Wake Up!, by Christina Pirello

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Hi Guys!

I'm totally under the gun here. Between blogging, work, newsletters, magazine articles and cooking and cleaning, I can barely think straight. And I am running out of time before I head off to Italy for another adventure hosting one of our fabulous groups.

Each trip to Italy reminds me more and more to live in the moment and to enjoy each day as if it was to be the last one. And I will proudly boast that, for the most part, my husband and I live exactly that way, savoring our days, working hard, playing just as hard and surrounding ourselves with people we love. It's a nice way to live.

But that is not say that I do not get incensed over how advertising is robbing America of its health and vitality. Look, I work in television, so I know the game, but seriously, if we don't wake up and smell the toast...really soon...we're headed for trouble we can't even imagine. To allow these health-robbing pirates to steal your future is criminal.

All the talk now is of health care reform. And while I agree that everyone needs health care coverage, I wonder if we would be so obsessed with it if we actually took care of our health instead of squandering it and then hoping and praying some procedure or pharmaceutical will bring it back.

It's high time that we grew up and let go of our childish obsessions with eating food we know all too well does not serve our well-being. I am loathe to believe that there is one human being in America that believes for one second that Kentucky Grilled Chicken is healthy for them...healthier than fried, yes, but overall healthy? But we tell ourselves that it is because it's what we want. We want to eat fast food, junk, candy, cookies, cakes, burgers, fries, fried chicken, cheese-stuffed pizza; we want to drink silly coffee drinks and soda. So when we see ads for things like grilled chicken from the place that gave us dinner in a bucket, well, we just go mad with joy over it. After all, it's healthy, right?

Here's a clue for you: The Colonel, Papa John, Wendy, Dr Pepper, Ronald McDonald, Aunt Jemima, Frank Perdue, Sara Lee and Betty Crocker don't give a whit about your health. In case you're not sure, they aren't real people and they sure aren't your friends. They're big corporate conglomerates who want your business and your money...and advertising has manipulated you into believing that they want you happy and well-fed (fat is more like it...). It's time to stop believing in fairy tales and take responsibility for your health.

Think of how many ads you see in the course of one evening of television viewing. Cialis, Viagra, Nexium, Lipitor, Byetta, Glucophage, Zoloft, Celebrex...all drugs to treat heart disease, acid reflux, type 2 diabetes, depression and erectile dysfunction. Not to mention all the drugs out there for frequent urination and enlarged prostates in men. Disease has become an industry all on its own. It's so depressing, but take heart. In the name of marketing, all the diseases that plague us have been given the warm and fuzzy moniker of ‘lifestyle diseases.' I guess that makes them sound less deadly or painful or life-interrupting.

On the other hand, lifestyle disease gives you incredible power. In the attempt to comfort you in your discomfort, this little name has told you what to do...instead of swallowing their marketing and pills. If a disease is the result of your lifestyle, wouldn't it stand to reason that a change in said lifestyle will yield a different result?

We hear it every day. We are advised ad nauseum to eat more fruits and vegetables. But do we? No, we eat the cole slaw on the side of our grilled chicken in a bucket and convince ourselves that we had veggies that day. We look at the little sprig of parsley next to the slab of meat on our platters and tell ourselves that it counts as a serving of vegetables (even though we don't eat it...). We drink fruit juice, juice drinks and tell ourselves it's the same as fruit. And then when we get sick or fat or lethargic, we think fate has visited a plague on us...we refuse to acknowledge that with our lifestyle choices, we have created lifestyle diseases.

Come on, dudes, let's get it together and stop bankrupting our health so that we need so much health care, pharmaceuticals and interventions. Take responsibility for your health...eat whole, unprocessed foods and see for yourself that health care reform begins in the kitchen.

Love,

Christina

www.christinacooks.com

www.christinapirello.org

Christina Pirello, This Crazy Vegan Life, vegan, whole foods, Penguin Books