A Small Amount

Your Challenge Today:

A small amount of sacrifice …

By Bernadette Kathryn, LMT, IHLC

You can’t achieve anything in life

without a small amount of sacrifice.

~ Shakira

Sacrifice or trade?

I like to think of it as a trade; I am trading one thing that I want for something else that I want more. When I was growing up in Texas, I ate a lot of traditional comfort foods. My mom was an excellent cook, and she inspired hunger in me … I smelled the food and wanted to eat! There was one thing she cooked that I didn’t like — cabbage — she entirely overcooked it and I was not interested. Otherwise, everything she prepared was tasty, tasty, tasty. I remember some favorites were red beans and dirty rice, macaroni and cheese, a casserole with chicken, rice, cinnamon and pine nuts (sounds odd but really yum), cherry cheesecake, fudge brownies, any pasta sauce, grits & eggs, patty melts, Frito pies – ever have one of those?

As you can see, we had a lot of ~ not so good for you or your figure tasty food ~ and I had to learn a new way to care for myself as an adult. It quickly became apparent that if I continued to eat the way I did as a child, I would be huge, fat and unhappy. Not only do I not need as many calories as I did when I was a child, but I also needed to change the ratio of foods I was eating and eliminate processed foods. I ate way too much sugar and junk food and honestly had no idea that was a problem until I was diagnosed with a spastic colon. I used to get such severe stomach aches, and no one ever made the connection that the food I ate was a contributing factor. I am not even sure the doctor linked at the time, he gave me a prescription, said it was “stress” and sent me home. I was a teenager at the time, and something told me that medicine was not the way to go with this … I had a feeling there was a better answer out there for me.

Trusting the little voice in my head, I decided to look for answers in other places. I now know that stress and diet were the main contributing factors to my tummy troubles. And, as I began to learn more about exercise, stress reduction methods and healthier food choices I was able to make habit changes that essentially saved my life slowly. It was a long road to change my habits from sedentary to active, from comfort foods to healthier choices and from internalizing my stress to learning coping skills for my emotional stress.

I began to read books, talk to alternative health professionals, go to the park to exercise, and keep a journal. All of these strategies were instrumental in the success of my physical transformation, and it took ages, one habit change at a time. I still battle a variety of demons periodically; I still love sugar, chocolate, cheese, a good glass of wine or margarita and good old junk food.  And, I remember how bad I felt when I wasn’t taking good care of myself; that memory keeps me on track most of the time. I feel excellent about the changes I have made for my better health and Living Fit Lifestyle.

The most significant strategy for me was ‘trading’ not ‘sacrificing.’ I decided to trade one poor food choice for a better one whenever I had a craving until I had systematically exchanged all of my old habits for healthier ones. I have found that food choices are emotionally driven and that process was the longest to change but well worth it. I don’t like to think of sacrificing because that sounds like I am suffering and the choices I am making to support my Living Fit Lifestyle do not include any suffering. I am making delicious, pleasurable healthy food choices that are every bit as good and better than what I grew up eating. Now, I am creating new memories with a better understanding of and commitment to my wellness needs.