When I grow up, I want to be Paden.

As I enter into my second week of this blog, and my journey toward optimal health, I want to share something with all of you about self- discipline.  This story does not revolve around me…as I have very little self-discipline.  This is a blog dedicated to my son, Paden.

Paden, as many of you know, is 15 years old.  He will turn the big “16” in July.  Paden Garrett Anderson is, as I have often joked with my friends, my switched at birth child.  Someday, years from now, my real son will come knocking on my door.  He will stand there and say…”Hey, a mistake was made many years ago…and you took the wrong baby home from the hospital.  I am your real son.”  And I will say, “I knew that there must be some kind of mistake, as I could never have given birth to this amazingly self-disciplined child.  Now, go away…because I’m keeping this son, because he is my role model.”

Many moons ago, when Paden was only 7 years old, I was absorbed in a wonderful book, by William Dufty, titled, “Sugar Blues.”  This is a terrific book for people who are looking for information on the pure evil that is sugar.  I have to admit that a great deal of it went straight over my head, and does every time I read it…but, I have read it 2 or 3 times over the years as a reminder of just how bad sugar is for all of us.  As I often do with informational books on health, I read several passages out loud to my family.  Most especially passages about how sugar had actually brought down whole armies, and weakened the health of entire cultures…and how sugar was most certainly linked to a number of diseases that were rarely heard of until we brought it into our daily consumption.   Diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease…well, I am not telling you all anything you don’t already know.  And truthfully all of that is not the point of this blog today.  So…back to my amazing son, Paden…

At 7 years old…he was listening.  Not only listening…but absorbing the message in this book.  Pure and simple, the message was…sugar is bad for us.  From that day forward, he eliminated almost all sugar from his diet, at least all the foods with sugar in them of which he was aware.  All candies and cakes, ice cream and donuts, pop tarts and breakfast cereals, and so on and so on.  Now, there is added sugar in almost everything we buy today, I am aware of that.  It is added to just about everything!  That is why we are a population so gravely addicted to sugar…because it is in everything!  But from that day forward, if Paden saw the word “sugar” on the label…well, he simply would refuse to eat it. 

I will never forget the first Christmas after Paden began his sugar free “ healthstyle.”   I was making fudge, my  favorite holiday gift, to give to all of our friends and neighbors, and Paden literally broke down crying in the kitchen, telling me that I was a very, very bad person for poisoning all of our friends with my Christmas fudge.  I felt guilty all Christmas season long. 

It was not long after that that I rented the family a very popular video from Blockbuster called “Supersize Me.”  Oh my goodness…that was an eye opener…for all of us.  From that day forward we swore off of all fast food…and to this day, with the exception of Chick-fil-a, we have not touched fast food.  I could not be happier about that decision.  But, again, that was the work of my son.  He simply looked at us at the end of the video and, at the ripe old age of  7 ½, said we were done with fast food.  If that hamburger and french-fries could sit on that guy’s shelf and not have mold of any kind after 6 months of sitting there…than there simply was not any real-food in there…and no real food equated to no real nutritional value.  So…that ended our fast food days.  And we have no regrets…zero.

 My point…and I want to make it loud and clear…is simply this.  Start reading to, and educating, your children at the earliest possible age about the things they are putting into their bodies.  Why?  Because Paden didn’t have 40 years of bad eating habits to overcome when he made the choice to eliminate sugar and fast food.  His little body wasn’t addicted to all of the things my body was addicted to.  Giving all of that up was as simple as walking or talking for him.  He heard it was bad for you…and thought, well then why would I continue to put things in my body that I know are going to be bad for my health?  He will never go back…there is not even a single doubt in my mind about that.  HE WILL NEVER GO BACK.  

I hope someday, when I grow up, I can be just like my son. 

Paden, when it comes to healthy choices, you are indeed my role model.  And I have a feeling you will inspire many, many people with your wise choices for the entirety of your life.  And isn’t that a blessing, indeed.