Wellness Tip of the Day: You are not only what you eat, you are what you think. Choosing to feel good and focusing on what you want supports your wellness goals.
Tag Archives: Eat
Wellness Tip of the Day
Aside
Wellness Tip of the Day: You are the only one responsible for the things you eat and put in your body. Are you eating what feels good, or what creates guilt?
Wellness Tip of the Weekend
Reply
Wellness Tip of the Weekend: Practice appreciating what you eat, wear, and how you look in the mirror. You can’t thrive and be critical at the same time.
Isn’t Life Delicious?
DELICIOUS adj \di-ˈli-shəs\
1: affording great pleasure : delightful
2: appealing to one of the bodily senses especially of taste or smell
Merriam-Webster
Why do you eat?
For very few people is it just to give their bodies the vital nutrients they need to sustain life.
For women who struggle with their weight, eating is often their primary source of pleasure, comfort, satisfaction, and even experience of love.
This is why diets cause such feelings of deprivation.
Who wants to live a life void of pleasurable feelings? Certainly not me!
And you don’t have to!
All that’s happened is that over time—and for a variety of valid reasons—you have shut yourself off from sources of satisfaction, comfort, and love because they have also been sources of pain, dissatisfaction, and loneliness.
The lover who broke your heart, the friend who betrayed you, the parent or boss who tried to control you sent you to the one obvious and consistent source of comfort—food.
It was a totally normal reaction. Food is delicious. It’s pleasurable, satisfying, and comforting. And it’s easy.
But it’s also betrayed you.
It’s caused you to gain weight. It’s negatively impacted your health. It’s momentary comfort is completely outweighed by the overwhelming feelings of guilt and self-loathing that it now causes.
It’s no longer giving you what you were seeking in the first place—those pleasurable feelings.
It’s time to begin looking for these feelings in the only place they will be given consistently. From the only place you can truly count on them being there 100 percent of the time, no matter what you do, say, or be. Where you know you are absolutely loved and adored.
The Source of pleasure, satisfaction, comfort, nourishment, and love is All-That-Is (God, the Universe, Higher Coach—whatever works for you). And your thoughts are what help you tune into these feelings—or not.
No one else is “making” you feel anything. It was not your boyfriend who made you feel unworthy—it was because you believed him.
Thoughts of your unworthiness feel so bad because they are not true. In the eyes of All-That-Is, you are utterly and completely perfect.
But because you have taken the word of a lot of people with limited perspectives over the knowing of All-That-Is, you have pretty well convinced yourself that you are unworthy. You may even have a strong negative reaction to the very idea that you are perfect.
Remember the infant “You” that was in your mother’s arms? Would you judge the infant “You” as anything other than perfect? Would you ever have been “bad” if someone else who had been told they were “bad” hadn’t perpetuated the inaccurate assessment?
Most of what was judged “bad” by others was simply eagerness, exuberance, and joy that was seen as inappropriate by someone who you believed knew better than you.
When your thoughts about yourself are in agreement with what All-That-Is knows about you, your heart sings. You love life. You love other people. You want to give generously. You want to receive all the gifts that life is offering.
Life is delicious, not just food.
At first, changing your thinking feels like walking out on a lake that has frozen over in winter. You aren’t sure how stable and solid the ice is. You don’t trust if it will really support you.
You begin by tentatively sticking a toe out and testing the strength of the ice. If that holds, you then add the weight of your whole foot, and slowly, you venture out further and further until you know that the ice is so strong, you could drive a car out on to it. Once you know how solid and stable it is, you then frolic freely.
So start with thoughts that are the equivalent of tapping your toe to test the ice.
Gratitude is a great place to start. Begin being grateful for the small things in your life that are stable and solid, such as your pillow as you go to sleep, the comfort of a hot shower, the feel of a soft shirt on your skin.
As you practice those thoughts and get more comfortable, begin to look for and savor life experiences that give you pleasure, comfort, satisfaction, and love. Fill up on those experiences instead of food.
For me, having a client experience an “a-ha” moment is absolutely delicious. I feel satisfied when I wake up with a kitty snuggled and purring in the crook of my arm. I savor moments of laughter with my husband. I am nourished by the wind blowing through the leaves as I walk in nature. I feel comfort in quiet moments with friends and family.
Life is juicy and delicious. How can you begin to look for and feel for each and every luscious moment? How does your finding more satisfaction in life change your need to seek comfort from food?
Together we can do it!
Wellness Tip of the Day
Aside
Wellness Tip of the Day: Ask yourself if what you are about to eat will keep you where you are, or help you get where you want to be.
Wellness Tip of the Day
Aside
Wellness Tip of the Day: If you eat more than usual, acknowledge your body’s ability to burn the food and turn it into energy. Confidently return to normal eating.
Accountability
In yesterday’s blog, I set out a plan for dealing with the mega-munchfest that I was facing last night that included being accountable to you Fabulous Readers.
The Plan
- Eat healthy throughout the day.
- Get in a workout.
- Have a filling and nutritious meal before we go.
- Look over all the food and choose one thing that I will indulge in. (This will probably be the crust-less fudge pie that my husband is planning to make. It’s totally calorie-worthy!)
- Take a tray of vegetables and healthy hummus to give myself some nutritious nibbles throughout the evening.
- Take some sugar-free gum along to chew if I start fighting cravings.
- Go in determined to succeed and feel guilt-free.
- Hold myself accountable by reporting to you all how I did.
The Report
It worked!
I ate clean all day, got in a 30 minute run/walk on the treadmill, and ate a filling soup for dinner before we left. I also included a serving of whole grain crackers and a low-fat cheese stick so that I would feel like I’d some “party” food.
Once there, I had a rye cracker out of one of the bowls of snack mix before I remembered my plan. After that I did great! I stuck to the carrot and celery sticks and home-made hummus, and avoided the cheesy, fatty dips that everyone else brought. (Mine was the only healthy dish there, so bringing something I knew I could eat was a life saver!) I was also pleasantly full, so I was definitely less tempted to stray.
I did promise myself a treat, and since David ran out of time to make the pie, I had three ginger-snap cookies that I spread out over the evening and 1 small chocolate covered strawberry. Another win was that I drank sparkling water with a squirt of lime-juice instead of wine or beer, and I did turn to the gum once when my stomach definitely wasn’t hungry, but my mouth still was.
So I did it! First time in months that I’ve left Bunco feeling good—and feeling good about myself.
Thanks for all your help! Knowing I would be reporting to you definitely helped me stay on track.
Redirect Your Thoughts
While I had an awesome weekend of coach training and connecting with friends and family, the mental and emotional intensity and the late hours left me mentally and physically tired.
When I’m tired, it’s easier to sabotage my thoughts, which lead to feelings that inspire actions that don’t support my goals.
For instance, when I got home Monday afternoon, I discovered that my husband had made Chocolate Chip Cookies while I was gone, which lead to a mental debate about eating some. In the end, I totally rationalized my decision to eat three cookies after dinner.
That’s not that big a deal, right? It’s not the end of the world, or my diet. No long-term damage was done.
But if I don’t make myself aware of those mental processes that lead to eating the cookies and let that line of thinking become a pattern, then I will consistently make choices that don’t support my goals.
Left unchecked, that line of mental reasoning can become so ingrained that when I’m trying to change my actions, it can seem like my hand is involuntarily reaching into the bag of cookies and moving them to my mouth.
If you’ve ever felt like your eating was out of your control, just know that’s a sign that you have some long-term habitual thinking going on that does not support your new goals.
If you can, try to document those unsupportive thoughts. They might be something like:
- I’m tired and I deserve a treat.
- It’s too hard to lose weight or eat healthy foods.
- I’m never going to reach my goal.
Then redirect those thoughts so they’re more supportive. For instance:
- What I really deserve is to be fit, strong, and lean. I have more energy and feel better when I eat healthy foods.
- How I look and feel when I am eating healthy foods and losing weight is worth the extra time and energy to prepare the food and stick to my goals.
- Slowly making progress means I’m more likely to maintain my results. Any progress means I’m moving towards my goals.
But in reality, we may be so out of touch with our thinking that we honestly aren’t aware of those sabotaging thoughts. Or we have so many thoughts racing through our head, it feels impossible to catch them as they’re happening.
If that’s the case, it’s a lot easier to catch the emotion. Negative catabolic emotion always is letting you know that your thoughts aren’t supporting Who you truly are.
Pay attention to how you are feeling when you are reaching for that bag of cookies. Notice how you are feeling when you contemplate skipping your workout. Jot down how you are feeling when you don’t want to get up and prep your food for the next day.
You don’t have to know the thoughts that lead to that feeling to create more anabolic supportive thoughts. Even if you can’t do it in the moment, go back later and create supportive thoughts that you can reach for the next time you are in that situation.
When you are coming at it from the emotional side, it’s helpful to write down these new supportive thoughts, and read and practice them daily so they are easier to grab hold of when you feel yourself sliding into emotion that is leading towards the action of comforting yourself with food.
You can use the process of redirecting your thoughts to reach any goal. Notice how you feel when you have successfully navigated the mental and emotional obstacles and are that much closer to success.
Use that new positive anabolic emotion to motivate yourself to keep reaching for more and more supportive thoughts. You can truly change your life by changing the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that lead to your actions.
Together we can do it!
Photo by xedos4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Love Yourself to Health
While I’m away at coach training for a few days, I’m running a few of my favorite blogs that you may have missed.
Do you love your body? Do you love the food that you eat? Do you love the exercise that you’re doing, and the feeling of moving your body? Do you love to sweat?
What emotions did you feel when you read those questions? Did they bring up strong positive or negative reactions? Since our bodies and our lives are a reflection of our predominate thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, does your emotional reaction match the experience that you’re having with your body right now?
I used to hate my body and spent much of my time feeling horrible about how I looked. I hated exercise. I was a picky eater and I never appreciated or truly enjoyed what I was eating in the moment. Is it any wonder that I struggled with a weight problem my entire life and was a sickly kid? My body was emotionally and physically abused—by me!
It wasn’t until I truly understood that we are what we think, feel, and believe that I began to change my thoughts about my body. I started with gratitude, finally appreciating how hard my body was working for me despite how I fed it poor-quality food, didn’t move much, and was incredibly harsh in my criticism. It really was a miracle that my body was as healthy as it was.
I began to focus on consciously appreciating and enjoying the food I ate. I focused more on why I wanted to eat right and exercise than on all the reasons I didn’t. Over time, eating healthy food and exercising began to be something I enjoyed.
The more I began shifting my thoughts and feelings to what I wanted, the easier it became to do those things that would move me to towards who I wanted to be and the life I wanted to live.
Today, I love and appreciate my body. I love being strong, fit, and lean. I love being active. I love eating mostly healthy foods and how good I feel as a result. And I love to really get after a workout and sweat.
Pay attention to how you feel about your body, diet, exercise—really, your life. How much are you loving or hating it? How can you shift your thoughts and emotions towards feeling just a little bit better?
Do that, and it won’t be long until you are exactly where you want to be.
Together we can do it!
Photo by Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Time for Self-Respect
While I’m away at coach training for a few days, I’m running a few of my favorite blogs that you may have missed.
An old boss of mine had a sign on his door that read, “The floggings will continue until morale improves.”
It was a joke, of course. But how often do we try to motivate ourselves with the whip of internal insults, slurs, and condemnations?
Does telling yourself that you’re “ugly, fat, stupid, and lazy,” really make you want to get up and do your workout, or forgo the potato chips?
If spoken aloud, many people’s internal dialogues might be deemed verbal abuse. Sometimes this abuse can go on practically nonstop, every day. What do you think this does to that person’s self-esteem and belief that they can achieve their goals?
Pushing through this line of thinking to create action takes incredible energy and strength, much like rolling a boulder up a hill. And while progress can be made, without changing our underlying thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, one moment of mental fatigue or flagging self-discipline may result in our watching that boulder roll back down the hill, and our not only regaining all the weight we lost, but then some.
Changing our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs about ourselves, what we want, and our ability to achieve it helps break us out of this cycle of self-punishment. It creates a boost of momentum that makes our push towards wellness a lot more fun and sustainable.
A general rule of thumb is, “If you wouldn’t say it to a friend, it’s not appropriate to say to yourself.”
Begin treating yourself with the respect you deserve. Focus on all the reasons you do want to move your body and eat healthy foods. Focus on all the things you are doing to move yourself forward. Speak to yourself with kindness and encouragement, and celebrate each small sign of progress.
By doing the internal work along with the external work, you can achieve the life of your dreams.
Together we can do it!
Photo by Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Goss Coaching 