The Seven Deadly…..

I started thinking that the epitome of these sins can really be summed up in the weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays. I would love to hear your opinion on which order they should go but I will be discussing them in the following order: sloth, lust, gluttony, anger, pride, envy, and greed.

And, to tell you the truth, I didn’t even want to write this today, so how’s that for sloth? Whenever I think of sloth, I always picture this one episode of Nip/Tuck (yes TV again- get used to it) where the two surgeons had to literally carve this 700 pound woman out of her couch because she was glued there by her excrement. Maybe I should have waited until a few more paragraphs before I mentioned this; but that will always epitomize sloth for me- someone who just doesn’t care, the laziness, the giving up.

Ok, let’s lighten this up before I really say what’s on my mind. How about the guy who lost 27 pounds and counting on the Twinkie diet. Really? I mean Really? I get it. I really do. When I was in medical school, I once went on a French Fry and chocolate pudding diet and lost weight. But, what does that say about us as a culture, as a nation? That we are willing to almost exalt the absurd and stick it to us diet doctors and say, “look, I can lose weight doing anything I want.” Well, maybe you can but for me it’s always been about health- oh yeah, that and RFT.

So, I was watching Kathy Griffin’s latest special and even she was talking about sloth. She was saying how difficult it is to do her reality tv show when there are shows on the air, entitled, My Kid Ate What? Which now has a spin-off: My dog Ate What? And then the best of all, I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. I am so thankful that someone has more time to watch TV than I do- how would I ever keep up. Hmmm. I wonder if I am inherently slothful. I do like my TV.

I think sloth sums up this week as it is the week right before all the holiday stuff starts happening. We’re not traveling, we haven’t begun shopping for food or preparing it and we haven’t begun Christmas shopping- at least most of us haven’t yet. This is the week where we almost get a chance to forget what is looming. Heck, it’s even a national holiday today as I write this and in the middle of the week- how much more slothful can we get.

But, the thing I fear the most is that this is also the week when people start to think about going off their diets. Getting lazy with their exercise programs and begin to look for excuses to slack off. Beware my friends, this is the time to increase your exercise, up your determination about what to eat. We all know that Thanksgiving is a time to rejoice, and celebrate but not at the mercy of our health.

You better believe I am going to eat stuffing, pies and all sorts of things that shall remain nameless in this blog; but, I will not give up exercising and I am treating the run-up to the actual day (and yes Virginia, Thanksgiving lasts but one day) as a training session. I will be eating my best (although my trainer complains I don’t eat enough- I want to shoot him- more on that another day), exercising more and truly making a commitment to what it means to be healthy and feel good.

If you can do that, then a little indulgence, sloth, and reality TV can’t be that bad.

Until next time…..