Hi everyone! I hope you are all finding great success by incorporating the strategies we've gone over in the prior weeks. Not only will these strategies transform how you feel on a deeper level, but I am convinced that when you focus on how you eat before what you eat, weight loss is sure to be a by-product.
As we move into week 6 I wanted to share a little bit of my dieting history with you. From the age of 15 I have been dieting, and it was at the age of 15 where I first became unsatisfied with my body. Being a teenager, I ate how most teenagers eat so there was room for improvement, but I chose to diet out of fear and out of a deep self-hatred for myself. Dieting was one of the many outcomes of low self-worth and with each diet, I chose to rob myself of freedom in eating. The diets I was trying were all very unsustainable and subconsciously I think I knew that.
When you are dealing with low self-worth, you will inadvertently do things in your life you know you will fail at just to reiterate that you are indeed, a failure. So when people try to find this "perfect" diet that will get them the results they so desperately want, they feel that all their dreams will come true. I will say this though, you may lose weight on a diet, but if you do not have a genuine love for yourself, you will eventually find a way to prove you're a failure and you'll end up sabotaging your efforts. You see this time and time again, a person will go on a strict eating plan that has foods she doesn't really like, or expectations she couldn't possibly meet for various reasons. Most diets don't take into account though that people have different lifestyles, likes and dislikes, and that everyone goes through times where certain foods will benefit them more than others. Eventually, the dieter will fail because she deliberately chose a plan she could never follow on a long term basis.
There is no one diet that will always work because life is constantly changing. If the one constant we have in life is change, shouldn't the way we eat reflect this too?
For example, when you're sick, would it not be more beneficial to have foods that sooth a sore stomach like bread or crackers and soup, even if you think a grainless diet is the only way to eat? Or when it's a cold winter day, wouldn't a meal of meat and potatoes be more satisfying than a cold salad, even though the potato has starch and for some reason you believe that starches weren't ideal? The point I am trying to make is this: there is no cookie cutter, perfect diet, that will work for you for the rest of your life because change is always going to come up. If you moved to a different country, your eating would change. If you moved to South America, you would eat more fruit, even if you thought fruit wasn't the best option. Different climates call for different ways of eating.
When you finally let go of all your lists of "good" and "bad" foods, and diet plan after diet plan, you will experience your greatest success. So am I going to give you lists of what to eat and what not to eat in this 8 week program? No I'm not. Marc David took this approach and when I followed his own 8 week program it aggravated me at first because I not only wanted that false sense of control I thought a list would give me, but I subconsciously wanted something that I would fail at just prove myself "right". True freedom in eating comes when you let go of the rules this world has placed on the way you should view food.
No list will ever give you what you truly need, because what you truly need, your body already knows. This is where self exploration comes into play. When you sit and listen to what your body needs specifically at different points in your life, your way of eating will nourish you on every level. The fear of "if I let myself eat whatever I want, I won't be able to stop", will quickly bare itself as false. When you restrict yourself, you will rebel against yourself. Forbidden foods have been a temptation since the beginning of time.
This week I want you to really ask yourself what would fully nourish you each day. What foods are best for you specifically this week? What are you craving? What are your cravings telling you? Does not having a list of "good" and "bad" foods feel stressful or freeing to you? Ask yourself why if it does or doesn't. And as always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Happy eating everyone!