We want the easy way out. And so we do just that; we take the shorter road with the least distance needed to travel. And where does that take us? Nowhere!

As I have been down the healthy, living journey for decades, now, I know what it means to stick to what you need to do, and not waver. Yet, I’ve also been on the other side, we’re all you do is waver and make excuses for whatever reason.

I could sit here and give you the exact diet plan that you need to follow. But in all honesty, there’s too much of that on the Internet already. You can go google any diet you want from the cabbage diet to the cucumber diet to the keto diet to the vegan diet to the Paleo diet. And you will find exactly what you need. You could get an app and find your answers there.

But one thing you could not find is the real-life struggles and troubles. What it really means to dedicate yourself to living an uncompromised life so you can be your best selfie. And I’m not talking about not thinking of others and taking care of your family. Of course, you have responsibilities and other demands that you need to fulfill within your life.

However, that doesn’t mean that you sell yourself short. Compromising your health is the worst thing you can do. Now I would say, that compromise in your relationship with God is the absolute worst. But here, when you look at it from an earthly perspective, as to our actions, and what we control, it’s most definitely our health.

And I don’t know about you, but I have lived many days where I have made more excuses and compromised what I knew I needed to benefit someone else.

And for what reason? It doesn’t do them any good, the ones I love, for me to compromise my health. I mean, who is going to take care of the family if I’m in the hospital for two weeks due to exhaustion, malnutrition, dehydration, and mental instability?

Absolutely, positively no one!!

Further, I still can see, though that it’s much easier to live in those circumstances. And you wonder why? It truly is because it’s easier. We can go through life compromising for ourselves instead of not stopping for what we know is right for ourselves.

So today that all changes for you and it has for me.

Your health needs to be the most important thing you focus on right now. If you have other issues in your life, which we all do, you can still work on those. But if you compromise on your health, I am telling you right now, you will compromise on everything else in your life.

How fair is that to you?

How fair is that to the ones you love?

It’s not fair! Therefore, you need to take today like the bull by the horns, and make today the starting point of an unwavering, uncompromising, dedicated, and determined individual that you will reach your goal and maintain it for the rest of your life.

The K.I.S.S. ~ Take the bull by the horns!

Now that’s a pretty big pill to swallow. But it’s one I know you can take on the challenge. And so I want to leave you with some things that you can do as you take the bull by the horns.

1. Don’t compromise your nutrition.

What I mean by this, is that a lot of us will sit here and come up with excuses to fit in. We will find a way to go out to dinner and be like everybody else. My friend, you are not like everybody else. You were made for more. And so if you go out to dinner, and there is not something on the menu that you can eat, within the constraints and confines of your nutritional diet, then you need to not eat. Now I know a lot of people would be saying this is wrong! I hear that hate emails being sent already.

But save the typing. Cheating on yourself because you want to eat and be like everybody else right now; it’s not the time, nor the place. Until you are ready, and where you want to be in your health journey, you need to stay the course!

You do not want to allow yourself to have a cheat day, or a cheat meal. You may make a decision to eat a specific food, but let me challenge you with this question. How long will it take you to rebound from the cheat meal or the cheat day that you have?

Everybody is very different when it comes to how our food responds. And when we eat, we eat with our mind as in the way it looks, the way it smells, the way it tastes, the atmosphere, the environment that we gain from this moment when we are eating food.

But the body doesn’t see it that way. The body sees it as simply a chemical reaction made solely to fuel your body, giving your organs and your mind exactly what it needs nutritionally.

Let me give you a real-life example. My son was spending some time with us and his dog.  Well in that, he knew I was being very specific about what I was eating. And so he went to grab himself something to eat, but wanted to give me something. So he got me egg drop soup. Which, by the way, I absolutely love. But in eating that soup, you need to understand that I ate it from a point of guilt. He spent his hard-earned money to give me something so I didn’t have to necessarily cook and he wanted to take care of his mom, which was very kind and very sweet. And so in that it was all good on both sides right but I gave in to what I knew was not right for me.

So yes, I ate the egg drop soup. It was only one cup worth. Now you could imagine the amount of sodium that was in that egg drop soup. But can you believe that it took me three days to recuperate from that one cup of egg drop soup that I ate. I gained a pound and a half on the scale. Now some would say that was not really weight. Others would argue it is. I will tell you this. This is my body and how it responded was inflammation! That was not good in itself. So as I watched how I felt within my body and how my body was responding, I realized how just one cup of egg drop soup changed everything.

No matter what my friend, don’t compromise on your nutrition.

2. Don’t apologize for what you are doing for yourself. 

Most of our excuses encompass pleasing others so we don’t hurt their feelings. But what about your feelings are your body? What about your goals? What about your life?

3. Don’t say yes when you really need to say no.

I took my grandson and grand dog home to my daughter and son-in-love as they had a busy schedule, and so he came to spend the weekend with me. Of course, Grandma loved it! But I’m coming back, Papa and I decided that we would take them all the way back home instead of meeting halfway. We thought that would be easier. So that is what we did.

And in the midst of a conversation when we told them what we were doing, my daughter sweetly said, will you stay for dinner. I would love to cook you dinner.

And the thing was, I told my husband in advance, that I did not want to stay for dinner. I did not want to eat extra sauces. I needed to know exactly what was put in the food, and they needed an evening by themselves. And I just wanted to be respectful of what I needed, and I knew what they needed too.

And so when my husband called my daughter, she did exactly what I expected her to do. She wanted us to stay for dinner, and so he completely told her exactly what I wanted her to know. And then another call came in from my son-in-love and he wanted us to stay for dinner. Papa proceeded to tell him no and let me tell you, it was so refreshing to know that number one my children wanted to spend time with me. Right?! Of course you want to spend time with your kiddos. Which we did.

But we did not have to surround ourselves with the food. I need to eat specifically for me. And I knew that my daughter would fix something that would be delicious, and I would not want to say no to what her hard work put into it, especially her love. But I didn’t waver. I knew what I was doing, and because of my egg drop soup happening, I knew I had to stay the course. And a lot of times we don’t want to do that.

But no matter what you gotta stay the course.

CHALLENGE: Where are your hang-ups? Where do you give in too soon or too fast? Do your body well, and your body will serve you for a very long time.

“Be present. Be incredible. Be YOU!!!“