on a serious note...

I'd prepared myself to write a light-hearted and funny post today about losing weight and being healthy. But I went to the hospital to see a friend last night, and even though he's doing well, I find myself neither light-hearted nor funny. I don't want to bring anyone down, but this isn't a laughing matter.

My friend, who I'll call Smith (because he's a locksmith), was diagnosed with lymphoma about 2 months ago. The lymph nodes in his neck are so swollen that they're now pressing on his vocal cords. He has lung cancer, and it has metastasized to his brain -- which is why he was in the hospital - he had surgery on September 1st to remove the large tumor. He has several small tumors that could not be removed by surgery, and will have to be blasted with radiation, because the chemotherapy they're going to treat his lung cancer with won't work on his brain.

Why am I posting about this today? Because it's a health issue, and a large part of Twitloss is about maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Smith has smoked for 20 years. His was about a 2 pack a day habit, which is a lot. But I've seen people who have smoked far less than that develop lung cancer. My maternal grandmother, maternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, and (maternal) great-aunt have all succumbed to lung cancer in the last 20 years. They were all smokers.

This is quickly turning into a "Don't smoke!" post, but it's so much more than that... I want you to be healthy and live a long & happy life. Living healthy doesn't have to be painful. Yeah, when you first start exercising you get those aches and pains, but when you get to exercising every day you feel great! Eating healthy doesn't have to taste nasty. There are millions of healthy recipes floating out there on the internet that taste fantastic (believe me - I use them all the time).

If you don't want to live healthy for yourself, why not live healthy for those around you? Your kids, your spouse, your parents, your family, your friends.... there are a lot of people out there who want you around for a while.