HALLIE EPHRON: Sometimes it feels as if the universe is conspiring to boss me around.
My smart watch keeps telling me to STAND while I’m happily taking a therapeutic nap. Or worse still, STAND when I’m already standing. Or MOVE. Apparently chair yoga or driving don’t count.
The other day it offered to call EMERGENCY when I’d washed my hands and was shaking them dry.
And my kids are after me to WEAR A MASK! Of course they’re right, because every time I take a bus or a plane or attend an indoor event, I’m felled by yet another bout of covid (or last time it was walking pneumonia). Despite having had every vaccine available to me.
My doctor advises me to: “Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!” To the tune of 8 glasses a day. It’s good for my heart rate and blood pressure. But !8!? Even when you space them out AND factor in the liquid that’s in the rest of what you’re eating and drinking, we’re talking extra trips to the loo in the wee hours. And isn’t it important for me to get a good night’s sleep, too?
And then there’s all the healthy diet advice. Five cups of vegetables and fruits. Three cups of dairy (milk, cheese…). Whole grains and beans. On it goes, amounting to at least twice to three times the amount I actually eat in a day and I’m not wasting away. And when all I want for breakfast is a half a bagel with cream cheese (can I count lox as a vegetable?).
Here's what the CDC has to say about dietary intake of fruits and vegetables, and what percentage of people living in various parts of the US are meeting that amount...
Are you feeling bullied, too? Or are you in the bully pulpit yourself, wishing the rest of the world would do as you advise?
I am definitely in the "feeling bullied" camp . . .
ReplyDelete[And does anyone actually eat that suggested amount of fruit and vegetables and drink that much water?]