Your
Body Revival
by Dave Draper
Available
NOW!
Excerpt:
Chapter 1
Your
Body Revival: Weight Loss Straight Talk
It
appears that losing weight has become one of mankind’s social
pastimes, a big industry for the resourceful businessperson and
a specialty in the medical community. Motivation for the overweight
and plans to follow in the quest for trimness are the subjects of
numerous books, magazines, clubs, clinics and commercial weight-loss
centers around the world. There are neighborhood programs and online
support groups that point the anxious and needy in the right direction,
but they serve more as a crutch than a fix. I could dig in and present
a string of suggestions on why and how to lose weight with psychological
underpinnings, but will they penetrate, provoke and stimulate? Even
the optimist in me thinks probably not. Will the ordinary words,
the ever-loving clichés rephrased grab hold and shake the
hungry and dismayed reader into action, or will they evaporate like
steam from a boiling kettle?
Not
wanting to exercise the involuntary reflex of pitching a "sure-fire"
weight-loss program, I have prepared a heartfelt, long-overdue,
point-blank approach that I believe can do no worse.
It
goes something like this...
My
name is Dave Draper and I’m your friend. What I am about to
say is harsh and disturbing--it is meant to be--but in no way is
it designed to violate or demean you, the reader. We are, in spite
of all our strengths, proliferated with weakness. Let the strong
rally and wrestle to the Earth’s rugged surface a fair share
of those limitations and set a high mark for the less brave that
surround us.
The
masses of the modern world are getting fatter and less fit every
day, an inexcusable combination that profiles man’s deteriorating
backbone, character and instincts. Where we were once hardy, square-shouldered
and erect, we are now stooped and burdened. Where once we ran and
played, we now stumble and grope.
The
precious fresh fruits, vegetables and hearty proteins that nourish
our bodies have lost their appeal and been replaced by sugar, fat
and chemicals in a bag, to go.
Like
sheep gone astray, we are accompanying one another to the slaughter:
dumb, fat, lazy and meek. It doesn’t stop there. We know better
and we ignore the dilemma. We deny and we procrastinate. We avoid
considering the eventual consequences of our over-consuming as if
by magic they might not one day visit us, personally. Stroke, heart
attack, diabetes, shortness of breath? Oh, no, thanks, I gave at
the office. Maybe next year. We find comfort in the overwhelming
presence of others of similar structure and countenance and convince
ourselves of the normalcy of corpulence. The descriptive word "fat"
is no longer a socially correct term and we shy of its use should
we offend the deceived ego and start a war. Veiled eyes dart to
another distraction (TV, video games, obsessive work, food, drink)
and the pain of reality is quieted again.
My
harshness is kindness in disguise. Does one tell a child about to
thrust his hand into the beehive to enjoy the honey?
We
can fix the problem. You who dare read this verbal affront to self-destruction--one’s
continued contribution to a fattened and deteriorating body--are
only a nod from the solution. Stop here for a moment and consider
the common crossroads before you.
Each
road, at first sight, is similar in appearance and takes you along
your way in everyday travel. One, a common road, goes left and abruptly
downhill with no margins on the food you eat, no exercise, no real
disciplines, no hope. Discarded fast-food bags, Big Gulps and beer
cans litter the muddy ditches and blinking neon--Eat ’n’
Go--illuminates the brooding, overcast sky. The other road bends
to the right with a gradual uphill grade that wanders through tilled
farmland, orchards and meadows of grazing cattle. It’s called
the high road where the air is fresh, the water is pure and good
eating habits are shared generously. Exciting workouts charge the
body and there’s a gym just over the hill and another in a
warm, sunny valley.
Do
you want to be among the fat and the lazy? Is that a self-image
you are willing to accept? Do you like to be out of control? Are
you content being one of the mindless masses, the ordinary on their
way down the wrong road? Don’t be offended, deny, rationalize
or blame.You have passions and opinions; you protect your rights
and options and you’re a good person with intelligence and
aspiration. Furthermore, you have arms and legs and a will. Why
not apply these qualities to the preservation of your life? Gather
them together, multiply them like earnings and enhance your days.
Your
choice, your decision: left or right?
What
difference does it make which way I should go? Why, if not asked
to pause, I would surely go slightly downhill as it appears to be
easier and, by evidence of its broadness and trodden surface, it
is the road most traveled, probably safer. That’s for me: easier
and safer.
Think
twice. Easier and safer leads to rounder and softer amid a crowd
of the dull-eyed. Go right and feel the wind, the flexing of your
muscles and, ah... hear the sound of music, one sure step at a time,
day after glorious day. There’s a perceptible difference--an
appealing difference--in the effort of travel and soon you define
it as stimulating and invigorating, a fulfilling adventure without
which you would despair.
The
choice, to be effective and comprehensive, needs to originate in
the center of your being where hope resides. Only when you review
your nature and are dismayed by its composition, only when you are
struck with purpose, impelled by its power and visualize transformation,
will you raise your head and say, "I’m going right; I’m
taking the high road, where life is lived and honored and cherished."
Somewhere
along our journey we have forgotten our responsibility--our obligation--to
care for our body and maintain its well-being. Respect for the fragile
and intricate vehicle in which we travel is seldom considered. The
least we can do is feed it nourishing food and gratefully, lovingly
nurture it with exercise. There are rare exceptions, and I suspect
you and I are listed among them, but the majority are ignorant,
just along for the ride till the ride gives out.
No
one stands above the fight
I’m
careful not to judge, ridicule or condescend, yet the message I
choose to relate is hard and must be driven home hard. What good
is it if the facts and figures are offered with euphemisms and mildness
as the intended recipients are stroked and lulled and treated as
if fatness is a common dilemma we should one day address?
It
is not unlikely in some instances that obesity is the symptom of
a sickness of far greater significance than poor body composition
and an overtaxed system. Consider apathy, the boundless spirit tethered,
calmed to complacency, and void of motivation, aspiration and interest.
It’s not hopelessness; it’s never having hoped. Exercise
and diet? Not now; tomorrow, perhaps. Pass the potato chips and
remote control, please.
Only
with you fully on my side can we confront the topic before us. I
have spoken candidly about the ever-growing condition of modern
man’s waistline. The subject is serious and delicate and, therefore,
difficult to approach. How do I speak of man’s fatness without
hurting, angering or demeaning the beholder while none of these
notions are intended? I pause, write, delete and pause again.
Are
you still with me? I’m somewhere between 50 and 100 and not
without my loss of years. Though I’ve never let go of hard
exercise and right eating, I romped in bad habits long enough to
crash. Thus, as I take aim at mankind and ask where his sense of
responsibility has gone or remind him of the gift of life, I am
not without being wounded by my own words. It’s your obligation,
I shout, to care for your body, mind and soul, and I submerge in
bittersweet humiliation. I have made the mistakes. The time I lost
has been my gain; I’m wiser and able to tell you.
Take
hold of your life with thanksgiving.
