Choices Matter - They Really Matter!

I received some sad news a couple of days ago. Someone I knew from my college years passed away last week - way too early. Steve (not his real name) was in his early 60's and died of a massive heart attack. He was also diabetic and had been on dialysis for some time due to kidney failure. Lastly, and probably no surprise, he had been very overweight for most of his life. When I knew him in college (he was finishing as I began), he was very heavy. Still, he played basketball and kept active and was a very upbeat guy, the kind of person everybody liked. Steve married his college sweetheart and they were married almost 40 years; they had several children and I believe he also had grandchildren. Steve was a wonderful person who was well loved by his family and many friends, and I am incredibly sad that he passed away at such an early age due to complications of obesity.

Obesity steals so much from us - our self esteem, our joy, our ability to fully live our lives - but it also has the potential to steal years from our lives. Even before he passed away, the quality of Steve's life had been severely compromised because of his obesity and diabetes, leaving him dependent upon dialysis several times a week. This is no way for someone to live at any age, let alone someone who is supposed to be in the prime of their life. Instead of being able to just enjoy time with his wife and his family, instead of being able to travel and do the things that people anticipate enjoying in retirement, Steve was struggling with significant health issues that were directly related to a lifetime of obesity.

Some people may think that I talk too much about Take Shape for Life/Medifast, that I'm a bit too passionate about this program, but how can I NOT be passionate about something that has the ability to not only change someone's life but actually save it? That is also why I come back here every day to encourage you to make the choice to stay on plan. I can't think of anything I could eat that would be worth possibly dying prematurely; I can't think of anything I could eat that's worth leaving my health in a compromised state, keeping me from fully living my life.

Each day we have the opportunity to make choices that will, together, impact our future health. It's easy to get lulled into thinking that what we do today really doesn't matter, but when we string together a series of choices and they become days and weeks, month and years, we've established habits. These habits will either move us towards optimal health or in the opposite direction. Your choice today count, so choose wisely :-)