# 12 - Bad Math

The math in my health life is very bad.

If you've read this blog already, you know I have been failing pathetically at getting 10,000 steps in every day. I am averaging somewhere between 1500 and 3500. I think that was the lowest steps category, sort of couch potato status.

So, IY"H, I'm hoping to fix that somehow with a bit of time on the treadmill. Or maybe I'll go out and buy a dog. At least I'll have to walk it every day. Um, no. I think I'll draw the line at buying a dog just so I can get enough steps in each day. Hey, I'll borrow a dog. :)

In addition to my low step counts, I am scoring a zero at willpower.

Zero willpower!

If I don't have anything "bad" in the house, or if I stay out of the kitchen, I am fine. I don't crave food. I even forget to eat half the time. (It's the half I remember that's the problem.) But sometimes I do have to walk through the kitchen, even if it's only to get out the kitchen door. And I inevitably pass by the fridge. And who on earth can pass through the kitchen without a quick glance at the pantry or the fridge?

I could have a rope rigged outside my window and bypass the kitchen with this handy device, but if I have a rope outside my window to get out, what's to stop a burglar from using it to get in?

So, I have to have a new plan.

Fast and Hurry Food

Zero willpower plus zero ability to choose the right food if I'm in a hurry. Eating right means contemplating your food, not grabbing in a hurry. Hurry food is very unhealthy. It's a rule. You know it's faster to grab a cookie than it is to peel a carrot. The cookie is hurry food. That's why fast food is making America fat. Fast food is even worse than hurry food.

Now, I'm only telling you the following story, because it ended up okay, or else, I wouldn't even mention it.

I was rushing outside, ran to the kitchen for my keys, and on the way, opened the cupboard.

Oh my gosh!! Cheese doodles (or whatever they're called here). I love cheese doodles. I love their cheesy taste and the orange that dyes your fingers for at least a week.

Now, I could eat those cheese doodles instead of a cheese sandwich. Or I could eat some as a snack - one portion of cheese doodles. Hm. But, what's ten cheese doodles?

I looked at the bag and decided that maybe I should just eat the whole bag to get rid of it, and then I remembered that I'd have to write down the cheese doodles on my food journal (I'm keeping a food journal for nutritionist Judy Kizer). And I didn't want to hear all those sighs of disappointment that I ate cheese doodles, so I grabbed the cheese, I mean, keys and left.

Then I remembered some advice from Efrat Women's Health Center social worker Alizah Shapiro. Alizah said, "If your willpower is low, but you have to have junk in your house, because the kids want it, try an alternative. Give your kids money and say, 'If you'd like to buy any junk, here's some money, but please eat it out of the house.'" I think I'll tell the kids to buy the cheese doodles and eat them in the park.