# 45 - The Tests

My friends have been coming to me lately to tell me that I look B"H good, and asking me what I have been doing. I have told them all that I have been going to the Efrat Women's Health Center to participate in the healthy living program there.
I might be starting to look good, B"H, but I am no health expert. The Efrat Women's Health Center is packed with health experts. That's why I go to them.
My friends have listened politely to me, and then told me all the reasons why the EWHC program would not work for them. I felt, as I listened to them, that I was hearing myself at the beginning of the program in July.
Their objections were tests for me along my long journey to good health. I am so thankful that I have passed some of those tests and I hope I can continue to do so.
The Work Test
One of my friends told me she works very long hours and therefore eats at weird times, sometimes very late at night. I can't imagine that there is anyone in the world that had worked longer hours than I did, but I decided that instead of grabbing a nosh while I was working, I'd try to grab something healthy. I stopped totally grabbing dinner at 11 PM or 1 AM, and if I eat something late at night, it's usually a fruit or I have a hot cup of tea.
I also try to have healthy food around so that when I am working long hours, there's something in the fridge that's Sharon-friendly. And you know what? If I don't have time to make it, I send someone (or even go myself) to the local restaurant and have them prepare a big salad for me to eat when I can.
Besides that, following EWHC social worker Alizah Shapiro's advice, I go to sleep earlier every night. She wanted me to go to sleep by 12. Meanwhile I go to sleep in the 12s and I feel that I have so much more energy during the day. Hooray.
The Time Test
Another friend said she has a busy life and simply doesn't have time for this program. She doesn't have time to prepare food. She doesn't have time for meetings. She doesn't have time for exercise. B"H, I am passing this test too. My daily schedule is so packed that the schedule reminder on my cell phone rings at least every hour with yet another appointment, task, reminder that has to be attended to. I really don't have time to add any superfluous meetings or exercise breaks into my schedule. But I want to live a long life, so I scheduled health time slots for me in my schedule. As long as these things are scheduled, I'm able to work with them and around them. I learned that from Alizah too.
The Stress Test
One of my friends told me that she has so much personal stress from different members of her family. The stress makes her eat (or keep from eating healthily). Well, unfortunately lately I've had family stress and worries too (I mean, who doesn't), but instead of reaching for a brownie and ice cream, I reach for a hug from someone near, or I call a friend or family member. B"H, I am passing the Stress Test.
The Shabbat Test
One of my friends told me she is great on weekdays, but is just destroyed on Shabbat. She's forever thinking, "Okay, I'll begin again on Sunday." Shabbat was always a very big test for me, and it took a long time for me to get better at my Shabbat Lifestyle. But I'm trying to follow my nutritionist Judy Kizer's suggestions - I make much less kugels and much more whole foods. I serve less courses. I take the food off the table right after the meal, so that we shouldn't sit around "picking". I bring out fruit (in addition to cake) and encourage my family to try that for dessert. I try to think ahead of time what I would be eating and how much. I learned all kinds of Shabbat tricks from Judy and I try to use them to pass the Shabbat Test.
The Social Test
I could go an entire day without eating (not good either), but I love to eat in company. I love to share yummy stuff with friends. I love to enjoy a piece of Yerushalmi Kugel at a kiddush. I love to stand/sit around, shmooze and nosh. I love to sit in a restaurant over a hot soup and a heart to heart. So many social activities revolve around food, and since I'm a social kinda gal, I'm a food kinda gal too. Over time I've tried to pass the Social Test. In restaurants, I don't wash so I won't eat the yummy rolls. At a kiddush, I grab some crudite and then stand away from the kiddush table. While hanging out with friends, I try not to take a taste of their delicious whatever, and if I do take a taste, it's hopefully a tiny one. Recently my children had a party. My daughter-in-law, whom I love dearly, asked me how everything was. I said, "Great. Everything looks so delicious." She asked if I ate any of the cookies, pasta, barley/wheat salads. I said, "I would have loved to, but I try not to say the blessing "borei menei mezonot" (a blessing recited over pasta, crackers, wheat stuff). She was taken aback at first, but then laughed and gave me a hug. I'm still trying to pass the Social Test every day. I'll keep you posted.
The Fear of Failure Test
Some of my friends said the words I had said myself so often. I don't want to start any kind of program or diet or anything else, because I might fail, and then everyone would say, "See, she couldn't keep it up." I was really worried about this at first, because B"H I've never failed at things, and I didn't see much chances of the success of the Healthy Living Workshop because of all the tests above. But Alizah Shapiro once said something very wise to me. "You might fail at this health program, but you're not a failure." She was right. In life we can attempt many types of challenges, at some we succeed and at others we didn't, but if we tried, if we gave our all, if we learned something than we might have failed at the specific challenge, but we're not failures. And then again I thought, "Hey, I might succeed. Wouldn't that be neat?"
So far I've succeeded in following the EWHC advice on healthy living. I probably can be stricter on myself, but I want to live a healthy life my entire life, so I want to keep it easy and comfortable. It is. It feels natural, and I hope I can continue to "stay in the Zone", as my sister calls it, for many years to come.
To anyone out there who wants to change her life: You can do it. It's not easy. It takes work. But you can make yourself and your health one of your life's many priorities. Your family and friends love you. I do it. Good luck.