Have you been feeling like a failure when it comes to getting healthy? You know what you SHOULD be doing but you just can’t seem to make yourself do it?  I know exactly how you feel. As a matter of fact I have felt like a failure in a lot of areas of my life but I know what the secret is to change but I need your help to do it.

Yes that’s right. I can’t do this alone. We weren’t intended to do life alone. God made us to be “one body” where one part doesn’t work right if all the other parts are not functioning. It is an amazing thing when you start to function in this manner because suddenly you aren’t fighting an army of demons and negative self talk alone. You have a team, a family of sorts to help you.

That’s one of the 5 secrets of the Daniel plan formula. All 5 of the “F words”  are imperative to your success if you want a wholistic approach that will last a lifetime.

The first one is FAITH.  The Bible says if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can tell a mountain to move from here to there and it will be done. (Matthew 17:20) Well if you feel like my husband Ralph and I do,  we have a mountain of fat that is waiting to be moved somewhere other than on our hips, thighs and bellies!

FRIENDS is the next on our list. The picture I attached has friends in the middle….I assume because friends must be at the center of everything. For us, having friends to share with encourage each other and motivate each other when the going gets tough is imperative. We have both tried doing this alone and it doesn’t work. We both have to commit to not only sharing with each other but not getting offended if one of our friends tries to hold us accountable for the commitment we have made to ourselves. Let’s do this NOW!!!

FOOD is obviously foundational to our very being. We do become what we eat in many ways. If the majority of our diets are fat we are going to get fat. If we don’t eat the kinds of food that nourish our brains and bodies we are going to not be able to make good “brain” decisions because we can’t think straight.  Food is a necessity and if we understand how it works we can make choices that will help us not hurt us.

FITNESS is what most of us like to talk about the least. We equate fitness with exercise and to some extent that is true but fitness is so much more than just exercise. It is about being fit in mind and body. It is about joints and muscles and getting rid of those aches and pains. We hesitate to exercise because it might hurt but guess what….anything we do to change hurts to some extent because it requires sacrifice but we have the greatest example of that. Jesus had a great battle with the devil in the desert when he was tempted for 40 days including being tempted with food without giving in. How did he do it? He had the end result in mind which brings us to the last crucial component.

FOCUS. Probably my greatest frustration in my own life is my inability to focus. Though having attention deficit disorder plays into it so do a lot of other things including a tendency to be more concerned about everyone else more than myself so I am easily distracted from staying focused on the goals that I know will give me long lasting results. Part of being focused is to be very clear on where I am going and why. The only way to know that is to go back to the 1st step…..faith.  I have to have a greater reason than myself if I am going to do this for the long haul and I need my friends to remind me of God’s plan for my life.

Take a look at the Daniel Plan website and you will get a much bigger picture of how this can help us all to finally reach our goals for a healthier lifestyle. It will be worth your time because your life depends on it!