Every day is full of decisions, like what to wear, where to stop for gas, which Starbucks drink to get, should I take the plunge and add the extra $2 guacamole at Chipotle? Usually I mindlessly make these decisions, it’s just a part of my “work week” and the exciting part of my life starts on Friday at 5pm. Then I spend every moment of my weekend living intentionally and carefully deciding what I want to do and where I want to eat. I realized that lately I’ve given into the mindset of living for the weekend and just dealing with Monday thru Friday. When in reality life is still happening Monday thru Friday and I’m letting it slip by. With the new year I’ve been taking a self inventory and I’ve noticed that my weight has been creeping up and lately my food choices depend on my mood.
It’s not been completely terrible but it really hit me last week, the small mindless choices that I make today add up in the long run. These choices directly affect the quality of life I will have in a year or ten years. It’s no joke and from just the past six months of making ok-ish choices I have been unhappy about my clothes being snug, feeling sluggish and constantly battling a negative mindset. After watching Jamie Oliver’s TED Talk, I can’t get it out of my mind that “..diet related diseases [are] the biggest killer in the U.S. right now..” During Jamie’s speech he shares a graph that shows that heart disease is at the top, as the leading cause of death in the United States which is preventable. Other preventable diseases near the top of his list are stroke and diabetes. This just blows my mind that we could live longer and better but we’re not. I’m not. I have not been consistently making choices to live healthy, instead I’m just hoping that I’m healthy forever. Truth is, I can stop hoping and take action today over my health and start living well.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, killing 289,758 women in 2013—that’s about 1 in every 4 female deaths.” -Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
I have a close family friend that died because of diabetes. I know friends’ parents who have had strokes and heart attacks. My grandma, near and dear to me, died of a preventable disease. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older but I’ve been really considering what quality of life I want to have in my later years and how that will affect my family. I don’t want to worry about getting diabetes or having heart problems. I want to be able to walk the stairs if I need to, I want to have the energy to walk around and explore a new city and someday I want to be able to play with my future kids without any hindrance of my own doing. It all comes down to the choices that I make today. What will I decide today?
I want to enjoy every moment in life that I have. I want to live better and love myself by making healthy choices so that I can continue to be on this earth, as long as possible, to love and inspire my family and friends. I love my family more than anything and I want to ensure that I get every moment of life with them by committing to live healthier and take care of myself. I can’t be here for them, if I am unhealthy and at risk for disease. I refuse to be a statistic. It’s time to make health a part of my lifestyle so that I will be free to enjoy all that life has to offer.
So follow along as I start my transformation journey to a better me, and set out to change my mindset and release 35 pounds. For the next 16 weeks my motto is to, train insane or remain the same. I’m revamping my life by committing to a consistent workout training schedule and nutrition plan. Day one was yesterday, Monday, January 16th and it’s been good so far, but I think it’s because my body hasn’t figure out what is happening yet. I will say that I already miss pizza and french fries, but that is nothing compared to adding years to my lifespan. Let’s go 2017, the year of choosing to live intentionally for the best future!
Links:
Oliver, Jamie. (2010, February 12). TED Talks, Teach Every Child About Food. https://youtu.be/go_QOzc79Uc
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women and Heart Disease Fact Sheet. https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_women_heart.htm
It's time to Shine 