Happy Fourth of July! A day to celebrate the gift of freedom!

Since we have arrived here in Moscow on 20 March 2012, about 3 1/2 months ago, I have been struggling with my weight, which, as those of you who have known me for a long time, has been an ongoing battle, many years which I lost that battle. Before our arrival here I was well on my way to success in this area. I had discovered a couple of years ago that GASP! Exercise was not going to kill me and in fact, would make me feel better and help me accomplish my over-all goal of greater health and weight loss. So, I joined Dave at the gym 3 - 5 days week bright and early depending on our schedule at the Boston Temple. I do not have a gym to go to here, but we do walk everywhere (almost) and I was hoping that would be enough. Sadly, it is not. We work in the Mission Office which is wonderful, but I'm not getting the exercise I did at home when I was running around on errands or cleaning, etc. PLUS, we have been eating out so much, (most of it out of necessity due to our schedule), eating dinner at the homes of friends who happen to be wonderful cooks, and enjoying more desserts than I have ever seen in my life, compliments of generous office workers who bring all kinds of goodies to the office or to our various meetings during the week. This has not boded well for me. So, being the dramatic person that I can sometimes be, I have given considerable thought as to what I am going to do about this. Since thinking doesn't accomplish much physically, I needed to come up with a plan and a date to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Today is July 4, a day of freedom. I thought this would be a perfect day to begin my goal of attaining greater freedom. In my case, freedom from sugar cravings. I have chosen 40 days to diet. A symbolic number. The Savior fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. I feel I can better serve Him if I am feeling my best physically and 40 days is "doable, a good place to start. (please don't think I am comparing what He did to what I am trying to do. I'm not.) I can certainly give up sugar for that amount of time, thereby ridding myself of the cravings and be on my way to weight loss and better health generally. Which means I will sleep better and have more energy and better be able to accomplish my goal of being an effective and healthy missionary. I have come to know that what I eat affects every other aspect of my life, spiritually and emotionally as well as physically. I have gone through cancer once and don't want to repeat that experience. Cancer cells love sugar and therefore, that is another wonderful reason to avoid it. So today I begin. I felt that if I told you about it, it would make me more accountable and have a better chance of success. I do not believe in dieting. Dieting is generally short-lived and not healthy and people revert back to old habits afterwards anyway. I believe in eating healthy and will not be doing anything foolish to attain this goal. It would actually defeat my purpose. JUST SAY NO will be my goal. Russia offers many healthy foods which I can enjoy and help me acheive my goal. So, August 13 will be the 41st day. I will report back to you then to let you know I am doing. Wish me luck! May God bless you as you go about your daily lives striving to accomplish those things of importance to you. Until later, dos vidonya.