The truth about weight loss motivation does not lie with
will power; it lies with the addictive refined foods we eat (more about that in
a later blog) and the skills we lost when we started dieting. Our problem lies
not with food but with our own attitude to it. When following a diet plan or
eating regime you not only label food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but you also give up
two very important skills…
1. The
Skill of Conscious Eating
2. The
Skill of Personal Choice
By listening to what foods others
tell you are good for you, personal power of choice is given away. By switching
off your mind to your body you close down your instinctive ability to eat
exactly what your body requires and responds to well.
When dieting or trying to lose
weight your focus becomes the food you believe you shouldn’t have and the outer
appearance of your body. In other words you lose the skill of inner reflection,
an ability to look internally to find peace and happiness rather than seeking
it in external factors and expectations.
Conscious Eating is therefore not
just about food, it encompass a wide variety of skills based around reflection
on…
- Your thoughts about food
- Your thoughts about yourself
- The effect different foods
have on your body
- How you feel when you are
eating and have eaten
- How you use food as a fuel
not a comforter
- How you love yourself
These are the skills you have lost, the many and varied
habits of ‘Conscious Eating’. The first
step in regaining them is to shed your fear of food and learn to love it again.
It is fear that holds you trapped in old and unhelpful habits with food. After
all, if they were useful would you be struggling in a battle with food and
weight after all this time? Wouldn’t you have lost the weight and kept it off
easily?
Many of the Conscious Eating skills are those used by people
who have never had a weight or size issue and so have never dieted. They are a
rare breed that believe they are beautiful just as they are. They have no
problem accepting the shape of the body they genetically inherited from their
parents. They have no problem ignoring what others and society portray as the
‘perfect’ body shape. They sometimes have a wardrobe of clothes in 2 different
sizes because they accept their weight fluctuation between seasons. They may
even have no problem accepting a change in shape and size, as they get older.
These are the people you can learn a great deal from about Conscious Eating.
They hold many of the keys of how you regain control and power over the food
you eat, and how to eat to live rather than live to eat.
What you are saying is an important reorientation to enjoying eating but paying attention to what your body is saying. A great message! Peter Mac
ReplyDeleteHi Peter, Thanks for your comment, much appreciated.
ReplyDelete