We’ve all heard of the holiday bulge. It’s the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day that people become so preoccupied with festivities, gift shopping, and parties that they inevitably gain weight. But is it really inevitable, or is it just another excuse? Health clubs love the months following that time of year. The general population is soft and plump and disgusted with the way they look and they want the magic cure so they buy weight loss pills and enroll in a local gym and begin to workout to burn off all those extra pounds. Unfortunately most people never reach their goals and all they achieve is undoing most of the damage created during the holidays. Year after year passes and they continue to grow bigger and bigger and eventually give up entirely claiming “I can’t lose weight” or “it didn’t work for me.” What is it that drives us to such failure as a society?
Let’s face it, as a population we are getting bigger and bigger all the time and what’s worse is that it’s even happening to our children. As a result diabetes and other health issues related to obesity are on the rise. Our already over-burdened health care system is having to tend to more and more health issues. The public cries out for better medicines and better health care but the problem nor the solution are found in our health care system but rather in each and every one of us. Can you imagine what it would be like if every person took full responsibility for his and her own health? There would be no health care crisis. The cost for emergency health care would drop drastically because there would no longer be so much waste. We would be much more productive as a society. Cases of depression would almost disappear. The pharmaceutical industry would be less powerful and influential. People would feel better, look better, and live better.
In order to achieve this goal it is up to each and every one of us to accept the challenge and also be the example for our families. Have you noticed that most children eat the way their parents eat? As parents it is critical that we lead by example for our children’s sake and give them the opportunity to enter adulthood with great health rather than dependency on medications and lack of energy to handle the important tasks that will be required of them. Childhood should be a wonderful time of life. It saddens me to see children suffering from a self-image problem or lack of self-esteem because their eating is out of control. Others require regular doctor visits and daily doses of medications to control diabetes, hyper-activity, allergies or other disorders. Our children are our future. Let’s give them the best.
Often I’ve heard people promise themselves that they are going to start eating healthy and exercising but they put a condition if front of it. For example, a man might say, “I’m going to start working out as soon as I finish organizing the garage”. A woman might say, “I’ll go to the gym and get my body back when my son starts preschool.” The fact of the matter is that they are not committed and there will always be another excuse to get in the way of what is truly important. If you only dedicated half an hour three days a week to do medium to high intensity exercise you would begin to see remarkable changes. If you made small changes in your eating habits on a daily basis you would soon find yourself eating totally differently and feeling and looking so much better. A marathon is run one step at a time. Take steps in the right direction in the marathon of life and you will change your life.