Читать книгу Make Me Healthy, Make Me Happy: Simple Methods for Creating a Healthy Lifestyle Change - Coach Stan Maddox - Страница 4

One of the most important parts of a healthy lifestyle change, is knowing your “Why”. Why do you want to improve your health? What experiences in the past have led you to where you are right now, reading this book? Your journey in life, up to this point will help to build a strong foundation for you. Here’s my story…

I was born August 16, 1974, at Grady Memorial Hospital, in Atlanta Georgia. I am what you would call a “Grady Baby”. I spent the majority of my childhood in East Atlanta. I grew up in a house with six other siblings. By no means, were we financially well off. But we grew up in a house rich in love. Money was scarce, we shared clothing, but there was always something to eat. I remember my mom cooking fried pork chops, with biscuits, and gravy. Sausage biscuits, cheese grits, and fried eggs. Fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, cornbread, and sweet tea. Freshly baked red velvet cakes, weekly. Are you hungry yet?! LOL. But my favorite food was pancakes, with extra butter and syrup. As a matter of fact, that was the first food that I learned to make, as a child. I had an infatuation with food! Which led to my childhood obesity. I was a chubby kid throughout my childhood. My waist size, and stomach circumference were the same as my father’s. I remember at age eight years old, having to wear my father’s pants to school, because it was too expensive for us to buy me new clothes, once I outgrew the current ones. I didn’t like to go swimming because I was too embarrassed to take my shirt off. I had a lot of crushes on girls in elementary school. But they didn’t give me the time of day, because of my heftiness. On a side note, it’s pretty cool to see women from my childhood try to reach out to me, on social media, because they see the new Stan! By the way, Shouts out to my beautiful wife, Sonya!!

My point is, childhood was pretty rough on Coach Stan because of obesity. By the time I started 7^th grade, I was in panic mode. I knew that 8^th grade would be the start of high school for me, so I had to find a way to lose weight. So, I decided to go on a water and lettuce only diet. Pretty smart, huh? The goal was to only eat lettuce and water all day, every day. Well, I did last until dinner, on the first day of the diet. Mom cooked fried pork chops, fried corn, and homemade butter biscuits. How in the hell am I going to pass that up?! So that was the end of the lettuce and water diet. I decided to start running around our backyard, after school, every day. I remember one of my sisters looking out the back door, laughing and teasing me, as I ran around the yard. At the time, I hated running. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My legs were in pain. So, that didn’t last either. The inability to manage my health, followed me throughout my childhood, teenage, and part of my adult life. I also lost beloved relatives due to health issues, along this journey. Our family has a history of obesity and poor eating habits. So, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and cancer were common causes of death for a lot of my loved ones. All my life, I witnessed my mother in her obedience, take all her prescribed medications for her health conditions. The objective was for the medication to improve her health. Years passed, but my mother’s medication didn’t improve her health. Actually, her health got worse. On top of that, her prescribed medication increased. I got to a point in my life, where I was sick and tired, of being sick and tired. A light turned on, inside of me. The desire to attain good health for my loved ones and me, was no longer a “want”. It was a “need”. That’s when I discovered my “why”. Dr. Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor quoted, “He who has a Why, can bear any HOW.“ Looking back on your life, and understanding your own story, will give you the key to creating your healthy lifestyle. That key is to discover your “Why”….