I am great when it comes to numbers. I can break down a financial principle with the best of them, and can speak on economic empowerment all day without taking a break because I love it so much. However, I know that it is protocol in the blogosphere to only write about the things in which you excel because we are trying to maintain our precious “brand” or “image”; but I wanted to address a problem that has severe economic impact on communities across the nation and could for me personally…our eating habits!

Sometimes, in the middle of a long day, I will sneak away to Amy Ruth’s for some collard greens, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, and short ribs. This restaurant, located in Harlem, is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. The food is amazing, but sometimes I know that I should be ordering all of those fatty foods with a side of angioplasty!

From my unhealthy eating habits, my body has shown some significant changes as I have gotten older.  I used to have an eight pack, now I have a keg. I used to be able to play basketball for hours straight, now it takes barely one game before I ‘m grabbing my shorts.

I used to be able to see all sorts of cuts in my muscles, now the only thing that I am cutting open is a pack of beef jerky high in sodium. I find myself a frequent visitor of the “snack” cupboard at my home, seeking my next snack like a seagull on the beach scavenging for any extra morsel of junk food that I don’t even need.

I used to have a regular workout regiment but now my excuse for not continuing is that I am too “busy” with work. (I tell people all of the time, “People are never too busy, they only don’t find it important enough to MAKE the time…it is definitely true for me in this instance.)

Well, it is time for me to make a change. When I read that the number one killer of African Americans is heart disease, number three is stroke, and number five is diabetes it is time to think hard about what I am putting into my body every day.

The death rate for diabetes in us is 40 percent higher than in other races, over 80 percent of all African Americans over the age of 45 have high blood pressure, and African Americans suffer twice as many strokes as White Americans.  These stats are staggering to me, and as I travel across this country I have spoken to thousands of people, of all races, who are suffering from medical problems because of poor health.

Over 60 percent of all bankruptcies are related to medical bills and many of them could have been avoided with just the implementing of a healthier lifestyle.

Today, I am putting on paper that I WILL make a change for the better.

1. I will limit my Amy Ruth excursions to only once per month (that may not sound like much to you but you don’t even want to know how many times I was going each month);

2. I will limit all other intake of fatty foods and join my fiancée with a regimented healthy diet of which we will support each other (she is a health nut so this will be much easier for her than I);

3. I will make a commitment to suffice my snacking crave with vegetables (which I love); I will go to the gym at least three times per week;

4. I will lose 15 lbs in the next three months; and I will begin to train my mind that I don’t need food just because I am watching a football game or movie.

I hope that many of you are with me on this because I am getting tired of seeing and hearing about poor health conditions that have caused someone to have their foot amputated because of poor diabetes.

We only have one body, and this body is all that we get…we might as well take care of it.

Who is with me!?

Author: Ryan Mack, President of Optimum Capital Management, LLC