Not sure where this post will end up but i'll rattle a bit and try to gather my tho'ts. (This is getting more common!)

I have a friend who has a condition in which her allergies cause her esophagus to "inflame". She won't realize how bad it is until a piece of food gets stuck. She's had at least 3 surgeries now to remove food that has gotten stuck and the scar tissue is becoming an issue. There is a surgery, last ditch effort kind of thing, that the doc told her has an EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT MORTALITY RATE!!!! (This friend is in her mid 40's.) She's rather rattled by the position in which she finds herself and my heart goes out to her. BUT, (i'm truly not judging but "analyzing" maybe?) today at potluck she was talking about it and how she's supposed to eat AS WE'RE HAVING POTLUCK. Her plate was piled high with, imo, tough food to eat when you AREN'T having esophagus problems. She said she figured the food at potluck is a blessing and a time of fellowship so she wasn't going to worry about it. In MY mind i'm thinking she's sabotaging herself or in denial or just plain out of control!

As is always the case, i turn the magnifying glass back towards myself to see how much *I* sabotage myself consistently! I am really working on trying to rein myself in and keep on track. Am i not feeding any health issues that might be going on by how i eat? and am i not getting ready for the wheelchair by not exercising? I'm no different than my sweets-loving diabetic hubby or my friend with the rotting esophagus. Things have got to change!

I guess that's just a message to myself, eh?!

Yeah. I know.

I look at diabetic friends and think "Don't they know they're killing themselves?" Then I look at my own plate

I will say, I had one grandmother who was health conscious, thin, ALWAYS ate right, and exercised every day (lots of walking). She lived to be 95- but the last 5 years was severe dementia.

The other grandma ate a TOTAL junk food diet (a drawer of candy in the bedroom, a huge drawer of cookies & crackers in the kitchen), NEVER exercised, was moderately overweight. Lived to be 90 with no dementia.

I will say, neither one drank or smoked at ALL.

But, sometimes I wonder how much we can control all these things we THINK we have so much control over

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

Well, there's THAT!!! I'm one of the healthiest family members and i grew up eating Ding Dongs and Pepsi for breakfast everyday, hot dogs with chips and Pepsi for lunch, and the typical hunk o' meat, canned veggies and a starch for dinner, then topped that off with cereal or more junk at night!