• My Sister died from clogged arteries at the age of 40 about 6 years ago.  She weighed over 500 lbs.  She couldn’t walk more than a block without resting, had really bad knee problems and ate all the time.
• My father is diabetic.  He gives himself insulin shots like 5 times per day and he still looks like shit and can barely get around.
• When I was 22, I was anemic.  It lowered my immune system so much that I got shingles.  This is related to chicken pox and is normally reserved for the elderly or people that have AIDS.
• My best friend is 30 years old.  His teeth have been totally rotten in the 5 years that I have known him because of all the coke and sugar he consumes.  Sometimes when we’re talking or eating together, they just randomly break apart.
• People might say it’s genetics, environment or because we are living longer as people.  I say that the food we eat is the thing.

I fantasize about how my neighborhood might be different if we took out some of the roads, just 1/4 to 1/2 to grow food.  This  would  mean that people would walk 1 block to get to their house and there would be no street parking for those who drive to BART.

Fuck yeah, I’m a food snob.  Discovering fruit, vegetables, and exercise has been the most empowering thing that has ever happened to me.  The cleaner that my body feels, the healthier my mind feels and the happier I am.

My attitudes about my health are not about being vegan, a cyclist or any other category that I might be easily put in.  Although these are convenient ways to find comraderie, being one with my body and what I consume is the strongest basis that I have found for being a better person.  Growing and cooking food and having physical adventures with my friends have been a great basis for relationships.

Don’t get me wrong, I have had some great talks over coffee, but it is pretty hard to not think about the history, and harder still to not feel it’s ramifications.  Incorporating health into my daily life is resistance.

Look around at the health of people you see and at the physical landscape (especially in a city).  I think things would be a lot different if everyone were a food snob.