I’m willing to bet that you already know that reducing certain foods in your diet would be good for your health, your confidence and your quality of life.
I’m willing to bet that you’ve tried to eliminate or reduce sugar, cookies, cakes, donuts, processed snack foods like chips, crackers, sugary drinks like pop and treats like candy or chocolate and despite your best intentions and multiple attempts you’ve failed to make the permanent changes to your diet that you’d like to make.
I’m willing to bet you’ve been struggling with it for years, or maybe even your entire life and you’re frustrated, depressed and sick of trying.
I’m also willing to bet that you’re starting to think there’s something seriously wrong with you, something is screwy in your brain or maybe you’re wondering if it’s possible that you’re addicted to sugar or specific foods.
I want you to know that you are NOT alone, you are NOT weak and there IS a solution to this problem.
To fully embrace this solution and have it work for you need to understand some very important things about human nature and human psychology that SABOTAGE our BEST intentions, OVERRIDE our logic and GET in our WAY when we try to do something that’s good for us. You also need to know that even the strongest WILLPOWER is NO MATCH for them.
What I’m talking about is our subconscious programming and our brain chemistry.
I struggled with food issues for as long as I can remember.
In grade school I’d come home at the end of the day and eat a BOWL of peanut butter slathered in corn syrup while I sat and watched TV…and then I’d eat ANOTHER one! It was nothing to wash that down with half a dozen homemade cookies (or store-bought, it really didn’t matter), then two hours later eat a full dinner followed by desert.
It’s no wonder I developed a weight problem early in life. I could eat and eat sweets and my “full meter” just never worked.
I started to develop a “fat consciousness” around the age of 9. I compared myself to my friends, especially my best friend, a naturally lean and tall beauty that made me feel like an ogre.
In high school the dieting started. For the next 20 years I struggled with food addiction, stress eating, poor body image and low self-esteem.
I made valiant efforts to find solutions. In my twenties I became a holistic nutritionist, thinking that I just needed to know more about food to solve my food-related problems. I counted calories, fat grams, protein grams and carbohydrate grams-even counting the fiber in those carb foods and learning about “good” vs “bad” carbs. I did the cabbage soup diet, I did a six day water fast, I did juice fasts, I tried Atkins, Metabolic Typing, The Zone, The NO-Grain diet and every other diet I came across that promised “this was the one” to finally help me “fix” my metabolism and allow me to shed those extra 20-30 pounds and solve my food problems for good. But every time I tried to eliminate processed sugars and carbs I would be “good” for a few days, maybe a week at the most and then the cravings would just take over my brain, and I would put something “off limits” in my mouth. It didn’t matter if it was a stale Peak Frean sugar cookie (I don’t even like those), if it was sweet, I was eating it. And then I’d be consumed by guilt and berate myself for being weak-willed. It was a horrible, viscous cycle that left me feeling like a completely incompetent FAILURE.
Can you relate? All that knowledge, all that money and time spent learning about nutrition and I couldn’t get myself to DO what I KNEW would be good for me. How depressing. I felt like a total fraud.
But, I persevered.
I knew there was a solution, I just had to find it.
Since the food approach wasn’t working, I turned my attention to the other “proven” method of reducing fat. Exercise.
I’d been exercising fairly regularly since high school, but much like the nutrition end of things, I would be “good” for a while and stick to my routine and then something would happen and I’d fall off the exercise wagon for a few weeks or even a month at a time.
I decided I needed to step it up when it came to exercise and I became a personal trainer. In the years that followed I explored every type of exercise I could to see what the magical formula was for “my body”. Have you ever been there?
I ran, I did yoga, I did Pilates, I strength-trained (although not as well as I do now), I tried to train like a fitness competitor since it worked so well for them. I got up at 6am to do early-morning cardio on an empty stomach. I did HIIT (high-intensity interval training). None of it got me where I wanted to be. Sure I got more fit, but I was still miserable when I compared myself to other women that seemed to be getting great results, yet they were doing ALL THE SAME STUFF!
I was pounding my head against a wall, trying and trying, learning and expanding my knowledge but not really getting what I wanted..which more than anything was PEACE and SELF-LOVE ..although I didn’t know it at the time.
Then finally…after 30 years of looking for solutions I found the thing that would ultimately pull all the pieces together for me and help me become the person I always wanted to be.
That thing was EFT. EFT is a technique that involves tapping with the fingers on acupuncture meridians to clear subconscious beliefs, negative emotions and can even be helpful with day to day stresses.
When I discovered this technique that had the power to re-wire my subconscious beliefs I was off and running. Things didn’t change immediately mind you, but after a few years of using and mastering this incredible tool, the me I am today began to emerge.
I can’t say it was like a switch flipped, it was more like hundreds of little switches were flipped, one at a time. At the same time, my knowledge of the human brain and psychology began to evolve and the lights just gradually came on.
Food is still a challenge for me. If I’ve had a bad day, not enough sleep, if someone rejected me, if I’m lonely or if my hormones or brain chemistry are fluctuating a bit too much I can easily find myself rooting through the cupboards or “innocently” going to the Bulk Barn for some candied ginger. It’s something I’ve learned about myself and it’s now something I can successfully manage.
Do I look like a fitness competitor? NO.
Am I completely happy with my body? NO.
But I’m fit, I workout consistently 3-5 times per week and my fitness continues to improve despite being in my 40’s.
I eat clean 80-90% of the time, meaning I generally avoid sugar, grains, dairy, processed foods and industrial seed oils. My diet consists of whole, mostly organic, unprocessed foods. Within that framework, I’ve learned how to enjoy healthy indulgences without guilt and with minimal impact on my health so I’m not forsaking the pleasure that food provides.
I feel good about my body most of the time. Sure, I still compare myself to other women once in a while, but I no longer base my worthiness on the appearance of my thighs, or hit emotional low points because I have cellulite. I’ve learned how to love my body, flaws and all.
And you can do the same.
You can get off the diet roller coaster.
You CAN be HEALTHY and FIT and feel AMAZING, but I’m here to tell you that willpower is NOT the answer. In fact, food and exercise is only a VERY SMALL part of the equation when it comes to making permanent changes to your health and your life. When you get your MIND right, the rest just FALLS into place!
I share more details about how to do just that in my presentation on Why We CRAVE and what we can do about it!
I’d love it if you’ll join me as I share:
- what I’ve learned about brain chemistry, stress eating and food addiction that will COMPLETELY change the way you view your struggles with food and empower you with a mindset geared to SOLUTION
- three PROVEN mind/body techniques you can learn in 5 minutes to DRASTICALLY reduce food cravings and actually change your brain chemistry (and no, I’m not talking about deep breathing)
- how to uncover the subconscious roots of self-sabotage so you can UPROOT them and stop them from TRUMPING your willpower.
Register here and watch for a link in your inbox!