If all IF’s and BUT’s were Candy and Nuts
Candy and Nuts
Ever heard the saying “If all
IF’s and
BUT’s were Candy and Nuts it’d be Christmas every day?”
So many of us struggle, not with the intention or desire to make changes and live healthier, but rather it is the
IF’s and
BUT’s that stop us.
It’s not Christmas. It’s not New Year’s (resolution time). It’s not your High School reunion or your (or your child’s) Wedding. It’s just today.
What is your today? Is today painful because of sore joints, headaches, fatigue from not sleeping well or feeling like any amount of sleep still doesn’t help?
Is today needing to know where a bathroom is because your IBS is so bad?
Is today overwhelming and lacking control?
Is today fear of going to your doctor’s appointment and being ‘lectured again’ about needing to lose weight or start the medication to decrease blood pressure or high cholesterol? Is today brain fog and hormone‘craziness’?
Or is today a day of not fitting into clothes and hating having photos taken on your summer vacation because of skin disorders or excess weight?
- · IF I decide to eat healthier, my family always objects (because they have to eat differently and I never stick to it)
- · BUT I start the day so well and after the day’s stresses I cave in at night
- · IF I’m going to start, it has to be when I have more time and can focus on it
- · BUT there’s always stuff lying around at work and IF there’s bread or desserts, I just can’t resist
- · IF only eating better would work as fast as taking my ____ pill for _____
- · BUT I hate exercising (and have no time for it)
- IF the tests proved I had Celiac Sprue I would stay gluten free (BUT it does make me feel so much better to eat gluten-free)
- · BUT it’s so expensive and there’s no time to shop and prepare healthier food
- · IF only the doctors could figure out what is wrong with me
- BUT I have heartburn/pain/psoriasis//fatigue (fill in your symptom here) and exercise makes it worse
BUT what IF I told you that many of these IF’s and BUT’s are in your head?
You could move your BUTT (exercise in whatever way suits your style for even 15 min/day) IF you made the commitment for something other than a special occasion or a smaller pants size.
You can tell your family you will be changing up cooking a bit BUT you’ll cook them one item they like IF they promise to support you.
You have every ability to reverse chronic pains, decrease or stop medications (even all those over the counter ones)
BUT you have to believe in the body’s ability to heal IF given the right nutrients (food and supplements) and IF you start saying “I’d love to help you out, BUT my health now and later is more of a priority right now”.
YES, of course, changing habits is hard.
Eating different foods (and decreasing comfort foods such as processed carbohydrates and sugar) is like trying to ‘decrease’ a heroin addiction. Researchers have actually found that these foods and drugs have the same reaction in our brain on MRI’s!
Let’s not be naive and act as you can decide and it will happen. (Or that your boss, family or PTO committee will like you saying no). Change is not an event; it is a process… or as I like to call a journey. Like many events in life, change is also not a ladder of events that you check off, did that, and onto the next thing.
BUT rather you will most likely still need to start and restart over and over IF you are willing to keep plugging along.
IF you work out and ate no sugar or grains today, you won’t feel any better tomorrow. You may not even feel any different if you did this for the next month… BUT soon thereafter, you will most definitely see that IF you stick to it. It’s never ‘easy’ BUT it is cumulative. It is life-saving.
What IF’s and BUT’s stopping you… your friends…. your family?
Better yet, what IF someone told you what you are suffering from today is going to interfere with your ability to work, t0 parent or enjoy time off in a few short years? BUT that if you commit to the changes, the journey, the restarts YOU can change your future… IF all the IF’s and BUT’s are not candy BUT are nuts… you will get more Christmases to enjoy.