Pastor A

You say you love your family. Okay. I believe you. Well, sort of. Almost. Okay, not really. Permit me to explain my doubt.

Do you love your family enough to get healthy? Do you love your family and yourself enough to do whatever it takes to live as long as you can so you can take care of them and enjoy them?

Oh, I see, you love them but just not quite enough to give up cigarettes. This past Sunday morning I stopped to get my daily, very healthy, unsweetened, green tea with light ice drink on my way to the church. One of the baristas that works at the Starbucks I stopped at was outside smoking. I asked him why was he smoking? “Oh it is just something I’ve done since I was a teenager, ” he said. I said, “Do you realize you are reducing your life?” “Yea, I know, I really need to quit.”

Experts tell us that every cigarette a person smokes shortens their life between 10 and 14 minutes. They came up with that figure, not me. Therefore, I ask, what could you do in 14 minutes? Could you play catch with your son? Could you hug your little girl? Could you spend incredible time with your spouse? Could you laugh together, play together, or just enjoy being together? Think about the last time you really had fun with your family. Remember the very best part of the day and realize that time might have lasted only 14 minutes. Would you give up those 14 minutes in order to smoke a cigarette? You would trade that wonderful time just to light one up? I hope not. Yet every day you smoke, you shorten your life and deny yourself and your family the fun and love you share together.

Now a word to those who are lazy in their eating habits… is that Twinkie more important to you than your kids? Did you really need to super-size the fries? Are you willing to die for those fries? Overweight people die quicker than fit people. And even if they do not die, their quality of life suffers because they are overweight. Is a diminished life evidence of your love?

Heart disease and cancer are the number one and number two killers in our society. Yet they are both diseases primarily chosen to be experienced because people are not willing to stop smoking, stop grazing like cows, and stop sitting on their backsides while glued to their computer or TV.

How can you look your family in the eye and tell them that a cigarette or the fettuccine alfredo is more important to you than they are? Can you really do that? Well, you really do do that every time you light up and every time you choose to eat that which is not healthy for you. You do not use words to say it; you use a fork or a pack of smokes, but the message is still very clear.

Hopefully, instead of anger or frustration over reading the truth, you might pause and consider those who you love and love you. Start making wise choices today.

Don’t try today; DO today!

Good Tuesday Morning… five more tips for your weight, diet, and health:

11. Willpower is totally overrated. Most of the time I do not have much; I admit it. I have a problem saying “no” to the things I enjoy. Denial is just not my style. Indulgence with that DQ Butterfingers blizzard or Culver’s mixer is more my style. I imagine that is true for most who take the time to read my blog. Here is what does work for me: lack of opportunity. Do not have things that are not good for you available for easy access. Do not fill your cabinet with cookies and then try to deny yourself. When eating at a restaurant, ask the waiter not to leave the breadbasket or not to leave the dessert menu. Remove the temptation. The other night I told Shelli that I sure wish we had some oatmeal cream pies. To my surprise, Shelli told me that she had some and where they were located in our kitchen. She had a secret stash of goodies that I did not know about; unfortunately, I ate three of the oatmeal cream pies. She will have to find a new hiding place, for the temptation is too great for me!!!

12. When you stop for gasoline, go to a “pay at the pump” station. That way you will not be tempted to buy a soda or candy bar or bag of potato chips when you go inside to pay.

13. Drink lots and lots of water. Carry a bottle of water with you all of the time. It will fill you up and keep your system flushed. This is especially important when eating out. Always ask for a glass of water and drink it before you order. Fill up a little so you will not be quite as hungry when you order. Keep the drinking water throughout the meal. Listen folks, drinking sweet tea and soda with your meal will only set you back every single time you do it. You can eat right all day long but if you continue to drink the sugared drinks you are just defeating your purpose in your attempts to do right.

14. This is delicate but nonetheless needs to be said – stop lying to yourself and everyone else. You do not have a glandular problem. The percentage of people in the world who actually have one is so small they do not even count. And you are not “big boned.” Your frame may be larger than others but your bones are not the problem; the poor choices you make IS the problem. And do not say, “My family is heavy; we are just heavy people.” That is no excuse. There is a very high probability that your problem is not hereditary; it is however, the choices you make. You may have grown up thinking this lifestyle of grazing every time you sit down is normal. You may even think that putting gravy on cereal is normal. However, the bottom line is that if we want to be healthier, fit, and more useful for the serving our Master, we must make better choices in our diet and with our exercise. Period!

15. Turn off the TV! Get up off the couch and DO something. Walk, ride a bicycle, or walk your dog – DO something. It does not take a gym or any fancy equipment. It takes movement!

There you have it! 15 ways you can make a difference for YOU, your health, and your ability to feel better about yourself. It is all within your reach. It may take some time to accomplish your goal. However, you MUST start today. Don’t put off until tomorrow that which you can do today. It is beautiful here in Tucson today. Don’t try today; DO today!

As we continue with yesterday’s thought regarding our choices with our diet, exercise and health, let’s examine five more thoughts:

6. When you lose a little weight, go buy something new to wear that makes you feel like a million bucks. You will be very reluctant to gain the weight back to the point you cannot wear your new purchase.

7. Do not think think fat; do not think fit. If fact, do not think. If you focus on your weight, it will become an obsession and make you hungry or make you have angst about what you could have done or should be doing or have eaten or did not eat or ate too much of. (I don’t think that was a sentence filled with good grammar). At any rate, simply do what you know is right. Period. The weight will take care of itself.

8. Do not beat yourself up for slipping. If you are absolutely going crazy for pizza, then eat it. And enjoy it completely. Then adjust tomorrow and the next day. Just do not go crazy very often. Little indulgences should never become regular occurrences.

9. Find an accountability buddy to eat with; not an overweight buddy though. Don’t have a buddy who will tempt you with fattening food or take you places you know you should not be. Instead, eat with someone who shares your common goal and will encourage you to eat right.

10. When you are hungry, stay away from places like the food court at the mall or the grocery store. If you need to go out and you know it is to a place where you will be tempted, then drink a huge glass of water before you go to help fill yourself up. HUGE TIP OF THE DAY: Grocery shopping when you are hungry is just plain ole dumb! Never, ever go grocery shopping on an empty stomach; otherwise, you will ALWAYS buy food that is not healthy for you and you will ALWAYS spend more money than you should have spent. Eat a great meal and then go shopping and you will be amazed at all the things you did not need to buy that you would have purchased on an empty stomach.

Okay, five more tips for guarding your weight, diet, and health.

Don’t try today; DO today!

Do you want to feel and be healthier? Eat smarter and exercise more. Period! While of course you should visit your skinny doctor before beginning an aggressive exercise program, allow me to give you some non-medical advice for becoming healthier over the next couple of days:

1. Stop going to fast food restaurants so often. They make their living selling grease. They have to use grease to cover up the fact that they are NOT serving you much real food. Do not kid yourself; grease tastes good. I like it. And it is okay every once in a while but you cannot do it every day. And do not use convenience or price as an excuse, because those places are rarely very fast and they are certainly aren’t that economical.

2. Leave the parking spaces close to the door for the older people, those with disabilities, AND the LAZY people! You need to walk. Park as far away as you can without having to cross the street.

3. Take your dog, your child, or your spouse for a walk – even if it is just around the block. It is good for your body and promotes conversation, thus making it good for your relationships – even if it is just the dog!

4. Do not weigh yourself every day. If you are trying to eat right and exercise, you can become easily discouraged if you weigh every day. You did not gain all of your weight in a day and you cannot expect to lose it all in a day. Do not set unrealistic expectations and then become discouraged because you do not drop pounds on a daily basis. Weekly weigh-ins are plenty often enough to check progress.

5. Smaller portions are the key. Do not put as much food on your plate. People just eat too much food! I have talked with people from all over the world and one of the things people from other countries say about Americans, “You serve such large portions.” No other country can fill a plate like the American can; especially at the local Baptist potluck supper. And it seems that the less you pay for the meal, the more you get. We are much more proud of the quantity of food served  than quality served. Go to restaurants that pride themselves on flavor instead of heaping portions. Regardless of where you eat or what you eat, eat less of it.

Tomorrow we will look at five more thoughts about living healthier, feeling better, and making wiser choices with our bodies!

Enjoy a super fantastic day!

Don’t try today; DO today!

This is a tough one for most people. They would rather die than exercise; so they do! Exercise programs are not what most people think they are. You do not have to go to the gym and pump yourself up to look like the next (your favorite sports star or actor). Healthy exercise mainly consists of aerobic exercise – anything that increases your heart rate for a period of 20 minutes at least three times a week.

This is really not that tough. A bicycle ride (Pastor and Mrs. Howard do this all of the time), a walk, a jog, a treadmill, a game of soccer with your children… anything for just 20 minutes – you can DO it! There are so many exercise programs that you can even pop into your DVD player today that are “fun” to do. If you have let yourself go for sometime, meet with your skinny doctor first.

Skinny doctor? Yes, find a skinny doctor who does not smoke. Do I even need to explain this one? Just in case I do, how could you even consider going to a doctor who is overweight, smokes, and does not take care of himself? This makes no sense!

Find a doctor who will suggest proper eating and exercise and natural remedies before he suggest drugs. Drugs did not make you sick (unless you are a drug addict), and chances are drugs will not make you well, either. I will almost guarantee you that in a majority of cases, your diet and lack of exercise are what made you sick in the first place, so start there.

As I have already established, many people eat poorly and are dangerously overweight. Can you grasp that over 50% of Americans are considered fat or obese? That is alarming; especially having traveled to so many foreign countries and seeing that this is not true in other countries. We are so undisciplined as a nation. I love the taste of everything that is bad for me to eat. Fatty foods simply taste good. The bad stuff seems to have the most flavor. And I love it. I think gravy, DQ butterfinger blizzards, and chocolate should be the main food groups. But, I decided a year ago that enough is enough; I chose to stop the downward spiral I was in. I will not become fat out of self-respect.

There seems to be a controversy going on now about obesity. Is it a condition or a disease? I have watched a lot of news coverage dealing with that question. My answer is that it is neither a condition nor a disease. It is a choice. It is a person’s choice to eat the way they do. After all, did you ever eat anything by accident?

It is time to make wise choices today: exercise and eat right!

Don’t try today; DO today!