Years ago a popular saying started to circulate the community to help stimulate your dietary conscience. The saying "You are what you eat" was intended to remind us that the proper balance of foods has always proven to help provide the essential nutrients for good nutrition and aid in a healthy lifestyle. Even though the saying is less popular now, does it still have its merits? How much does what goes in your mouth and digestive system determine how healthy you are or what ailments you might have to suffer from? Being overweight, inactive, and always starving yourself to lose weight is not such a good thing. When I hear, "I get plenty of exercise at work" or "I'm so busy with the family and kids that I don't have time to work out," I know that this individual has needs major lifestyle overhaul. Another frequent statement is, "I don't eat much, and I don't know where this extra couple of hundred pounds came from, -It must be a thyroid condition." Well, very seldom is the problem with the thyroid! The problem is you. The junk you eat and swallow gets in your system and causes major health issues. What do you think that extra 50 - 200 pounds is doing to your feet? The feet are constructed to accept about 400 pounds of pressure per square inch during the walking process or "gait cycle". You should see the x-rays of an overweight person and how the bones have had to adapt to the additional weight. I've seen multiple stress fractures, degenerative joint disease and bone spurs as a result. People forget to increase their shoe size and width to accompany all that extra weight. They keep on wearing that size 8 medium shoe on a size 9.5 or 10 wide foot. Keep in mind that the average difference from a size 8 to a size 9 pair of shoes is only about 1/4 inch! So it's easy to squeeze into that too small shoe in the morning but find that later that evening, if it takes that long, the foot is too swollen to fit comfortably. So they either squeeze into the too small shoe, which can cause obvious damage or just take the shoes off and carry them to the car and back home. People are able to eat virtually anything to survive. We can adapt to most any environment and eat those foods common to that region of the world. In Alaska the Native Americans ate whale and blubber as their main dietary entrèe. Other parts of the world with warmer climates eat more vegetables, fruits, and nuts, tubular and berries to stay healthy. My concern is that other people in some parts of America have such unhealthy eating habits that they are at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, poor circulation and tooth decay. These poor eating habits are passed on from generation to generation along with the ailments they may cause. You may add on excessive tobacco and alcohol consumption to complicate matters. Even in countries with low occurrence of cardiac problems (heart attacks), minimal hardening of the arteries and normal blood pressures can fall prey to the all American diet of fast foods and no exercise thereby increasing health risks. Studies show that when American fast food restaurants show up in foreign countries, so do the health problems. Do the math! Sure your grandparents smoked tobacco, ate pork and lived to get almost 100 years old. But you are not your grandparents and times have changed. Now we have genetically modified foods that are larger, yield a greater harvest and last longer on the shelves or in the coolers. Did you know that some tomatoes have DNA from pigs added to make them grow larger and plumper? Try eating foods that are not genetically altered and not bleached like white rice and white flower. Eat more natural rice and flowers that still are fresh with the natural oils and nutrients still in them. What about the five fruits a day theory? Do you eat a salad at lunch and dinner? Why do we like to cook the life out of our vegetables before serving them? Eat to live, don't live to eat! A variety of recipes is available in our LifeStyles @ footDrHorsley section for you to try at home to help provide a balance to our meat and potato diets that we rush home to after work. Feel free to submit your favorite recipes and we will publish them on our web site. Break the food chains that enslave you and keep you taking multiple medications to reverse the effects of poor eating habits. To your medical doctor who treats your high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, blurred vision, headaches, colon and breast cancer, heartburn, obesity, etc., with prescription medications: what's in your body system? How healthy are you? Do you lead by example or just eat "whatever" and take the same pills you give to your patients? Get a check up and begin a daily exercise program. Try walking a mile or two and drinking plenty of water. So many people are functionally dehydrated. Coffee, juice, tea, Gatorade™ and cool-aid requires the bodies own water to be digested. Those liquids actually dehydrate you! Here's how much water you should drink daily; divide your body weight in half and change the pounds to ounces. Therefore if you weigh 160 pounds divide by 2 and you get 80 pounds. Change the pounds to ounces and you should be drinking 80 ounces of water a day. It's that simple. 80 ounces is about 2 1/2 quarts. Do the math! Drink up! News flash: the human body needs water to function properly. Drink up!