Let’s Go On A Weight Loss Holiday

Did you know that it’s International No Diet Day on 6th May? There’s a day for everything isn’t there? International No Diet Day is our favourite. INDD (as it’s known) aims to celebrate body acceptance and raise awareness about the dangers of dieting.

Although I feel quite militant about getting women to ditch the diets, marching down the street burning diet books isn’t my thing. A few years ago we celebrated with a Tea Party. Together with 200 Beyond Chocolaters from across the land we ate cake and celebrated being free from the hopelessness of dieting. We celebrated freedom from food and weight obsession; freedom from binging, comfort eating, emotional eating, restriction and deprivation.

If the idea of ditching the diets feels a bit ‘cold turkey’ then here’s an idea: go on a weight loss holiday. You don’t have to wait until No Diet Day, start today!

So what’s a weight loss holiday? Going on a weight loss holiday means taking a break from weight loss. It means deciding, right now, that until May 7th you are putting the scales away and giving priority to exploring your relationship with food and your body instead. It makes sense if you think about it: weight is the symptom. It is the result of overeating and overeating is the inevitable consequence of dieting.

When we stop dieting and focusing on the weight and start taking investing in having a healthy, balanced relationship with food, something magic happens. We feel happy and in control about what we eat and how we look and we stop overeating. And when we stop overeating, we lose weight.

It’s funny how it happens , I’ve experienced it first hand and seen it happen to many women. Somehow, when you stop focusing all your energy on trying to lose weight – when you let go of it – it lets go of you.

Literally.




Source:- http://www.beyondchocolate.co.uk/lets-go-on-a-weight-loss-holiday/

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

Image courtesy of Glane23

On the evening of April 8, 1999, a long line of Town Cars and taxis pulled up to the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury and discharged 11 men who controlled America’s largest food companies. Nestlé was in attendance, as were Kraft and Nabisco, General Mills and Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Mars. Rivals any other day, the C.E.O.’s and company presidents had come together for a rare, private meeting. On the agenda was one item: the emerging obesity epidemic and how to deal with it. While the atmosphere was cordial, the men assembled were hardly friends. Their stature was defined by their skill in fighting one another for what they called “stomach share” — the amount of digestive space that any one company’s brand can grab from the competition.

James Behnke, a 55-year-old executive at Pillsbury, greeted the men as they arrived. He was anxious but also hopeful about the plan that he and a few other food-company executives had devised to engage the C.E.O.’s on America’s growing weight problem. “We were very concerned, and rightfully so, that obesity was becoming a major issue,” Behnke recalled. “People were starting to talk about sugar taxes, and there was a lot of pressure on food companies.” Getting the company chiefs in the same room to talk about anything, much less a sensitive issue like this, was a tricky business, so Behnke and his fellow organizers had scripted the meeting carefully, honing the message to its barest essentials. “C.E.O.’s in the food industry are typically not technical guys, and they’re uncomfortable going to meetings where technical people talk in technical terms about technical things,” Behnke said. “They don’t want to be embarrassed. They don’t want to make commitments. They want to maintain their aloofness and autonomy.”

A chemist by training with a doctoral degree in food science, Behnke became Pillsbury’s chief technical officer in 1979 and was instrumental in creating a long line of hit products, including microwaveable popcorn. He deeply admired Pillsbury but in recent years had grown troubled by pictures of obese children suffering from diabetes and the earliest signs of hypertension and heart disease. In the months leading up to the C.E.O. meeting, he was engaged in conversation with a group of food-science experts who were painting an increasingly grim picture of the public’s ability to cope with the industry’s formulations — from the body’s fragile controls on overeating to the hidden power of some processed foods to make people feel hungrier still. It was time, he and a handful of others felt, to warn the C.E.O.’s that their companies may have gone too far in creating and marketing products that posed the greatest health concerns.

TIRED OF DIETING - Changes You Can Make Today!

Any one else tired of being on a "diet".  A forever uphill battle of denying yourself things that you want or, even, need. Tired of running yourself into the ground with workouts or counting calories for a living? When I host 30 day challenges every month, the number one complaint of challengers is that they are TIRED of trying, and tired of the experience, and tired of not being SUCCESSFUL.


I have just finished reading an enlightening book written by Dr. Jeffrey S. Bland called The Disease Delusion. It takes an in depth look at what is causing many of the chronic illnesses that plague us and offers some simplified steps to creating a longer, healthier life. As always, it comes off so simply: eat better foods and get involved in more activities. Sorry for the wording below...but it was just too funny:







Dr. Bland highlights the idea of inflammatory- or allergy- inducing foods in his book, which really hit home for me due to my recent diagnosis with an intolerance to casein (dairy), and my son's diagnosis with Celiac's Disease (gluten). I also found it interesting that the inflammation that these foods create in our bodies are often the culprits and instigators of many of the autoimmune diseases we see and are having diagnosed within ourselves and loved-ones daily. Dr. Bland breaks it down to a cellular level and explain exactly where the problems start based on a combination of what genes we are dealt AND what our environment adds into the mix.


Throughout the book, Bland breaks down our bodies' functions into seven different processes. He spends a chapter on each process, including a thorough questionnaire that allows for you to check yourself for imbalances and patterns in your own health, and see if you can't make some changes and tweaks to get ahead of any problems. His book is NOT intended to replace general or functional medical care, but to provide you with knowledge so that you can be an advocate for your own health and really understand what is happening in your body.





For example, chapter 4 dealt with Assimilation and Elimination; basically how foods enter and leave your body and what that process looks like for you. You take the questionnaire and then read up on what some of the questions could mean in relation to your health. Later on in the book, he offers solutions to support problems or issues with assimilation and/or elimination and helps his readers understand what better info to bring to a discussion with their medical provider. Reading through his ideas really helped drive my conversations with my doctor when we had our follow up meeting and I feel a greater understanding of the functions and processes my body is undergoing each and every day.


Towards the end of the book, I felt grateful for a very simple breakdown of diet and exercise, that I believed would help anyone that is on the path to wellness. He created a list of "shoulds" and "should nots" both in regards to diet and exercise. I wanted to share them with you today. A while back, I blogged about how to take 3 SIMPLE STEPS towards greater health and wellness for your family. I think this is great confirmation that we are headed in the right direction in the Smith household:





One of my favorite resources for finding out more about anti-inflammation diets/foods is Dr. Andrew Weil. He has created an amazing Food Pyramid that breaks down an average week of foods that create a healthy balance without increasing inflammation. You may need to tweak some: for example Dr. Weil allows for small amounts of dairy and grains (including whole wheat) which doesn't fit into our family plan, but he is one of my favorite experts to learn from. Notice how small some of the servings are that we eat daily. He recommends 1-2 servings of dairy or cheeses per WEEK. I was eating about 3 servings per day when I found out that I was intolerant.







Are you an exercise abuser? Do you beat yourself into a pulp every day trying to lose weight? 20 minutes a day is the minimum he recommends. I, personally, like 30 minutes at least each day. A nice, brisk walk where your heart rate is elevated should do the trick for someone who is just getting into fitness, or even bike riding could be perfect. Most of my workout options fit into that category, and ALL of them are a decent fit for my ability level and fitness needs. Once you have established the routine and conditioning level, it would be great to add in some strength work too. As we get older, we NEED to be strong. Yoga practices, pilates workouts, and other low impact strength moves can be very powerful as well.


I am excited an empowered by the knowledge I gained after reading through this book. By no means am I suggesting that each of you run out and grab it off the shelf. I don't pretend that it is a page turner or competes with the Hunger Games trilogy. But, for me, in the place I am in my life and with my family, I can't think of a better way to use my time than to educate and move myself forward both in my health and happiness. I spend each day working on my body, spirit, mind and family and growing in each of those areas.


Give us a holler if you need some direction or support in this transition period. That is exactly what we specialize in during our 30 day challenges. Taking time in a supported and safe space where you can get the info you need to find success with both motivation and accountability.


Source:- http://www.fourfitsisters.com/2014/06/tired-of-dieting-changes-you-can-make.html