Honesty

Good morning and happy Monday!

Today we're starting in on our practical application portions, beginning with our physical health. Are you feeling good about this? I sure am!

Taking your physical health in hand requires: 1) A soul-wrenching reason, 2) The right information, 3) A guide and encourager, and 4) Honesty.

We've talked about one and three before. Later on we'll talk about number two. Today, we're talking about honesty. Taking your physical health in hand requires a lot of honesty, even brutal honesty, because you can only move forward in this area (and in any area) once you really, honestly know where you stand. That's why I gave you most of last week to work on self-assessing. I want you to start with a good foundation and a big chunk of that has to be you being honest with yourself about where you're really starting from.

I know I've touched on this topic before, so why am I bringing it up again?

Over the past week I've had the privilege of hanging out with some truly wonderful people. We laughed together, we talked about life together, and in our time together I saw a heartbreaking commonality: Most of them were overweight, and honestly believed they were as healthy as they could be. More than that, they resented the suggestion that what they "know" about health may be wrong, or that it may be irrelevant before they've lost weight and gotten to a healthy place physically.

I wanted to see why this happens, and if it was unique to the group of people that I was hanging out with, so I went into the world and had conversations with complete strangers who were also (as far as I could tell) wonderful people and were also convinced that they were healthy despite being overweight.

Over and over again I've had people look me in the eye and say "You've lost 80 pounds since January? Good for you! But you know, you really should be (insert "healthy" behavior that they are practicing without losing any weight, feeling any better, reducing any medications, or actually improving their lives in any way)."

Or, what's worse, "You've lost 80 pounds since January? That's just not healthy. You must be sick, you should check with your doctor."

Over and over again this week I have talked with overweight people who are clearly struggling with normal life (breathless in the grocery store, can't bend over to pick up something they've dropped, dealing with severe back pain) and after hearing that I have studied the science behind health and why our bodies work the way they do through a course at Villanova University, they immediately brush off anything I say as wrong because it isn't what their aunt or cousin or grandma or - heaven forbid - Dr. OZ said to do. "Dr Oz said to only cook with coconut oil" they'll say, right after I talk about the benefits of using olive oil as a healthy and lean fat portion when cooking lean meats. "My grandma lost 20 pounds and all she did was stop eating meat," they'll tell me, when I talk excitedly about how your body uses protein to boost your metabolism, regulate your insulin levels, and build muscle.

My dear friends, allow me to be honest with you. If you are overweight, you are not healthy.If you are overweight and not losing any weight, it is safe to assume that everything you think you know about health is either a lie or it doesn't apply until after you're at a healthy weight. It doesn't matter that you're eating organic, that you participate in marathons, that you take a daily dose of supplements, that you only cook with coconut oil or that you don't eat any dairy at all. No matter what you're doing in your life, if you are overweight you are not healthy. Hands down. It's a fact. No matter what your daily habits if you are not actively shedding pounds and you are overweight, your lifestyle is unhealthy.

Drinking fresh squeezed orange juice to lower your risk of heart disease doesn't matter when you're forcing your heart to live in constant stress because you're carting around an extra person inside your skin. Drinking a lot of water to flush out your kidneys is almost pointless when they're so busy dealing with the toxins stored in 150 pounds of fat cells (and believe me, there are indeed toxins stored there). Participating in marathons doesn't count if you're forcing your joints and organs to deal with the stress of extra weight.

If you're overweight, you're unhealthy. And if you're not losing weight, you need to change your lifestyle before you start telling anyone else what is and isn't healthy, or disregarding what someone who is actively getting healthier tells you about health. Because the fact of the matter is that if you're unhealthy and not changing in the direction of gaining better health then you don't know enough about health to tell anyone else what they should or should not be doing, nor do you have the expertise to ignore and contradict someone who is doing it.

My dear friends, let's be honest. Let's not hide behind our gimmicks and excuses. Let's not trust a television personality more than the live person in front of us who is experiencing success and gaining health. Let's recognize where we stand, truthfully, and work together to move in the right direction.

This fact applies to all areas. If you're not mentally at peace you have no business telling someone what is mentally healthy. If you're not financially secure you'd better just keep your mouth shut about what is and isn't a smart idea financially. In all areas of life, if you're not there or actively showing positive results on your path to getting there, you have no right to say anything to anyone on the subject. Nor are you in a position to ignore and dismiss what is said by those who are at that place or showing results on their path to that place.

Once you are truly honest with yourself your soul wrenching reason will reveal itself, your quest for the right information will get so much easier, and you will be able to see who in your life can guide and encourage you on your path. It all starts with honesty. It has to. Otherwise, you'll find yourself with a phony reason, a gimmick, and a scam artist.

Today, review that self assessment you wrote down and make sure you're being honest with yourself. If anything in that assessment is a lie, scratch it out and change it. You can only make sustainable forward progress when you start by being truly honest with yourself about where you're starting in the first place.