Day 44 – Watch out for the carbs!

What do you and body builders have in common?

Carbohydrate-rich foods! If you love potatoes, sweets, spaghetti, rice, and bread, then you share a dependence on a common food type. While body builders scientifically load up on certain carbs for energy and to deliberately gain weight, we tend to use foods like pasta, rice, and potatoes (loaded with fat) to help us stretch meals and to leave us feeling full. Current diet industry wisdom places the blame for heaviness squarely on fats, but for many of us, the problem may be caused by a biochemical disorder called "carbohydrate addiction," according to Drs. Rachael and Richard Heller of the Mount Sinai School f Medicine in New York.

The basis for the addiction is a chemical ménage a trois gone bad among carbohydrates, insulin, and serotonin. Not every overweight person is addicted, nor is every addicted person overweight. However, this disorder may prove an important clue in the journey to health and fitness for many Black women. The Hellers cite years of research, interesting case studies, and a self-test in their best-selling book, The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet. Your homework assignment: study your body and read the book.

My body is the laboratory, and my will and intelligence are the keys to unlocking the mysteries of health for my body.

Day 43 – Listen to your body.

Pay attention to what your body is saying. Don't ignore persistent aches and pains.

Believe it or not, our bodies talk to us constantly. Every growl, ache, and sneeze has meaning. It's unfortunate that we don't understand the language of our bodies. So when we have an ache, we run to the medicine cabinet. Even Western science is now beginning to admit that most of our diseases and ailments are rooted in poor nutrition and our maladjusted ways of coping with stress. Although doctors have their place--and you should always check with one if something is wrong--try to listen to what the ailment is trying to tell you. It might feel strange, but ask the ailing body part what lesson it has to share with you. Then, and this is important, trust what you hear. If a persistent cough is trying to tell you that you need to stop eating mucous-forming dairy foods, then try fasting on dairy. If chronic knee pains are begging you to lose weight, heed the warning. If high blood pressure is telling you to let go of your anger, then, honey, let it go.

I will pay close attention to what my body's trying to tell me.

Day 42 – CP Time = Procrastination

CP time, or "colored people's time," is Black folk slang for tardiness. We all know people who just have to be late. Our weddings and our funerals, our parties and our beauty shop appointments all start just a beat behind the clock. Of course, people on CP time come up with all kinds of excuses to be tardy, including, "My rhythms just ain't like the white man." Please. Folks who insist on arriving late to meetings have no consideration for other people's schedules, plain and simple. Now, believe it or not, CP time has a correlation to health and fitness. Are you on CP time when it comes to putting off that eating program or that exercise routine? Good news, however. There is a cure. Put this reminder all over your house: I WILL DO IT TODAY! "It" being your healthy eating program or your exercise routine. Put reminders on your refrigerator, doors, kitchen cabinets, toilets, and bedside table. Tape it to your wallet. No more CP time for progressive Black women!

I'll just do it today!