Applebee's: Don't Get Stung

You are literally taking your life into your own hands when you eat out in most chain restaurants across America.  But that statement has little meaning since too many of us out of convenience eat out.  If you must, then go with caution.  Honor your good health.  You cannot afford repeated overdrafts on your account of good health.

Last night I met up with some friends, and they wanted to grab some dinner at Applebee's.  Not my favorite place, because the food and the atmosphere are so commercial, but not the worst either . . . or so I thought.  I ordered a sirloin steak with shrimp.  And a Newcastle beer.  I took only a few sips of the beer and left it.  I knew, too, that the shrimp would be farm raised; all of the shrimp in restaurants is farm raised.  One of the friends ordered a spinach cheese dip with tortillas.  All of the corn in the US is genetically modified, so I do not even touch the chips.  I looked at them.  But my guest, friend wanted me to try the spinach cheese dip.  I thought cheese and spinach, what could go wrong?  But God knows what else is in that dish or what was used in its preparation.  I tasted one, and it tasted like a lab . . . not a Labrador, but a laboratory.  It was empty of flavor and spice.  No pungent bite back from sharply aged cheese or anti-oxidant, invigorating kickback from the spinach the way that you might detect the smell and the tastes of the earth in a bottle of wine.  None of that.  The food was dead.  So in addition to sabotaging my gastro-intestinal health, I derived no enjoyment from the taste of the food.  But my guests went after it, mixed it, sampled it, and ate it.

Then the dinners arrived.  My steak was plated with a few sliced rose potatoes and a frozen broccoli and carrot mix that was microwaved.  It was prepackaged food.  Again, dead food.  No flavor.  Flavor is an indication of nutrient dense, anti-oxidant rich foods.  No taste means no nutrition.  Will you get full?  Oh, sure.  Quicker than you might expect because it is Frankenfood.  I finished my steak and the tiny shrimp that surrounded it.  Even before I got home I was beginning to feel the neurotoxic effects of the food.  I became a little light-headed.  My patience short-circuited.  By the time I got home I went for the fish oils that I have in my freezer, ate an apple alternating it with peanut butter then cream cheese and drank some instant coffee.  These revived me somewhat.  I went to work on a small project.  Then called a friend.  It wasn't until 12am that I finally got to bed.  My dreams were harried.  Running from people shooting after me.  I woke at 4am, grabbed some coffee, an apple, and some coconut oil and tried going back to sleep at 5:30am.  A guy was ferreting through the trash bin in the Shakey's parking lot.  He found a few and began flattening them with a pop! at 5:30.  The popping shattered the quiet and the promise of more sleep.  I got up, got dressed, and went out for a walk.

Here are a few pics of that morning.

Exercise: The Elixir of Health

Exercise is elixir of health.  No food, no anti-oxidant, no vitamin, no leafy green vegetable or healthy fat will invigorate or boost you almost immediately the way exercise can and will. A walk around your neighborhood will raise your mood.  So, walk.  If you must, walk.  So, walk you must.

If you want more bang for your buck, then climb.  Go for a short hike.  One immediate benefit of exercise is that it will elevate your mood so that you can be more productive.  Pick a local foothill with a gentle grade and walk it.  Another benefit of a hike is that you get out of the hubbub of the city.  You step away from the confines of your computer.  You breathe.  You climb.  You smell the flowers.  The wild ones are incredible.