Reshaping It All (19 page)

With my beautiful coauthor Darlene Schacht while on the Music Boat Cruise to Mexico.

My travel buddies: Alex, Lisa, and Mandy Young. That's a lot of blonde hair!

Dilini and I have been best friends since the tenth grade.

My heroes: Mom and Dad

The Cameron Family, left to right: Candace, Melissa, Kirk, Robert, Bridgette, and Barbara taken in Malibu 2009.

Photo Credit: James Hickey Photography

Val inspires me to stay in shape. Gotta love a professional athlete!

Photo Credit: Promise Tangeman

My precious family today. We're all about goofing around, keeping it real, and keeping it fun!

Photo Credit: Promise Tangeman

ELEVEN

Reviewing My Script

In many ways Natasha is a miniature Candace. Like me she is interested in acting and enjoys sitting on the set for hours on end soaking in all that she sees. They say she also looks a lot like me with her long blonde hair and big blue eyes, but when I see her with Val, I see much of him in there too.

One moment she can hang with the boys and get dirty without thought, and the next she's wearing my heels around the house. I'm not quite ready to let the heels move past our front door yet. Once I did break the rule, letting her wear my wedge sandals to the Third Street Promenade (Can you believe we're the same shoe size?), but after two opinionated women gave us the "look," I thought it might be best to keep them at home for a bit. The world isn't ready for that just yet. Neither are we.

Natasha is acting now too. She goes on auditions and has done three commercials so far. One for Best Friends Club dolls, the Littlest Pet Shop, and the other was for Whimsy stuffed animals. I know she's a good actress and is enjoying the process like I did.

I remember one of my first commercials for KFC. My lines were "Ooooh" and "Ahhhhh," but Mom coached me for hours, ensuring that I said them just right. It wasn't a matter of simply saying the words; she also taught me to make my eyes sparkle.

I did about twenty-five commercials before my days on
Full House
, which included one for Cabbage Patch Babies. I had a few more lines to recite for that one, but the reason I even got the commercial in the first place was because of the endearing way I looked at those dolls. They were the most beautiful babies to me, and I swear they were real. I held them like the real thing and believed every word that I spoke. "Goodness, it's past your nap time," I said, before drifting off to sleep with my Cabbage Patch doll.

I'm definitely excited for Natasha, but I'm cautious in reviewing the materials before she goes on any audition. We're given a portion of the script, which is known in the industry as "sides," and if the sides don't look good to us, the part isn't an option. For one job the sides looked fine, but once we were able to read the entire script, we passed on the audition. I see her talent, but it's our job as parents to guide and protect her rather than compromise merely because it's something she wants.

I coach her before all the auditions, and I think it's a great way to connect as mother and daughter, actor and coach.

Like her brothers, she is a leader with a strong personality that sometimes gets the best of her. She's incredibly outgoing, and like her smile her personality is big in every way. She stands on her principles to get what she wants or what she thinks she might need. I know when she's older this will be an advantage for her walk with Christ, but as a parent, I have to direct her until that time comes.

I stand in faith on Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Natasha is at the threshold of womanhood. She's beginning to make choices for herself, and a little too often a bit of that preteen attitude starts to emerge. If left unchecked, it could grow, and so at this stage of her life, I have to stay closely connected in order to be a leader and guide her. As her guide I need to be watchful at all times.

If I tell her to hang her sweater in the closet after school and also to tuck her running shoes inside, I may get results, or I may find a running shoe lying nearby in the hall. But when I create a checklist for the kids so they know that they are being monitored, I find they make a conscious effort to improve.

It's a simple human response. Basic psychology teaches us that monitored behavior equals improved behavior. Have you ever tried typing when someone is looking over your shoulder? We tend to trip up because we become overconscious of our actions—another response to monitored behavior.

How does this relate to staying healthy and fit? Monitored living brings us into the all-important state of conscious living, and conscious living ensures that we get the job done. When we are mindful of our actions, we start to realize the excess that we eat. When we are alert, we are better equipped to handle temptation. When we are prepared, we are more likely to stick to a wise eating and exercise plan.

Webster's Dictionary
defines the word
conscious
this way: "acting with critical awareness, as in 'a conscious effort to do better.'"

Now let's consider the characteristics of conscious living from a biblical perspective:

• Conscious living involves choice. God calls for us to make a choice either to serve Him or not. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

• Conscious living involves determination. We are instructed to work as unto the Lord and not for man. That includes me. I live healthy because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, through which I can glorify God.

• Conscious living involves accountability. Nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. One day we will give account for every action we've done and every word we have spoken

To discover how conscious you're living, consider the following:

• Do you eat mindlessly, or do you consider the food you consume?

• Do you channel surf, or do you turn the TV on to watch a program, and then turn it off when it's over?

• Do you walk the aisles of the grocery store buying whatever looks good, or do you make a list and follow it?

• Do you listen as much as you talk?

• When you read, does your mind wander off?

• Do you surf the Internet, and later realize you just wasted a whole lot of time?

• Do you have a closet full of clothing that you bought on a whim?

• Look around the room. Do you see things that you constantly step over instead of putting them in their place?

If you find that you're zoning out of life a little too often, this may be a good time to start monitoring yourself and start living again.

It's often suggested to dieters that they begin to journal their food intake. If you've ever wondered why that is, here is your answer—to bring us into a mindful state of living where we purpose to live out our plan.

Grab a pen and a paper right now. Got it? Good! Now mark down what you ate so far today. Had coffee in the morning? Don't forget to record the amount of sugar you added. A spot of cream? Record that too. We don't need to get too specific about this with measuring and weighing our food; it's just so you get a general idea of where you're improving or where you desperately need to change. As the day moves along, keep a record of all the food and beverages you consume, including water. I'd suggest that this journal be specifically for this purpose and that you consider it an accountability partner.

You can also record your Bible reading. What would a healthy diet be like without daily nourishment from the Word of God? "The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb." (Ps. 19:9–10)

After losing fourteen pounds, Bonnie shared that she was on a plateau for three weeks straight. She continued to eat well and work out at the gym six days a week, but the needle on the scale wouldn't budge until her
spiritual
eating plan changed. Digging into the Word every single morning over the following two weeks, she lost seven more pounds. Coincidence? No, actually, it's not. It's a result of conscious living. Through fellowship with God, Bonnie became further determined and conscious of her actions. She realized she was drinking too many calories, going a little heavy on the dressing at times, and having a few too many rewards. Most importantly she discovered that fellowship with God was satisfying her craving for food. Meditation on the Word gave her the clarity and strength she needed to change while God was transforming her desires.