motd Saturday Aug 20, 2011

[Guest guest]

HOBBIES

Saturday, 20 August 2011

Did you know I was a Boy

Scout when I was a kid? Yep, I was! Well, when you're

a Boy Scout, you end up having lots of hobbies. Why?

Because you have to earn all of those merit badges, for

one thing.

Archery was one of my

hobbies when I was a Scout. Making key chains out of

multi-colored vinyl strips was another. And let's not

forget making those little storage boxes and works of

art from popsicle sticks. (I think we all did that.)

I wonder which hobbies you have. Are you a painter? If

you are, that means you have to go to the art supply

store to pick up your canvas, brushes and paints. Maybe

you're into knitting. Then you're off to the crafts

store to buy yarn and needles. Or you could be into

bird watching which means investing in a good pair of

binoculars and a stool so you can sit and observe those

cute little rockin' robins.

Those are all great hobbies, to be sure. But maybe you

have another hobby millions of Americans have. And what

hobby am I talking about? FOOD!

So, is food your

hobby? Do you spend a lot of time thinking about,

shopping for and...eating food? That means you have to

go a supermarket, waltz down the aisles and choose the

foods you want. Or maybe you're a restaurant fan. You

like to look through the newspaper or surf the

Net reading reviews of restaurants before visiting the

places you've read about. Oh, you've just got to try

their salmon mousse in a creamy cucumber sauce. Maybe

you like to visit fast food restaurants to check out

their specials of the week. "Let's see, should I

have the triple hamburger with three kinds of cheese?

Or should I try the 24-inch burrito at that new

Mexican restaurant down the street?"

Do you like visiting a neighborhood corner market to see

if there're any new candy bars to try? Or do you like

to visit your favorite bakery every week to get yourself

a few treats to eat over the weekend?

Look, if you're thinking

about food that much and eating a lot of those foods,

then I've got news for you. Food is your hobby! But

let me tell you, food is one hobby that can become

dangerous. See, with the food hobby, along comes added

weight, followed by high blood pressure, high

cholesterol, diabetes, maybe a stroke or even a heart

attack. Who knew a hobby could be so dangerous and do

your body so much harm?

And not only does too much food harm your body. It does

a little damage to your wallet, too. When

your hobby is food, you end up spending lots of your

hard-earned money to support your hobby.

Now when your hobby is painting, it doesn't elevate your

cholesterol. And when you're bird-watching, your blood

pressure doesn't go up. In fact, a calming

hobby will actually lower your blood pressure. May I

tell you something? You need to take a good look at

your hobbies and see which ones are healthy for you

and...which ones are not.

And oh yeah, I know you're

probably wondering...what's my favorite

hobby? Well, it's EXERCISE, of course. But

I'll bet you already knew that, didn't you? Now if

you'll excuse me, it's time for me to go...sweat!

Love,