Choose To Be Healthy - Stop Overeating and Start Eating Clean

What would YOU do if you were told you were going to die? How would YOU react if you were faced with a life or death moment upon hearing those words from your Doctor that your time is coming to an end? Why would you NOT act upon those words IF you were also told that YOU had the absolute power to NOT die? When would you choose to listen? Would it be NOW or a while later, perhaps a few weeks later, maybe some months down the road, or would you choose NOT to act.

Life is all about choices. We choose to eat and we make conscious decisions to put unhealthy food into our bodies. We are aware that they are toxic and are contaminants for our system, yet we choose to continue to digest them. This is akin to the same lines of smoking. Everyone knows that smoking leads to causes of cancer and is also linked to a series of health and well being side effects but many still choose to smoke. Even though they are cognizant of the risks involved and we're educated on the health factors on a daily basis, it does not stop people from inhaling. Smoking, alcoholism, drug use; they are all forms of self-abuse. Food is also another form of this abuse that we penetrate upon ourselves, and with all addictions, the ripple effects are very far reaching. The abuse transcends into all aspects of our lives and ricochets into our entire existence; physical, social, emotional, financial, sexual, spiritual and mental.

Yet with all of the above addictions, we can control them. I will say it gain, WE CAN CONTROL IT.

We haven't been told we have cancer, or leukemia or Lou Gehrig's disease; we CHOSE this and we CONTROL this!!! Being overweight and killing ourselves isn't like some fatal demon that has gripped hold and attached itself with a lethal attack. We have a choice over being fat and we have a choice in becoming fat and we have a choice in staying fat. It's the one condition that we CAN control in our lives. A cancer victim does not have a choice. A person with a debilitating illness has no choice. However, we have the absolute power over food.

When we're happy, sad, stressed, celebrating, in grief, aroused, elated, food becomes like the alcoholic's chaser. It's part of our every day regime. Why is this? Why has food become such a major part of our makeup? Why do we associate cake, ice-cream, sweets, potato chips, French fries, candy, and chocolate as the GOOD food? Why do we turn to these foods when we are experiencing any type of emotion? How many times have you ever heard anyone saying, "We won the game, let's go eat a Waldorf salad!!!|

We've become accustomed to celebrating with pizza and hamburgers and associating happy events with unhealthy food. We've conditioned ourselves that "comfort" food is the necessary coping mechanism instead of taking a walk, writing in a journal, going to a movie, visiting a loved one, singing, dancing, reading. Why? Because food is quick and it's the quick fix we need at that particular moment.

Overeating is akin to a heroine addict's drug addiction; it's the 'fix' that is never quite fixed. The high from the food takes over and lasts for five minutes, a half hour, two hours and then the urge reoccurs and the need to eat and choose something unhealthy takes over yet again. It becomes the bottomless pit that never gets filled. Friends…we have to change our mindset and stop filling that pit with crap. Changing our thought process can be the biggest hurdle in the weight loss journey.

Gaining weight is all about losing control. You think you have control so you eat to dull the pain and you eat to get back at those folks that have hurt you. Yet the blatant reality is that you have lost control and you've lost control on how to deal with your emotions and how to deal with the good and bad things that happen. Don't let your body be a reflection of people hurting you

We lose control and then we turn to food and then we find out we are sick and that our bodies are shutting down and reacting in a physical exorcism. We have control over getting healthy, eating & exercising. Every single one of us has control to stop eating. It's a curable disease. WE penetrated it upon ourselves. And it's a perpetual motion that eventually spins out of control. We can undo the damage and the abuse that we have done to our own bodies. The answer is all within healthy eating and making more educating and wiser choices with the right food and NOT going through the drive thru.

With me, my health was spiralling downward and taking over all attributes of my whole being, there was only one person to blame. I chose to get unhealthy. And it was my choice to stop the insanity and stop the abuse and stop the slow suicide. I chose to get healthy and I also chose to get unhealthy. I had a choice. I choose life. I had the power to NOT die.

My physician was quite blunt 2 years ago when he matter of fact told me, "You're going to die if you continue this lifestyle". I was killing me and I had the power to SAVE my life. I had the absolute power to be my own doctor and my own medical intervention.

Anybody who is in the same boat as I used to be will find themselves on the same path. Perhaps I didn't have control over the other elements of my life such as; romance, job, finances, etc., but the one thing I could turn around and control was my destiny. As all of the above was going hairy and haywire, after I got hold of my weight, my life suddenly stopped spinning and regulated it. Everything turned around, revolved and evolved back to normal. It's amazing how it can be turned right around….and all of the things spinning out of control are now IN control.

You can NEVER make the same mistake TWICE because the second time you make it, it is not a mistake, it is a choice.

Choose Life!!! Take Back the Control & Be the person you were always meant to be.

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it" (William Arthur Ward)

It's plain and simple; Put Down the Fork and Get Moving!

By Joan Minnery