It’s Within You

Reader Question:

I am emailing you because I heard you had a great blog from someone recently so that is the reason I asked you to be my face book friend. I read your blog, and love it! It is very inspiring to me. I have struggled with trying to change my diet for the past few years. I love the thought of a vegetarian lifestyle, and I have tried to make it my own several times before. Unfortunately I have been having a hard time making the lifestyle change. I do notice that when I am following one, I feel so much better about myself and the way I feel. I am currently taking a nutrition course for nursing school and it is so interesting. This is where I struggle, for the rest of my life; it is going to be important to me to be a display of nutrition for my career and myself. I would feel like a hypocrite if I tried to advocate a healthy lifestyle, without having one for myself. So here is my question, how did you have the will power to cut out junk and make it a lifestyle? I am in a rut because the people I am around just eat junk, or eat out a lot. I am not trying to blame anyone else, but I really struggle with being “strong enough” to completely make the lifestyle change because I have failed at it so many times. I can go weeks doing great, feeling great, etc, but normally I crack and fall back into the same pattern. I know if I could just get it together and do it, I would finally feel almost complete and confident in my lifestyle. I would love your advice!

Answer:

Thank you so much for writing me, this is a topic that is really important and once you are able to figure this out, life will seem a lot easier.  First off, you sound like you are on a great path… you’re figuring out what makes YOU feel good, what makes YOU feel right, and what makes YOU feel the best.  It’s not about anything other than that.  Everyone responds differently to different things/ideas/patterns/methods.  It’s about eating the foods that help YOU succeed and do your best everyday.

Change doesn’t happen over night; and if it does, it’s usually not lasting.  Drastic changes are usually short lived and unsuccessful so I’m really happy to hear that this has been something that you have been working on through the years.

For me, what brought about the most change was education.  Once I started to realize how my body worked and how damaging certain “non-foods” were inside of me, it honestly scared me to even digest these things.  It wasn’t about the calories, the fat, or the carbs; for example, Diet Coke is “calorie free” but knowing what it is doing inside of my body is what makes me chose everyday to avoid Diet Coke and Coke for that matter.  Most people don’t realize that 1 can of Coke has 46 grams of sugar, that’s almost double what the maximum amount that we should intake (really it should be lower than that): that’s ONE can of Coke.  Understanding what excess amounts of sugar will do to my body, increase my risk for heart disease and diabetes, add to weight gain, and increase my blood pressure, really makes me think twice about that can of Coke.  Learning that high fructose corn syrup isn’t even digested the same in our bodies, being stored almost immediately as fat, scares the daylights out of me.

Letting food, created by man, not by God, rob me of my health and of being the best that I can be seems ludicrous but I see it happen everyday; a bag of chips here, a pop-tart there and they don’t even realize the struggle and fight that is going on inside their bodies.  You have to realize that the only one that cares about your health is you and anyone else that helps you succeed in this area of your life.

Another thing that I find awesome in you is your drive to be healthy in order to set a good example.  Just the other day I was in a doctors office and the nurse asked me what I did.  I explained to her that I was going back to school for nutrition and she immediately said, “You could really help me!”  She was overweight and kept complaining to me about how tired she was.  Like you, I don’t understand how someone who knows so much about how the body works, misses the most important concept: nutrition.  An overweight, unhealthy doctor or nurse seems like an oxymoron to me; aren’t these our health experts?  I’m really happy to hear that you see the relationship so early on.

I can understand that everyone around you is eating differently than you want to do for yourself, and this is when you have to be selfish, honestly.  You have to always keep in mind how those foods will affect you later on: in an hour, in a week, and even later on in your life.  If it’s not going to make you feel good about yourself, avoid it.  Don’t let your health be in the hands of others.  And also, you can help educate them at the same time.  Although they may say something to you at the time for making the healthy decision, I guarantee you, they will think about your decision later on, possibly helping them make a better decision next time, allowing you to be the positive role model that you want to be.  Keep up the good work and take it one day at a time.  One healthy decision leads to another and one small change can add up to a complete lifestyle change over time.  Don’t’ get overwhelmed, you can do it!

 Send your questions to ashleym12940 at yahoo dot com or on Facebook!