Whole Life Times: Seeing Blue

November 2005 | From the Editor

Seeing Blue

My daughter has been planning our Thanksgiving menu for weeks. Away at school, with a diet dominated by cafeteria fare and breakfast bars, she has a new appreciation of home cooking, and a big holiday dinner is mandatory.

There’s a great temptation to eat more than usual on holidays. I can remember many a festive meal that left my stomach feeling uncomfortably full. I just wrote that sentence and then realized that it totally relieves me of responsibility for stuffing myself! Yes indeed, it was I who gave myself those stomach aches.

According to the National Institutes of Health, most Americans gain about a pound during the winter holiday season. By itself, a pound isn’t much. But extra pounds can accumulate over the years and be a contributor to obesity later in life, as we’ve been hearing on what seems like every other news broadcast. Apparently, more than half of all adult Americans are carrying excess baggage.

Researchers say that only two factors influence weight gain: level of hunger and level of activity. Curiously enough, it may have been my level of activity—or, more accurately, my desire for inactivity—that inadvertently helped my daughter avoid weight problems. When she was growing up, I didn’t want to have to clean up any more dinner mess than absolutely necessary, so I avoided using serving plates and dished up portions that seemed reasonable, directly from the stove. One evening, my daughter’s best friend, who struggled with her weight, had a brilliant revelation at our dinner table: She realized that at her house, her dinner plate always arrived fully loaded. So while both girls dutifully “cleaned their plates,” one consumed almost twice as much food as the other. As they grew older and made more of their own food decisions, their eating choices continued to reflect what they had learned about portions. It’s fine to eat more, but we need a corresponding increase in activity in order to stay healthy.

If you’re looking for more activity in your life, why not jog over to your polling place on November 8? This is not a sexy election—we’re not voting for representatives—but crucial issues are at stake. Take advantage of the privilege of living in a democracy. If you weren’t given a voice in your fate, wouldn’t you complain bitterly?

You might even see red! There are a number of different propositions to vote on, but the most important one involves redistricting. If Gov. Schwarzenegger gets his way (as he failed to do with our state representatives, prompting him to make taxpayers fund this unnecessary and costly special election), our lovely, deep blue state could undergo redistricting that could start to affect us in a myriad of unhappy ways. California could become more conservative and corporate in the way of Texas—and our federal government. I don’t know about you, but I miss feeling proud of my government and my country. It’s heartening to live in a progressive state that more closely reflects my beliefs—and I don’t want to see that change. So I’m voting NO on Prop 77.

I’m also voting NO on Prop. 73, which would require that parents of a pregnant minor seeking an abortion be notified at least 48 hours before the procedure can be performed. If teens don’t feel comfortable telling their parents about something like this, chances are it’s for good reason. Young women should not be forced to endure parental rage or backroom abortions. (We also should end this absurd abstinence campaign that we know isn’t working, and get real about providing birth control info. But that’s another issue.)

There are six more of the governor’s propositions, and I can’t embrace any of them. Some of the wording is complicated—needed reform is piggybacked with changes that would be detrimental—so we all need to do our research. If we snooze through this election day, we’ll pay dearly.

See you at the polls!

From my heart,
Abigail Lewis

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