Are You Destined To Be Your Parents?

Your parents were obese. Do you have to be obese, too? Or had diabetes, or bad allergies, or lupus, or bad knees?  Or mental illness?

My sister and brother and I hid in a closet while my father swung an axe around.  He destroyed  the bar he had built himself.  It was the 70’s and I think everyone had a bar in their living room. 

I remember sitting there thinking, this is stupid. Everyone here is crazy, I have to get out of here. 

A few years later, when I was 15, I did leave.

Mom died about 13 years ago and I heard that my dad died a few months after that.  They both died of heart disease. Mom had high blood pressure, dad had diabetes.

For years after I left home I waited and watched for my own kind of crazy to show up.  Mom had been in a mental hospital for a little while. I would think…am I schizophrenic yet?  I even warned my husbands to watch for it.  

Looking back I don’t think she was exactly schizophrenic. She had PTSD.  I probably did too. Who doesn’t, these days?

Both of my parents died of heart problems, so I will, too, right?

Wrong.  Or, I guess, maybe not.

Just because you have the genes for certain conditions doesn’t mean you’ll get the disease.  I’m not judging that one beautiful and famous celebrity who had her healthy breasts removed. She has the breast cancer gene and I’m not judging her because that must be pretty scary.  

Does removing her breast guarantee that she won’t get some kind of cancer?  

No.  And having the gene doesn’t guarantee that she would get cancer either.

Just like having obesity and diabetes in your family doesn’t guarantee that you’ll stay fat forever.  Or that you'll become fat.

Think about what you want in your life every day.  Good health - what does that look like?  Wealth - how does it look to you?  Why do you want that?  What does it mean to you?  

And what DON’T you want?  It's important to know this, too.  But not to dwell on that part. It just needs to be clear so that you recognize it when you see it and you can say, oh I don't want that.

Think about what you do want every single day.  Make that reason “why” stronger every single day and do something about it.  There are thousands of diet and exercise books out there. And programs you can follow.  I have a program you can follow. I can help you figure one out for yourself.  That's what I do.

Most people don’t need a super specialized diet.  Most people eat too much.  I know I eat more than I need to. 

Here's all you need to do.  Have a little good-quality protein at every meal, drink half your weight in water, and eat a lot of vegetables everyday.  Exercise for an hour a day. Do a little yoga, walk, run, lift weights.  

Oh, and walk 10,000 steps.  Don't be alarmed. 

It starts with one..

Exercise keeps me sane. What will it do for you?