I grew up in the south. That means I grew up eating bacon and using the leftover fat for other dishes. We did not pay attention to the amount of fat in our ground beef. Most of the time it came from one side of the meat that we store in our freezer.
That was my comfort zone and even though I brought it back, this is how I cooked for my family. Realizing that I was seriously overweight changed that. One of my sons sat me down and told me that if I didn’t change the way I cooked (and ate) I was afraid I would die. Let me tell you, that takes you out of your comfort zone without ever changing things.
Works: I was doing the same job back then. It means sitting in front of a computer for hours. When I was done, the last thing I wanted to do was cook a healthy meal from scratch. I learned something. It’s just as much fun cooking with healthy ingredients as it is with their counterparts. It also tastes better.
Home: This is a bit of a difficult area to change as both my spouse and I work from home. It is much more difficult to stop thinking about work and get on with the things that need to be done. We have had to find a way to do it.
Lifestyle change: That’s what it is all about. My blood pressure when I got that mother / daughter talk was 178/123. To reduce it, I needed to change everything, not just what we ate. I had to exercise. It was not a diet. Diets are over. This cannot or could very well die. You could too.
I’m using myself as an example, but I imagine most of you reading this article have some issues that need to change. You may have to step out of your comfort zone. In fact, you probably should. Don’t wait for someone to tell you that your actions could be killing. Start now, before it’s too late.