Change of Life

Most people who hear that I’ve quit eating sugar and am planning to change out my white flours for whole wheat flour say “Oh, you’re dieting?” or “I need to go on a diet again…”

But changing the way I eat isn’t just a diet. It’s not some fad that I plan to go on to lose weight and then go off when I’ve gotten to the weight I’ve set as my goal. It’s not drinking Slim-fast for two meals a day or having Special K food products for every meal I eat. It’s not having salad and nothing else. It’s not something like my fad-diet Aunt would do- cease eating everything but (insert single food here) for a few months until she’s lost too much weight, and then start eating “normally” again and gain all the weight back and more.

It’s a change for the better. I hope to keep eating this way for the rest of my life. I hope to raise my kids with the habit of choosing whole wheat and whole grains over white wheat, grabbing fruit instead of candy. Viewing junk food as a treat, and not a daily indulgence. I want to be one of those annoyingly healthy people that you see buying a cartload of fresh fruit and vegetables, who looks happy and fit and has kids asking for grapes and not chocolate.

Well, okay. I doubt my kids will ever really actually want grapes over chocolate.

But I need to get out of the mindset that this is a diet, and realize that this is me choosing to change how I will live for the rest of my life. Because essentially, I keep thinking that after a while, I will fail.

I’ve always been afraid of being like my female relatives. My mother, my grandmothers, my aunts; they all had kids and dropped any relatively  healthy instincts they had. Only one of them has  just recently, in the last few years, gotten back to being a semi-healthy person- my grandma on my mom’s side. But all of my aunts are obese, my mother is obese, my other grandma is obese. It scares me.

I have to change now. Who knows if I will have the motivation later. If I change now, I will continue tomorrow, next week, next month, next year… for the rest of my life. It’s not going to be easy. Changing means removing the temptation and replacing it with a new option. Changing means not choosing Ranch Golfish even though they’re sugar free, because they’re made with white flour. Change means giving up the Cheerios I like for a healthier alternative of whole wheat toast with all-fruit, no-sugar-added jelly, or a fresh fruit salad.

Change means work. It means resisting some of the foods that I love most. It means giving up Reeses Peanut Butter Cups until I’ve beaten the tendency to overindulge on chocolate, and then choosing not to eat them except on special occasions. Like my birthday. (But not this one.) It means realizing that I’m not just changing for myself.

I’m changing for my future kids. I’m changing to influence others to change. I’m changing to better glorify God by taking care of the body He has given me. Overindulging on food is just as bad as abusing drugs or getting drunk or ruining my lungs with smoke. Most people don’t see it that way, but I do.

And this doesn’t mean that I’m going to be eating boring food that has no taste or sweetness or excitement. Healthy food is even more wonderful than junk food. It not only tastes good, it fills you up, it can repair your body, fuel your energy, and change your mood. So no, I’m not gonna eat only grass and tofu. 😉

God gave me the body. I will do my best to take care of it with His help. Starting now.