I have been accused of being against the indoor pool.
To this, I say, “Am not!”
What I am against are some statements made that this indoor pool will somehow cure obesity in Warren County. If you want to urge McMinnville officials to construct an indoor pool, stick with the health benefits of exercise and the fact the outdoor pool is very limited in its use and restricted in its ability to generate user fees.
Exercise is wonderful and very beneficial to good health, but the reason people are obese is because they are eating the wrong things. If I had to put a number on it, I would say it's 80 percent what they are eating and 20 percent lack of exercise.
Sadly, there’s a lot of misconception out there on what’s truly healthy. In an effort to simplify it for people, I say, ‘If you can find it in the fruit and vegetable area of the store and it has a shelf life of a few days to a week or two, it’s probably OK.
If you can put in on the shelf and it's good three years from now, it probably isn’t good for you. It’s loaded with preservatives and sodium so it will still taste the same three years from now. Those foods should not be the staple of your food intake. 
I had to educate myself, because the truth isn’t always out there. I remember sitting in a doctor’s office about 20 years ago (one of many weight loss attempts) and expressing to the doctor my confusion as to why I couldn’t lose weight. I had muscles underneath the fat because I was exercising regularly. If she knew, she didn’t tell me. Instead, she offered me pills to "help control my appetite."
I didn’t need appetite control pills to eat less. I needed to change what I was eating so my body would stop telling me I was hungry when I really wasn’t. Needless to say, that was one more failed weight loss attempt. Trust me, I’ve been there and done that. Over the years, I’ve tried everything. None of it truly worked. If I lost anything, I gained it back. I finally stopped trying.
Education is key. Are you living to eat or eating to live? Education is the only way to know the difference between the two. Living to eat can kill you. Do you know what leptin resistance is? I do, but I had to educate myself.
I will add one other thing: You can’t help someone who has a problem unless they see it as a problem and want to change. That rings true no matter what the issue.
Right now the indoor pool under consideration is a lap pool. I’m against that. If taxpayer dollars are going to be used to construct it, it should be built in a way that caters to everyone – an area for swimming laps and an area for recreation and lounging.
Standard reporter Lisa Hobbs can be reached at 473-2191.