For Health’s Sake

Hello World!

Yum! the aroma in the house is amazing.  I’m cooking soup for supper (dinner, for you city folks), and I can’t wait to scoop out a bowl to eat with cheese, pita crackers, and green tea.  Most everything in the soup came fresh from the farmers’ market; it’s pretty much a farm to table meal.

Photo Credit

Is what we were taught as children, and may still hear on occasion today, true?  Our we “what we eat?” If true, and I tend to think that it is, shouldn’t we (and I am talking to myself here, also) be more careful about what we eat?

I was blessed to grow up on a working farm.  As a child, I don’t remember my parents having to buy that much at the grocery.  We raised our own beef, pork, and vegetables. As long as my great-grandmother, who lived about 2/10 of a mile away, was living, we had chickens, too, which also meant fresh eggs.  Food was preserved for winter through canning, freezing, or curing in the smoke house. Fresh air and exercise were a daily thing, whether it was helping Dad work on the farm or the fun of saddling my horse and just going for a ride.  It was early to bed and early to rise naturally for me, and I never had trouble going to sleep because at night I was tired.  When it got dark, it was dark, and the sounds that lulled me into slumber land were that of the crickets, frogs, and other night creatures. It was a good, wholesome life, and I did not have a weight problem until I discovered ways of eating and living that were different from the farm.

Thus, it makes sense to me that if I want to regain my health, that I should replicate that lifestyle as much as possible. No, I am not crazy enough to think that I can duplicate it exactly, especially not while living in an apartment in Nashville. However, there are things that can and should be done.

Clarksville Downtown Market
Photo Credit

First, the food we eat should be as much as possible fresh and from local farms, so I visit Farmers’ Markets to buy farm fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs, local honey, grass-fed meat, etc. The best of these  markets that I have found in the state of Tennessee so far is the Downtown Market in Clarksville, Tennessee open 8 to 1 on Saturdays May to October. Having lived in Clarksville many years, I had been a steady customer of this market since it began.   The next best market that I have found in Nashville so far is the Hip Donelson Farmers’ Market that opens only from 4 to 7 PM on Fridays May through October.

While I do not have a farm on which to work nor horses to ride, activity is something of which I need more.  I’ve used the apartment pool for water aerobics, and there is a small exercise facility available for 24/7 free use, but walking on a tread mill is not the same as walking in the fresh air.  I must build up to long walks again, especially if I am to meet my goal of doing a 5k by next July. I’ve emailed the contact person in Nashville to find out more about the walking club associated with the sport of Volksmarching as it would be nice to find a group to join. Sometimes exercise is more fun when shared. (I will admit, being outside is more enjoyable for me during any time of the year other than the middle of summer; humidity with heat is not fun for me.)

As discussed in Indulge in the Benefits of Naps, getting plenty of the right sleep is significant to our overall health, so with better food, fresh air, and good exercise, getting restful sleep is next.  For me, going to bed about the same time each night and waking about the same time each morning seems to work better.

For Health’s Sake, do you need to make changes to the quality of food you eat, of exercise you get, and to the amount of sleep you enjoy?

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela