On Being Healthy

This is me at my thinnest in 1997, with my Grandma Tucker. She is my inspiration to get back to this size.

I remember when I first started this diet I sort of went through a grieving process. Silly maybe but I did. All I could think about was all of the food I was giving up. Like most folks from the south, food is a social thing. I have the best memories which involve sitting around the table eating and talking with family and friends. Then there's the fact that eating was a freakin' hobby for me. If I wasn't eating, I was planning my next meal! If I was bored, I'd eat. If I was sick, I'd eat. If I was celebrating... you get the picture.

Like a recovering alcoholic with alcohol, food will always be an area of weakness for me. I am happy to say that I am getting better. The other day, I tasted a cookie and spit it out because it tasted like I was eating sand. I'm enjoying the smell of food more.

Exercise is also an area of weakness that I have to make a conscious effort to include in my day. My thyroid plays havoc on my endocrine system and there are days when I feel like I'm walking in a fog. I have to force myself to move. (Yes, I stay current with my TSH levels but I really don't have faith in the medical profession.)

While I love buying smaller clothes and looking "oh so hot" its not about all of that this time. Instead its about preventing heart disease, diabetes and other terrible things that run in my family. Both my mom and daddy started taking blood pressure medicine in their 30's! I don't want that. My Grandma Tucker died way too young as a result of heart-related problems. On days when I feel like crap and don't want to exercise or eat right, I think about her. I see her face and it makes me want to make her proud.