My Renewed Passion and Commitment

I'm still in Chicago and will attend the funeral for my mom's cousin this morning. Yesterday was the visitation and it was frankly depressing. Almost all of my mom's first cousins are diabetic and all are overweight, with several morbidly obese. Several of them are struggling with severe health issues related to their diabetes. Even more distressing to me was seeing some of their children, my second cousins, obese and diabetic - and most of them are younger than I am. One of my second cousins is diabetic, taking 3 different oral medications for her diabetes and also taking 5 shots of insulin each day. She isn't even 50, but has severe diabetic neuropathy in her hands and her feet and has multiple other health issues related to her obesity. She spent much of the visitation sitting in the kitchen of the funeral home, where the table was filled with food of all kinds. Ironically, there were lots of cookies, coffee cakes, candy and sweets - and I watched my diabetic relatives, including her, eating all of this stuff. I wanted to scream.

I brought with me information on the two-year study that Johns Hopkins conducted comparing two groups of diabetics, one group on the American Diabetic Association diet and one group on Medifast. No surprise, the group on Medifast did remarkably better in not only losing weight but also at controlling their diabetes, with an impressive percentage reducing or eliminating their medications. I was able to share this material with a few cousins, but others were not interested, even though I shared my own story with them. I could tell that while they were happy for me, they just didn't believe it could ever happen for them, too.

My heart aches because I know that things could be different for some of these family members if they could only believe that it was possible to change. Some of them are resigned to the fact that they're diabetic and assume it's just a given because of their genetics.

My mom and I each brought a couple of Medifast crunch bars with us and, trust me, I wasn't even tempted to eat a cookie or anything else. Seeing my relatives eating the very foods that are killing them made me very thankful that God led me to Take Shape for Life/Medifast. I realize that, but for the grace of God and the miracle of this program, I could well be in the same state of poor health as my relatives.

I also realize that I cannot afford to become complacent or ever think that I've permanently slain the obesity monster. The monster has been dealt a mighty blow, but I know that it has the potential to roar back to life and bring with it diabetes and other health issues. Daily diligence is the only way to keep the monster at bay, and I can't think of a single thing I could eat that would be worth potentially ending up like so many of my family members.

I'll head home this afternoon following the services and the funeral lunch. I'm heading home with a renewed commitment to my own health, and a new level of passion to help others get healthy and stay healthy.

Getting healthy and staying healthy requires a commitment to doing it one day at a time. I'm committed today - are you? I sure hope so!