Do you feel like you don’t get enough done during the day, even though you’re dog tired by the end of it?  Do you wake up feeling hung over even though you didn’t even do anything to deserve it the night before?  Do you suffer brain fog?

When I was in search of answers to these problems, I kept encountering these annoying and perky gurus proclaiming that we should cut out all sugar, bread, coffee, meat, pasta, and everything else in life that brings us joy.

Seriously.  Why live?

On the other hand, who wants to die young of a preventable illness?  Who wants to go into senior years barely able to move?  I asked myself, “What if I live to be 100 but spend the last 30 years of my life unable to climb stairs or tie my own shoes?”  Those would be a loooong 30 years.

And who wants to die with unreached potential still in them – – potential that wasn’t reached because you just didn’t have enough health or energy to go for it?

But dang.  I’m sick of this kind of advice.  Gag, gag, gag.  I’m here to enjoy life, and that means I want big and joyous food, not celery sticks.

About a year and a half ago, I had a health scare, so I decided to get serious.  I went on an excellent program, and I saw excellent results.  And my life began to transform.

For one thing, my house became much more pleasant.  Without thinking about it, I started to pick up after myself more, and clean areas of the house I was usually too lazy to get at.

I became super-productive at work.  I amazed myself with the amount of stuff I was accomplishing.

I found myself not really even wanting bread and sugar.

And at my check-up, my doctor told me to keep doing whatever I was doing.

But then I drifted back into old habits.  I started to eat candy more often, and then bread – how I love bread!  And over a period of a few weeks, I drifted off of the program.

So why was I surprised when I started to feel awful again?  I didn’t put two and two together at first.  I wondered why I was becoming so forgetful.  I became depressed as the house sank into chaos.  I began to struggle at work, because everything was such a slog!  I found I needed sugar, carbs, and caffeine just to keep going.

I won’t lie and tell you I jumped back on the program and have been on it faithfully ever since.  I did get back on and was thrilled with how I began to feel great again.  But then life took a dive, we had a family crisis, and I found it hard to stick to the program.

But this time I clung to some pillars, which saved me.

I continued to have my protein-rich, dairy-free breakfast shake faithfully every day.  I continued to drink this nourishing and energizing supplement every day.  And I continued to focus on eating “real” food as opposed to overly-processed food.  Sure, I slipped here and there, but as long as I ate more “real” food than I did the other stuff, I wasn’t going to beat myself up.

So when life improved, I was in a much better position to jump back on to the program full force and feel great again.

The moral of the story is that as much as I hate it and have tried to figure out a cheat way around it, what you eat really does have an impact not just on the way you feel but on everything else in your life.  It affects your job, your parenting, your decision-making, your attitude, your willingness, and your whole outlook on life.

So if you’re struggling with anything in life, cut the crap.  It might not directly solve your problems, but it will make you a better person to tackle them!