Do you have the Day After Turkey Blues? Are you feeling fat and sluggish? Are you in that period of the year now where you are giving up hope of a healthy way of eating because of even more holidays on the horizon? Are you waiting for the New Year to make a resolution?
Don’t
I always wondered why the diet industry and the media flog weight loss over and over during the coldest months, the darkest months and the most depressing months. Why is January 1st the best time to get healthy? It’s no wonder why you break your resolutions! In the blink of an eye the shelves at Wal-Mart are full with Valentine’s Day a chocolate (which is inevitably by the second week of January after the selloff of Christmas wrapping is done). And then the guilt! Oh the guilt! If ever emotions are found to reside in body parts you can be sure guilt is manufactured in the ovaries.
You may know that I have a health care background in addition to my self-actualization passion. Well, that health care background just can’t ignore the science when it’s staring me in the face. If you ever want to get me going on a long winded rant, ask me about what sugar does on a cellular level in your body.
Why am I so passionate about eliminating sugar?
I had mega monster PMS my whole life. Two years ago I decided to try cutting sugar out of my diet in attempt to stabilize my moods. Coming off sugar has got to be as hard as coming off heroine…I wouldn’t know about the heroine part, but I can tell you it was rough. Then things got a lot better. My moods and my energy levels evened out, but I still had the odd craving especially in times of stress. So one day I was searching the internet for further proof that I had made the right decision (during a craving of course) and I stumbled upon this video. It may be long and it may be in-depth but Dr. Lustig has done an amazing job explaining why our children are getting more and more obese. If you are a mom you owe it to your children to pay attention here.
Eating healthy and exercise are extremely important lessons we need to learn over a lifetime. We cannot expect to miraculously flip a switch on January 1st and suddenly become Jillian Michaels. Remember that the same media that is teaching our daughters to obsess about being thin and to push dieting on us moms in January will also be pushing Godiva and Lindor chocolates on us in February. Don’t be a slave to the media and their fads. Choose to eat healthy one day at a time. Choose to get moving one day at a time. And try, knowing you will mess up, but try to making it a life long journey.
I am recommending my friend Shirley Plant’s 21-Day Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free (GDS-Free) Challenge because I know how hard it was to do this on my own, and you are going to want someone like Shirley supporting you. Don’t wait for January 1st, you are worth getting healthy right now!