Inspiration…

For this post, I want to step away from the practical tips on nutrition and look more at the big picture.  Not only is nutrition important for health reasons, it is also about character, commitment, discipline, purpose, and love.  While that may sound a little overboard, hear me out.  Much of our nutritional decisions are made for us…mega marketing, a convenient restaurant on the way home, whatever attracts our attention on the grocery shelf, etc.  It is often mindless and robotic.    

For most people shopping and eating is based on taste, convenience and cost as opposed to quality.  It takes a much bigger commitment to shop, cook, and eat healthy foods.  But guess what, anything worthwhile in life usually takes commitment and discipline.  Look at anyone who has ever had success at anything.  Did it just “happen” or did it take hard work? 

Nutrition is no different.  One of the utmost forms of respect to yourself and to your body is to put good food (fuel) in it.  Trust me, there will be consequences of your food choices whether they be immediate or longer term, minimal or devastating.  To quote my husband, “Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, don’t care about your reasons or excuses.  They don’t care if you liked the soda or if you didn’t know that hydrogenated oils were bad or if you didn’t have time to cook.  They are indiscriminate and far reaching in their devastation.”

You must know someone who has been touched by these diseases, which by the way, are typically lifestyle related.  How has it affected not just that person but the people around them?  A perfect example is in my own family.  My father in law passed away at the age of 54 after years of poor diet, smoking, and lack of exercise.  He drank a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi with lunch and dinner every day, I never really saw him eat a vegetable, and he loved sweets.  As a result, he ended up with kidney failure, had to endure dialysis every day and eventually developed congestive heart failure and succumbed to the breakdown in his body.  Well, that meant that my husband no longer had a father in the picture, his mom lost her husband and my children don’t get an opportunity to know their grandfather.  It was truly devastating.  What if he would have been more diligent about his diet, would the outcome have been different?  I am confident the answer is a resounding “YES!”.  Would it have been worth the commitment and discipline to remain in this world a little longer, living to his full potential.  Again, the answer is “YES!” 

The point of all of this is to truly inspire, and not just motivate you.  Motivation can be short-lived, but inspiration makes lasting change and gets to your heart as well as your head.  If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for the people who love you, care about you, and count on you. 

We have literally seen dozens of people reverse diabetes, lower blood pressure, beat cancer, relieve depression, lose massive weight, etc by focusing on their health.  Nutrition being an essential component of this.  Hippocrates once wrote, “let food be thy medicine” and it is an undeniable truth that works!!!  People that refuse to accept a diagnosis as a final sentence and instead get committed can literally turn their lives around.  But why wait for this to happen?  It’s much easier when you are not really sick.  Do it NOW!     

Get started now!  We have been authorized to host a private movie screening for the movie FOODMATTERS.  It will be on Apr 17 at 7PM at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church.  Call 770.919.7171 or http://www.foodmatters.tv for more info or to rsvp.  Don’t miss it!