It’s the beginning of the year and people are making resolutions and setting health goals. If you didn’t read my first blog on why you should not set New Year resolution please go and read that. The point was to help people not feel pressured into setting a goal that they don’t intend of following through with. And if you do set a resolution don’t just make it, take some time and come up with a plan to help you achieve the goal. This brings me to the topic of this post which is what the purpose of you getting healthy is. I’ve been in healthcare for about 15 years and before I thought if someone got a diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease or whatever the diagnosis that would be enough to get a person to change their lifestyle around. But I quickly learned for most that was not enough. The reason being a lot of people have seen someone in their life dealing with whatever they get diagnosed with so it does not impact them the same way. Or people may think the bad things that can be associated with the disease will not happened to them. For example, a person gets diagnosed with diabetes and gets educated on the risk associated with uncontrolled diabetes. They are told about heart problems, blindness, amputations, kidney damage, etc. And they may not take this seriously because they feel fine and they are not currently seeing any side effects from the disease. They feel the doctor or other medical professional is telling them this just to scare them but this is not something that will happen to them. Another reason is they feel that everything is being asked of them is too much. Diet changes, exercising, taking medication, reducing stress, doctor appointments just makes them feel overwhelmed so they do nothing.

     So how do you find your purpose for getting healthy? No the answer is not with the health professional you are working with. A dietitian, doctor, or nurse can tell you all the important reasons of putting your health first and  what you need to do to get on track but if you do not want it, it will not happen. Something I say a lot is I cannot want it more than you. What that means is until you want it, it will not happen. So ask yourself the following questions.

1. What is your reason for wanting to get healthy?
2. Is this enough to motivate you to change your habits?
3. What plan do you have to help you achieve your health goal? 
4. Do you have the knowledge and know how to help you achieve your goal?

     What is the point of these questions? The point is to help you determine if you are ready to change your lifestyle and improve your health. The first question what is the reason for wanting to get healthy? Some of you will respond and say because they doctor told me I have diabetes or heart disease or whatever. For a small group of you this will be enough for you to answer yes to question number 2. But for most this is not enough to enact change so you need to go back to number one and determine what reason you have that will motivate change. For some people it is their family. They want to be around to see their kids grow up or grandkids. They don’t want to end up in the same predicament that some of their family member ended up in when dealing with health issues. For some of you it will be so that you can maintain your independence and work and have a social life. For some of you it will be because you don’t like taking medicine and getting your help under control may reduce how much medicine you have to take. For others it’s because of the ache, pains, limited mobility that comes along with certain health issues. It can be a number of other reasons but the reason needs to be personal to you. Once you have figured out your reason for want to get healthy and that reason is motivation enough for you to change. Then you need to come up with a plan to help you accomplish this. Your plan should be detailed and included short term and long-term measurable goals. The steps you need to take to accomplish your goal. Any support system that needs to be put in place. The last step is to access your knowledge on the topic in regards to diet, medication, exercise, etc. If you find you are deficient in what diet changes you need to make see a dietitian, proper medications your needs and how to take see a physician/nurse. And if you want to know how to exercise properly and what exercise you can do speak with your doctor and see a personal trainer. This step is important because if you don’t know the proper way to manage your health condition you can still struggle and have problems not matter how hard you try. For example, if you are diagnosed with diabetes and you don’t know the foods that can raise your blood sugar or how to properly take your medicine even with trying your blood sugar can still be uncontrolled and it negatively impact your health.

     So, when trying to get healthy you should focus on what is important to you and your purpose for getting your health together? If the focus is solely on the diagnosis and what your healthcare professional has told you that may not be enough to motivate you for changes. So your purpose should be something that motivates you to change. Evaluate your knowledge on the topic and get the help you need so that you set yourself up for success.