Posts Tagged ‘self;improvement’

How many times have you tried a new diet program hoping to lose weight fast only to end up in frustration and failure? Did you know that over 90% of people actually gain weight within 6 months of dieting! Here are the top 10 reasons why:

1. Diets focus all your attention on food and eating, which is what you actually want to stop thinking about. What you focus on expands so focusing on food is counterproductive when you want to lose weight.

2. Diets create stress and stress creates a compulsion to eat.

3. Diets fail to address the real problems: your self-esteem and your reliance on food to change your emotions.

4. Dieting can result in mood swings and depression which make it harder for you to lose weight. Depression can actually lead to weight gain.

5. Diets put you in starvation mode. When you severely restrict your food intake it signals your body that food is scarce. Your body is designed to protect you against the possibility starvation by storing fat when food becomes unavailable.

6. Diets lower your metabolism. When you limit your caloric intake, your metabolism slows down and burns less calories. Dieting actually makes your body more efficient at conserving calories and storing them up as fat.

7. Diets judge their success by the number of pounds lost instead by the true objectives: increased energy, feeling good about yourself, and looking good in your clothes again.

8. Diets are temporary. When you reach your goal on a diet you stop and then return your your normal eating habits so the weight eventually comes back.

9. Diet sodas increase your appetite. They contain phosphoric acid which increase your appetite and leaches calcium from your bones. They may also contain aspartame which drains your energy, your strength, and your stamina.

10. Diets change your short term eating habits without changing your long term mindset about food. Your thoughts create your actions, so if you still have the same thoughts and feelings about food eventually you will return to the same eating behaviors. To create long term, permanent changes in your body you must start with changes in your mind and feelings about the food.

What we view in our everyday world, we come to view as normal. Take on a new perspective and all that changes. This is why travel used to be considered an essential part of education.

I have been performing my hypnosis show on a cruise ship in Europe this past week. It has been awesome (honestly, I can hardly believe I get paid to do this stuff!). Ive seen many wonders of the ancient world (the Colosseum in Rome, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, the ruins of Pompeii). And everywhere I go there is sumptuous local food to sample (gelato in Monaco, grilled octopus in Greece, Pizza in Naples). And everything tastes different than it does in America.

Yes, the familiar foods even tastes different. Pizza tastes different, The crusts are thinner and the sauces less sweet. There are no fast food restaurants that I have seen. Instead they have little shops open to the street that have freshly prepared sandwiches and baguettes behind glass. Not burgers and fries. In general, the foods are served in smaller portions, are less sugary, and are more commonly made from locally grown ingredients. They are NOT of full of additives and preservatives and chemicals. They are simple, fresh, and local. Perhaps its no small coincidence that I have seen very few overweight Europeans in these areas.

Because they go outside and walk more has something to do with this as well. You dont see everyone staring at TVs or laptop screens or plugged into cell phones and iPods. They really are walking around and talking with one another. But I digress.

Many places Ive been to in the world have a leaner, fitter population than the United States. I notice this every time Im in Australia and New Zealand too. I think were slowly killing ourselves in the States with the foods we eat and the lifestyles we lead. Personally Id rather pay a bit more for my food and only eat fresh food than consume all the chemicals that most of our prepackaged foods now contain.

One hundred twenty million Americans are now considered obese (according to the governments own statistics). Thats a third of our population. Many of these people will develop other disease as a result of this condition, like diabetes, heart disease, and certain kinds of cancer. This is not the case in Europe and most of the rest of the world. Were doing this to ourselves. Its time to stop this madness and do something about it.

* Eliminate junk food just because its cheap or its fast or its convenient.

* Dont eat simply because its on your plate and you feel obligated to finish it.

* Eat food because your body needs it to replenish itself and restore its energy.

* Learn to reconnect your mind with your body.

* Know what its like to feel really satisfied after a meal instead of stuffed full.

* Know what a real tomato tastes like.

* Once again retake control of your life.

As you view your surrounding, what you see isnt normal, its the sad result of the disconnection of our minds from our bodies and our bodies from the land on which we live. Weve been trained to think that following diets and counting calories are the roadmaps to fitness and good health. Its much simpler than that.

If you’d visit the Greek Isles or Cote dAzur in France and youd see that you can be absolutely perfectly satisfied with a freshly baked baguette, some olive oil, herbs, and tomatoes picked from from the garden out back, with perhaps a a small bit of protein and a single glass of red wine. Consume slowly with a beautiful companion and enjoy while overlooking the sea on a sun drenched afternoon.

No rules. Just living life exactly as it was meant to be lived. Simple, satisfying, and free.

An excerpt from the best-seller The Weight Loss Hypnosis Solution (August, 2008 from New You Publishing).