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 This is the article that appeared in the “Health & Medicine” section of the Evansville Courier & Press on Monday, September 24 2007. Please feel free to leave your comments below.

I was born and raised right here in good old Evansville. My mom and dad were hard-working everyday folks that did everything they could to care and provide for me and my sisters. They passed on to me not only their hard work ethic, but also their love for good’ol Midwestern cooking!

I grew up on ribs, fried pork chops, fried potatoes, fried green tomatoes…do you see a pattern here? I’m sure you expect to hear that I grew up with weight issues and joined the 35% of Hoosiers that battle with their weight. Well, I’m very happy to say that’s not my story at all. I didn’t grow up the healthiest kid and the road I took to become healthy wasn’t easy, but I did it. I broke The Curse!

That’s what I call it…The Midwestern Curse. It’s generation after generation of unhealthy traditions that get passed down to you and set you up for a lifetime of health woes. Now, it’s not that your parents or grandparents wanted to do you any harm. They were just doing what they were taught by their folks….and their folks before them. Question is…where does it end?

Think about your current health status…now think about your parents and their parents? Do you see any patterns? Heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or overweight?

That’s the curse- the unhealthy habits that are causing generations of people to battle with unnecessary and preventable health issues. Let me tell you my friend, most people are not born with these health problems and I’m pretty darn sure if you make healthy choices (aka. put the junk food down and get to movin’) you can put a stop to or at least make a good dent in most all of them.

It’s about choices. Yes, sometimes there are inherited factors that come into play, but for the most part - it’s all you baby!

Good news is that you can stop The Curse anytime you chose. You can make the changes necessary and end unhealthy eating habits and start living a more active lifestyle. You can save your children a lifetime of health and weight issues by teaching them through your healthy example.

I know it sounds like a lot of work and I’m not going to lie to you, it is. BUT it can be done and I’m living proof. To help you get on your way to breaking that curse I encourage you to pick three things you know you can change. That’s right, just three. I find that when people try to change everything all at once it’s simply too much and they just set themselves up for misery and failure.

So pick three. Maybe walk for 20 minutes a day, sub in water for 2 of your daily sodas and cut your calories by 100 this week.

Once you master these three, then move onto three new healthy habits. Before long you will start living, feeling and looking better than you have in years. Plus, you will have broken The Midwestern Curse and started a new, healthy way of living for your family and generations to come.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 12:45 am and is filed under healthy solutions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.