I’m all about living consciously – making decisions with full attention to the moment I’m living in, as well as the way that moment is connected to the future.
When I finally saw the connection between my momentary urges for foodication (medicating through food) and the ultimate result in my body, I changed my weight permanently.
I’m focused on a lifestyle that ends the lease on weight loss and OWNS it instead. I emphasize making my own decisions instead of going with the crowd. I don’t like being a “sheeple.”
I’m convinced accepting the norm, programmed by the media, advertising and fashion industries, means lots of excess weight and fat in our lives.
Soda Consumption is Directly Connected to U.S. Obesity Epidemic
Case in Point: McDonald’s new Sweet Iced Tea commercial where the woman has been sipping tea so long, she’s developed a tan line across her chin.
Yowza!
My first reaction was: “that’s the stupidest commercial I ever saw!”
In the 16th century, people believed their kings were chosen by god, and were not fully human.
In the 17th and 18th century, people thought cancer was a curse from god for evil thoughts and was contagious.
In the 20th century, people believed diets cured excess weight.
Every one of these beliefs robbed human beings of their natural power in life. And, in every case, science proved these beliefs untrue and noted that the belief prevented proper treatment.
Permanent Weight Loss Requires a New Solution
No one can blame us for what we didn’t know then. But, now we know.
In 1996, I knew something was wrong with my previous approach to weight loss. I knew because the weight just kept coming back every time I lost weight (and it always brought an extra 10 lbs with it!).
As you know, I’m a baseball fan, and a New York Yankees fan. When I was young, we only got baseball on TV on Saturday afternoons (imagine that!). I lived in an area that did not have a major league team, so who was on TV?
The Yankees.
Later, I moved to New York for graduate school and lived the life of a “real” fan. Today, the owner of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner, died. It’s been really interesting to see the reaction and the old clips of him on TV.
He wasn’t liked by everyone. He was often mean, demanding, arrogant and perfectionist. He bought and traded players and hired and fired managers at will. He drove us fans crazy with his changes and tinkering, and he traded our favorite players away often. (more…)
Here in the U.S., we’ve just celebrated Independence Day. Freedom of thought and speech are huge cornerstones of our country’s government, but do we really use those freedoms?
Thinking for ourselves is so important… after all, we are people, not sheeple! Although I mindlessly followed the crowd of yo-yo dieters, procrastinators and the denial-prone for many years, I realized it forced me into a decidedly unexciting existence: overworking, never complaining, stressed and unhealthy. Uncle Sam might have been happy, my boss was happy, my doctor was happy as I marched with my little white prescription to the pharmacy… but I was not.
We are people, not sheeple!
Huge amounts of money are spent every day in an attempt to get us to think one way or another. (more…)
“If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?”
I differ from many weight loss experts since I’ve accomplished permanent weight loss. I learned my lessons down in the trenches, instead of in a book, and my experiences smashed many of the widely accepted tenets of weight loss.
Thanks for all the comments to the “Sick & Tired of ‘Food Decisions?’” post! Emails and tweets abounded. It was great to hear from you!
The quest for permanent weight loss MUST eventually become non-diet weight loss. Our willpower sooner or later deserts us. In fact, willpower was not equipped for long-range quests. In other words, diets have to morph into intelligent, sustainable lifestyles in order for the change to last. Diet mentality, on the other hand, has us yo-yo-ing our weight and repeatedly coming back for more dieting.
Feeding the body when it is not hungry builds more fat.
Many of the themes I heard from reader responses were from diet mentality and clearly centered on controlling food or controlling behavior with food, rather than focused on real needs. Let’s have a look: (more…)
For anyone living under a rock, Geneen Roth’s new book “Women Food and God” is a New York Times bestseller recently featured on Oprah. I first studied Geneen’s ideas on intuitive eating and breaking out of diet hell many years ago.
Here’s an idea from the new book that had great impact on me:
love life without the story,
you without your past
Wow – all that past … just gone.
All those stories … obliterated.
All that baggage … dropped at the airport and left on the conveyor belt of life. (more…)
In the past few years, McDonald’s has taken a hit to their reputation – from movies like “Food, Inc.”, “Fast Food Nation” and “Super-size Me.”
Now, they are out to improve that “unhealthy” reputation.
On March 3, 2010, they announced that Weight Watchers would promote and endorse several McDonald’s meals as healthy options for weight loss. If Weight Watchers ever had a serious reputation, it was gone that day.
Now, another layer of PR has appeared with McDonald’s seeking to convince consumers of their financial importance to their communities and to the farmers of their state. Recently, an insert into a Wisconsin newspaper made many interesting claims. I particularly like the “returned nearly 45 cents of every dollar earned to the local economy.” – Translated, that means they paid their workers less than half of what they earned and more than half was profit.
They listed the following as purchased from Wisconsin farms: (more…)
Talk about a “Food Decision” wall!! I hit it hard this week. Take a bit of fatigue and add several last-minute twists to a schedule that was a tad too tight in the first place, and all of a sudden food decisions become hard. I found myself saying, “I don’t want to DECIDE what to eat. It’s too much work. I just want someone to make dinner miraculously appear for my family and me.”
My clients describe this place of indecision and frustration a lot! Today, women work so hard in their careers and have so many additional responsibilities PLUS they are often expected to also fulfill the traditional “wife” duties of social planning, intra-family communication, scheduling, housework and meal planning/preparation. Overscheduling is a way of life. It can be a huge burden to carry.
The Food Decision Wall is that point when there’s nothing in the house to feed the kids except raw carrots and dog food and you’re seriously considering which would be more nutritious. It’s when you scream, “I NEED A WIFE!” It’s when you KNOW the best possible solution is to grab the phone for … FAST FOOD DELIVERY! (more…)
