realize it is just discomfort urging you to eat the box of cookies! Just understanding it is discomfort lessen your discomfort.

Stick with it! Ride out the discomfort of moving away from a dieting system where "experts" tell you what you should do. You are moving towards being your own expert. You are exploring new terrain. If you are persistant, it won't take long before you get more comfortable with what you are doing -- it will be your new normal. (and then an opportunity will present itself and you will be uncomfortable again and the process will start all over). Discomfort doesn't last.

Omit Needless Foods

A while ago, I was thinking about how to simplify the Eating Coach message to make it more accessible for students of Mindful Eating to understand what I was asking of them.

Omit Needless Foods was what I came up with.

In that sentence, which part jumps out at you? Where does the emphasis go? If you are like most of my clients, the emphasis goes straight to the "Omit" part. The focus has been "give up the good stuff" -- stop eating.

But what if you put the emphasis on the Needless part? What if you were working through the process of finding what foods are needless in your life?

We aren't talking about broad categories here. Although there are very few redeeming traits found in a Fountain Coke from a nutrition perspective, sometimes a Coke is the perfect thing -- and therefore can't be written off as needless in the grand scheme.

On any given day -- where are the bites that are needless -- the ones that don't take care of your physical hunger AND you don't enjoy them -- the ones that add no value to your life.

Find those. Omit those. If you do that, you will get where you want to be.

For those of you who loved the idea of "not right now"...

How do you feel about Michelle May's statement: This lawsuit [Weight Watchers suing Jenny Craig]and your own experience should not cause you to ask, "What do I do now?" but "What do I do from now on?"


Changes you can live with. Perhaps even changes that make you feel great -- not because you're losing weight (although that can be part of it) but the changes that make you feel like you are successfully in charge of your destiny.

Sometimes, choosing to have the perfect dessert at the end of a beautiful meal is what is going to make you feel successful. Sometimes, choosing to say "not right now" is the success of the moment. But here's the important part: You are choosing. You are not running on autopilot or letting yourself be run by habits that are no longer working for you.

Mindfulness -- getting into tune with your sensations of hunger and fullness -- learning to ask the question "Am I hungry?"/"Do I want this right now?"/"Is this piece of xyz worth it to me right now?" --We are not looking for rules to follow -- we are looking to find what fits most perfectly in THIS moment. Long term success is a string of "This Moment" successes.

Again with the Magic Beans

Mindful Eating:
1. Deliberately paying attention, without judgment, to ones own experiences.
2. Cultivating openness to, and an acceptance of all experiences.
3. Mindfulness happens in the present moment.

I spoke to a group at the Crossroads Village Apartments yesterday. Great group of people. They seemed interested in the thinking behind mindful eating and had lots of questions about how it really helps you lose weight. One thing I always get, though, is the person who wants to know what foods they can eat mindfully to help them lose weight.

We have been ingrained with the belief in Magic Beans -- that all illusive food or combination of foods that will give us perfect health and a thin body to go along with it. Well....guess what?? There are no Magic Beans. Food is food -- neither inherently good (just because lima beans are a healthy vegetable doesn't mean they taste good to me!) or inherently bad (alfredo made with whipping cream and real Parmesan is definitely not "low cal" but boy is it delicious!!).

Deliberately paying attention and not pigeon holing (judging) foods is one of the cornerstones of mindful eating. Believe me -- I would lose weight if I was on a diet of lima beans (mostly because I think they are so gross I wouldn't eat them -- or perhaps I would gain weight on a diet of lima beans because I would have to cover the taste of them with so much butter or cheese that I would take in lots of extra calories) But one thing I know for sure -- my life wouldn't be more enjoyable because of the lima beans.

There are some people out there that just don't get this concept. EAT WHAT TASTES GREAT -- JUST EAT LESS OF IT.

The reason a person gains weight is just that they are eating too many calories for their activity level. Cut down the calories to the level you expend and your weight will be stable. Eat fewer calories than you expend and you will lose weight. No games, no gimmicks, no tricks -- but no Magic Beans.

The question, for me, always comes back to:

Would you rather eat foods you enjoy but eat smaller amounts?

Or do you want to slug it out on the "Diet Du Jour", eating foods that, at best are only okay and at worst taste like the cardboard box your last pair of sneakers came in?

For me: Life's too short -- I want the food that makes my heart sing! And I will be happy to eat less now so I can have some more in the future.

Mindfulness

I just reread a article about how mindfulness training can be very helpful for bariatric surgery patients. One of the ways bariatric surgery is helpful is that pain results from eating too great a volume of food at any one time. This forces a person to be more mindful of what they are eating -- otherwise pain results and avoidance of pain is a HUGE motivator.

The authors of the article state that mindfulness is "synonymous with paying attention or taking care". Dictionary.com defines mindfulness as attentive or heedful.

We, as a society, don't really value being heedful or the act of paying attention to ourselves. We talk about "me" time -- but very few people are comfortable enough to really embrace that idea for themselves. Sure -- we tell others "You have to take care of yourself! That is the only way you will be able to take care of XYZ". It is a wonderful concept for "others" but we don't let it translate to ourselves.

But why not? Being mindful at your meal is surrendering yourself to the moment. Whatever the moment is (best dinner, artfully prepared and delicious, that you have every experienced or... the worst day-old stadium dog that has ever crossed your lips)-- Mindfulness is the willingness to experience each of those things for what they are -- neither of those situations are a judgement on you!

Mindfulness is being willing to engage in this particular moment of eating because this is the only moment that exists right now. What you ate yesterday is gone. Tomorrow's eating has not happened yet and indeed may never happen. This moment, this bite, is all you have.

Mindfulness asks you to live in this moment and put aside everything else to experience what is happening right now. If you can do that -- even just occasionally -- how would your life change?

Once you start learning to be engaged with what is happening while you are eating -- the habit starts developing in other areas of your life. Engaging with your kids, coworkers, spouse and friends. How would your life change if you were wholly involved where you are doing what you are doing when you are actually doing it?

You really would be heedful and taking more care of others because you are being heedful and taking more care of your own experience.

Welcome to the New Year

Is anyone else stressed to the gills already??

My job is crazy, busy time of year (think tax season for accountants). Lots of people have joined the ranks at BHFC and I love that!! People who have decided to be healthier in 2010 than they were in 2009 -- very cool!

The end result of this is a busier me. Lots of people who need to be seen, introduced to the facility, gotten off on the correct eating and exercise programs for each of them.

Plus, I was minding my own business the other day when a colleague asked if I would create an series of lectures on Increasing Activity to go along with her diet-based weight control program. Which, of course, I said yes to.

And the Eating Coach website isn't done (although the e-course is -- one small victory anyway).

And I have a Spring Learning Series to plan.

And I have to pick the dates for the spring Eating Coach classes.

And I just started back strength training (my official start date was February .....2009 -- so I would be in good strength for wake boarding season -- which is right around the corner, now that the days are getting longer).

And...

And...

And...

All of that to say -- Holy Cow!! Life is crazy and I want to lay down and take a nap. But I can't -- all of the above needs to get done. Some quicker than others but it all needs to happen. So now what???

If you are feeling like this -- think about stopping for just a minute and taking a breath. Slow in...slow out. Becoming aware of what is going on (as opposed to running on autopilot) is the first step. There is no easy answer to the to-do list -- like I said, it all needs to get done. But I don't want it to take me down in the process.

It is times like this where clients tend to fall off the Mindful Eating wagon. They stress eat or just end up grabbing whatever super-sized anything they can get their hands on just because it is convenient.

Don't let your stress derail you. Make a plan. Sunday I was smart enough to make a big pot of soup for lunches this week (okay -- there is another small victory). At least, I will have something easy to pack for lunch so I am not tempted to skip it and grab a big bag of chips on the way home.

Take your drive time to think about how hungry you are feeling so when you get home you have an idea of how much you are going to need to eat at dinner to relieve the physical hunger of the day.

Pay attention to how hungry you are in the morning when you first wake up. Are you hungrier than normal (don't freak out about this -- when you are busier and burning more calories running around you will feel hungrier) or do you feel what you always feel?

Are you more tempted to grab that high carb/high salt snack from the vending machine in the afternoon? Why? Are you bored or stressed about the work waiting for you back at your desk? Or are you truly hungry?

Keep notes about how you are feeling (stressed, bored, let down from the holidays, still fighting with your sibling over a holiday incident...) to see if you can see patterns in your eating.

Most of all -- and if you do nothing else -- Breathe. One slow one in and then slowly out. Appreciate the way your lungs expand and contract. Let the stress go -- it all needs to be done, believe me, I understand -- but one thing at a time -- Mindfully.

How much do you need to reduce your intake??

If you reduce the amount of food you eat per day by 9 bites (think about it -- that is just 3 bites per meal), you will have saved enough calories in a week to lose a 1/2-1 pound in a week.

Can you be happy eating 9 bites per day less?

The other side of the Coin

Okay...so Friday, I spent our time together ranting on my soapbox (did you get the reference from Friday's picture?). This weekend, like working people all over the country, I was cleaning like a fiend to get ready to have my fam over for Thanksgiving.

I have talked before about my theory of how much time it takes to keep a house clean. So, truth be told, I didn't figure I had much to do this weekend -- just the general stuff (bathrooms cleaned, soap down the kitchen counters -- versus just wiping them with the dish rag -- you know the drill). Weeellll....6 hours of cleaning later, I realized there is a reason the women of previous generations felt it imperative to do spring cleaning (right before the Easter guests arrive) and fall cleaning (our case in point today).

Friday, I asked you to enjoy the your process of moving and your eating. I can tell you, I would much rather have laid on the couch all weekend watching 30 Rock (On Demand) than doing the cleaning that I had to do. But now, as I sit here, know that later in the week, I might be crazy but it won't be because my house is dirty -- I am glad I put the work in. So even though I wasn't enthralled with the process, my life is better because of it.

So here is the other side of the "Enjoy the process" coin -- sometimes you just have to gut it out so that you can not have to worry about something later. That goes for movement. That goes for learning to be more mindful with your eating. And, obviously, it goes for Thanksgiving cleaning of the house.

This is not a news flash...

I just got done reading a research article about the efficacy of the Wii Fit gaming system as a mode of cardiovascular exercise. Then I moved on to an article entitled Could Vitamins Hurt Your Workout?

Good Lord, people! Why, I ask you, are we still searching for the fountain of youth? Let's think about this...

When my butter, bacon (even bacon grease), eggs, whole milk eating great-grandma cooked -- she didn't worry about low-fat anything (did I mention molasses cookies made with lard? YUM!!) She didn't worry about low/no sugar varieties of foods. She didn't think about "getting exercise". She ate. She moved. She actively lived her life.

I can't attest to whether or not she ever bought some kind of anti-wrinkle cream that promised amazing results or whether she ever "watched what she ate". But I can tell you that she was a wonderful cook and meals at her house were (to my memory) delicious and always came with dessert (real whipping cream -- mmm mmm mmm!)

I assume, like much of her generation, she didn't snack all of the time, she moved when she worked, and she didn't drink soda on a day to day basis.

I think she did a better job of appreciating the food she ate and eating things because they nourished her body and soul. She didn't need to rely on research articles to tell her she should move more. She didn't need them to tell her to eat lots of whole foods. These things would have been common wisdom of the times -- just like as we age we are going to get wrinkles and lose muscle mass and eventually be no longer young. Perhaps we should head back to that common sense approach. Enjoy the simple pleasures that life brings,not over analyze them and not spend so much time trying to stay young that we forget to appreciate what we are doing right this minute.