It's not what you eat but what you think!

One of the first quotes by Wayne Dyer to inspire me was 'Change the Way You Look at Things and the Way You Look at things Changes'. A Simple concept although not always easy to implement.  Even when facing challenges that we feel we can do nothing about, we can still bring about an inner peace by thinking about the challenge differently.

When facing difficult challenges I can easily fall into unhealthy or excessive eating and likewise when I overcome these challenges my healthy eating resumes. The key for me is to be Conscious of this, Conscious of the thinking that leads to the negative habits.  Not with a view to denying them but to embracing them. Only then through this Conscious Acceptance can I  leg them go.

Food for Education

I have noticed recently how my concentration and enthusiasm change depending on my nutrition.  If I reduce my water intake my energy wanes.  If I neglect fruit and veg in favour of bread and other wheat products (pizza) my enthusiasm to do anything other than become a couch potato disappears.

With the new school year under way why not give your children the best chance of achieving their goals by supporting their energy and concentration levels.

When packing their lunch boxes pay attention to the content of the snacks and drinks that you are packing.  Of course you don't want to deprive them of their chocolate treat but you don't want to overdo them either - pack a piece of fruit also.

With all the drinks on the market there is plenty of choice of healthy drinks, choose ones made from fresh whole fruits with no added suger or better still choose spring water. 

Children's habits, likes and dislikes are the result of their parents/caregivers influences.  So if your kids are not eating healthy or dislike good nutritious food, it is easy to rectify this by changing your own habits.  You owe it to your kids and yourself to keep them and you healthy.  If this is something you want to change but are finding it tough then call the Conscious Eating Coach now for a free consultation.

Choice

Choice based on what we already know will always result in what we know, so if you want something new and different you need to know something new.

How this translates to conscious eating is that if you want to change your habits permanently then you need to understandand them - where they come from, how they manifest in your life and what triggers them - when you understand that you will know something new and be able to make different choices.

Does Eating Healthy Mean Deprivation?

In a simple word answer NO!

Depriving yourself of your favorite foods will only lead to cravings and binging. If you allow yourself a little of what you want when you have the desire then you are more likely to satisfy the desire and less likely to eat to excess.

Eating healthily is a part of self care and Self Care means being kind to yourself and finding a balance.

Would you continually deny a child ice-cream in the midst of summer?

Would you let them have one every time they ask (every hour!)

Just think how you would respond to a child and treat yourself the same way.

Buen proveche!

Summer Eating

With summer upon us I wonder how conscious people are of the different needs of our body.

For example a group of guests at the retreat centre i'm currently working at went for a long walk last Thursday AFTERNOON with temperatures in the mid to high 20's C /around 80F and with little shade. Most guests took only a small bottle of water to last the 3 hour hike and consequently, when they arrived back they were dropping like flies - two in fact had obvious signs of dehydration and heat stroke.

I am already up to a minumum of 2 litres of water per day and as the heat continues to rise i'm sure that will rise to about 4 litres. I also notice that my desire for cold fresh salads and juices increases and I have very little appetite for simple carbs like potatos, bread and pasta.

Why don't you spend a little time, sitting and listening and journaling around how your body changes it's needs and appetite as the weather changes?

Treats - does it have to be food?

We had a conversation on one of my telecourses this week around food being used as a 'treat'. And as I was 'googling' an image for this blog, using the search field 'treat' all that came up were images of cakes and chocolates. I find this really interesting.

Why is it that when we think of rewarding or treating ourselves for something well done, it involves food?

As with everything in our life, our habits develop from an early age and the more unconscious our habits are then the more likelihood that the habit is very old...
Can you remember back to your childhood, to when you did something well or behaved in a manner that was judged as good? how were you rewarded? was it with food?

I remember quite often hearing the phrase 'if you're a good girl and be quiet I'll buy you chocolate' 'if you eat up all your dinner then you can have a desert'. Basically I was learning that sweet yummy things like chocolate and cake were 'rewards' for being a 'good little girl' - so it only follows that in my subconscious mind I am going to make this association, it might come up when I feel I have achieved something or even if I feel a failure - as a way of 'cheering me up'.

If you find that you reach for food to deal with your emotions wither positive or negative you might want to explore the childhood habits and family beliefs around this.

When you become aware of using food as a reward or treat I would like to invite you to sit, think and listen to your body for a few minutes before reaching for this food. Give yourself time to think what it is that you would really like as a treat.

It it that some foods are bad for us or simply just not good for us?

I had an interesting conversation today with a cook. The cook wondered how we can know specific foods are bad for us, her thoughts being that unless we just eat or drink only one particular thing each day how can we know which of the things that have gone into our body are not good for us?

Interesting question.

How do you know what your body likes/dislikes?

By listening to it of course!

When you listen to your body you become aware of your body’s needs, likes & dislikes, you learn what is good for it and what is not.

The conversation continued to certain foods that are known to be less healthy for us for example white bread and pasta and here the conversation turned to the question - is it that this food is BAD for us or just NOT GOOD for us?
And what’s the difference?

It is certainly not good nutritionally as this kind of ‘food’ has been stripped of all the nutrients…and so does it follow therefore that this food is bad for us?
I think that it depends on each persons body and toleration level and whether you are getting the nutrition you need from else where or relying solely on this processed ‘food’ under the illusion that because it is edible it is food and therefore good for you.

What saddened me about this conversation, was her attitude to her own health in that she would look to change her diet, if and when she had to as a result of ill-health. I find this attitude most common with people in the west, that they will continue to put into their bodies what they like to eat judged by taste and look rather than by quality and contribution to the health of the body. In the western world, in the so called developed world, we seem to have lost the meaning of food, we have lost the primary reason why we eat – to sustain our life not to gratify our senses. This saddens me and encourages me to continue with working with people on conscious eating. For every person I can support, maybe they can support/encourage/influence at least one more.

Weight Loss Plateau - Is it emotional?

As some of might know I'm always looking for the underlying psychological causes to our health issues and I think a weight loss plateau might also come into this category.

If you are someone who has reached a plateau for a while then maybe there is an emotional block to moving forward.

When I did some work on this for myself some years ago, my explorations revealed that holding on to weight was a form of psychological 'protection' for me. Fat meant being safe, that 'I couldn't be 'got'.', and only by recognizing and acknowledging this was I able to let it go and move on.

So if you think this might apply to you then ask yourself the following questions...

• Why did I put the weight on in the first place?
• How did it serve me? (e.g. helped me cope with a breakup, de-stress etc.)
• If I was to reach my ideal weight, how would my life change?
• What or who might I have to let go of that maybe I'm not ready to?
• Who do I think I'll become when I lose the weight?

If you want to explore these more then e-mail me for your complimentary Conscious Eating coaching session.

5 Tips for moving past the Plateau

1. Persist - just hang on in there! If you're sticking to your regime then it is coming off, just maybe not enough for the scale to see right now.
2. Check for hidden calories, it is surprising how many calories can be hidden in a teaspoon of this or a pinch of that - be honest with yourself.
3. Increase muscle building exercises - Muscle burns fat!
4. Revisit your goals and motivation for losing weight in the first place and ask yourself if maybe you have reached a plateau because that is where you body feels most comfortable.
5. ACCEPT that you are where you are, ACCEPT that your body is resting from weight loss right now, ACCEPT that you are eating for health whether or not you are losing weight, ACCEPT YOURSELF FULLY. Refusal to accept the reality of where you are right now will build into stress and likely be the cause of 'why do I bother' binges.

How to move forward when you reach the Weight Loss Plateau

I've been thinking lately of plateau's - specifically when after a few weeks dieting you hit what appears to be a wall and no matter how much excercise you do or how many calories you cut down to, the weight just doesn't budge.

Everyone on a weight loss diet will at some stage reach a plateau - maybe for a week or two, maybe even longer. Rather than becoming despondent over this - that your 'hard work' seems to not be paying off anymore I would like to invite you to take this opportunity to review and revisit your plan.

Firstly, accept that for the moment your body is resting where it is. Getting annoyed will only increase resistance, make you unhappy and probably contribute to you giving up.
Secondly take a moment to acknowledge what you've achieved to date, not just the pounds lost but the way your clothes feel, the way your body feels - relish in your success to date!

When you've done that you will be in a far more positive place to then take a look at your plan.
So when you do ask yourself the following questions...

• Are your original goals still valid or do you now have different ones?
• Does your original strategy for achieving these goals need to be changed or varied?

Although our bodies work somewhat like machines, unlike machines we cannot guarantee the output and our bodies will work at the pace they want to work, maybe you need to vary your routine, maybe up the exercise, maybe leave off the exercise for a day or two.

If you are considering reducing your calories more, just remember that your bodies need a minimal amount of calories to function and cutting down too much is unhealthy and cause your body to hold on to fat if it thinks it is going to starve.

Too busy to eat healthy

Do you find yourself using this reason for not eating healthy? That you are too busy. That it's easier to grab a sandwich or burger than to sit down with a salad.

I too used to use this reason for many years, I was way too busy in my job and then too tired when i got home however what i can now see is that by eating unhealthy was contributing to my tiredness. And when tired, can we really perform at our best? I now know that this was just an excuse not a reason - I actually just couldn't be bothered to prepare a meal just for me.

And what does 'couldn't be bothered' mean. It means not putting myself or my health first, it means not caring enough about myself. it means considering my job more important than me.

When we look at what's on offer with 'fast foods' today, we really cannot use this as an excuse anymore, there are many prewashed and pre cut salads available, there are many healthier versions of prepared foods. Whilst I am not an advocate any more of such 'tv dinners' as they contain far too much salt, and other unnecessary unhealthy extras, If you really do not have time to prepare your own meal then maybe you could consider some of the alternatives to bread & buns.

It's not so much that YOU are too busy rather than your thoughts are too busy to consider the healthier options.

If you're ready to challenge your beliefs and thoughts around healthy eating so that you can move forward with a diet that reflects who you really are then contact me, the Conscious Eating Coach for a sample session and lets see how much change you can make in your eating simply by changing your thoughts about eating.

Who really knows what foods agree with YOUR body?

I've been thinking some more about the blood group diet and I'm still curious how such a generalisation can be good for everyone. Whilst our blood group might be the same, our life and health experiences are not so how do those get taken into account?
I was speaking to a women a couple of days ago who was praising this diet as it suggested to her not to eat white bread and cows milk. These are actually, products that are commonly known not to be the best for us - white bread because the flour has been processed so much there is no goodness left in it and...well...surely any animal milk is designed to be drunk by the baby of that species and so cows milk surely is designed for drinking by baby cows? what do you think?

The other thing I've been pondering on is the diagnosis by a machine of what one should or shouldn't eat. Some vegetarian friends of mine went to see a local homeopath/naturapath and he used some machine on them which said they need to eat meat and fish. There was no testing of blood or other internal physical condition and so I'm wondering how too this works. How can a machine 'listen' to a body's needs better than the owner of the body?

Fad Diets versus Listening to YOUR Body

A friend brought me a copy of a blood group diet the other day for me to see what foods were recommended and what were thought detrimental to my particular blood group.
As a vegetarian, and someone who not only doesn’t eat meat but dislikes it intensely I was surprised to see that it recommended several kinds of meat including bunny rabbit! and scavenging bottom feeding seafood like prawns, whilst my staple breakfast of banana and almonds were not.

This, to me is just another reminder to listen to MY body and to not blindly listen to information published for profit by someone no matter what their qualifications.

There is much information out there and all sorts of ‘diets’, some that have been written by doctors and have been proved to be not only ineffective long term but detrimental to one’s health and are preying on the many people who are looking for the ‘miracle’ or ‘quick fix’ diet.

I’m not saying don’t use these, I’m just saying don’t take blindly, the information. Just because someone has letters after their name does not necessarily mean they have your best interest as heart – especially if what they are sharing with you means financial profit for them.

There is much healthy eating information published by organisations such as Heart Foundations, Cancer Research and the Nutritional Society who willingly share their information for free. Government websites for different countries also publish advice and information.

One thing for sure that you need to hear is that there are no ‘quick fixes’ so stop looking for them!

The only sure way is to listen to your body, get to understand what your body can tolerate and what it cannot and when it is full and when it is hungry and when you are eating for your body or eating because of your emotions. And learn a little about nutrition, about why sugars, most fats and refined products are so unhealthy and why raw, unprocessed foods are so good.

The only sure way to lose weight and feel healthy in your body is to make a PERMANENT change to your eating. This doesn’t mean depriving yourself of the occasional snack or your favourite food but eating these in moderation and teaching yourself to ‘like’ the foods that better support you.

Blood Donation and Healthy Eating

Have you ever considered how far and wide an impact your food choices can have?
I found out today, when I went to give blood here in Spain just how far reaching this can be.
The Spanish blood donation service have a clause in the blood donation contract that excludes people who have lived in the U.K. between 1980 and 1996 from giving blood. As a previous regular blood donor in the U.K. I felt very disappointed by this and questioned it to be told that it is as a prevention against C.J.D. or the human form of 'Mad Cow' disease.
This disease was prevelant in the U.K. during these years resulting in several people developing brain disease which then led to their deaths. C.J.D. was categorically linked to the eating of tainted beef and beef products.
Happily for me I have been a vegetarian since 1976 and once I was able to convince the medics that neither beef nor any other meat has passed my lips since then they took my blood.
This highlighted to me yet again, how our food choices today can have such a profound affect in the future.
Have you ever given any consideration to how your lifestyle choices may affect not only yourself but others too, especially those you love?

Weekend eating Versus Weekday eating

After writing last Friday's blog on seasonal eating it left me thinking about how we can also often eat differently at weekends compared to during the week and so this is where my focus went this weekend.

Why should eating be any different or more difficult to control at different times of the day, week, month or year?

I have had several conversations on this topic over the past couple of months and the consensus seems to be that it is harder to stick to 'healthy eating' regimes at weekends because that's when the family get together - parents are usually not at work and kids not at school.

...But what about those of us who are single and still have this challenge of unhealthy or over eating at weekends?

...And what about those in employment where 'weekends' are not 'weekends', for example emergency services - fire/police ambulance, just to name a few. Even when I worked shifts, Sundays always seemed to be a day for 'pigging out' - in the summer it meant large quantities of icecream and in the winter cooked breakfast baguettes.

So this leaves me with the question - Is it the change of activities at weekends that causes the difficulty in maintaining 'diets' or healthy eating? or is this just the excuse we tell ourselves and in fact it is yet another limiting belief that we have 'hooked' into?

Usually our unhelpful habits are triggered by either a limiting belief, as mentioned above or an unmet need and what I actually identified for myself this past weekend is that my eating WAS emotional and triggered by unmet needs. Having become exceptionally busy over the past month except for weekends I now feel at a loss and alone especially on Sundays and as a way to compensate for these feelings yesterday, I overate. How interesting this was to witness and to do in full consciousness, knowing that I had a choice to go and find something else to do or someone to be with that would have taken me away from the need to emotionally eat. Yet I chose to eat unhealthily.

So my challenge to those of you who find weekends tough to maintain healthy eating is to spend sometime thinking and journalling and explore what is REALLY going on for you. Once you know the truth you will be empowered to change it, or not.

Seasonal Eating

Spring here in Spain has definaltely arrived even though the high Sierra's had another flurry of snow this week and I found myself thinking, what does the change is season mean in relation to Conscious Eating?

Until I moved to the mountains is Spain I wasn't at all aware of the seasons of food or what that might in fact mean for me.
Now, seeing fruit and veg grow and buying from local farmers - this has become all very clear. For example, the oranges have now stopped, the trees are bare of fruit but loaded with blossom for the next crop next winter.

• Why is it that nature brings us oranges is winter?
• If they only grow in winter then where do the big supermarkets get supplies from the rest of the year?
• How 'fresh' can they then be?
• How many thousands of miles have they had to travel and in what conditions?

These are the kinds of questions that i'm now asking myself when I go to the grocers.

Nature knows, and if we follow her example and eat foods that are in season then surely we will be giving our bodies the best and most necessary nutrients for the time of year, whilst also contributing to care of the planet by reducing the need for produce to be shipped across the globe.

How conscious are you of the seasons of your food?

Getting Back on Track with your Weight Loss Goals

4 week Telecourse Begining Monday april 27th 11am EST (4pm GMT)

Cost $59 or £39

For more information or to register e-mail info@consciouseatingcoach.com

...And you're finding it hard to get back on track,

Don't despair or give up!
There's no time limit by which to have to get eating healthy, although the sooner you begin the better you will feel.

Take the next step in your self care and commitment to healthy eating &/or weight loss and join me for a 4 week Conscious Eating Telecourse focussing on re-creating & re-commiting to your goals.

And with the support of the Conscious Eating Coach and other women like you, set your intention for what you want your relationship with food to be like and commit to small, fun, achievable goals without deprivation.

Size Really does Matter

Just look at the differences between portions sizes NOW and 20 years ago

I was making my lunch the other day, totally conscious.

Conscious of both the excessive amount of veg I put in the oven, the excessive amount of olive oil I poured over it and the excessive amount of noodles I cooked.

Why did I do this I asked myself?

Well, olive oil is a 'good' oil and If I hadn't cooked all the veg then I would have had to throw the rest away because it's been in the fridge too long and if I didn't use all the noodles I would have put back in the cupboard an amount too small for a portion...and anyway...it will save me having to cook dinner tonight.

What interesting excuses I am using to overeat - all attached to limiting beliefs of course.
So what if i have to throw food away, so what if I put a small portion of food back in the cupboard and why deprive myself of dinner just because I overate at lunch!

Does this story sound familiar?

Do you have similar habits?

How conscious are you of your portion size and how that fits in with your 'healthy eating'?

Claiming Your Body! - Janet F Quinn

My body at last, I claim you!

I live here!

I am not some discarnate spirit

using just any vehicle to get around….

for so many years I rejected my body because

it isn’t perfect according to the standards of my culture.

I have been unfaithful to it,

letting other’s opinions turn me against it,

allowing others to use it without love,

without tenderness…

Because I myself rejected my body I didn’t protect it, didn’t demand that it be treated

like the precious gift that it is…

My body, the temple of my soul deserves better from me.

I reclaim this body…

This body is a miracle;

it is the first gift of the Creator to me – my birthday present.

I take this body to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, to honour, love and cherish until death do us part.

I am a woman reclaiming my body”

- Janet F- Quinn

Healthy Eating Habits

Introducing Healthy Lifestyle Habits


Habits cannot simply be dropped they have to be replaced by something else so if you find yourself simply wanting to not do something anymore think what can I replace it with?

Habits take about 30 days to change so you need to practice persistence. If you are finding it difficult to change the habit then there is something deeper like an unmet need or limiting belief that you haven’t yet identify, however you don’t need to wait until it is identified to move forward – changing your habit and replacing it with a more supportive and healthy one will simply be initially, a change of behaviour rather than a shift.

Practice lovingly letting go of your old habits when they appear. Acknowledge how they have supported you up until now. Embrace the choice you are now making to let go and do things differently knowing that the old way is always there if you wish to choose it.

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me
And I will do them – quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed – you must be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done and
After a few lessons, I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great,
Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine though I work with the precision of a machine
Plus the intelligence of a person.
You may run me for profit or run me for ruin –
It makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and
I will place the world at your feet.
Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?
I am a habit.

- Businesssuccessbuilder.com

Sensory Eating

Do you Eat with your senses or sense what you're eating?

Do you choose your food based on what your body needs & wants and what you know will keep you healthy and then when eating it really see, taste, smell, touch and hear it or do you choose to eat someting based purely on what your eyes/nose/tongue are saying to you - ie because it looks, smells, tastes appealing?

Big fast food and soda companies spend large amounts of money on their advertising campaigns appealing to our senses knowing that many people will be attracted to their product because of it's sensory appeal.

How often, when watching television, reading magazines do you come across adverts and then suddenly think 'I fancy some....' and go to the fridge and get something to eat or drink?

How many times have you actually stopped to think am I hungry/thirsty? Do I really want this? ...and more importantly, what is the qualily of this so called 'foodstuff', is it healthy for my body or might it actually, in the long term, cause some harm?

Further to this, how many times do you find yourself eating more than your body actually needs or wants simply because you like the look or taste of something?

Sensory Eating is I believe, like a two sided coin, one side is eating consciously, using each of your senses to savour and enjoy your food, with the other side making your food choice based solely on one or more of your senses. Which do you do?

So here's my challenges to you,

1. Next time you notice that you 'fancy' a specific food whilst seeing it in an advert, stop and think for a minute about what is really going on for you? Why is it that you have a sudden desire for this? What is it that is making it so attractive right now?
2. Over the next week, choose one specific meal per day and consciously eat it using your senses. What do you notice?