Day 2: Choices

Fitting that the morning of day 2 of my Engine 2 challenge would juxtapose Paula Deen and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on the role of science and people's choices.  This morning while eating a bowl of Hearty Morning Fiber cereal with soymilk and a blueberry/banana/spinach "don't knock it till you try it" smoothie, I watched Paula Deen dodge questions about altering her diet upon news she has Type 2 Diabetes. She has pulled herself up by the bootstraps from poverty by cooking extremely unhealthy food on television, but now is facing a life-threatening illness impacted by the foods you eat. Those boots must still not be quite all the way on because she announced she will be a paid spokesperson for diabetes medication. Medication is extremely important for anyone with diabetes, but so are lifestyle changes.

Later in the morning, I sat in on a lecture by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on the role of science, technology and policy in protecting public health and the environment. She said her favorite environmental laws were the "Right To Know" laws because once people knew the sources of their health risks (in this case she was talking about pollution) they could make informed decisions.

I fall in Lisa Jackson's camp. I know I am at a greater risk for diabetes and am making the lifestyle changes necessary to address that. Case in point, my lunch:

Ezekiel Whole Wheat Bread, Whole Foods red pepper hummus, spinach, green pepper, tomato sandwich and a pink lady apple.