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If you had a dog and didn't treat it well - you starved it on some days, overfed it on others, gave it far too many doggie treats and not enough doggie nourishment or water, kept it indoors in front of the TV and gave it no exercise, berated it for being lazy and fat - how would you feel about yourself as a dog owner?

Would you say you were negligent? Would you expect the animal welfare people to be keeping an eye on you?

You'd feel bad about that, right?

But when it comes to you, how do you treat yourself? Are you like the bad doggie owner?

• Do you give yourself the right food and exercise?
• Do you give yourself enough fresh air and water?
• Do you get all the vitamins you need?
• Do you give yourself enough gentle encouragement and pats on the back?

Of course they are!

Somehow, because we are responsible for our own health we think it's Ok to be neglect ourselves. At least we think it's Ok until something goes wrong - until we get to the stage where we hate our shape, we have heart problems, we can't get around so easily or whatever.

And then we struggle with changing our diet and our way of life because those old ways have become a comfortable habit.

But you CAN switch to being a "good owner" if you think your body and your health are worth it.

And not just for a few weeks or months while you get in shape but permanently so that you never have to think about it again.

Like a dog, you can't just retrain yourself overnight by switching your routine - you have to relearn new habits so that the whole process becomes automatic and as comfortable as your old way of living. But they can be learnt without too much effort. It takes just 21 days to learn a new habit.

And the rewards are huge - the difference between a happy dog, full of energy with a wagging tail and an overweight snarling miserable dog lying in its basket all day is really just a few new habits away.

Which habits will you start to change today?

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small