In The Habit Of.....

I'm in the habit of viewing food as fuel. 

To those who don't do this, this is psychobabble.  It was psychobabble to me also, before I began mindfully practicing it and doing the headwork to discipline my brain in to viewing food in, what I believe is, the correct context FOR ME and for MY LIFE.

Mindful.
Discipline.

Dang, did I lose you again?  Yes, I've lost MYSELF many times along the way, but I always go back for me and pick me up off the ground, dust me off, and give myself grace to fall forward.

I had an A-Ha moment, one of many, last spring.

I finally let go of the guilt.  ALL of it.  I let go of the sting of failure.  ALL of it.  I let go of my concept COMPLETELY that food was THE ENEMY and that it was my job to use all of my energy to fight against the enemy all day long until I could collapse either in victory or in defeat at the end of one more, very very long, day.

It was utterly exhausting.  Even the good days!  Even the victorious days!  In fact, the victorious days were MORE exhausting than the defeat days, because I had said "no" to SO MANY TEMPTATIONS, I had dodged SO MANY BULLETS in the form of tasty treats here and there.

Well by now you are saying "Well, get on with it, what changed?  Because that IS how I feel and I NEED to know there is hope that it will get easier, that it will someday not be so hard!"

There is hope.

But it is an ACTIVE hope, and not a PASSIVE hope.  By that, I mean that it takes some action on YOUR part.  Some "changing your mind" about things.  It doesn't magically appear one day without you noticing that the new attitude and mindset about food kinda slipped in the door of your brain one day without you looking, or while you were busy doing something else.  It takes intentionality.

I'm not saying you won't perhaps notice in the first few weeks of the plan that your cravings seem to go away, and some of the same foods that interested you in the past, and kept your attention for hours and hours even days and days don't seem to hold the same power over you.  THAT is a simple side effect of this plan.  THAT will happen almost without you putting any effort or thought into it. 

But it won't last, UNLESS you do the headwork to really change your mind, change your wants, and change your view of food.

And that, my friends, is where Dr. A's Habits of Health steps in.  If you aren't ready to take the plunge of Dr. A's Habits of Health, simply go with it's prequel, Discover your Optimal Health which is a New York Times Best Seller.  The principles outlined in those two books ARE what I absorbed and began practicing, it isn't magic and it isn't hypnotism and it isn't hours and hours on a therapy couch.   Best $14 I ever spent.

My mind and my desires were an active participant in my changing my orientation towards health.  And in the process of changing my orientation TOWARDS health, I began to see that food is NOT the enemy.  I began to really understand that our bodies are hardwired to eat the entire berry bush (high energy, high calorie food) whenever we encounter it.  That signals even beyond my cognitive perception draw me towards acting on that instinct.  I also began to understand that IF I desired to live my BEST life at a HEALTHY weight, and model that for my children, that I was going to need to get ON the path towards intentionally balancing my energy intake with my energy output, in a WAY THAT MADE SENSE TO MY BODY (it isn't JUST ANY calories in, the calorie deficit had to be done in a way that would optimize insulin output to work WITH weight loss not against it) in order to first ATTAIN a healthy weight, and then MAINTAIN it.

It isn't rocket science, but I didn't come up with it myself either.  Some super smart Doctors came up with this plan.  And that is why I follow it, and while I follow it I learn the precepts of how I will eat both now, and for the rest of my life.  How I will view food now, and for the rest of my life.  How I view myself now, and for the rest of my life.

And food, for me, is NOT the enemy.  It was a MYSTERY up until I found this plan and Dr. A's Habits of Health.  The mystery has been unraveled, and I am living proof that it is possible.  I am also living proof that it is possible to stop viewing this as a "diet", and to be able to orient yourself to health. 

What do I want?  Well, you won't see me blogging about the latest recipe.  If you do, it is the exception not the rule.  You won't see me blogging about the food network, or the yummy nummy triple fudge something or other that it took all my strength to say "no" to last night after one little bite.  Because I don't focus on food.  And it holds no power over me.  It is morally neutral, and I have neutralized it's potential power in my life to take me towards obesity and disease and an early death.  I have done that intentionally. 

I don't focus on food.  I focus on health.

Any questions?

Rinse and Repeat!