A fresh new start

It’s been a while… a very long while.

I weighed myself yesterday. I was 16 stone 9. And I wasn’t surprised. I’ve been gaining steadily right through my relapse. The biggest relapse of my life. I’ve been off work for 5 months now. Five months of struggle, struggle to get better, to eat well, to keep positive. And I say struggle, because a lot of the time I haven’t managed those things.

During this time, I’ve turned my back on dieting. My naturopath suggested a book called ‘Intuitive eating’. It reinforced the messages that I first recieved from Pete, of listening to my body, heeding my hunger signals, and, crucially, stopping eating when full. That book started a subtle shift in my focus, away from weightwatchers and traditional diets, towards a much more, yes, intuitive process of listening to the innate, but supressed, wisdom of my body.

In spite of this, I still found it incredibly difficult to stop eating when full, and to avoid eating when not hungry. At a certain point of despair, I posted on my ME support group forum, and a few friends suggested I try the Paul McKenna method.

Paul’s principles run along the same lines as those of Pete and the authors of Intuitive Eating. But five weeks in, I was, yet again, knowing the principles, but not really adhering to them. I was aware that I was full, but carried on eating. And I was aware that I started eating quite often BEFORE I was hungry.

So… I decided that as of today, I would start sharing my journey again. I am taking advantage of a slight improvement in my energy levels, which seems to be SO key in my life. Without the energy, my brain doesn’t want to function, my body is tired, and changing my habits is the last thing on my mind.

So here I am. Feel free to join me in the ride.

Motivation for change

I think anyone thinking about enhancing their health or losing weight should take a look at Pete Cohen’s  Ultimate anti-health plan It’s a powerful way of thinking about the consequences of your actions and spurring you on to change.

We all know that food can affect us, but it’s so easy to know the facts- and yet not make the changes we need to make in order to feel healthier.

When you have a chronic health problem, it seems even harder sometimes to find the energy and motivation to change. When you are feeling completely and utterly ill, the last thing on your mind is ‘deprivation’. And I guess that’s where the problem arises.

We think of eating healthily as ‘deprivation’. I mean, how mixed-up is that? Somewhere, we have been wired to see the chocolate, cakes, ice-cream and crisps as some kind of ‘treat’ that we ‘deserve’. And to see the ‘healthy’ foods as the boring and bland option.

What if you had, say, a chocolate bar and an apple sitting in front of you. And you could have them both? Would you eat the chocolate first and leave the apple behind? Until the apple got all wrinkly and you had to throw it away?

So how can we turn things round to realising that making nutritious, wholesome food choices is in fact the biggest treat we can ever award ourselves? How can we start to believe that our bodies deserve to be fueled with energy- and vitality-giving foods?

How can we start to make the choices that will not only help us lose weight but also feel better health-wise?

Is cold-turkey the answer? Anyone who has ever tried a restrictive diet will tell you that it doesnt work like that- you end up craving the very thing you are denying yourself- until you give in and eat that ‘forbidden’ food like there’s no tomorrow.

But what if it wasn’t forbidden?

What if you saw that apple and chocolate, and you asked yourself, ‘do I want to feel energised and cleansed (apple) or wired and ravenous (chocolate)?’

And what if you could have some chocolate without feeling hungry the second the last crumb was gone? how could you do that? How about making a rule that for every piece of chocolate you eat, you had to have the apple FIRST?

Then you’d feel fuller, you might not even fancy the chocolate afterwards (who am I kidding?), and you would feel satisfied after having much less chocolate.

Worth a try?

Here goes

13st5
Stayed the same this week
1st2lbs lost
3st5lbs to go

I am really pleased- after two weeks of totally rubbish health and not even tracking my food intake, I’ve managed to maintain my weight.

I’m still feeling quite low so my priority right now is my health and wellbeing. I’ve come up with the following action plan:

 

Being good to yourself

It’s time to move away from ‘dieting’ and move towards being better to yourself. Its time to nurture your body and mind in a supportive and gentle way.

You will be happier, healthier, and more energised if you focus on supporting your health, rather than depriving yourself by being on a ‘diet’.

Your priorities are:

To fuel your body with health-affirming, energising and anti-illness foods.

• To hydrate your body with cool, pure water.

• To cleanse your body from toxins and energy-drainers.

• To increase the amount of oxygen reaching every cell in your body, by deep breathing and getting outside regularly.

• To nurture your mind and emotions with herbs and essential oils.

• To take regular relaxation breaks.

Your tools are:

Looking after your mind

• Listening to the relaxation and transformation mp3 track*.

• Using essential oils

• Drinking herb teas (chamomile and peppermint)

• Shutting up the duck*

• Turning the PC off at 6.30pm

• Positive thinking and being kind to self

Eating and drinking

• Eating your meals and snacks slowly.

• Eating when you’re hungry.

• Cutting out sugar and stimulants.

• Cutting out junk food

• Cutting out artificial additives

• Eating natural foods.

• Drinking up to 2 litres of water a day.

• 7 fruit+ veg/day

• No eating in bed

• 1 portion of nuts or seeds each day

• grains and beans every day

Exercise and activity

• Being as active as you possibly can

• Going to the park

• Stretching

Looking after your body

• Having a rest each afternoon

• Going to bed on time

• Deep breathing in bed

• Clean teeth at night

• Dry skin brushing

 Of which,

• no junk food
• eat 7 portions of fruit and veg a day
• turn PC off at 6.30pm
• eat only when hungry
• eat natural

are my 5 gentle starting points.

Here goes!

*I am following Pete Cohen’s excellent online weight loss programme; those of you familiar with him will recognise the ‘duck‘ and the idea of using ‘tools’ to aid weight loss. More on Pete in future posts.