Welcome to my first post for Weigh-in Wednesdays! Fittingly, last night I actually gave a talk on the topic of weight-loss. It seems to be a subject that so many people are interested in, yet are often so confused about. And with good reason! There is so much information floating around out there and we are bombarded by it everyday via the internet, television, and the countless diet books that fill the shelves in bookstores. In light of the recent talk I did (along with my nutritionist friend Joy), I thought over the next few weeks or so I would share with you some of the main points from our discussion. My goal here will be to help you cut through some of the confusion by offering up some tried and true strategies you can start incorporating into your daily routine today. Even if weight-loss isn’t your goal, the focus here (like all of my other posts) is actually on health. Weight-loss you’ll find is only one of the pleasurable side-effects  – if you’ve got it to lose of course!

So without further ado, I’ll jump right into my first tip!

Set yourself up for Success

By implementing the following…

1) Don’t “go on a diet”!  In fact don’t EVER “go on a diet” again.  A healthy eating plan is something that should be incorporated into your life permanently. It shouldn’t be something you do for a couple of weeks just to lose a few pounds before returning to your regular bad eating habits.  Part of the reason why diets often don’t work is because they leave people feeling deprived. And as many of us know, as soon as we aren’t “allowed” to have something we are usually left wanting it more! This can lead to unhealthy obsessions, not to mention feelings of stress, oftentimes resulting in a binge. Furthermore, food must be enjoyable! If you don’t honestly enjoy what you are eating you’ll never be satisfied and you’ll likely end up overeating the wrong foods. Remember, a healthy diet has to be sustainable over the long-run and shouldn’t be overly restrictive. Otherwise you run the risk of giving up and returning to your old ways.

2) Shift your perspective away from weight-loss and change your focus to getting healthy. Even if your end-goal is to lose weight, you’ll notice that when you shift your focus to becoming healthier you’ll take some of the pressure off yourself. In fact, you’ll actually find that weight-loss is a side-effect of a healthy diet – if done properly of course! When I use the word “diet” by the way, I’m speaking in terms of  your daily eating regiment – not in the sense of “you’re on a diet”.  Also keep in mind that anyone can go on a crash diet and lose some weight quickly (often water weight) but usually at the expense of something else. Lowered energy and mental fogginess? Dehydration resulting in premature aging? When you change your focus to eating healthy you’ll often notice other beneficial side effects besides weight loss, such as glowing skin, increased energy and mental clarity! Please also note that what I refer to as eating healthy might be a lot different from what you’ve been told by the “mainstream” diet directorates. More to come on this though in another post!

3) Don’t try to be something you’re not. What I mean by this is recognize where you are coming from. What’s your starting point? We are all unique individuals so we can’t think in terms of cookie-cutter nutrition. We all have different eating habits and we all grew up on different diets. It’s important that we honour where we are now at this point in time and transition accordingly. This means that if you’re currently eating meat twice a day everyday don’t try to become a vegetarian overnight! There are still things you can do to transition towards a healthier way of eating without being so extreme. Perhaps you limit your flesh consumption to 3 times a week and/or substitute some of the red meat for high quality fish. Similarly, if you are currently eating white-flour bread you should transition to whole grain bread, or better yet, sprouted whole-grain bread! There’s a hierarchy of foods that always allows us to make healthier choices.

Keep in mind that before you embark on any new healthy eating plan it’s very important that you set the stage for success. If you are one of those people who is constantly dieting and never seeing lasting results it might require that you completely change your perspective on how you think about food and weight-loss. That’s the funny thing about effecting change though. It actually requires you to change the way you do things to see results!

Here’s to the journey!

Elaine

Hello Everyone, 

Welcome to the first edition of Sunny Sundays. As I mentioned a few days ago, the sun can’t shine every Sunday (not unlike today), so I’d like to bring you a little sunshine in the form of something inspirational. It could be in the form of pictures, an excerpt from a song or book, or it might be about somebody doing something I find inspiring.  Perhaps something that will get you thinking differently than usual. The post will oftentimes be unrelated to food, but you can think of it as food for your soul!  As I said before, being healthy is about much more than just what we put in our bodies. Oftentimes our thoughts are major determinants of our overall health as well. 

To start things off, today I’d like to share something with you that came to me about 3 years ago when I was undergoing my studies at the Institute of Holistic Nutrition. As part of the core curriculum we had to complete a course on professional presentation.  One of the projects in the course was to get up in front of the class and read an excerpt or poem that touched or inspired us in some way. One of my classmates read the following poem that I’m going to share with you now. For some reason this piece just moved me so profoundly that it’s stuck with me ever since. I think it serves as a reminder of how little we really connect with people underneath surface pleasantries. 

Here you go… 

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. 

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. 

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. 

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. 

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. 

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it’s not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence. 

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!” 

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. 

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. 

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. 

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. 

by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer 

Hope this gets you thinking a little.

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And on a final note, here’s a pretty pic to leave you with.  I took this in 2005 during a backpacking trip. 

Luang Prabang, Laos