Whats eating you?

What’s Eating You?
See details below on how you can participate in the Healthy Heart Blog Tour with Rhonda McKnight.
10% of donation during this blog tour will go to the American Heart Association (AHA).
I had a conversation with a younger cousin last month. She’s a beautiful twenty year old young woman. We talked about her weight. She’s morbidly obese and very depressed about it. Her mother has been giving her diets and exercise tips for the last ten years, but none of them have worked. I finally intervened and explained to her mother and her that diet tips and exercise weren’t the solution to this young woman’s problem. It’s emotional eating and as someone standing on the sidelines looking into their situation, I can confidently say it began when her parents’ marriage fell apart at the age of seven.
According to the American Heart Association, obesity (defined as higher than 30 on the Body Mass Index) is an epidemic and is threatening to overtake tobacco as the number one cause of preventable death. More than 300,000 adults will die in the United States this year due to obesity-related illnesses. Heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Despite the billions spent on diet and health products, Americans are more overweight than ever. So the problem is epidemic. And the solutions of diet and exercise are not the singular remedy. Like my cousin, like myself, and many others the root cause has to be addressed to really get a handle on the problem. It’s not just a love of food, or a lack of discipline. We like to blame it on those things because we often don’t like to talk about the real reasons we overeat. Usually they’re intensely personal. Here are a few:
• We need comfort when we’re stressed, tired or overworked. We know this, because we call the foods we reach for comfort foods.
• We need to anesthetize pain from abuse: current or past.
• Boredom. Our lives are unfulfilled.
The character Jonah Morgan is not overeating, but he is using another unhealthy coping mechanism. Alcohol; and lots of it. Same wrong solution as my cousin, different poison. Like my cousin, Jonah has childhood pain that tearing him apart, so much so that he has completely checked out emotional, and physically on his family.

Do you know someone hurting like my young cousin? Do you eat or drink to deal with pain or stress? Share your thoughts on the subject. How do you convince someone who’s already depressed to do things differently?

About the Author

Rhonda McKnight is the owner of Legacy Editing, a free-lance editing service for fiction writers and Urban Christian Fiction Today, a popular Internet site that highlights African-American Christian fiction. She’s the vice-president of Faith Based Fiction Writers of Atlanta. When she’s not editing projects, teaching workshops about writing or penning her next novel, she spends time with her family. Originally from a small, coastal town in New Jersey, she’s called Atlanta, Georgia home for twelve years.
For more information, visit http://www.RhondaMcKnight.net.strong>
About the Book

Faith Morgan is struggling with her faith. Years of neglect leave her doubting that God will ever fix her marriage. When a coworker accuses her husband, Jonah, of the unthinkable, Faith begins to wonder if she really knows him at all, and if it’s truly in God’s will for them to stay married.
Pediatric cardiologist Jonah Morgan is obsessed with one thing: his work. A childhood incident cemented his desire to heal children at any cost, even his family, but now he finds himself at a crossroads in his life. Will he continue to allow the past to haunt him, or find healing and peace in a God he shut out long ago?
Read an excerpt and check the tour schedule at http://bit.ly/HealthyHeartBlogTour

Enter to Win 3 Great Giveaways!
GRAND PRIZE (one winner possible)
A “Start” Fitness Pack she purchased from the American Heart Association’s Online store. The online store helps in the fight against heart disease by promoting heart-healthy lifestyles that include physical activities like walking. Net proceeds from the sale of these items support the Start! movement.
The Fitness Kit includes: Start BackPack, Start Water Bottle, Start Shoe Wallet, and the Power to End Stroke 46 Recipe Healthy Soul Food Cook Book.

SECOND PLACE PRIZE (one winner possible)
Autographed hardcover copy of Secrets and Lies will be given away to the 2nd person whose name is pulled in the drawing.

THIRD PLACE PRIZE (one winner possible)
In honor of Rhonda's birthday on Feb. 6th - a $10 Barnes and Nobles, Borders or Starbucks Gift Card will be given to the 3rd person whose name is pulled in the drawing. (winner chooses).

HOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING:
All entrants with 10 POINTS AND UP will be entered in a drawing to win the GRAND PRIZE - FITNESS PACK.
All entrants with 5 POINTS AND UP will be entered in a drawing to win PRIZES TWO AND THREE.
HOW TO EARN POINTS:
+15 Point ENTRIES: Purchase a copy of Secrets and Lies from the online store during the tour through www.urbanchristianbooks.com.

+1 point ENTRY: join the discussion by commenting on one of the blog tour sites each day (must comment on the day of the toursite by 9 pm). Comment must include your thoughts on the subject. (can not just say – great point or I agree).

+1 point ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING INTERESTING YOU FIND WHEN YOU GO TO Rhonda’s WEBSITE or blog. LOOK AROUND AS THERE IS LOTS TO SEE. HERE are THE LINKs www.rhondamcknight.net and www.urbanchristianfictiontoday.com
+1 point ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY. On Twitter Retweet @rhondamcknight or use the hashtagS #Health or #hearthealth
+2 point ENTRIES: Join RHONDA’S FACEBOOK READER Page or SIGN UP FOR HER NEWSLETTER on her webpage.
THE RULES:
• U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
• EMAIL ADDRESS MUST BE INCLUDED IN COMMENT
• ALL ENTRIES/COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE IN ORDER TO COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY.
• MAXIMUM OF 3 POINTS CAN BE EARNED ON ANY ONE TOUR DAY.
• TOUR HOST BLOGGERS CAN NOT ENTER TO WIN.
DRAWING WILL BE HELD AT 9 PM EST on FEBRUARY 7th
GOOD LUCK!