One day a couple years ago I found myself indulging in a second, oh alright, let’s be honest, my third helping of a decadent chocolate cappuccino cheesecake with an Oreo cookie crumb crust that I had made. (Are you drooling yet? I wouldn’t blame you if you are because it really is rich and incredibly delicious.) There wasn’t anything unusual about this behavior for me. I admit, I love, love, love food especially desserts! I didn’t just indulge, I usually gorged. Don’t believe me? Ask my husband. He will freely tell you how voracious my appetite is. Eating was an obsession for me. Well, as I said, there wasn’t anything unusual about that behavior for me but what made that specific occasion unusual was that, as I was shoveling huge forkfuls of cheesecake into my mouth, I found myself simultaneously thinking about how much I really despised what I looked like and thinking that I should go on a diet again. What?! Really?! At that moment, I was insane! Yep, I said insane. Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. One of the definitions in the online dictionary for insane is, “extreme foolishness or irrationality”. That is exactly what I was doing and thinking like in that moment.
I have a love affair of sorts with great food. I relish it. I crave it. I even enrolled in the culinary arts program at a college and the Rouxbe online cooking school so that I could become an “expert” in preparing mouth-watering, over-the-top food! Need confirmation on how much food played a central role in my life? Ask my family and friends but be prepared for the stories that will inevitably follow. I even take immense pleasure in making and giving away food. It is a bit of a passion for me. That may seem insane to you but even if it doesn’t, I’m certain that you can see the insanity in the idea that I thought I could keep eating like I was yet somehow magically lose weight. Why did I think this? Well, “it is elementary my dear Watson, elementary I say”, after all (tongue in cheek), I was taking the newest and latest diet pill that promised weight loss no matter what you ate. Let me tell you, I have been down all those roads before. There was the pill that made my heart race and the pill that claimed that fat, evil at that time, would cling to the product so that it would pass right through you. Diets? Yeah, I think I’ve tried them all – the Atkins, South Beach, Paleo, Primal and the list is endless. Really it is! I have the library to prove it. Oh, and let’s not forget exercise. I thought that if I exercised a lot that I could keep eating the foods I loved so much. This resulted in more books and a lot of gym and fitness memberships that never paid for themselves because I couldn’t stick to them. I wasted a lot of money on all that stuff. Don’t even get me started on all the content on the Internet that I was certain that was what was really causing my problems with weight and health issues! I tried it all at one time or another throughout the years and nothing, I mean nothing, ever worked for long. Yes, I would lose weight but then gain it all back with more to spare. Down, up, down, up…you get the picture – INSANITY!!! Worse were all the health issues that resulted in expensive drugs, treatments and emergency trips to the doctors or hospital.
I felt ashamed of what I looked like, I hated myself for lack of control and embarrassed that I couldn’t seem to stay motivated for long. I had resigned myself to living out the rest of my days being overweight and lacking energy, thinking that this is just what happens as one gets older. And let me tell you, I felt old beyond my years. What changed? A series of events challenged my mindset and stirred in me a desire to make becoming and staying healthy a priority. One was when I held my first grand baby right after she was born and I thought about how I wanted to have the energy to someday keep up with her. Another was when I watched my mother as she was resigned to hospice and it stirred in me a desire for a better quality of life. Yet another is when a new friend told me that my shoulder pain (rotator cuff syndrome) could go away without surgery just by changing my diet and it did indeed go away just as he said it would when I changed what I was eating. I suddenly “really got” the fact that food changes everything!
However, I still had my obsession with great tasting food and seemingly inability to stick with something for too long. It was a struggle of will power yet again. This time though, I didn’t turn to things such as diets, diet pills, etc because I had learned that those didn’t work for me. Rather, I started searching deep inside of me, asking myself what was really behind why I did the things I did. Why did I love food so much? Why did I feel the need to not only fill myself but to stuff myself like a Thanksgiving turkey or to constantly eat even when I wasn’t really hungry? This diligent questioning of my behaviors made me face some really stark, ugly, deep seated beliefs that I had harbored for years – fears, loneliness, inadequacies, etc. – not at all easy stuff to deal with. Once I faced these, I made decisions to change my beliefs and soon healthy behaviors became more of the norm for me, the excess weight melted off and health problems began disappearing. Instead of feeling old, I feel younger now than I have for decades and I am excited about what is yet to come. Don’t get me wrong. I still love great tasting food but now I look for ways to make food that is just as delicious while also being healthy and nourishing to my body. I am confident now that these changes are a new lifestyle that is here to stay. This time they are lasting and healthy changes because this time, I stopped doing the same thing over and over again and I got different results – exciting lasting results!
Are you where I once was? Are you, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”? Do you think irrationally regarding food and things related to your health? Are you in a state of insanity? If so, I challenge you to stop! The answer you so desperately seek is not in a special diet or in some pill or in hours of exercise that you don’t even enjoy. The answer for what it will take to create permanent and lasting change lies inside of YOU, hidden in your thoughts and beliefs, waiting for you to discover, evaluate and change them to create a new healthy you. Together we can explore what really matters to you and what truly motivates you. Are you ready? Are you really ready to take the step towards stopping the cycle of insanity and give you healthy and lasting changes? If you can shout a declarative, “Yes”, contact me and I can help guide you through the process. Your health, and your sanity, awaits!
I felt ashamed of what I looked like, I hated myself for lack of control and embarrassed that I couldn’t seem to stay motivated for long. I had resigned myself to living out the rest of my days being overweight and lacking energy, thinking that this is just what happens as one gets older. And let me tell you, I felt old beyond my years. What changed? A series of events challenged my mindset and stirred in me a desire to make becoming and staying healthy a priority. One was when I held my first grand baby right after she was born and I thought about how I wanted to have the energy to someday keep up with her. Another was when I watched my mother as she was resigned to hospice and it stirred in me a desire for a better quality of life. Yet another is when a new friend told me that my shoulder pain (rotator cuff syndrome) could go away without surgery just by changing my diet and it did indeed go away just as he said it would when I changed what I was eating. I suddenly “really got” the fact that food changes everything!
However, I still had my obsession with great tasting food and seemingly inability to stick with something for too long. It was a struggle of will power yet again. This time though, I didn’t turn to things such as diets, diet pills, etc because I had learned that those didn’t work for me. Rather, I started searching deep inside of me, asking myself what was really behind why I did the things I did. Why did I love food so much? Why did I feel the need to not only fill myself but to stuff myself like a Thanksgiving turkey or to constantly eat even when I wasn’t really hungry? This diligent questioning of my behaviors made me face some really stark, ugly, deep seated beliefs that I had harbored for years – fears, loneliness, inadequacies, etc. – not at all easy stuff to deal with. Once I faced these, I made decisions to change my beliefs and soon healthy behaviors became more of the norm for me, the excess weight melted off and health problems began disappearing. Instead of feeling old, I feel younger now than I have for decades and I am excited about what is yet to come. Don’t get me wrong. I still love great tasting food but now I look for ways to make food that is just as delicious while also being healthy and nourishing to my body. I am confident now that these changes are a new lifestyle that is here to stay. This time they are lasting and healthy changes because this time, I stopped doing the same thing over and over again and I got different results – exciting lasting results!
Are you where I once was? Are you, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”? Do you think irrationally regarding food and things related to your health? Are you in a state of insanity? If so, I challenge you to stop! The answer you so desperately seek is not in a special diet or in some pill or in hours of exercise that you don’t even enjoy. The answer for what it will take to create permanent and lasting change lies inside of YOU, hidden in your thoughts and beliefs, waiting for you to discover, evaluate and change them to create a new healthy you. Together we can explore what really matters to you and what truly motivates you. Are you ready? Are you really ready to take the step towards stopping the cycle of insanity and give you healthy and lasting changes? If you can shout a declarative, “Yes”, contact me and I can help guide you through the process. Your health, and your sanity, awaits!
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