FatBlogger

just keep moving....

That has been my mantra, and not always as easy as one might think. The inner struggle to stop exercising, or in my case, walking, has been much stronger than I anticipated. There is this little voice (not a real voice mind you) that keeps telling me to stop walking and WAIT for the diet to begin. It seems that separating diet and exercise goes against the grain of established habit. GOOD! Anything different is good at this point, so I just keep walking.

So far I have walked 46 miles in 16 days, almost a 3 mile average. I have been trying to get in an hour a day, and usually walk about 3 1/2 miles in that time. I have missed about three days of walking so far due to rain, but try to make up for it the next day.

I am doing a little experiment this May, to see if just walking an hour a day will be enough to lose weight without changing your eating habits. So far I can tell you, I feel better, but not sure if that is translating into fat loss, I will tell you June 1.

Another good side effect of walking an hour a day it was it does for you mind, like clear the cobwebs. If I am having an issue with my teen, the walk usually clears things up for me. It is almost as good as meditation, just think about a subject while you walk, you forget about the walking and at the same time clear your head regarding your issue. I almost always come to some conclusion...or at the very least, have calmed down.

46 miles also translates into about 184 meals overseas, and boy, do they need it right now.

So on this one thing, this single thing that I am now concentrating on, it is going good. Not without an inner struggle, but one that I can handle because I am not wrestling with food issues or anything else...all I have to do is just keep moving.

Stamp Out Hunger!

Once a year the National Association of Letter Carriers conducts it's annual food drive, this year it is May 10th, this Saturday.

All you have to do is place a bag of non-perishable food items, like canned beans or a box of spaghetti, next to your mailbox and they will pick it up!

They then deliver the bags to your local food bank. For more information and to find out if your post office is participating, go to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive web-site.

Thanks!

Hunger in America?

35 million Americans live in poverty, and of those, 12-1/2 million children are at risk of going hungry every night. It is a staggering statistic, 12% of our population, about 1 out of every 10 people.

I never would have thought that here in the 21st century, in America, we would have one hungry child...let alone 12 million?

And yet a third of us are obese. Something is not right with that, like I am taking food out of the mouths of the poor or something. It makes me sick to think about it.

And that is just America, where things are pretty good. Worldwide the numbers are much higher and whole continents hover on the edge of starvation, something like 800 million, where, sadly, a child dies every 5 seconds from injury or disease related to a lack of food.

It is going to get worse as we approach what many think is going to be a food and hunger catastrophe. The effects are already being felt right here at home, food prices are up 30-40%, corn and grain that was once earmarked to be shipped over seas is now being used to make ethanol, a stupid energy policy where it cost $130 dollars to make $100 dollars of gas.

But there is hope on the horizon, and I am not talking about the November elections, it is from organizations like Second Harvest here at home and the World Food Program abroad. These organizations can really get a lot of food and nutrition for  just a buck. Second Harvest can turn that dollar into 16 nutritious meals and feed a family of four for a day, and the WFP (A UN organization) can turn a dollar into 4 "red cups" of beans, rice or porridge.

I have decided that if I am going to try and walk 1000 miles in a year, then I might as well be doing it for something, and what better something than to fight hunger.

For every mile I walk I will donate $1 to alleviate hunger. At the end of my journey of 1,000 miles I will be able to feed a family of 4 in America for almost two years, and 4 children in the poorest reaches of the earth for 1-1/2. That's 8 people that I could feed for over a year and a half, just by walking and sending a bit of money.

Don't believe it when others tell you that you can't save the world, collectively we can, and as individuals we can make a hell of a difference, not that I want to get all Sally Struthers on you or anything!

Of course I don't have that kind of money hanging around these days, I will probably be putting some ads on the blog, maybe a donation link. For whatever reason, people visit my blog from all over the world, maybe they may actually find something useful in such ads, lord knows they won't find it in my posts right!

Want to help but don't even have a dollar? Then put together a few cans of food and leave them by your mailbox on May 10th for the annual "Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive", more on that later....

 

The journey begins!

OK, I got things off to a good start, walked for an hour at the park, almost 3-1/2 miles, and in case you don't have a calculator that is .0035% of my 1,000 mile journey!

I also had oatmeal for breakfast and put mustard on my ham sandwich instead of mayo!

Lets see what tomorrow brings...