EXCUSES: A Thing of the Past
So, I guess I should open this post with some cautioning
words. First, am not writing these words
as a religious type of writing post although my God does love to intercede! Actually, I am writing this post with the
compassion and desire to see all live no matter what their faith! Certainly, that living means earthly and for
eternity as well. However, the basis of
this post is to approach the subject of “excuses” and put them to bed once and
for all.
Therefore, some of my words
might become a little offensive to some…especially if I hit close to home with
my antidotes for living a healthy life and the excuses of not striving for
such. With all of that being noted, please remember that I will always be that
UNHEALTHY FAT girl. I will always be
that SUPER SIZE MY COMBO girl. I will
always be that DOUBLE MY MASHED POTATOES PLEASE girl. I will always be that I DON’T WANT OR LIKE TO
EXERCISE girl. Just know that I know
where some of you are at in your thought life of healthy living. I understand…I truly do understand your
mentality.
Now, you might ask why I will ALWAYS see myself or consider
myself to be those things. Well, the
answer is because my mind will never let me forget where I have come from. While I might not “appear” (in the size or
health category) to be those things anymore or ever again, my mind will always
REMEMBER…and guess what…I am still the same Dana as I was when I maxed out at
234 pounds last May of 2012. The difference between that girl then and this
girl now is that I have made a commitment to my health…that no drive through
window will EVER change.
Do I still love BoJangle’s Chicken? You better believe I do! And I even visit my favorite place (BoJay’s)
here and there…BUT NOT daily or weekly….and when I do, I make wiser choices
than I did a year ago. Still, guess what
happens when I eat there…or any other fast food place? I feel TOTALLY yucky about an hour
later. Why? Because those foods are not what my body is
used to eating now.
So, what does all of that have to do with “excuses” to
becoming healthier for YOU? Well, I just
want you to know that I am STILL HUMAN!
Heeeee! BUT~~~I am a MUCH
healthier human now than a year ago.
EXCUSES 101
Are you an excuse maker?
I mean...really think about it.
Do you find yourself making excuses in your daily life as to why you
“can’t” or “didn’t” accomplish something or things? Do you find that you frequently place blame
on others for the reasons you “can’t” or “didn’t” accomplish something or
things? Do you tend to procrastinate
with tasks that are necessary but you desire to hold off until you can’t hold
off any longer finishing them?
If you answered “yes” or even “sometimes” to any of those
questions…You might have a problem with your health. Notice I said health and not weight. This is because I do not deem weight
measurements as a reliable test of whether or not someone is healthy. Notice I said reliable…not valid. The reason is because weight assessment
dependent upon one’s height and age might be a completely valid factor of
determining a person’s health from a weight verses age and height standpoint. However, such weight assessments fail to
incorporate bone mass and muscle mass…normally…if one is just weighing
themselves…or having a physical conducted by a physician. Therefore, weight measurements are not a
reliable and conclusive prediction of the actual health of a person.
Whew! I am glad I got
that out! So, now, let’s get back to
discussing those excuses!
Ughhh! We all have
made excuses for things in our lives.
Most likely our health has been near the top of the list pertaining to
those excuses. So, what kind of excuses
am I talking about? I am talking about
ANYTHING that “prevents” YOU from becoming healthier!
“But, Dana…you just don’t know how crazy my schedule
is.” Or “You don’t understand that I
have a family of 6 to feed. I just can’t
make two or three different meals for each time we eat!” Or “My husband and
kids won’t eat my healthy foods.” Or “My husband loves to cook…and he would be
upset if I don’t eat with him…plus, it always smells so good!” Or “I am just not “mentally” ready to get
healthy.” (the most honest and true excuse EVER) Or “I don’t have time to plan meals for
myself.” Or “Healthy food is soooo
expensive.” Or “Bla-Bla diet is the only
thing that works for me.” (Ughhh…nope. Not even close, or you wouldn’t still be
unhealthy! ;-) ) Or “I hate
exercising!” Or ….and the list goes on
and on.
So…now, are you starting to get a glimpse of those excuses?
DEATH AND EXCUSES
What??? Why would I
put those two words together? Will my
excuses lead to death? Ummmm…well, they
just might! How do I know? I know because my EXCUSES ALMOST led me
directly to DEATH! Death ONLY in the physical…but still, I wouldn’t be able to
see my children grow if I were physically dead!
So, YES!!! Excuses can lead to
death.
How do those excuses possibly lead to death? They might possibly lead to death because our
bodies were created to eat clean and healthy foods. Foods that are processed and not natural are
not good for our bodies. It is almost as
our bodies do not recognize how to digest them or how to use them for “food’s”
proper benefit.
So, when we continue to put processed and unnatural foods in
our bodies we are literally depleting our God-given bodies of what God has
intended for us to feed it. When that
happens, toxins are released and other detrimental effects are seen in our
continuous health. Don’t spaz out on me
right now!
Yep! I know it is
nearly impossible to completely live without eating processed foods, but you
can reduce the amount of processed foods you eat….and replace those processed
foods with healthy natural foods. This
will begin to give your body the right “signals” of how to absorb, digest, and
utilize food more effectively and more efficiently.
How to get out of the “EXCUSE” mode?
Oh! Wow! You just might have begun to stray from our topic
of “excuses” a tad right then…but come back to our reason of discussion for
just a moment.
So, how do you get out of the EXCUSE mode? You might think that it is super hard, but I
have great news for you! It isn’t! It is actually pretty easy once you begin to
think about it. So, do you value
yourself as a creature that GOD created?
God has made you an impeccable creature whom He loves and desires to see
prosper in this life. Is your health
prospering your life or harming your life?
Hummm…
This may be a question that we don’t like to answer. We may be overweight, diabetic, have other
weight related issues and still view our lives as completely normal and
healthy. But, really…how does your heart
view your weight and health? Most likely
your heart is beating quite swiftly…more swiftly than if you were at a lower
weight level. Am I concerned about
weight? Yep! Because like I said before, your weight is a
good assessment tool for the validity of your health…not totally reliable…but
valid. So, taking a look at your weight
is something that does matter initially.
I challenge you to assess your heart rate per minute. Mine was over 110 at rest when I was 234
lbs. Now, it is below 60 beats per
minute (BPM). That tacking heart rate
that I maintained during my long season of being overweight was horrible for
the health of my heart. It had to beat
super hard to support all my organs.
Now, I give my heart a break, and allow it to beat at a normal
pace. My weight back then was harming my
heart’s health…not to mention I was pre-diabetic, had super high
cholesterol—579, super high “at rest” blood pressure—217/114, constant gerd
(acid reflux), a hiatal hernia, and a host of other concerns and problems
associated with my weight and unhealthy lifestyle of eating. So, YES…I was totally mistreating body and my
heart.
While my ailments did not all present themselves at the same
time, they came on the scene one right after the other and with greater push the
more time I continued to live an unhealthy lifestyle of eating and not exercising. My point:
Just because you “feel” that you
are OK and healthy, that doesn’t mean you really are healthy at all.
Gosh! I could
run. I had PLENTY of energy. I slept great at night. I was completely satisfied with how I looked…and
so was my hubby. By all accounts, I was
living a completely normal life….ON THE OUTSIDE.
The inside was a completely different story. Your story may be the same or very similar. Either way, you can’t always judge a book by
its cover! ;-)
Living in that “excuse mode” of thinking is us always
THINKING we are OK. You cannot think you
are OK when you are overweight…initially.
If your heart health is suffering, your whole body is suffering. You need your heart to live. It’s that plain and simple. The heavier you are in weight, the harder
your heart has to pump. It will eventually wear out. So, getting out of the excuse mode starts
with deciding if we are concerned enough about whether or not our ticker
continues to tick…or do we want it to run down before we have gotten our monies
worth out of life?
The next step of getting out of the excuse mode is to TAKE
RESPONSIBILITY for our health. No matter
whether or not someone has one or one million excuses as to why they CANNOT
begin to journey on a lifestyle of healthy living, at some point in their lives
they will HAVE to rise to the occasion.
The problem is that many times it is nearly too late to begin a healthy
lifestyle change.
Oh! Gosh! I know someone is going to respond to me that
it “is NEVER” to late to get healthy…Well, that may be true if your unhealthy
lifestyle has not led your body so far down the road of death that nothing but
the almighty power of Jesus Christ can save your heart or body. And YES—I know that He can do all
things. BUT…my point is that God has
given you so much to live for…He has given us awesome bodies to glorify Him in
His creation through us! Why would we
want to destroy or attempt to destroy His work?
So I urge you to choose to glorify Him through your healthy lifestyle.
Another way of getting out of the excuse mode is the one way
that I literally hate. Yep…I used the
word “hate”….because I do hate this way.
It is the way that I had be brought into the realization that my
lifestyle of eating HAD TO CHANGE.
With my near death experience almost a year ago, I can truly
tell you with an honest heart that I DID have an ANGEL there with me. Her name was Susan…that’s all I know. She prayed for me. She was my angel that God sent to let me know
that all things were going to be alright. I could see God running so strongly
through this woman. However, it was so
much more than her presence that made me see what God wanted me to see.
You see, I never listened to God’s gentle nudges that my
health was in decline.
When I would get
heartburn, I would get on Prilosec…and I was on it constantly for that year before
May 27th, 2012. I would not
heed His warnings when I would feel dizzy and my heart would pound erratically. I would not open my heart to hear His still
small voice when I would sit in the recliner and feel my left arm begin to go
numb. I just didn’t listen at all. I kept on living just as I had for all the
years prior. BUT GOD!!!!
God allowed me to walk through “the valley of the shadow of
death”. BUT~~~He also allowed me to rise
above my (then) present circumstances and fear no evil…for I knew He was with
me…
I vowed to my God that I would no longer disrespect the life
HE had given me. I would live to glorify
him not only through my other life’s living, but also through my HEALTHY EATING
lifestyle too! Wow! What a journey this has been…and it will
NEVER be over. Why? “Dana, aren’t you in a good place weight and
health wise?”
Yep! I certainly
am. But you see, that old devil comes to
kill, steal, and destroy our lives. I am
not immune to his attempts. BUT~~~I do
have God on my side…and the STRONG reminder that God has allowed me to see
another day…another year! So, while I
will never forget where I have come from, I also look forward to continuing to
KICKS SOME DEVIL BUTT each and EVERY day that God gives me. I gotta tell you…kicking Satan’s tail is
something that I truly love to do!
I also want you to kick Satan’s tail too! So, I sincerely pray that YOU will stop
making excuses. Stop believing the lies
of the enemy. Start believing in
yourself with God’s miracle power working through you…and YOU will begin to see
your life through a different looking glass.
You will begin to see how magnificent God’s new healthy lifestyle can be
not only for you but for your family and friends too! Your new healthy lifestyle of eating and
living WILL have a POSITIVE impact on every person and every aspect of YOUR
life!
I hope this post has made you think about your health, has
made you stronger in your desire to become healthy, and most of all—has helped
you to SQUASH those EXCUSES!!!!
Thank you so much…and I do pray that God will bless you with
prospering health and an abundant life!
