I was speaking with a client earlier this evening and we discussed the challenges for her around making healthy choices when she is out to dinner. It was only moments before this, that she shared with me, in detail, what she wants for her body and her life and how she wants to feel on a daily basis. Does this resonate with you? Are you out there, shooting for a healthier, fitter body, but then having trouble making choices that are alignment with what you say you want? Why do you think you do this?
I have found, that more often than not, someone who is not making the choices in alignment with what they say they want, is either unclear about what they really want or they just don’t have enough of a relationship with the outcome of their healthy and unhealthy choices. What do I mean? Well, for me, I KNOW how I will feel after a large burger and fries and a slice of chocolate cake. I KNOW how I will feel after 4 slices of pizza, a side of spaghetti with garlic bread for dinner and cheesecake and a latte for dessert. I also KNOW how I will feel if I order steamed fish, a big green salad with lots of veggies and avocado, and a side of whole wheat pasta or brown rice and fresh fruit and a small piece of organic dark chocolate for dessert. I KNOW the difference between eating the foods that match my goals and desires, and the foods that do not match my goals and desires. So what I am saying is, sometimes you just may not be conscious yet about how food makes you feel and about how it affects your mood, your day, your week, and your life.
Food literally BECOMES US. It becomes our cells, our hair, our blood, our energy, our skin, and our thoughts. This determines our relationships, our energy levels each day, our creativity or lack thereof, the way in which we experience ourselves in the world, and the way others perceive us and feel about us too. That’s right…the BEST way you can begin to change on a cellular level, in order to make positive shifts and revamp your ENTIRE life, is to change what is going into your mouth! First, you need to have the proper awareness and consciousness around food, so begin by noticing how food makes you feel and how it can positively or negatively affect your week, your interaction with others, and your life!
Here are three tips you can use daily to begin to connect to what you REALLY want and to make the choices that support that:
1) Write out what you want for your life, your body, your career, your health, your family. Get very detailed and clear until you can feel this in your body and feel deeply moved and inspired when you read it back to yourself. Bring this feeling with you to every meal. Ultimately IT will make choices for you.
2) Follow the food through. Once you have gotten more clear about HOW food makes you feel, you can then follow your cravings to the end BEFORE you give in, and see if you still feel the same way. Ex. You’ve been noticing that when you eat dairy it makes your skin break out and you get cranky by 4pm. Therefore you stopped eating all dairy a couple of days ago, and you feel AMAZING and your skin is already beginning to clear up. Then you get taken out to lunch by co-workers and you go to a Mexican restaurant. You see the caso dip and the quesadillas on the menu and think “OMG I REALLY WANT THIS, IT SOUNDS SOOOOOO YUMMY AND I’M STARVING!” But, then you remember that you want to feel full of energy when you get back to work, and that you are really loving your skin right now. You follow the caso and quesadilla option all the way through. You imagine that you’ve eaten the caso and quesadillas, and you can feel how bloated you are after lunch, and you’ve still got 4 hours back at the office and you’re suppose to workout after. However, now you are feeling fat and lazy, and really just want to go home and sleep, so you cancel with your trainer on the way back to the office and he charges you for the late cancel. You can feel the grease on your face already. You get back to the office and grab a chocolate bar out of the vending machine because you need a “pick me up.” Then you get home and yell at your boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife and have no tolerance for your kids. You say things you don’t mean. You’d like to be affectionate and maybe even intimate, but you just feel too gross and tired and angry. You go to bed, feeling fat, lonely, angry, and anxious. It is hard to wake up the next morning because you slept crappy, and therefore you run late to work. On the drive to work you notice a BIG pimple coming up right between your eyes.
Cut back to you at the table. You do not get the caso and quesadillas because you followed them through and now you KNOW that is NOT what you want. What you WANT is to feel energized, sexy, patient, creative, on top of things, on time, and you want to get a kick-ass workout in later! So you go for the black beans and small side of Spanish rice, no cheese, steamed broccolli or a big green salad, and maybe some steamed fish or grilled chicken. AHHHH, you feel great after lunch. You just know you will have an awesome workout, get home with lots of energy for whomever is waiting for you, or if you will be alone, you’ll be able to rest feeling nutured and loved because you did wonderful things for yourself earlier.
3) Always do the VERY best you can. It’s about progress, not perfection. There is no need to feel guilty over eating something “bad.” Just realize it makes you feel yucky, let it go, and do something differently next time!
Ok, I wish you well! Please leave all questions and comments here for me on my blog, or contact me at [email protected] if you would like a FREE Health Coaching Consultation.
Here’s To Your Health, Wellness, and Vitality!
xxoo Erin
