It’s that time of year again when people take meaningful stock of their lives and the year that they have just endured. Many are ready to turn a new leaf after thoughtful reflection and repose; invariably, their health, once again, becomes a priority. For many, that means their weight. Most know which foods are health promoting and which ones are not, yet struggle to eat the former and eschew the latter while nonchalantly saying, “I know what to do…I just need to do it.”
It has become commonplace for women to place the blame for their increased weight squarely on the shoulders of menopause. In doing so, they rely not on the stack of peer-reviewed publications concluding otherwise, but on their unwillingness to outwardly recognize that they entered perimenopause overweight or obese.They have become more sedentary (or continue to do the same level of fitness activity that they have done for years), or simply — and more often than not — consume more calories than their body now requires. Many feel as though they have no chance to lose weight because they are ‘in menopause’. This is simply not true.
Noah is almost 16. And despite he once being an outdoor cat, he now spends about 23 hours a day inside sound asleep. The other hour is spent contemplating and talking with me about nutrition. I am merely his writer and this is his first entry on the web.
Mars, the conglomerate manufacturer of M&Ms, Skittles, Starbursts, and Life Savers, announced late last week it will no longer use artificial colorings in any of their over 100 products.* This includes chocolates, drinks, gum, and foods. The use of synthetic dyes that brightens the shellacked candy coatings, or alters the coloring of Uncle Ben's rice will be phased out over the next five years and replaced with plant-based colorings.
