A Note On Dieting

Before I get back into more of my story; a word or two on dieting. I am a firm believer that diet, is a “four” letter word. I mean, I’ve tried too many times to count. Everything from low carb, high protein, to low sodium vegetable juice as a meal supplement. All of them left me hungry... I mean starving, craving, and dying for REAL food. Sure it felt great to lose weight, but at what cost? I felt at those times that I would never be happy again until I could sink my teeth into a juicy hamburger and bucket of fries.

Eventually, I would break down and go back to what was the real problem, my lifestyle. Our lifestyle is the sum of our habits. We are all creatures of habit. Some habits elevate us while others bring us down. Knowing these habits and acknowledging the power that we give them by our actions, is the only way that we can begin to move forward and change those habits which are holding us back. No diet plan can so this for you, and no amount of wishful thinking. It has to be a conviction, not just a matter of self control.

For me, this came after years of struggle; the only answer for me was to get militant on my health. I needed guidelines that were strict enough to get me where I needed to go, but flexible enough to keep me satisfied. For me this was going “raw” (I know what your thinking... “Where’s the flexibility is being a Raw Vegan?! Well I will definitely get to that in my next post, I promise! It would take too long here.) For you it could be some less dramatic, but as anyone who knows me well will tell you, for me dramatic, is always my style.

I always used to say “you only live once” as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted or felt like. I comforted my choices with old saying like “It’s what’s on the inside that makes a man (or woman).” I still hold to these old saying but from a different point of view now.

“You only live once”- So why not live it to the fullness in everything you are and do: physically, mentally and spiritually. Just the other day I saw someone that I used to work with. She hadn’t seen me in a few years and was shocked by my transformation. After a little bit of catching up we started to reminisce about the past, when suddenly she started to laugh out loud. She remembered that after a really busy rush at work how I would just prop myself up on the counter, out of breath, wiping the sweat pouring from my forehead. I laughed with her because I could remember that like it was yesterday, but I didn’t realize that it was so noticeable to everyone else. That wasn’t living my life to the limit, I was hindering myself from living the life that I only get one shot at.

“It’s what’s on the inside that makes you”- I think you’d have to be pretty daft to dispute this. But I find that the goal of every single diet out there is the same. To get you “looking great”. And I will admit, I am not above this pursuit. I myself do and have always cared about how I look. But believe me when I say with every fiber of my being that EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL!

You are beautiful! Period.

If I were a motivational speaker I would make you run to the nearest mirror, look deep into your own eyes and say it, shout it, whisper it, just proclaim it! I AM BEAUTIFUL!!!

Diets have it all wrong, you already “look great” it just time that you showed it. Do you know what people say is more attractive than all the “good looks” in the world: confidence. For years I believed that people would only take me seriously if I looked a certain way, but the truth is that I was the only one with a problem with me. Sure people were worried about my health, but I was and am very much loved, for who I was not how I looked.

The best example of this would be the birth of my daughter McKenzie. When she was born I was on my way to becoming the biggest I would ever be. I can remember the first time I locked eyes with her like it was this morning. She gazed up at me in the stale hospital room moments after she was born. I could see her eyes examining my face scanning it back and forth, back and forth, until for just a split moment, they locked with my eyes and a slight grin came over her face. It was love at first sight. She didn’t care what I looked like or what size my waistline was, I was her daddy and would be forever. In that moment I knew that, at least in her eyes, I am beautiful.