motd Sat March 3, 2012

[Guest guest]

WALK. DON'T

WALK.

Saturday, 03 March 2012

Those of you who, like me, live in larger

cities see these signs everyday. You're out for a

walk, reach a busy intersection and there's a traffic

light for the cars. But if you're walking, you pay

attention to those little signs for pedestrians that

read in flashing red & green letters...WALK or

DON'T WALK. Now they even have these little figures

that show a person actually walking or standing

still. (They're so cute.)

I get quite a bit of e-mail

from people writing about a loved one who is

bedridden.

The reason I'm bringing this up today is because I'm

thinking about some of the mail I read everyday. See,

I get quite a bit of e-mail from people writing about

a loved one who is bedridden. Or, they're writing to

say that they, themselves,

are housebound or just about bedridden. These kinds

of letters always break my heart.

I was at a traffic light the other day and a

Walk/Don't Walk sign got me thinking. I mean, I see

those signs everyday but wonder how many of us take

them for granted? I thought about those people who're

not able to get out of their homes very much anymore,

if at all. I wonder when's the last time they saw a

Walk/Don't Walk sign and if they're even able to walk

anymore. Honestly, I never imagined a street-sign

giving me something so serious to think about.

But here's the thing. Most of those people who write

me used to be able to walk just fine. Only thing is,

they've allowed food and their weight to rob them, to

take away one of life's most simple and important

pleasures, the

ability to walk. But...do their lives have to be this

way? Well, for the vast majority of them, the answer

to that question would be NO.

For those people who finds

themselves prisoners of their own homes because of

their weight, there is a solution.

For those people who finds themselves prisoners of

their own homes because of their weight, there is a

solution. First, they have to look deep inside

themselves and decide if this is the way they want to

live the rest of their lives. I'm willing to bet they don't want to live

this way and, the good news is...they don't have

to! In

fact, they can actually add years

to their lives, if they'll only do what they

must.

In almost every case, the one thing that got them to

this point is allowing their eating habits to get out

of control. It could be argued that food began to

matter more to them than living itself. And

that really is a shame. At the same time, exercise didn't really

matter to them at all. My friends, that combination, that

lifestyle has

lead to where they are today.

The more they do of eating

better and exercise, the more weight they'll lose.

They must take their lives back from those

life-robbing eating habits. And while exercise may be

very tough for them right now, they've

got to start. If that means

working only the upper part of their bodies from a

seated position, then they should do just that. In

time, by controlling their eating habits, by moving

their bodies and by staying determined, they will begin to lose

weight. In fact, the more they do of those two

things, eating better and exercise, the more weight

they'll lose and the more exercise they'll be able to do. (One

good thing will lead to another.)

In time, something amazing will happen. They'll find

themselves able to get out of those beds. They'll be

able to get out of those houses. And they'll be able

to actually stand at a traffic light, see that sign

and make up their minds: Is it time to...

WALK...or....DON'T

WALK.

Love,