October 7, 2009

Affirmation: I love myself; therefore, I choose to be aware of what I put into my mouth and how it makes me feel. (Affirmation from "Meditations to Heal Your Life" by Louise L. Hay)


One of my goals for this project is to lose weight, gain energy and feel better about myself. At the beginning I stated I would not go on a “diet” and this still remains true. I will not be counting every carbohydrate or calorie or exercising for hours on end. However, I still need some parameters, otherwise I feel like I am not doing anything.

First, let’s take a look back at my weight gain/loss history. When I was little I was a stick figure who could eat anything she wanted. I never worried about weight or the food I put into my mouth. I ate when I was hungry and I wanted my food to taste good. As I got older and my love for magazines kicked in I gained a few pounds. While I will always be a magazine junkie, I have noticed that every issue of almost every woman’s magazine contains a story about how you can lose weight. My natural ability to keep myself thin was sent off track by the message that I “should” be worried about my weight. Then I had two babies and weight really became an issue for me. I lost the weight from my first child in about a year (although it was distributed differently than before). I am close, but I still have not lost all the baby weight from my second child, and she is about to turn two. At this point I don’t consider it baby weight. It is simply weight that I must make an effort to shed.

Dieting in this country is a billion dollar industry. There are a gazillion books, diet programs, and even television shows aimed at helping people overcome what has now become a national epidemic. What’s interesting to me is that none of these really seem to work. They might work for some, or for awhile, but if they were a cure to obesity everyone would use them and it would no longer be a problem. The bottom line is that diets don’t work. We must instead examine our relationship with food. The purpose of food is to give us health and energy. Food should also be pleasurable – something we can enjoy in the company of others. Instead, it often becomes a reward, a way to mask depression, or something to do when we are bored.

My 4 year old son has a healthy relationship with food. When he is hungry he eats, he likes a wide variety of foods and will enjoy a sweet treat, but only if he is physically hungry. There has been several times when I have packed his lunch for preschool and included a cookie or treat and he will come home having only eaten half or sometimes none of it at all. I ask him, “Why didn’t you eat your cookie?” and he responds, “I wasn’t hungry anymore.” How simple is that?

Ok, back to the parameters. These are my new rules:

• Drink lots of water (a glass upon waking, a glass before bed and a glass before each meal).

• Eat only when physically hungry. If it is dinner time and I am not hungry I can still sit at the table and enjoy a non-caloric beverage and the company of my family.

• Listen to my body – what kind of food am I craving? (sometimes it is a sweet treat but often I am needing protein)

• Stop reading any articles related to weight loss.

• Engage in some form of exercise on a daily basis – walking is great!

• Leave guilt behind and eat for pleasure and energy.

My children seem to be my greatest teachers in life. But I want to be a good role model for them and one of the greatest lessons I can teach them is how to have a healthy relationship with food. I want them to see me enjoying my food, abstaining when I am not hungry and never focusing on dieting. I want food to be something pleasurable, not something they feel guilty about. In order to change my relationship with food I must love myself and my children are my biggest inspiration. What inspires you?