Healthy Living Journal -- Day 4

Every week a volunteer comes to spend the afternoon with me.  Since we usually go  to Starbucks, I have had to be extra careful lately not to succumb to sugary, fatty temptations.  Instead of getting a 700-calorie frappucino [yes - 700 calories!  more on that below], I have been opting for one of the Tazo teas, with soymilk.  Since I am lactose-intolerant, I started substituting milk for soy milk long before it was trendy, and a long time before Silk ever had their first TV ad spot.  I used soy in my cereal and in my smoothies and tea, when you had to go to the health-food store to find it, and it was an expensive alternative.  So you can imagine how much easier life got for me,  when soymilk appeared on the shelves of the dairy section of the local grocery!!  And life became even more glorious when there were more brands, and thus more competition.  Now, especially since the price of soymilk has increased, soy is often less expensive than regular milk!  I really started to commit to soymilk when I learned it contains phytoestrogens, which are naturally-occurring hormones that are produced synthetically for menopausal and pre-menopausal women to combat the side-effects of the "change-of-life", like hot flashes and night sweats.  Since I have a strong history of breast cancer [every female on my mom's side- my mom, her mom, and her sister died from it, and her two remaining sisters are survivors], I am considered high-risk.  So, I am not a candidate for hormone-replacement therapy [HRT], which is extremely risky for women like me, at high risk for breast cancer.  But the phytoestrogens in soymilk are a wonderful natural way to replace the estrogen lost during menopause, because it is that estrogen-loss that brings on those annoying hot-flashes and night-sweats.

Now, back to how I know how many calories are packed into those Starbuck's [and other fast-food] goodies [or baddies?].  I live in NYC and we have a pretty cool mayor named Mike Bloomberg.  If that name sounds familiar, it's because Mayor Mike is a billonaire who owns Bloomberg media, and its many multi-million-earning companies.   As a matter of fact I met him just last week at a function to celebrate the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA], and even posed for a picture with him.  To look at him, you wouldn't  know he was so filthy-rich; just a normal guy. And, what is most admirable about Mayor Mike?  He didn't come from royalty or even affluence.  He was just one smart guy who wisely invested his modest means to make it GROW!  Anyway, one of the coolest things he did, which the fast-food outlets don't think is so cool, is to mandate that on the menu-boards of all fast-food places in NYC, next to the food must be the calorie-count!  So, yes-- that venti frappuccino packs in 700 big ones!  Now, if you really crave a 'frap', you're going to have one anyway.  But if you have been recently been diagnosed with high blood-pressure and cholesterol, you think twice before you order, and think "How badly do I really want that frappuccino?".  So today, it is going to be a Tazo Earl Grey tea with soymilk and sweetener[under 150 cal.],  and maybe I'll treat myself to one of those wraps with roasted veggies.  I will check the calories, but the 550 calories I save by not getting the 'frap', which I normally use for a piece of cake [yes, it's that calorie-packed!], will be better spent on a multi-grain wrap, or a yogurt topped with granola [fiber lowers cholesterol!] 

I find it helpful to look at calories as money.  You have a certain daily budget.  So what you don't spend on sweets, you have in reserve to 'spend' on something else [preferably something healthy]. If you do calorie-burning aerobic exercise, you can take in more food.  As most of you know, I am confined to a wheelchair, so aerobics are not an option for me -- calorie-counting is my MO. So today, to  the dismay of fast-food restaurants, I salute Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of NYC, for forcing us out of denial, and hitting us in the face with the calorie-counts that are making us fat and even killing us!