I was always amazed at how much food I could put in my stomach. In fact, so was my sister. She would always say, where are you storing all that food, because my belly was always flat. Folks, little did I realize I was storing all that food as fat around my organs, visceral fat, which is the worst fat to accumulate in your body.

DON’T USE IGNORANCE AS AN EXCUSE

We can forgive ourselves for destroying our health and our bodies. In fact, we MUST forgive ourselves if we want to begin the process of healing our hearts, minds, and souls if we desire healthy bodies. I have done copious amounts of research trying to understand the weight issue. What I have gathered is that it is not as simple as we were led to believe; however, it also is not that complicated. The problem for many is that we lived in ignorance, and I may also add, denial. We never want to admit that we have caused our excess weight by the lifestyles we indulged in. After all, we had to indulge, because we deserve to feel and be satisfied and happy. Here is the myth that I want to debunk, satisfaction and happiness should never be dependent on external things. We should be satisfied and happy just because we woke up this morning.

TOTAL SATISFACTION IS NOT ACHIEVED WITH FOOD

Emotional, mental, financial, and spiritual satisfaction is NEVER achieved with food. A job well done leaves you feeling satisfied. Doing something good for another person leaves you feeling satisfied. However, lifelong satisfaction comes from serving God from a fully surrendered state. I did not know this. I also did not realize that when we develop a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ, we achieve that unshakeable satisfaction we have been searching for in food, alcohol, drugs, work, people, or positions. However, what is the satisfaction we ultimately desire? Ultimately, each of us desires to feel satisfied with who we are in any and every given moment. That is where love comes into the equation. Loving God is the first greatest commandment; however, loving ourselves is an important part of the second great commandment. Too many of us are walking around on this earth not satisfied with who we are because we believe that we are “not enough” and as a result we do not love ourselves. A lack of love leads to a lack of appropriate care.

REALIZATION AND ACCEPTANCE ARE IMPORTANT

The solution is to realize that if your best effort only gets you a ‘C’, then that is your best in that area. We are never going to ace every area of our lives, that is a dysfunctional pattern of thinking that sets you up for dissatisfaction and overindulging in unhealthy habits. The next thing we must do once we realize that we will never achieve perfection or will never be perfect is acceptance. Acceptance is one of the words we must have in our arsenal if we desire to be totally healthy. Practicing the art of acceptance will help you to maintain your daily elevated level of joy, peace, and contentment (satisfaction). For a long time, I did not understand that my lack of acceptance was creating a lot of my suffering.

THINGS WE MUST ACCEPT FOR OUR HEALTH

Acceptance is not condoning bad behavior or bad habits. It is the realization that the thing has happened. Therefore, we accept:

1. We cannot change the past, it is DONE!
2. The past only defines us, if that is what we CHOOSE.
3. Our potential is dependent on what we BELIEVE.
4. We must take 100% RESPONSIBILITY for the life we have and want.