"When you're ready, you'll know."

 

So how did the change begin? It started the night I died. Well, I didn't actually die in real life, but on the big screen. Before I get to that, let's backtrack to some very important and wise words. There are only five of them, but they are very powerful and they changed my life. They are: "When you're ready, you'll know."Those words rolled around in my head for about 3 years before I really understood them. Dr. Milady Murphy would say this to me  every time I would harrass her nicely about HOW she looked so amazing and always had such energy. Dr. Murphy is the Wellness Center Director, Division Chair of Health and Wellness, Food and Nutrition at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa. Every week she came to our studio as our guest health and fitness expert.. My twenty years of bad eating habits had packed on more and more weight. I was unhealthy and unhappy and searching for a way to change things.  There she was week after week always beaming, full of positive energy, and ready to roll! I would drag myself up from behind my desk and get ready to go on air with her and before the cameras came on and in the commercial breaks, I would interrogate her. Like " Dr. Murphy! Do you ever eat a cheeseburger?" Her response: "Maybe once a year." I about died! I was wiping out a field of cattle a week eating cheeseburgers like they were going out of style. Next week, same routine, she came flowing into the newsroom, ready to roll, and I would crawl on set, and start interrogating her again....she was always patient with me , but firm. Me: "Dr. Murphy, how do you stay so fit and have so much energy all the time? What do you eat?" Her answer: "  I eat vegetables, fish, chicken.....When you're ready, I'll tell you more. You're not ready Janie. When you are, you'll know and then I'll tell you."  This harrassment of mine went on for THREE years, and sweet Dr. Murphy would give me little peeks into her lifestyle, but not much because she was right, I wasn't ready to make a change for myself.

Then one night it happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For years, I had been wanting to be in a Tyler Perry movie...my kids at Bryant High School got me hooked on Madea! All day long at the tv station I would chat about making a movie with Madea or some other fun thing. Then out of the blue one day my News Director Lynn Brooks  came in the newsroom  and asked me if I really wanted to be in a movie..... I jumped at the chance and said, " yes!" A University of Alabama Film student named Alex Beatty was looking for someone to play a mother in his short film. We met, he gave me the part, we shot it a week later, and then it went to the  film festival on campus. It was part of the Campus Moviefest Film Festival 2012. That night at the premiere, around 80 films were entered into the competition and only 16 were selected by a panel of judges to appear on screen. In the final moments of the competition our film appeared on the big screen and I started weeping. The entire experience of acting in that film and then seeing it on the big screen was one I will never forget.  At the same time, something else happened: for the first time in years....I really saw myself. Two thoughts went through my mind while watching the film: 1. Wow! This is the most exciting thing I have ever done! 2. If I don't make a change and start getting healthy, I won't be around to do this or anything else !  I will miss out on everything life has to offer. And just like that: I was ready for change!  Our film went on to win Best Drama and go on to Hollywood .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day  following the premiere, I wrote Dr. Murphy an email and told her I was READY to make a change! She knew I meant business and sent me a life-changing email. It contained a sample eating plan, a link to the Mayo Clinic on the mediteranean way of eating, and she also explained to me that frying foods had to go; everything should be baked, broiled, or grilled, and olive oil should replace butter and margerine. Bryan started cooking a whole new way for us and I also did some other things which you will see in the videos. Dr. Murphy's words: "When you're ready, you'll know"  were so true and so powerful. She says people can find out about nutrition on the internet or in books now more than ever before but it's the committment that's lacking. That moment when you are willing to say, " I've had enough and I am ready!" is crucial to building a lasting healthy life. Again, having the support of family and friends was just as important for me. I carried this information home and Bryan and I started a new way of life. My husband Bryan is a combination of hero, best friend, Romeo, Jesus -in-the-skin and love of my life. On top of  all that, he is a fine chef. So, when I made a decision to start eating a whole new way, he didn't hesitate to take on the challenge. When he saw how easy this way of living was and the result I was getting, he decided to do more than just cook that way for me....he decided  to make a change for the better. And you guessed it!  He started losing weight, too. But only when he was ready for change. Just another example of when you make up your mind to be ready for change, you can do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to Dr. Murphy, my friend Terri Brewer turned into another health mentor. She and I started having conversations about carbs, protein, fats, you name it, we talked about it. I picked her brain every day to see what these foods were and how they worked. Who knew I was sitting beside someone who was practically a walking encyclopedia of food and nutrition! Even some of my other co-workers started joining in on what we were talking about. So all throughout the day, I was learning as I was working. Terri wouldn't touch a piece of square, plastic wrapped cheese: "that's just oil! not cheese!" I had no idea! I had never read an ingredient list before!!!! She was bringing food to work all the time like: oatmeal, smoked chicken, beans, soups....things I love now, but at the time, I was chomping down on tuna salad swimming in mayo, hot dogs and french fries, greasy pizza....but when I was ready to make a change, I started asking her about her way of living. Turns out she was already living a lifestyle similar to what Dr. Murphy recommended for me.  She was just quietly living a healthy life sitting three feet beside me.......you never know who is watching you and how you can influence someone without even knowing it.