Every so often I will write out a list of questions and then answer them. Currently in my
Discovering My Optimal Health book, Dr. A. encourages me, any time he poses thought provoking questions to me to actually sit down, think about my answers and then write them down. This is the first in a long series of really amazingly insightful questions about the root motivations and ideas that drive our decisions. So here goes!
Why do you want to change your health?
I recently found out I have some major negative health indicators which could spell some serious trouble for me in the future if I don't make some real changes.
I used to be really healthy and I loved my life during that time period.
I want to be able to live a long life and be an active participant in my children's lives
If I want to be a part of my children's lives I am going to need more energy than I currently have.
On a scale of 1 to 10 how ready are you to get healthy?
I would rate myself at about an 8 1/2 or 9! That's pretty damn good for me :)
Why did you initially start reading this book (Discover Your Optimal Health)? Why were you drawn to it?
I started reading this book because I started the Medifast program and I had already read the Habits of Health book by Dr. A. I wanted to read it again, but saw that he had written another book since I had read the other one and I wanted to see what the new book had to offer. I also realized the other night that reading is one of my greatest weapons on my path to optimal health. It helps to keep me well informed, knowledgable and my mind having the right focus.
Why does your health really matter to you?
I realize that I am not an island. My life is not solitary and therefore my health is not solitary either. At least partially, the health of my husband and my children depend on me. If I am not healthy, making healthy decisions and modeling healthy decisions for them, then they will not make healthy decisions themselves. My health matters to me, because I care about my family, and I care about my life. God gave me this great gift, this life, this body, this family, to go out in the world and do good and be good. I can't do those thing if I am so consumed with doctors and medicine and hospitals. I have to be in the best shape I can be , be the best me I can be, so I can go out and affect change in this beautiful world!
What are you most excited about accomplishing?
I really am most excited about losing all the weight I had lost after my gastric bypass surgery the healthy way. I am excited to reach my goal weight and then reach my one-year-mark of keeping it all off. I'm excited to be able to workout again on a daily basis. I'm excited to be able to go a full day without feeling like all I want to do is go back to sleep. I am excited to recapture my happiness, my joy, my contentment, my excitement for life, my enthusiasm, my soul.
How do you see the creation of sustainable health changing your life?
Sustainable health will change my life in so many ways. First and foremost, it will remove the worry and stress from my life of the perpetual "what if". What if I gain it all back? What if I get fat again? What if I feel that failure again? What if I feel that disappointment again? That weight will finally be lifted from my mind and spirit and I will be free to live free from that burden and heaviness. Second, it really will simplify my choices. Really, for the longest time, I felt like making healthy food choices has harder, when in actuality it is just as easy or even easier than making unhealthy ones. Fewer ingredients, simpler cooking techniques, quicker/healthier preparation options. I get that all not. Really don't know why it has taken me so long to realize this, but I am glad I finally have. Third, it will give me a tried and true recipe to share with my family and friends. Nothing is more rewarding than finding success in something and being able to share that happiness and joy with those I love.
How will this plan affect your health immediately?
Well this is easy to answer since I am already doing it. It has made me a bit light headed, and quite hungry. But what it has also done has made my mind become the master of my body, forced me to take accountability for my actions, made me grow up and start telling myself the truth and reality of my situation and now that I am a few days into it, I am already starting to feel better about by body and look at it differently. Plus, once I start making one healthy decision, it is so much easier to make other healthy choices to go along with it.
How will this plan affect your health in a year?
I can imagine that it will have huge ramifications on not only my physical health, but my mental and emotional health as well. During the times of my life when I was taking on my health and making optimal health choices, I was also taking on the rest of my life as well. Everything seemed easier, more manageable, like I could handle anything life could throw at me. I imagine that is how my life will look a year from now. I will have a health body, healthy mindset, healthy finances, energy, abundance, a social life, a healthy sex drive, and so much more than I can even imagine even now. I really don't believe I have "pie-in-the-sky- ideas" of what it will be like. The sky really is the limit here.
How will this plan affect your health in five years?
Honestly, I find it very likely that if I continue down this road I will not only reverse the damage I have done over the last several years, I will give my body the nutrients and other weapons it needs to even reverse some of my signs of aging!
Are you worried if you can really maintain the plan?
Of course I am!!! Look at my history! I have a long historical pattern of yo-yo dieting. Of going on a health kick and then something sends me reeling whether it is getting pregnant, moving, financial crisis, custody battles, you name it. The one advantage I have now over all the other times is experience and perspective. I would like to believe that I am completely over make dumb unhealthy decisions, but I am human. The good news is that I am aware of it an that is half the battle in combatting it and living conscious of my actions so it is easier for me to make good ones.
What are you most worried about giving up?
Sugar... enough said.
