Real Freedom

When I think about January and the beginning of a new year, what usually comes to mind is setting goals around fitness, weight loss, and getting healthy.  

I used to be stuck in the "getting back on track" mentality, which is to say, "diet mentality."  This is the roller coaster of being "good" for a while, then being "bad" at the holidays, or at whatever excuse for celebrating came along throughout the year.  

This good/bad game is, in the end, not only physically damaging, but psychologically damaging.  Do you really believe that you are BAD because you ate a cookie?  Or that being GOOD means depriving yourself of what makes you feel joyous?

I used to think that freedom meant being free to eat whatever I wanted - that no one could tell me what to eat or what not to eat.  I thought that "treating myself" meant eating sugar, drinking wine, and overeating bread and cheese.  That "freedom" led me to make poor choices, and to feel less than the vibrant, healthy person I knew I could be.  

Now I know that true freedom is making the choice to be FREE of the foods that damage my body, rob my energy, and cloud my thinking.  The real treat is choosing something that I know will make me feel good, both physically, and on a mental level.

Ironically, when I make choices that are gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free (which all sound horribly depriving), that is when I feel the absolute best, the clearest, the lightest, and the FREEest.  

I challenge you this year, to question the manner in which you "treat" yourself - what does your amazing, faithful, beautiful body really deserve as a treat?  The answer may finally lead you to freedom from all that has kept you from your goals in the past.