Kaleah’s Health Blog

My son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 13 years old. He went to live with his Dad when he was 8 and I no longer had any contribution to his diet or lifestyle. A couple bachelors, my son and his Dad ate out a lot; he was left alone with T.V. dinners and snack foods. McDonalds was a common occurrence.

When I went to the hospital after he was diagnosed I was met by a team of Medical Experts who were forewarned that my son’s “health nut” Mother was on her way. I was told that type I diabetes was a genetic issue and had nothing to do with diet, unlike type II.

I thought about it for a moment and my response was basically “I don’t believe it!” Genetics is a predisposition. People may have a larger probability of getting a disease if they have a genetic predisposition. However, why do some get the disease and others don’t?

I am not a doctor or a scientist, however I am nearly 100% positive that diet is contributing to type I diabetes in children. When my son went into the hospital there were 7 other kids who had been diagnosed in that very hospital the same week! What are the odds?

What happens to these children when all they eat is nutritionally depleted foods? Cancer is the number one killer, by disease, of children. We don’t like to think of such a horrible disease for our little ones. Yet cancer, diabetes, and obesity is on the rise with the kids.

We can do something about this! Feed our kids real food and cut out the sodas, the chips, the pizza, cookies, candy, hamburgers, hotdogs and all the foods that have become the common daily diet of our youngsters.

Instead send them to school with fresh fruit, vegetable sticks, nuts, seeds, whole grain sandwiches and water to drink. No more sodas or fruit flavored corn syrup drinks. No more chips and candy bars. You may as well be sending your kids to school with a pack of cigarettes!

O.K., the kids may groan and complain. This is where education comes in. Teach them why you are changing their diet and the diet of the family. You are doing it because you care about them, because you want them to be healthy and live a long life. Get them involved with you in learning new recipes. There are lots of yummy raw food treats that are 100% nutrition. Kids will learn to love them, and so will you!

To Your Health!

Kaleah

When I was a teenager I suffered from a very serious eating disorder and the depression that came with a poor body image caused me to be suicidal.  I didn’t outwardly attempt suicide.  I merely starved myself, nearly to death, as my way of trying to fix the problem.

My problem however was never with my weight.  It was with the way I perceived myself.  I didn’t feel I measured up.  I didn’t feel beautiful or worthy.  I was depressed because I could see no way out of my darkness.  I couldn’t find a way to feel good about myself. 

It seemed the deeper I went into depression the worse I felt about myself, thus re-enforcing a negative self-image.  Trying to control what I ate and how my body looked was my way of attempting to combat the depression or bad feelings I was carrying around.

My recovery came in finding my self-worth and value.  The better I felt about myself the less need I had to control my body. 

In my adulthood I discovered the way I treated my body and how I ate made a huge difference in how I felt in general.  If I had a long period of poor eating I would tend to get depressed.  If I ate healthy it seemed my self-image and overall feelings of wellness were positive.

As I went on to help others with weight issues, I discovered there was definitely a link between body image and depression.  Weight issues seemed much higher with people who were depressed and felt they couldn’t control their eating.  Working on the self-image was just as important as trying to change the diet or lifestyle.  The better a client came to feel about herself, the more success she had in achieving the body she desired.

So if you are depressed, it could be contributing to your weight problems and health issues.  Perhaps looking at your outlook on life and feelings about yourself would be a great place to begin. 

To Your Health

Kaleah