Child Labor Laws Good and Bad

The problem that I have with most laws is their unintended consequences. While no one wants to return to the audacious conditions that occurred prior to the child labor laws, I believe that we are hurting our younger generations in other ways by not allowing them the opportunity to work.
What if we allowed youth to work? Even if it was only part time. There are many jobs that young people could perform without putting them in danger and still giving them the opportunity to contribute to the community. Work is a vital part of teaching our youth work ethics and moral character.  Principles that are becoming more and more rare among the new workforce.  Many of our young people are entering into the workforce with no experience and an unrealistic expectation of what work is. Had they the opportunity to earn a small wage they might even appreciate the work their parents perform in raising feeding and housing them.

Reporting in Week 6

This week has been fairly good. I have learned that when I am making dinner I tend to pick a lot more than I thought I did. No, I take that back I knew I did, but I didn't think that picking counted toward the meal. So, I have discovered that Sunday's may be my one day of eating a little more than rest of the week. I have also seen a pattern emerge on Fridays. Fridays seem to have become a night I have to watch because for some reason since starting this program it seems we have something lined up involving sweets every week. I am not about to turn them down, but again. I eat less and afterwards I move a little more. One of these days I will have to write a detailed list of what I am eating on a daily basis, but for now I am more conscious of my snacks which consist of a few chips, but mostly crackers. Wheat thins are my favorite. I love the nutty flavor and the crispness. Wasa whole grain cracker breads are good too. I have been able to flip that mental switch that tells me that hunger means I am starving. Now when I feel hungry it only means I need a little snack... a couple of crackers with some cottage cheese and sour cream dip.

I truly believe that if we are not moving a lot during the day we don't need a lot of food for the day. If we want to eat more we need to move more. If we don't want to move more then we need to Eat Less.

I used to tell people that I had my food storage and I carried it with me where ever I went. Sadly it was all in my stomach. Now that I am losing weight I can't say that anymore, thus my early entry on Food Storage. :) It feels much better to have a food storage that I am not carrying around.

Moving more- I finally ordered and received my tai chi workouts for beginners starring none other than the Grass hopper himself, David Carradine. While I was taking my mind body class I rented a similar video with Grasshopper and it looked unimpressive, but when we tried it, Holy Cow!!!, it was impressively effective. I am going to try it out and see where I will fit it in to my routine. I am kind of thinking that Mondays and Tuesdays may be good, because they are days I struggle to want to do something strenuous, and even though tai chi doesn't look strenuous it is, so I will use the deception to my advantage. Monday morning I did not do because of the holiday. But I picked things back up on Tuesday on Wednesday morning my unofficial weigh in on my own scale put me under 170, but on Thursday I drank an extra bottle of water, which happened to show up in my sauna suit on Friday morning. I am not sure that I have sweated that much in a 30 minute time frame since aerobics for football and wrestling in high school. This week I did increase the intensity of my exercise ball routine in the evenings. I work it until I almost break a sweat, just enough to warm not enough to burn.

I have not been feeling super duper tonight so my normal exercise ball routine was abandoned, but tomorrow should still bring me closer to my goal weight of  269lbs.



Week 6 273 lbs. Watch it drop!



Eat Less, Move More. Becoming physically what I already am mentally.

Reporting Week 5

Eating Less- This week I did not feel much of a temptation to eat anything in particular. I did decide that saving sushi might not be safe so I did not split my meal up, but we took it to go so I could spread my lunch out over about 2 hrs. So, I didn't feel too bad about not saving half of my meal. On Sunday and Monday I did have a serving of fruits and vegetables in a couple of pieces of strawberry rhubarb pie. Snacks were crackers and cottage cheese mostly, I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. Again the trick has been watching my portions and eating slower, enjoying the flavors of the things I do eat.

I have found that I have more energy now than I have ever had. I believe two things are making this happen: One I believe that eating less allows my body to use energy in ways other than digestion. And two, I believe that by exercising energy is stored in the body allowing us to use it when it is needed.

Moving more- This week I almost lost it completely. Mentally my brain shut off almost completely. I was repulsed by the thought of doing more "exercise." I am not a big fan of exercise as I have said before. Exercise is just one means I can use to increase my movements, so for now I am settling for exercise routines. I would much rather go on a hike or play some sports, but for now I need quick results so I will stay with it. I am going to try some different routines such as Tia Chi, or possibly Yoga. Anyways back on track. I tried using the exercise ball routine for Monday and Tuesday. Monday was a very abbreviated exercise routine and Tuesday was not very effective in producing a sweat, but it did keep me moving until I could mentally get refocused. I also came to the realization that when we exercise and we start getting "the burn" it means that we are burning calories big time. So the burn is our friend when we want to lose weight. I am also realizing that stretching outside of the exercise routine is very good for keeping the body from storing toxins in the muscles. I am amazed at how well my core muscles feel. I am developing a flat stomach as I have never had before. It is an incredible feeling.

If we justify our emotional reactions then we have no hope of changing our reactions, because through justification we give ourselves the approval to do it again. That is how abuse works, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, etc. It is justified and repeated. That might also be how emotional eating becomes a habit.

I had a dream that I was sitting down and suddenly I realized I was missing something....my GUT!!!!  Eating Less and Moving More. Becoming physically what I already am mentally.

I am looking forward to tomorrows weigh ins.

276.8 lbs Watch it drop!

Reporting in Week 4

Beginning of Week 4

Eating Less- This week was pretty good except for Super Bowl Sunday. I ate pretty good, although looking back I did not eat as much as I thought I did except the pheasant fingers that I made, those were yummy and mostly protein, so I was not super worried. I also heard that spicy food increases your metabolism so I ate a few jalapeño poppers :) That to counter the few chips and the small piece of butterscotch brownie I ate. 

I did notice this week that I was eating faster than I have been, but I have been able to control my portions, so all is pretty much going according to plan. Thursday I faced the temptation of emotionally eating after receiving a call from my daughter crying and telling me she was in an accident. Thank goodness everyone was okay. I feel God had his hand in that when I saw the vehicles involved. I did increase my munchies slightly, but tried to stay away from a lot of carbohydrates. I feel like I actually have control of my auto intake reflex. Once again we ate out on Thursday night and I asked for a togo box immediately and put half my dinner away before even taking a bite. 

As a note about emotional eating: I was talking to my wife and she suggested that emotional eating was probably related to that period of development when we are seeking comfort from our parents and they put something in our mouth to calm us down. I believe we have to find within ourselves that emotional trigger that causes us to eat emotionally and decide to turn it off. This might be easier said than done, as the trigger may be caused by something very emotional. Once we do decide to turn it off we will have to replace it with something physical, spiritual, and or emotional. Some may find that exercise works for them others may find prayer, meditation, reading, or acts of service work for them. But I believe the answer lies within ourselves. 

Move More -After large losses the first 2 weeks and almost no loss on the 3rd week I was afraid of a let down in momentum. I realized it would come but I felt like I should have at least lost a pound. Oh well, I decided that I was feeling better than I have in years so I would push myself past the wall. Besides my wife thinks I am starting to look hot ;~) It is nice, most mornings she will get up and do exercises with me. We are now up to 30 minutes exercise every morning, so we are feeling the burn pretty good, by the 3rd 10 minute segment we are doing about half of the workout in their modified mode. I am debating whether to change my routine to something else at this point. Doing the same thing day after day seems a bit boring, and part of increasing my movement I think should be increasing the types of movements as well, engaging new muscles or the same muscles in different ways.  In the effort to the different types of movements I decided that I would also intentionally not park at the closest stall when I go to a store. As a note I did sit on the exercise ball while watching the Super Bowl so while I ate some goodies I was burning calories at the same time. 

Tomorrows weigh ins should be kinder to me. 

End of Week 4 279.2 Watch it fall!

Eat Less, Move More. 

Becoming physically what I already am mentally. 

Unions Giving Your Power Away

Unions interest me. I see the cover picture of unions as a very powerful concept, the voice of the people joining together to force change for the better. Yet something has always bothered me about them. It started in earnest when I worked in Las Vegas for awhile and had to work at night for our own safety because we did not belong to a union. Before that I didn't feel comfortable with the idea, but I was not really against them either. As I have looked further into my own feelings my understanding has increased and I have come to a understand why I feel the way I do...besides the threats.

The idea of a union to increase the power of your voice is kind of alluring. It kind of reminds me of Ursula from the Little Mermaids. Ursula recruited those who wanted something better than what they had, but in order to get what they wanted they had to give up their power they already owned. She knew that once she had their power, she had nothing to worry about. She would never have to give them what they really wanted. She was EEEVIIIIL!!!!

I see unions as a threat to the individual. When we trade our voice in for a collective voice we lose our own voice. In the beginning, unions look good. They have great ideals, promises of a living wage, job security, and the power of your voice to reign in bad business practices. Once they have your voice, what you think is not nearly as important as the Union's agenda. You join because together the collective voice has more money, more power to get the attention of politicians. However, as each Union gets bigger the voice does get louder, but you do not recognize that voice as your own, instead of the collective sounding like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, it sounds like Roseanne Barr singing the National Anthem.

As Unions join with other Unions suddenly what you thought was a good thing starts to feel like you have no control whatsoever. It is then that you recognize Ursula for who she is. Your dues have fed this monstrosity that you have to feed in order to feed your family. Now you start hearing that tune of Doctor Proctor playing in your head. You know, "Doctor, doctor have mercy on me. Your cure is worse than my disease...."

We can not afford to compromise our individual power, by handing it over to any group. Like a candle on its own there is little light but two individual candles together work to synergize their power. One large candle may burn brighter than one small candle, but it does not have the same synergistic potential as many smaller candles working together on their own.

Welfare: Don't Feed The Bears

I was watching a documentary on Yellowstone Park the other day. They talked about how the government built up Yellowstone National Park as a tourist destination. One part of the story really caught my attention, mostly because it was an example of man messing with the natural order of God's creations. Yellowstone bears were being fed by tourists and several tourists were being mauled and some were even killed, if you can imagine that.
Well, as I see it if you warn people and they ignore the warnings then they must suffer the effects of disobedience   to their own good judgement and common sense. That can be deadly in some cases... Anyways, the government in its desire to make it safe for not so brilliant people to view the wildlife designated certain areas where they would dump food for the bears. Suddenly the number of bears began to decline. They noted that the bears when they did not have to hunt for their food lost their skills to hunt and they relied more on the food that they were given, which did not give them the nutrients that they needed to survive their hibernation.
So, it is in nature, so it is with men. Help those who need help, but if you take without offering and honing your own skills you are likely to lose the skills you have and when the "winter" comes, you will not be ready to survive. An easy meal may keep you alive temporarily, but in the long run, it will leave you malnourished and wanting for more.
It is our responsibility to help our fellow man, it is also our responsibility to take care of ourselves. There is a fine balance between giving and taking that nature allows for without destroying both the giver and the taker. A giver that gives too much or a taker that takes too much is destroyed by the contempt developed by those who take without gratitude. 

Reporting In Week 3

End of Week 2

This week I started off Sunday with a little larger dinner than I have been eating, and finished with desert. Key was only having small portions. Monday was normal except we increased our formal exercises to approximately 20 minutes. I do not officially weigh in until Saturdays, but I do weigh in morning and night. The night weigh in is sometimes discouraging, but overnight I can fluctuate almost 4 to 5 lbs. This helps motivate me to maintain my eating less. I want to make it clear that I eat less, but I have not starved myself either. I didn't need all that I was eating, so cutting back has merely been cutting excess eating. I believe that as I loose the fat my energy levels are going up. I am thinking this might be because the energy I wasted in digestion is now being able to go to other activities.
I realized that one of these weeks I would hit a wall as far as the scales go, but I am not discouraged because I am still feel myself getting trimmer. Drinking water has been critical as I can nearly feel the fat wash away as the water goes through me, which is quite frequent I might add.
On Thursday we went out to eat at Left Fork Grill which is one of my favorite places. DeeAnn and I will sometimes order a single meal and split it, especially when it is their Prime Rib, but this time I had their braised beef short ribs. Very tasty!. If we had not asked for a togo box at the beginning of the meal I might not have stopped myself from finishing it, as it was I got 2 meals out of it and felt good enough to share a piece of pie with DeeAnn.

End Week 3

I was kind of counting on this week being a minimal loss after the first couple of weeks, but I am still hopeful that I will break the 280 mark tomorrow. I am designating Fridays and Saturday mornings as my big push days to break through those barriers. So, I will eat carefully today and exercise good tomorrow, with my sauna suit before weigh ins.
One more thing I am going to be adding to my routine is a regular bed time about 10:15. This one although I feel it will be good will be harder for me mentally, because I like television at night. Oh well...So let it be written so let it be done.

A Practical Approach To Food Storage

Over the past several years we have been thinking about food storage. This was not a possibility when our obligations were going to our creditors. However, once we became debt free we realized that our next obligation was to plan for our future. Part of that planning involved food storage.

Food storage has been taught to us since we knee high to a grasshopper. My mom used to make all kinds of things out of wheat. I don't know that I was all that fond of it, but it left an impression on me nonetheless. So, when I thought of food storage I thought of wheat, rice, dry milk, sugar, and beans. Not real exciting things but when you are hungry they will fill your belly and are nutrient filled.

DeeAnn and I had differing opinions on the matter...kinda. I have found that more often than not our differing opinions are simply the way we approach the subject, in other words, it is simply a matter of perspective. Neither one of us were excited about what was suggested by the church, but I felt that if we truly believe in revelation and that the foundation of our faith is built upon that rock, then that should be our priority. However, I realized as DeeAnn did that it was not the most practical solution, because those items are not on our everyday menu. 

So, after looking at several different options, DeeAnn was inspired with a plan that satisfied, not only what we felt was our obligation to be obedient to the revelation for the church, but also would be practical for our eating habits. 

We decided that we would gather 3 months supply of the, what we call, hardcore extreme storage that was suggested by the church. This would be used for extreme emergencies, although we would incorporate certain things into diet so as to be able to digest it on a regular basis if necessary. So, by going to http://providentliving.org/ we found the tools to calculate what we needed and we have been working on gathering those items needed for our Extreme food storage.

Next we decided that to put some distance from us and the Extreme food storage, we would look into freeze dried and or dehydrated foods. Foods that have a long shelf life, but are more practical for what we use on a daily basis. We decided that Freeze dried was what we liked more and so we have chosen to go with  http://dailybread.com/ there are other companies out there as well, but we liked what we saw with these guys and the food was pretty tasty. They have a plan for 2 or 3 meals per day so you can tailor a plan to your needs and wants. Again other companies do the same, but we liked daily bread. 3 more months done and neither one would we have to worry about for 25 years. 

Lastly we decided to store up 3 months worth of every day foods our green beans, cream of mushroom soups, what ever we normally would eat week to week. 

Once these 9 months are taken care of we can then add a month to each level and have a years supply with little effort. 

This way we figured would be cheaper for us and more practical because it allows us to eat the things we like, while still having access to the things we need. We also figured that by the time we saw ourselves dipping into our secondary reserve we would be able to have enough time to work our extreme storage into our menu.