Good Health Starts with the Truth

Honesty is the best way to approach anything you're trying to change. The New Year is the day that everyone is going to diet, get in shape, run to the gym and swear off of every bad habit known to man.  But statistics show that rarely does anyone keep these resolutions.  So let's be honest.  You didn't get fat and unhealthy over night.  And you're certainly not going to change over night.  My blog is not about making a resolution, with a sudden shift in behavior and following some fad diet.  It's about educating yourself and slowly implementing gradual changes in your life that, in the long run, will benefit you. 

Being from Detroit, which among other things was recently given the title as one of the "Fattest Cities in America", I was surely impacted by that fact long after I moved to LA.  Dieting and exercise is something I often talked about, but rarely did.  Fast foods like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell were a regular part of my diet, not to mention fried chicken, tons of fatty carbs, processed foods and other sugary snacks and drinks.  

Growing up, I was given all kinds of advice about how to remain safe in a city like Motown. Everyone can relate to locking your doors, watching your surroundings after dark and using common sense to protect yourself against the enemies that lurk in the night.  But there wasn't anyone telling me how to protect myself in my own kitchen!  No one was there to warn me that I was eating my way to an early grave. That's because they were subjecting themselves to the same dangers. My grandmother died of a massive heart attack in 1994.  Ten years later at the age of 62, my father died of a heart attack as well.  Both he and my mom (still living and a breast cancer survivor) were diagnosed with diabetes.  I won't bother to mention to other family and friends I know who either suffer with or have been diagnosed with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer.  It's truly a sad epidemic. Yet everyone acts surprisingly shocked to receive these diagnosis, but does anyone seriously stop to ask how these illnesses occur?  Some people may get mad at me for telling the truth, but the truth sometimes hurts.  These diseases hurt more. 

Now, I'm not pointing the finger in judgement at anyone because there are people who do all the right things that are sometimes struck down by unfortunate illnesses, which they have no control.  But far and wide, these symptoms are greatly reduced when a person makes a conscious decision to take care of themselves. Diet and exercise play a major role in quality of life.  And having suffered the loss in my own family, I have a choice to make. I can either continue to eat garbage, make excuses for poor exercising habits, or do something about it.  I choose to have a quality life and make good choices.  I ask you to choose the same in 2013.  Let's do this together!