Pork products, or, is bacon the downfall of the modern world?

Clearly, I am not good at being a blogger, as it has been literally a couple years since my last post, but lately I have been inspired, so I figured, why not add a post? It's my blog I can do what I want. 

Lots of changes in my life since my last post. First, I quit hot yoga for awhile for a number of reasons including keeping up with the cost, and enrolled in school for a Graphic Design Certificate, which I have now graduated from. It was a one year program and in the time I was a full time student, still not gainfully employed full time, you can imagine I gained a bit of weight, partly due to laziness, partly stress. It is amazing how much time you can waste when it is available to you. It is a universal truth, I think, that when you have the free time, you put more things off than when you don't. They say "Busy people get things done" and it is true. Unfortunately I used school as an excuse to be lazy in other aspects of my life and now I am suffering the consequences. So now I am back in action and taking control of my health again!

Just before I enrolled in school I also was a member of a running/triathlon group in hopes I would complete a half marathon and triathlon eventually. I did the half marathon and got over my fear of the open ocean swimming, but unfortunately never got a working bicycle in time to enroll in and complete a triathlon. I did set a PR for my half marathon. (I am slow so I won't post the time, but it was great for ME). And I did a 188 mile relay with 11 other people on my team in the Nevada desert, Ragnar Las Vegas for those who are in the running world. And then I quit running too, so I could focus on school. 

So here I am, finally finished with school and in dire need of a body overhaul. I have joined Weight Watchers which has worked for me in the past. I still dance with a local samba dance group, and plan on getting to more practices, and I also plan on getting back into running and yoga. Although I don't specifically endorse dieting or Weight Watchers, I do agree with its premises. Eat what you want, just in moderation. And try to aim for the things that diet "experts" tell us are good: fiber, lean cuts of meat, LOTS of veggies, fruit, and cut the crap! 

So, recently I had a debate with someone about eating pork products as I was eating a prepackaged breakfast sandwich which contained a small slice of Canadian bacon. I will be the first to say I grew up in an exceptionally healthy household due to my father being a doctor of preventive medicine and a health fanatic mother.  We almost never ate red meat or I don't recall being served any pork. However, even Dad ate an occasional strip of bacon (cooked very crisp to cut the fat content was his way of ordering it) and I believe that on occasion, indulgence in bacon or the occasional pork product really is not going to ruin your health as some people claim. In fact, I am attending vegan cooking classes in an effort to steer myself in the better food direction. For the record, I am not now nor likely will I ever become a full bore vegan. I am an omnivore and I make no apologies. That being said, I do try to limit the amount of meat products I eat. I actually enjoy vegan cuisine and to some degree the vegan lifestyle, however, I see it as a cuisine, like Mexican, Fusion, French etc, not something I have to commit my entire life to. I am sure pork products kill laboratory rats in excessive quantities, but until they prove that bacon and other pork products in moderation causes some rare life threatening disease, or is contributing to the downfall of the modern world, I will continue to eat it, in moderation, of course!