Team S.J.G.R. Thursday Huddle: Food Fight!

Okay. So yeah, yeah, you can say it. I've been a little bit inconsistent with the Thursday S.J.G.R. huddles here lately. But everyone knows how annoying it is when people blog about not blogging enough, so I'll just leave it at that.

Ah hem.

Okay. So for some reason when I sat down to write a Thursday huddle for our team, this kept coming into my head:



FOOD FIGHT!

Why? Because when it comes to us getting to healthier weights to protect our hearts from CORONARY HEART DISEASE, food seems to be the source of an ongoing fight. You want it, so you eat it. You promise yourself that you'll run a little further or work out a little longer. All in an effort to counteract the crap-ton of calories you consumed.

Go ahead. Admit it--you do it.

Alright, so check it. I constantly have these daily epiphanies or rather re-epiphanies when it comes to this whole business of food and weight management. The latest is one you've heard over and over and over again: Lose weight in the kitchen, get fit in the gym.

Period. End of story.

Here's why that has become a re-epiphany. . .

For the last several weeks, I've been super busy. Between travel and work and kids and more, I've not been super consistent about running. Specifically, I haven't been getting in my long runs on the weekends and the ones I am getting are super short ones. Yup.

Now. I knew I had this dream of getting into my original wedding dress for my tenth wedding anniversary party. I didn't want it to be ridiculously tight and I wanted to feel good in it. So that meant I'd need to allow zero fluctuation in my weight. But I wasn't really exercising so much, so what's a girl to do?

Thanks to our team, I knew exactly what to do. It's called fork management. And especially carb management. Careful consideration of everything I ate and drank--even more than normal--which allowed me to shimmy into that dress with no problem. And I knew that it had mostly to do with Team S.J.G.R. and the attentiveness that it has forced me to have to what goes into my mouth. WE on this team all know that nobody can outrun a big butt if they aren't managing the food. We also know how ridiculous it is to tether poor dietary choices to individual workouts.

At least, I hope we all do.

Honestly? I felt better and fitter ten years after my wedding day than I did in 2004. And in 2004, I was working out like a crazy fiend, denying myself just about everything, and obsessing over the step aerobics schedule in my gym. All so I could look fierce when I came down the aisle. But this time? I simply thought about my portions, adhered to my "no list", and watched out for those pesky saboteurs that I affectionately call B.L.T.s (bites, licks and tastes.) That proved to be far better than some wretched diet.

What does this mean? It means that all of this is about lifestyle management. It's about unsweetened tea instead of sweetened tea, "no, thank you" to that sugar-laden mojito, and passing on dessert since the dinner was rich in calories. It's about moving 150 minutes or more on most weeks but on others simply doing the best I can. And then it's about not having to overhaul my life just to fit into a dress.

But it's a fight. That is, for some people it is. We give food the power when really, we should have all of the power. Food can't jump off of the shelf, out of the wrapper, and into our mouths. We make a decision. We do.

Now. Forget about fitting into a dress or a suit or whatever it is for right now. Instead, just think about the person or people that you love the most.

Then think about THEM--not an outfit--when you decide to give food the power. Think about these facts that I will now shove squarely into your faces just as it is constantly smashed into my own:

• The leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. (and WORLDWIDE) is CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• All forms of cancer PUT TOGETHER do not add up to CORONARY HEART DISEASE when it comes to mortality causes. 
• YES, ALL FORMS of cancer PUT TOGETHER.
• BUT exercise and weight management helps nearly all forms of CANCER.
• Liking who you are but ignoring obvious risk factors for CORONARY HEART DISEASE doesn't make them go away.
• Hating who you are but ignoring obvious risk factors for CORONARY HEART DISEASE doesn't make them go away.
• CORONARY HEART DISEASE is the number one cause of DISABILITY, too.
• DISABILITY means that you can't do something that you want to do because of the problem you have that is stopping you from doing it. 
• The kinds of DISABILITIES that people with CORONARY HEART DISEASE face include things like not being able to walk without being out of breath, not being able to sleep flat, and not being able to do any PHYSICAL ACTIVITY without having to stop.
• SEXUAL INTERCOURSE counts as a PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.
• The more weight you carry around your midsection, the higher your risk of CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• Skinny people die of CORONARY HEART DISEASE every single day.
• Smoking and living with somebody who smokes increase your chance of CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• Being depressed and not getting treated for it or pretending like you aren't depressed greatly increases your chances of getting CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• Too much alcohol can cause you HEART DISEASE.
• Too much alcohol is defined as 4 or more drinks on any given day, 7 or more drinks in a week if you're a woman, and 14 or more drinks in a week if you're a man.
• Most people drink TWO DRINKS when they think they're having only ONE DRINK.
• The older you get, the greater chance you have of getting CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• The older you get, the harder you need to go to prevent CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• Family history of CORONARY HEART DISEASE should be taken very seriously.
• People who don't have a doctor or refuse to see doctors miss opportunities to reduce their risk of developing CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
• Ignoring the significance of CORONARY HEART DISEASE is really, really, really not smart.
• People ignore CORONARY HEART DISEASE risk every single day and then act surprised or shocked when it comes after them or their family.

Think it through. Get out of la-la land. Stop thinking that a hearty laugh and some cute shoes will prevent you from getting heart disease. Guess what? It won't. Let's go hard together. Let's stop fighting with food because food doesn't have arms, legs or any ability to climb up your shoulder, around your neck, under your chin and into your mouth.

It's all on you. So what YOU gonna do?

SHIT. JUST. GOT. REAL.

What do the people you love deserve? What do you deserve? If you scared, say you scared. But after that, quit bullshitting and change your lifestyle. Before it gets changed for you. Hell yeah.

Believe that.

Tough love? Yep. For all of us. Because this morning I cried hard as hell over my coffee because I missed my sister Deanna. I was re-watching the video from our Delta Centennial Celebration and straight up ugly crying. I thought about the fact that earlier this week I had some good news to share and I wanted to tell her but couldn't. Because of CORONARY EFFING HEART DISEASE. And that? That shit is as real as it gets. It IS.

Cut. It. Out.

Forget a bikini bootcamp. Bump that vacation. Look at the photos of the people you LOVE and go hard for THEM. Not any of THAT. Get in a doctor's care and stop frontin' like you are somehow immune from the prickly grasp of the thing more likely to kill every single person reading this than anything else. Newsflash: YOU AREN'T. And I'M NOT. And you are NOT "JUST A BIG GIRL" or "MEANT TO BE A BIG GUY."

Bull. Shit.

No. You. Are. Not. Your bones are no bigger than anyone else' and "thick" is NOT a defining characteristic that you must continue to embrace.

NOPE.

And you know? There's no guarantee that you won't still have an early heart attack or something like that. But why on earth would you avoid doing things clearly shown to slash the chances of you getting the thing that you ALREADY KNOW is most likely to take you down or take you out? Like. . .why? What could possibly taste better than the salty kiss on the forehead of your child after his first touchdown? What high calorie drink could possibly quench you more than the ocean waves you'll frolic on on vacations with your family? What late night pizza could even remotely bring you more joy than the love of your life? And what nap could come anywhere close to having a heart strong enough to chase your current or future children and grandchildren? Seriously? WHAT? Because that is what you allow to win when you don't fight back. That is the message you send to your family. And that's not fair to them. Or YOU.

Come on, team. Let's GO. Let's TRY. Or at least die trying.

Food fight? HELLS no. We got this!

***
Happy Thursday.

What I watched this morning and cried about. . . . because my family was robbed by CORONARY HEART DISEASE.   
Centennial - A song for love from Kimberly Manning on Vimeo.