Taking Personal Responsibility
Dear Friends,
This month, in my videos, I’ve been talking about inflammation in the body. How it affects us and the symptoms it causes. It is difficult to move on sometimes and change those bad habits that are causing the inflammation.
When I was sick with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), I didn’t feel like doing anything. That’s why prevention is always the best way, but if you are sick and want to move forward, I want to remind you to take baby steps…and soon you will be taking big leaps towards excellent health. You ned to put one foot in front of the other. And soon you’ll have made it to your destination. I want to live the best life there is to live. Don’t you? Take that first step of exercise or that first day of drinking 8 glasses of water.
The significant difference in lifespan may be linked to long-term behavior patterns. To explore whether it’s possible to reverse unhealthy habits, researchers studied men and women who made efforts to improve their lifestyle starting in middle age. Those who made a transition between the ages of forty-five and sixty-four to adopt even basic healthy habits, such as consuming at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, walking for about twenty minutes each day, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking, experienced a considerable decrease in mortality risk. In fact, there was a 40 percent lower risk of dying within the following four years. The researchers concluded that their findings highlight the value of adopting a healthy lifestyle, emphasizing that it is never too late to make positive changes in middle age.
As we get older, the reserve capacity of our organs is diminished, making it even more important to eat and live healthfully. We can’t continue to get away with the fast food lifestyle we may have led with teen abandon.¹
Could part of the answer to changing our lifestyle be…taking personal responsibility for ourselves and not depending on anyone else to alter or modify our habits and lifestyle?
When I was sick with MS, I was searching for answers on how I could regain my health. One story in the Bible especially captured my attention. It was about Daniel and his three companions—teenage boys taken from their homeland into Babylon.
This story fascinated me because, even in a foreign land where everything was stripped from them—their names, their identities, even their bodies—they still made the choice to honor God. The King of Babylon had big plans for them: they were to be trained for three years to serve in the royal court and were offered rich food and wine from the king’s own table. But Daniel chose differently.
Daniel took responsibility and made a bold request: that he and his companions be allowed to eat only vegetables and drink water for ten days. This wasn’t about a diet—it was about obedience and faithfulness. Daniel trusted that God would sustain them. And God did.
At the end of the test, they looked healthier than the others. And when the three years of training were over, they were brought before King Nebuchadnezzar. Scripture tells us in Daniel 1:17 that it was God who gave them knowledge and understanding. The king found them ten times wiser than all the others.
These four young men made a personal choice to honor God, and God honored their faithfulness. That’s the point that stood out to me: we can’t always control our circumstances, but we can take responsibility for our choices and trust God with the outcome.
Remember to take one step at a time when you are working on a lifestyle change. If you feel like you have gone one step backwards, get back on track and start again. You can move forward. Your life depends on it. In a very short time of implementing the eight laws of health, you will feel good, and your body will start healing. You don’t have to be sick. It really is your choice.
Blessings of good Health,
Cindy
1. Dr. Michael Greger, How Not To Age, pg. 597 and 598