The real test of Intuitive Eating

Yesterday, I was talking to my daughter about the subject of today's blog. She suggested the ultimate test of being mindful while you are eating.

Can you leave the last 2 ravioli in the pot (to be thrown out later) or the last 2 Fruit Loops in the bowl because they no longer taste GREAT!

side note: I have no idea why she chose Fruit Loops for her example. She had just gotten done eating ravioli for lunch (and throwing out two) -- that part made sense. I can't tell you when the last time I bought Fruit Loops was!

Anyway, her point still holds. How often do you find yourself throwing out the last two bites of anything because you did not eat it?? Hopefully, more and more often!

And the holiday eating continues???

I have noticed that not everyone is ready to give up the fun and pleasure of holiday eating just yet.

Case in point -- me. I want to keep eating cookies. They taste good. They are portable (and I told you yesterday I have been super busy!). They crunch (when they are frozen). And are soft (when they thaw). And most of all, my mom made them -- comfort like no other.

So -- I have done a pretty good job putting them away. I have only eaten 2 in the last 5 days. But the want to eat them is still there.

I met with a client this week who has let his portions creep back up and his weight is going that way too. Before the holidays -- not a problem. But the holidays knocked him off his groove and that is where he is now.

Another client realized she is stress eating -- not because she is stressed -- but because she was stressed through the holidays. Since the holidays have ended, the stress has gone but she is left with the stress eating habit.

What behaviors are you letting carry over into the new year? Do you feel you are in charge of your eating behaviors or are you just desperately trying to stay in control of them?

Today...

Do you feel like you are fighting your body or working with it?

(and really...who is going to win that contest?)

This is not a news flash...

I just got done reading a research article about the efficacy of the Wii Fit gaming system as a mode of cardiovascular exercise. Then I moved on to an article entitled Could Vitamins Hurt Your Workout?

Good Lord, people! Why, I ask you, are we still searching for the fountain of youth? Let's think about this...

When my butter, bacon (even bacon grease), eggs, whole milk eating great-grandma cooked -- she didn't worry about low-fat anything (did I mention molasses cookies made with lard? YUM!!) She didn't worry about low/no sugar varieties of foods. She didn't think about "getting exercise". She ate. She moved. She actively lived her life.

I can't attest to whether or not she ever bought some kind of anti-wrinkle cream that promised amazing results or whether she ever "watched what she ate". But I can tell you that she was a wonderful cook and meals at her house were (to my memory) delicious and always came with dessert (real whipping cream -- mmm mmm mmm!)

I assume, like much of her generation, she didn't snack all of the time, she moved when she worked, and she didn't drink soda on a day to day basis.

I think she did a better job of appreciating the food she ate and eating things because they nourished her body and soul. She didn't need to rely on research articles to tell her she should move more. She didn't need them to tell her to eat lots of whole foods. These things would have been common wisdom of the times -- just like as we age we are going to get wrinkles and lose muscle mass and eventually be no longer young. Perhaps we should head back to that common sense approach. Enjoy the simple pleasures that life brings,not over analyze them and not spend so much time trying to stay young that we forget to appreciate what we are doing right this minute.

Do something Today!

The great thing about humans being able to communicate is that we can gain more knowledge (learn from other's mistakes) without having to rely soley on making all of the mistakes ourselves.

The down side to this is that sometimes we forget we obligated to assimilate the information we learn from others into a form that is useable for ourselves.

I can write down 6 steps, that if followed to the letter, would have you down to your goal weight in no time -- and as long as you lived those 6 steps, you would keep the weight off. This is all any diet is: a set of rule to control your behavior.

The thing is -- I have never met a person who could adopt a diet, by the book, and live it out for two years -- let alone a lifetime.

You are a unique individual. To be successful at weight management, you have to find a lifestyle that you can live with that supports your goal -- over a LIFETIME. There are no quick (lasting) fixes!!!

This weekend -- find one small change you can make and live with. Can you use 2/3 of a cup of milk on your cereal instead of 1 cup? (calorie savings without much sacrifice)

Can you plate your dinner on smaller plates so you eat 4 bites less(calorie savings without much sacrife)?

Can you buy the single square chocolate pieces to keep at your desk so you only unwrap one or two during the course of your workday -- when normally you would eat a whole Snickers out of the vending machine(calorie savings without much sacrifice)?

Find one small change that may involve some creative thought but not very much sacrifice and work on implimenting that calorie savings measure today.

It will take too long....

The last couple days, as I have been going about my regular business, in the back of my brain, thoughts from the Excuses Begone are still percolating around. What came to the fore today is the thought that Mindful Eating, as a weight loss tool, will take too long.

The other day, I wrote a post about Magic Beans -- those quick fixes -- emphasis on the quick -- we all want to be the weight we want to be and we want to get there yesterday!

Last week, I had a conversation with a client, who had decided he couldn't put the energy into learning to eat mindfully while he was overweight. He decided he wanted to lose the weight in the fashion he was successful in the past. Once the weight was off, he would learn the mindful skills to keep it off.

But what about those of us who don't start to get the weight off because it is going to take too long??

I liked Wayne Dyer's answer to that statement:

An entertaining psychiatrist named Dr. Murray Banks does just that with the following little exchange between himself and a woman who has decided not to return to school because she’d be too old when she finished.

“How old would you be in five years if you got that degree by starting now?” he asks her.
“Forty-nine,” she replies.
“And how old will you be in five years if you don’t go back to school?”
“Forty-nine,” she answers, with the bewildered confusion of becoming conscious of making an excuse for not elevating her life.

However long it took you to create any self-defeating habit, you did it all one day, one moment at a time. There’s absolutely no proof that anything will take a long time, since even the idea of “a long time” is an illusion—there is only now.

Make this awareness a part of your consciousness. The Tao Te Ching reinforces this in perhaps the most famous line in that masterful work:

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Elevate or move on in your life, not by thinking big and in long time periods, but with consciousness focused on the present moment.

Labor Day

"Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. The holiday is often regarded as a day of rest and parades. "

Ahhhh...the end of summer -- the start of school for those kids here in Michigan.

Starting a new phase, starting a new school year. Perfect time to take a few minutes and figure out your SMART goal.

Last Friday, I linked you to a page that examined what a SMART goal was. Did you read it? Did you think about it? And finally, did you set down and write it out -- on paper -- and put it somewhere you can be reminded of what you are trying to do and why you are trying to do it --- EVERYDAY???

If the goal is to keep an food journal 5 out of every 7 days, have you put the journal somewhere you see it? Is it on your desk at work to remind you to write in it directly after lunch?

If your goal is to eat to a level 8 five out of 7 nights at dinner -- do you have something sitting on your table or kitchen counter to remind you this is what you are working to accomplish?

Today is the day to set the stage for your success. But you have to know what success is going to look like first. Take the time TODAY to sit down and get to the heart of why you want to lose weight and create a goal to get you where you want to go.

Today

The one fact that I would cry from every housetop is this: the Good Life is waiting for us – here and now. B.F. Skinner

Getting to where you want to go in this life is a journey – What are you doing about it today?

Are you one of those people that live for your body of the future? You will be happy when _____ happens?

What about today? What decision are you going to make today that will help you on your road to reaching your goal weight? Can you leave 8 bites of lunch on your plate or forego the day-old doughnut in the break room?

Execute 3 positive decisions today about your food consumption. It is not about what you can deprive yourself of – it is about leaving things uneaten that do not add value to your life.

Just do what you can do today – the good life is here and now. Tomorrow you can think about what you can do tomorrow.