FREE Personal Health Challenge Community Launching to Encourage Individuals to Make Healthy Changes

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - May 8, 2017 - PRLog -- More than just a diet and NOT a get slim quick program. No buying special foods or meal plans. We will work TOGETHER over the long term to develop improved eating habits such as adding healthier choices to our own menus, portion reduction and other healthy adjustments to the same meals we enjoy. We should feel good about our challenge of getting healthier, not feel as though we are being punished or you will face giving up and putting the weight back on. I know, I speak from experience of the roller coaster waist size. At my heaviest I was at 320 lbs. I was able to reduce that to a much healthier 195 lbs but injured my knee and used that as an excuse to get lazy and put weight back on. I have since had surgery (for the 3rd time) on my knee. That was over a year ago and I have failed to motivate myself back into a healthier eating and exercise plan.

During the time it took to drop the weight I had also made some other lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking and drinking (although drinking was very moderate to start with). I had dropped most sugar from drinks such as coffee and soft drinks. I did not make any huge changes in the kinds of food I ate, I just created a stricter schedule of mealtimes with more healthier snacks in between. It was about reducing the portions which I consumed.

Another contributor to my original ballooning weight had to do with periods of serious depression which were in part going back to my teenage years (for the record I am now 45) in addition to the loss of several people whom were very special and important to me. This included witnessing the deliberate attack by an intoxicated driver when  two of my best friends attempted to get his plate number, he tried to run all three of us down in the street. One of my best friends since we were in our early teens was struck by the pickup truck and dragged underneath of it. When the back tire went over him, it caught him enough to throw him back into the air. Alex was not breathing and had no pulse. There was large loss of blood from his head and other injuries. Although I was able to perform CPR, he only survived another 6 days in a coma before passing from the fatal head injuries.

We did not see depression as normal growing up and was something people did not talk about. When people would speak about it, others would just say, "snap out of it" and expect the person to be OK again. It wasn't until I actually received medical attention for the depression and found a medication that truly helped and changed my life that I realized how much worse it had been than even I realized. I still take an anti-depressant each morning and it keeps my mood level and balanced.

Starting June 01, 2017 at 9:00 AM Pacific this site will launch and be filled with healthy lifestyle options, articles and other great resources for you to learn about the impact of even mild changes to your lifestyle can help you to a healthier and happier self. The great part about this community is that we will share the challenges together, get encouragement from others when needed and honestly be able to share our guilt when be over indulge at the Cheesecake Factory or hit the drive thru. Non of us are perfect so expect these things and know that it is ok to cheat once in a while. Instead of considering it cheating, consider a treat once a week as your reward for doing great the other 6 days.

Our lifestyle choices and eating habits are years in the making so it is not going to be wise for you to expect that there will be no slip ups. We are not on a crazy life style changing, weight reducing diet or other personal challenge that will happen overnight, that is unrealistic and sets you up for both long term and short term failure. This is about you making your own personal choices and at your pace to ensure the long term goal is met and able to be sustained.

IT IS FREE TO JOIN, NO FEES, NO MEAL PLANS ETC. Just an online community of like minded people facing our own individual personal health challenge and working with the support of each other to achieve the personal goals set. You can share your goals with the site coordinator, with the community or just join without any sharing at all until or if you wish to do so.  I will be also posting my own pictures and videos from June 1st on wards and they won't all be pretty lol. Over the next few weeks as we get ready to launch the site, I will post some current and former videos of myself as a person and comedian so some regular vids and some on stage as a stand-up comedian.

If you would like to see some older video clips, please feel free to visit www.reverbnation.com/canadiancomedian

The community is 100% free and if you wish to make a donation, feel free to send donations of any amount to jameswcousineau@gmail.com