Don't put off change!

Recently I met a patient whom I had seen a number of years ago. Back then, her weight had come down significantly, then she stopped coming. The weight came back on, and now she has had a vascular event. I realize that weight and circulation may be just an association and not causation, however, if there is an association, I would have hoped we could have helped her with further lifestyle changes to prevent this event.Fortunately she is doing well. She has now returned to reduce her inflammatory visceral fat, and I am happy she feels so determined to learn how to eat better and exercise to prevent any future issues.We forget our purpose, our reason to lose weight; maybe it only becomes urgent when diabetes occurs, or a coronary, or stroke, or worsening arthritis.As I’ve said many times before, weight is an endocrine disorder and can be ‘fixed’ with proper lifestyle changes. Day by day however, we lose that sense of urgency; we delay our start to next week, or next month. By doing so, we never really get started. We wait, hoping magic motivation will hit us, THEN we will change.Don’t wait. I was listening to a wonderful lecture by a psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede (www.diagnosisdiet.com) on Alzheimer’s and some of the nutritional changes we can make to prevent or improve that terrible disease. Interestingly, with the amount of sugar in our diets, they have seen changes in the memory area of the brain (hippocampus), in people as young as 24. Don’t wait!Remember always, it is about changes in behaviour. The scale will follow, if we change consistently. If the scale dictates ‘pass or fail’, or ‘good person, bad person’ we are doomed. Congratulate yourself if you have even one day of good eating. Congratulate yourself even more, if you have a terrible eating day, but get right back on track the next.Excuses, are just that. Excuses. How would you feel if you did three months of lower carbohydrate eating? Not eating haphazardly, but day by day by day with no excuses. I’m willing to bet you would feel good physically and emotionally. This would require you to not listen to the voice that says ‘It’s ok, I’ll have this or that, and really try next week’, or ‘I’m tired’, or ‘No one realizes the stress of my work and how tired I am’.Don’t delay. Don’t risk the worsening of arthritis, or memory, or heart attack or stroke. Aim for feeling vibrant, and active with a lot of energy. If we move, we have energy. If we sit still, our energy declines.I don’t have time to put off eating properly. I already have insulin resistance and a fatty liver; and I want my brain to be functioning so I can help people for a very long time. I can’t put off weight loss until next week.Nor can you. You can do it. Keep trying and don’t give up.Dr. B