Why You Should Lose Weight Now!
©2003 Julie S. Rayburn

Everyone who has a weight problem, whether it is an extra 10 pounds or an extra 50 pounds, knows that they should lose weight. They are told by their doctors that they need to lose weight or they will suffer terrible diseases yet they don’t take his advice. There are new studies published in the finest medical journals in the country preaching the benefits of losing weight, and many newspaper articles relaying the results of these studies, yet people still do nothing to lose the extra weight.

Is it just that everyone thinks that disease will not happen to them; that somehow they are invincible? Or is it that people don’t care because they think they will just be losing a few years off of their life? Or are people so overwhelmed with all of the bad information out there on how to lose weight?

Or maybe, just maybe, people associate so much pain with losing weight that a future full of disease and suffering doesn’t seem so scary? Are you associating so much pain with the thought of losing weight that you are willing to give up your life? Are you willing to cut 20-30 years off of your life just to avoid the process of losing weight?

I am going to help you associate pain with not losing weight in an effort to get you to do what you know you need to do!

First of all, did you know that fatty deposits are found in the arteries of 3 year old children who have been eating standard American fare? You know, drinking their milk, eating their chicken and steak, going out to dinner and ordering off the kids menu. Nothing out of the ordinary for most American children. This is the beginning of heart disease.

Now imagine that you are that child. You ate typical American fare growing up and still eat it today. All of these years have gone by and you have been happily enjoying the meals with your family, cook-outs, and other food parties. Barbecue chicken on the 4th of July, turkey at Thanksgiving, and let’s not forget the Christmas ham! It’s 35 years later and you have spent a big portion of your life eating the foods that cause heart disease. You are 20-30 pounds overweight (you tell yourself that you are big boned), don’t get a lot of exercise, and think you are too young to be threatened by major diseases.

So for 35+ years, heart disease and hardening of the arteries has been slowly but steadily getting worse. Then one day you are walking to your car after a hard day at the office, and you collapse. You have just had a coronary artery thrombosis, a heart attack.

Your life flashes before your eyes. You remember how your wife begged you to lose weight. You remember having to tell your kids that you can’t play baseball with them because you don’t have the energy. You are reminded that your father died of a heart attack at 47. You didn’t get to say goodbye to your wife or kids. The last words you said to your 4 year old daughter were ‘I don’t have time for a bear hug, I’ll be late for work’ as you ran out the door that morning. And those are the last words you will ever get to say to her. You did not survive the heart attack. Another life snuffed out before it really began. And for what? So you could eat one more cheeseburger? Because you didn’t think you were that out of shape?

You don’t have to be grossly overweight or out of shape to suffer a heart attack. If 3-year old children have the beginnings of heart disease, what do you think is going on in your body? If you are over 40 and overweight, you are a ticking time bomb! Any minute you could be uttering your last words to your kids, your wife, your husband.

The diseases associated with obesity develop over time, but can kill in an instant. The leading cause of death in our country is heart disease. The number three killer is stroke, another disease of the arteries. What is so unfortunate about this is that approximately 70% of these deaths could have been prevented. Heart disease is a direct result of what you eat.

So what will it take for you to lose the weight that you know needs to go? If you have Type II diabetes, another condition reversed through superior nutrition, do you have to wait until you are having a foot amputated to change your diet? Are you waiting until you feel the chest pain associated with heart trouble before you lay off the fried foods?

You may not get a second chance! Your first heart attack could also be your last!

Are people so attached to their unhealthy fatty foods that they are willing to die for them? Do they really taste that good? Changing your diet doesn’t have to be the end of your life as you know it. We weren’t made to eat the fatty American diet as it has come to be known. We were made to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Whole grains, unprocessed foods, foods that we can digest, foods that give life instead of taking it away.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t do the 4th of July barbeque or the Thanksgiving turkey or the Christmas ham. If you ate fresh whole foods 90% of the time and indulged only 10% of the time, you would be in control of what diseases you let into your body!

With all that we know about the effects of diet on disease, to continue to eat the typical American diet is nothing short of suicide on an installment plan. Stop letting food control your life and cause your death. Change your habits and take back your health!

Julie Rayburn is a Lifestyle Coach for Vitality Health and Fitness. Visit http://www.takebackyourhealth.org for great information and programs to help anyone who wants to lose weight and improve their health. Sign up for FREE newsletter, and receive FREE special reports about health and weight loss!