Good habit alert!

According to scientists anti-oxidant filled green tea offers us the following health benefits:

1) Helps lower blood pressure
2) Helps lower blood sugar (very important if you have a problem controlling your sugare — aka pre-diabetics)
3) Helps fight cancer
4) Helps our immune system fight off diseases and infections due to being chock-full of flavenoids and polyphenols. (say that three times fast! )

High-grade green teas can even help lower cholesterol!

So swap out your morning cup of coffee for a steaming cup of green tea once in awhile and reap the benefits!

Thank you for reading my good-health share of the day!

For as long as I can remember, I defined myself by my appearance. If I had a “fat” day, then I felt down, depressed and angry about myself and the world around me. If I had a “cute” day, then I felt good about myself and everything seemed to fall into place. In my world, Fat = bad and Cute = good. Over and over again, I let each of those words define me. I allowed my outward appearance to consume me.

When I didn’t wear makeup or have my hair done up all cute, I felt unkempt and naked. Because every aspect of my life hung on my appearance.

Lightening struck me this year (well… figuratively speaking). I realized that for the last (almost) 30 years, I had been letting the wrong notions and attitudes guide me. I defined my self-worth not on my intelligence, wit, or compassion but rather by my dress size — the number on the scale — my “male attention” factor. Now I get it. I now realize that I was so misguided back then.

You see– I didn’t love myself. Not even a little. I loved the person that I aspired to be but I did not love the person I already was. Because my intelligence, wit and compassion was buried under my excess weight. Every sentence in my mind seemed to start with … “When I lose this weight I am finally going to…”. In reality, I should have been trying to do those things regardless of how much I weighed.

I realized this past year, that if I died tomorrow, I would die with tons of regrets. I held myself back because of my appearance. I didn’t have enough faith in myself. I always felt that people wouldn’t take the time to get past the exterior so why show them the interior? But all of this was preconceived. I should have pushed past it.

I digress. Beating myself up about things that happened yesterday… or rather… things that should have happened yesterday is completely moot. What matters is today. Maybe it is because I am starting to feel the power in turning 30, maybe I am strapping the “woman” tag into my self-definition or the fact that I have three children and a husband (and I pay my taxes too darn it), but I am casting the cloak of unworthiness aside. I am allowing myself to be the person I always was inside regardless of whether or not my body is “there yet”. Everyday I realize that I *am* beautiful and that I am becoming healthier and strong-minded.

In my world now…outward appearance is merely in the seat of the court jester. Content of character is king.

When I think back to my own junior high / high school (and heck even elementary school) experiences as a chubby chic, nothing positive ever comes to mind. There are a lot of memories of being teased and humiliated. I don’t recall ever being picked *first* in gym class. And I remember constantly comparing myself to my peers (especially in junior high / high school).

I was insecure back then. I had a personality, opinions, talents and the whole shebang but felt inadequate when compared to my peers. I was constantly judged harshly on my appearance. And those judgments seemed to seep over into other areas of my academic career. Not only did I never feel pretty enough… I also never felt smart enough or good enough.

I found drama. It seemed to be the only place where I could let go and be someone else. Because I sure as heck didn’t like being me.

Here I am almost 12 years out of high school and one show has produced a spark within me that has brought a lot of those memories and issues back.

Which show am I referring to?

Well… ABC Family’s “Huge”, starring Nicki Blonsky and Haley Hasselhoff.

Where do I begin? I am almost 30 and I love this show! Having been heavy during my school years, I find that I can relate to most-if-not-all of the characters. This week’s episode touched on the horrors of gym (just slightly).

It is kind of refreshing to see a show on television that kind of mirrors what it is like growing up with body images, unaccepting parents and peers and all of the angsty confusion that goes along with it. These characters *want* acceptance and *want* to like themselves… but find that they can’t because they can’t get past the weight thing. It is really refreshing to get a point of view from the male characters as well. We always hear ad nauseam about the weight issues of girls and women. So in my opinion it is refreshing to have a male perspective as well!

Gawd how I remember those years!

Have you seen the show?