Having grown up a big portion of my life in Mexico I did not go to the U.S until I was about 17 years of age. Both parents where from the U.S my mom from Irish descent and my Father of German descent. But living in Mexico fast food was non existent no pizza no McDonalds. All we had here was fresh milk, fresh fruit and fresh beef .Even if we wanted peanut butter my mom had to make it from scratch. If we got sick there was always an herbal remedy to take care of the illness.

After moving  to the U.S all that changed. I had an older brother who lived in Southern California and every other night he and his wife  ate out, it was incredible.The variation of food and restaurants  up there was unbelievable Chinese , Italian, burgers you name it, the food selection was great.

The first month I was there I gained 12 pounds it was just so easy to do, you get off work your to tired to cook so you go to a fast food place, order take it home and there you go, instant dinner. Not to mention what blew me away was the frozen food sections in the supermarkets. In Mexico in the 70’s and 80’s frozen food was non existent   so in light of my move to the U.S I started analyzing to myself why so many people living in North America were overweight.

Its simple, little or no exercise and great fast food. The sad part is that Mexico is also joining the ranks of an overweight country. Mexico had an expansion plan in 2001 to open 160 McDonalds restaurants, and  now we have Dominos Pizza, Burger king and more fast food places keep on popping up.

What I am trying to say to you is  don’t do it to yourself, in the U.S the health care industry has slammed alcohol and cigarettes with high taxes , but what about the fast food killers. The health care industry has gone wild with insurance rates.

Sure you see all these adds explaining that you should reduce your trans fat, cholesterol and other things to keep you healthy not to mention all the pharmaceutical ads on TV to help lower your cholesterol,  but the bottom line is no matter how much you reduce certain foods we will all end up in the same boat if we don’t eat fresh foods and natural foods. the key to health is eating natural eating fresh and that is not that hard to do.

Think of your doctor as your enemy the more I think about seeing a doctor the more I think twice about what kind of food I am going to ingest or what kind of food will actually get me a visit to one.

Exercise, sure you say no time? yes there is, don’t be lazy a 2 mile brisk walk will only take 45 minutes of your time so forget that drive to the gym, just walk for 45 minutes a day and  you will be amazed at how much better you will feel, not only will your body thank you but you will build a better feeling of accomplishment of your personal self.

Don’t think of reducing caloric intake as a diet you don’t have kill yourself dieting, just use common sense and don’t buy in to those prepackaged diets, you know how many chemicals those things must have, think about it, those diet foods are preprocessed and frozen.

Buy fresh when you can, buy natural when you can. Skip the Skippy peanut butter and  buy all natural brands, buy real butter instead of margarine buy fresh greens instead of frozen and stay away from that boxed hamburger helper crap.

Its not that hard stick to it day to day and not only will you feel better you will lose a few pounds and build your self confidence.