Stop the Madness

21% set a goal to lose weight beginning mere hours after the ball dropped.

14% set a goal to incorporate exercise daily to reach health goals.

7% set a goal to consume healthier foods.

Regardless of the actual numbers – be it 14% go at losing weight with increased exercise and 7% focus on the food; or, each statistic above sits separated into three different groups – majority of Americans desire improvement in self and base that on weight/food/exercise. 

Since the very beginning of time, food = power.  An inanimate object which remains necessary for life holds power to tear down, wreak havoc, cause illness, recover from illness, build up, create an escape, etc.  73% of individuals creating goals when the ball drops end up quitting prior to accomplishing such lofty goals. 

I believe two factors wedge into the equation leading to failing/giving up.  One includes the grandeur of the goals set.  Be it the atmosphere, peer pressure or repetitive goal making each year; we create a list containing society’s standards for our life.  Society creates images of ‘what makes a person happy’ and pumps it out all over the media.  Such pressure breaks us and a goal to attain such happiness weighs heavily on our mind. 

Another factor includes going at it alone.  Accountability serves mightily when overcoming difficulty, changing unhealthy habits and striving to reach set goals.  Whatever the case, going at it alone will exhaust you to the point of giving up. 

Admittance to the problem will aide in making SMART goals: 

specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time sensitive. 

The problem: the power given to food.  I hold such passion in helping others overcome bondage to food.  Bondage can include revolving events around food, food consuming the first thought of the day and extending to the last thought of the day, feeling guilty after ingestion, fearing meal time, placing importance on ‘earning’ the right to eat, seeking ways to rid the body of food intake, etc.  Over-consumption driven by lack of control creates bondage as well. 

Society provides the chain, link by link, which binds and suffocates.  Let us work together, not against one another, to break free.  We work in such competition each day to be #1.  We were created individually with varied purposes; therefore, our goals should not be uniform in nature.  There is no one size fits all in health. 

No matter the disordered eating pattern: we each need SMART goals and we need each other.  The time is now to stop the madness!  Too many lives have been taken due to disordered eating patterns: heart disease, cancer and body failure due to lack of nutrients. 

What will be your SMART goal for today?  How can you help another meet their SMART goal today? 

Reaching optimal health. . .One Day at a Time

Sheree Craig    

Statistics pulled from: http://www.details.com/story/new-years-resolutions-by-the-numbers