I don’t think I’m alone when I say these past couple of weeks have not been easy. Being in quarantine it is easy to get lost in Netflix shows and binge eat. Since the gym has shut down, I have not been keeping up with my workout routine. I have been trying to do things to stay active, like walking my dog and playing just dance, but nothing I do gives me the feeling of a good workout at the gym. It’s hard to get motivated to do much of anything productive and I have noticed my body showing the affects of that.
I find it interesting how well each chapter relates to my life each week. Given the fact that saint patricks day and my birthday fall within the same week, my friends and I found ourself binge drinking a lot at this time. The fact that “a standard [alcoholic] drink contains 12 to 15 grams of alcohol, so a single drink can add about 100 empty calories to your daily intake” (Donatelle, 2019, p.156) is a scary thought. Gaining one pound a month just by drinking alcohol is something that probably affects many college kids, myself included. These past few weeks I have had almost no responsibilities, given that classes and my internship were cancelled and I am temporarily out of work, so I have spent a lot of my time drinking excessively. I know this is not a good habit and I have begun to cut down on my alcohol consumption as I start to get back on somewhat of a schedule. My hope is to keep cutting down on this bad habit as a way of achieving my health aspect of losing weight. The book gives many ways to help cut down on alcohol consumption and I think that I could utilize some of these tips, such as taking a break from alcohol and staying active. These tips can possibly help me and others stay healthy and achieve our goals.
I am amazed at the nicotine epidemic that has gone on over the past years. When the Juul came out, people loved it and it helped a lot of my friends stop smoking cigarettes. The fun flavors that we used to be able to buy made the juul even more attractive to both adults and teenagers. Juul must have known that “children are three times more susceptible to advertising run by tobacco companies than are adults.”(Donatelle, 2019, p.164) because their ads were definitely aimed towards younger people. I know high schoolers were vaping and it made them feel cool. Once the younger generation was hooked on the juul, the government banned the juul for some time and now I do not know the statistics, but I am sure that there is a handful of kids that are now going to turn to cigarettes to just get their nicotine fix.
On page 172 in the textbook, there is a timeline of the affects smokers have when they decide to quit smoking. Donatelle explains that only 24 hours after quitting, the persons risk for heart attack decreases, after 1-9 months, energy should be restored and after 15 years the chance for coronary heart disease is the same as that of a non smoker. I find it fascinating that someone that someone who smokes can be in just as good health with someone who never has if they quit. It is inspiring that someone with a nicotine addiction can stop smoking and live a healthy life. It gives me hope that even though I have not been the healthiest of people, I can still lead a healthy life if I work hard enough at my goals
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