With the holidays approaching and schedules are full I know many of you are already thinking — how am I going to get through this coming week— when in reality it shouldn’t be that difficult. Holidays should be about you being surrounded with family and friends and celebrating love, health, happiness and the New Year and the blessings it brings. Just like the mind controls the body — how you treat and celebrate Rosh Hashanah will reflect the rest of your year. With that said you do not want to go in saying one thing and doing another. So if you plan on staying clean do it and if you plan on cheating enjoy it. The important thing is to follow through on what you plan.
I think one of the most important things about the Innovation Program is it gives you the opportunity to have a cheat day once a week. It’s meant to be a day where you can enjoy without guilt. However, we sometimes get caught up in when we want it that is most convenient for us VS. when we should use it. Let me explain further…. if you normally have a cheat day on Saturday — but you are celebrating Rosh Hashanah on Monday because that is when you will be with family and friends then you should use Monday as your cheat day. Instead what we tend to do is go on about how we don’t like the food that is going to be served, and we don’t want to waste a cheat day on a holiday. So instead you have the Cheat Day on the Saturday like you normally do so you can indulge in what you want — but then you end up having Matzo Ball Soup, Challah bread and a couple of drinks on the holiday…. all while telling yourself it wasn’t that much. And you will justify it by saying you did not want to be that person who couldn’t eat. But in reality you didn’t have to be that person — you could have just chosen to use your cheat day on the holiday as that is exactly what it is for. So now you have had two cheat days and you could have easily had one and saved it for the holiday to enjoy with those you love — or as we know family and holidays are tricky — you could have enjoyed your cheat day on the holiday with a couple of extra drinks if you happen to be surrounded by those you love but drive you crazy 🙂
If we are going to ask something from the Almighty then we should be prepared to help him out. — If you want the right things in your life then you have to do the right things to make it happen. Rosh Hashanah is about starting your New Year with asking G-d to grant a year of peace, prosperity, and blessings of health and happiness. But we must remember even when we ask for blessings — it’s up to us to do the right things to make them happen. If you ask for positive in your life but take all negative steps after asking — then 9 out of 10 times you will get negative results. One of the most important things we learn in any religion is that asking is not enough — and it shouldn’t be enough. Anything you ask, pray or hope for has to be followed up with positive work to receive what you want. It’s not ask and you shall receive— it’s ask, and then follow that request up with hard work and positive steps. Only then will you have the greatest chance of achieving the most precious life changing results.
RECAP… getting through the weekend and the holidays shouldn’t be stressful when it comes to food. You pick your cheat and you follow your plan. It’s like any other weekend — you can’t cheat more than one day and expect to lose weight that week. If you stick to your 6 days on and 1 day off you will lose. Keep it all in perspective. If you want to ask, pray or hope for a great healthy year then follow it up by starting the holiday with doing what you planned. If you are cheating then cheat and enjoy, and if you are staying on program — then plan it and follow through. There are always options and having the cheat day gives you the flexibility to stay on program or have your cheat day and enjoy.
Whether it’s weight loss, happiness, health, love, career, prosperity OR all of the above — regardless of what or who you believe in it all comes down to doing the right things, working hard and staying on your healthy path. Because as we all know positive actions = positive results.
Don’t ask G-d to guide your footsteps if you are not willing to move your feet
~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick
