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Looking Back |-
And Forward
I think I’ve figured it out, I’m
a sociologist. The human being
in all its many forms and combi
nations fascinate me. I’m always
trying to figure out the what and
why of the things we do. Having
an inkling of the what and how
come why moves my brain to
pondering ways to make the not
so good things better and spread
the good stuff around.
Of This & That
Trenesia Y. Stubbs
Columnist
emml:trenesia@pstel.net
Toxic Belly Fat - A Poison Fuel
I’ve had several people tell
me that there are already great
columnists writing on matters
of faith and that they’d like to
read different things from me.
I kinda sorta, in principle agree.
The name of this column—Of
This & That—was meant as the
defining flavor of its content.
Some of the columns I’ve
written recently have bordered
on soapbox material that might
be better placed in a blog or dif
ferent column. I have a need,
without doubt, to express my
thoughts about more serious
matters and be persuasive while
doing so, but this isn’t the fo
rum—I don’t think.
One of my friends said the
more serious stuff sounded like
speechifying or preaching. It’s
wonderful to get feedback from
you readers as your contribu
tion is invaluable in helping me
know whether I’m speaking a
language you’ll enjoy.
Having said all of that—boy
can I be wordy—the Lord is an
integral part of my life and my
views of the world. It’s always
my intention to run my thoughts
and experiences through Him
and make my strong opinions
Jesus the Christ friendly. Any-
who, some of what you’ll read
here will still be speechifying
and preaching, just not mostly.
Whew! Got that out!
• LADY BUG Aha! Thank
God I’ve found a solution to both
my ladybug and housefly neuro
sis. The Saracen family of car
nivorous plant eats insects. Oh
boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! If you’ve
ever seen the play or movie,
“Little Shop of Horrors,” you’ll
have met Seymour, the hapless
florist who nurtures a Venus fly
trap of monstrous proportions.
The pop cultural line is: “Feed
me, Seymour. Feed me.” That
phrase for a time became syn
onymous to voraciousness.
The Venus fly trap in the
film grows large enough to eat
hapless humans venturing too
close. Some specimens carnivo
rous plants are large enough to
devour frogs and larger prey—
making the film not so unimagi
nable. Wait, wait, wait! One of
the bestest things is there will be
fewer fly and ladybug carcasses
in the kitchen or any other of
the I’d rather they not be there
places.
The Saracen family of carniv
orous plants boasts a wide vari
ety of beautiful shapes, colors
and versions of them exists in
all but the very, very dry or cold
parts of the world. The species is
euphemistically referred to and
sold as pitcher plants, such a
harmless sounding pest control.
Take that you uninvited guests!
• Have you ever made the
mistake of praying for patience?
It’s one of the things I always
warn milk-fed baby Christians
about. If you pray for patience
the Holy Spirit will give you
many, many opportunities (di
sasters) to learn patience. Don’t
do it! Pray for strength, pray
for wisdom, pray for peace, but
don’t, under any circumstances,
pray for patience.
• Instead of arming teachers
with guns, why don’t we arm
them with self-defense skills?
The Korean Martial Arts Acad
emy is now offering a 6-8 week
self-defense course Monday
through Thursday at 10:00 a.m.
and a class at 4:00 p.m., espe
cially for Crawford County’s
teachers.
• I got a chance to see the
sights around New Orleans dur
ing Super Bowl XX with my
mother, Bettye Joyce. We had
such a great time. We actually
got great seats in the stadium
because the wife of a fellow
at a Super Bowl reception we
attended was ticked off that
he’d imbibed so much he was
stretched out in a comer snor
ing. The Patriots were playing
the Bears and, since mom dis
liked all things associated with
the Patriots football team, we
rooted for the Bears. I’ve al
ways wondered if that guy so
bered enough to catch any of the
game. This year’s Super Bowl
game was a great game, but the
best moments for me were when
I remembered my time in New
Orleans amongst the fanfare of
Super Bowl. Hi Mom!
• Ladies help the guys out for
St. Valentine’s Day. Give them
BIG hints about what you want
or expect on that fateful day.
Maybe a lighted arrow pointing
to a glow in the dark picture of
what you want is a bit much, but
then again, some of our honeys
need considerable help.
Fat has many good pur
poses (one of the main ones
being our backup energy
source), but one kind of fat
that can be very bad for our
shape and our health “is
visceral fat that has turned
toxic!” Though fat storage is
a vital source of energy, “if
it becomes toxic, it can also
become an energy source for
disease.”
Visceral fat is the fat
that builds up around the
waist area and can gradually
thickly surround vital organs
such as your liver, intestines,
kidneys and your stomach.
I like to imagine visceral fat
as surrounding our plumb
ing (vital organs, etc.) with
an energy insulation that can
also absorb toxins that stay
in our system, when they
don’t get flushed out through
normal elimination, such
as (sweating, urination and
bowel movement). Once this
fat gets very toxic, (even for
a thin person) it’s sorta like
an over soaked sponge that
sets there secreting poison
ous inflammatory toxins into
our organs and tissues, that
can lead to organ failure and
other chronic diseases with
names attached “once the in
flammation has manifested
itself into a discoverable and
nameable disease.”
Visceral fat, as well as
any other fat, is a storage
area for energy and back in
the hunter gatherer days pro
vided a quick source of en
ergy when needed whether
it was in fight or flight. The
hormones we secrete into our
systems when we’re scared,
tensed up, or stressed out
encourages even more vis
ceral fat storage around our
midsection for the purpose of
reserve energy. A big differ
ence is now we have plenty
of stress but very little fight
and flight to bum off these
fat calories (from the visceral
fat storage) and also to return
our stress hormones back to
normal. Cortisol is a stress
hormone and a major culprit
in directing the body to store
belly fat. (Much of this can
be offset by regular exercise
and other means of lowering
stress levels).
I really believe a lot of the
health problems we are hav
ing today is due in big part to
not only the wrong calories
and too many of them, but
also our body’s system con
stantly being flooded with
hormones (such as adrenaline
and cortisol) from constantly
being on red alert, with no
follow up of fight, flight, or
exercise to relieve this angst
with the good feel hormones
that come with high energy
expenditure, “such as the
feel good endorphins.” We
have an abundance of mental
stress at times without get
ting physically stressed after
wards, “which is a good way
to work off the former.”
We are constantly bom
barded with toxins in the air,
foods, etc. and unless our
body has a consistent way
to get it out, “it will simply
insulate the toxin in fat or
mucous for our protection.”
Even a thin person can have
visceral fat that has turned
toxic from years of environ
mental exposures combined
with poor dietary choices
and a lack of intense physical
activity. A lot of the toxicities
that stay in our system, are
due to the types of food and
drink in our diets that simply
do not encourage elimination
of these, and when we con
stantly have stress hormones
circulating in our system di
recting fat storage around
the midsection, (we not only
have a lot of unnecessary en
ergy storage in this area) we
also have a potentially big
toxic sponge that sets there
entwined around our organs
soaking up and then releas
ing bad chemicals that cause
inflammation, “which is the
root of almost all chronic
disease!”
The body tries to hang
on to fat when its trying to
protect us from these tox
ins, and since mucous and
fat surround these things to
protect us, “if we can simply
detoxify our body we take
away the reason stubborn fat
is stubborn.” This takes time
and keeping protective mi
cronutrients (from fruits and
vegetables) going through
our system helps assure safe
release of these toxins and
likewise the safe release of
fat.
What we can do: 1. 3-5
hours of moderate to rapid
pace activity per week, “this
not only will help bum off
the visceral fat around our
midsections, but will also
help in working off the stress
that is telling our body to put
it there! Any rapid activity
can constitute as exercise,
so get creative by having
a mix of things you enjoy,
such as hiking, biking, jog
ging, swimming, tennis, etc.,
along with consistent weight
bearing exercises to keep ev
erything strong. Workup a
good sweat at least 3 times a
week, “this helps push toxins
out.” 2. Increase water and
fiber intake to help eliminate
toxins. We should take in 1/2
Your Health
by Wade Yoder
Master Trainer & Fitness
Nutrition Specialist
our body weight m ounces of
water minimum and at least
5 grams of fiber per serving
“for anything that goes in our
mouth except for water,” (fi
ber binds up and carries out
toxins & water flushes). 3. At
least 5 servings of fruits and
vegetables daily, “this keeps
our antioxidant levels high
in the blood and helps our
body to get rid of the toxins
circulating in our systems
that cause aging and disease.
4. Find whatever means you
can to de-stress your life, do
everything you can to get
good qualify sleep, “this is
when our body recovers from
the stresses of daily living!
Mental stress is a BIG
cause of two things we don’t
like “visceral belly fat &
death!”
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Legislative Update
With Rep. Robert Dickey
Last week marked the third week of our Legislative Ses
sion. During the second week the House and Senate Appro
priations Committees began the arduous process of review
ing the Governor's budget recommendations and turning
them into the actual legislation that will ultimately guide
all state spending. The process started on Tuesday, January
22nd with a week's worth of joint Appropriations Committee meetings. Gov
ernor Deal led the presentations by detailing the major highlights of his budget
proposals. The Governor was then followed by the leaders of our state agencies,
each of whom explained their agency's budget and answered questions from
House members. This week of budget hearings proved very interesting in learn
ing about the financial interworking of our state government. This is the most
important role of your General Assembly - to pass a balanced budget.
This past week The Appropriations Sub-Committee, on which I serve as Vice
Chair, General Government, began examining closely the budgets of certain
state agencies. We heard from the Department of Drivers Services, the Depart
ment of Natural Resources, the State Inspector General, Secretary of State along
with many other departments. Governor Deal has asked each state agency to
cut their budget by 3% in order to keep Georgia's budget balanced. Once the
subcommittees pass their respective portions of the budget, the whole House
Appropriations Committee will review and pass balanced budgets for both the
remainder of FY 2013 and upcoming FY 2014. It will then go to the House floor,
where every member of the House will have the opportunity to voice their opin
ions on how the state is spending your taxpayer dollars. Voting with then take
place to approve or reject the state budget.
Last week we welcomed many groups to the Capitol. Tuesday was Tourism/
Agritourism Day Many agritourism businesses visited with legislators to point
out the importance not only agriculture plays in our state, but the many activi
ties and events which bring in tourists from all over the United States. Agrito
urism includes visits to working farms, orchards, ranches, wineries, and other
agricultural operations — and these destinations offer a huge variety of outdoor
adventures as well as educational, entertainment, relaxation, hospitality, shop
ping and dining experiences. Agritourism is one of the fastest growing segments
of the travel industry, all while supporting and sustaining Georgia's farm lands.
On the House floor President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to us about his trav
els in Georgia and especially how much he enjoys visiting Warm Springs. Al
though it wasn't really FDR, actor James Fowler, did an excellent rendition of
President Roosevelt and encouraged visitors to the Little White House in Warm
Springs. Georgia is very fortunate to have many state parks and historic sites all
over our state. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources' website is a won
derful tool to help you plan your next outing, www.gastateparks.org.
The House also recognized our Georgia National Guard with an invite resolu
tion in the House Chamber. The men and women of the Guard were commended
for their strength, leadership and courage in their willingness to serve selfishly
on the behalf of all Georgians.
As I say every time I have the opportunity, I am honored to be serving as your
State Representative. I am continuing to work hard to ensure not only that Mid
dle Georgia is the best place to live, work and raise our families, but that our
great state of Georgia continues to be the preeminent state in the nation. Remem
ber I do want to hear from you so please contact me at 404-656-0287 or by email
robert.dickey@house.ga.gov.
Representative Robert Dickey
District 140
J
