My latest Linkedin article:-

Your Body Is Unique

You are an individual like no other. You have enormous and unlimited potential. And you have a body to match that. It works hard on your behalf pumping blood and oxygen, maintaining your life, renewing cells and healing. It is truly amazing. Because each of us is individual with our particular preferences and a body that is just our own and we are not machines and we are not formulaic you must make eating choices and habits of your own that suit your body and your choices. Begin the change you want to make by acknowledging and appreciating your incredible body. Thank it for what it does for you. I wonder if you have ever done that before?

Your Body ‘Talks’ To You

I do believe we have tuned out of being in communication with our bodies. We need to tune back in to better understand when we should eat, what we should eat and then when we should stop. We override these indicators by eating anyway for many reasons but mostly because we are not acting in collaboration with our body’s messages to us. It may help to think of it like a traffic light. Green means ‘good to eat that thing at that time’, red means ‘don’t eat that food’ or it means ‘that’s enough’ and orange means ‘stop and think – do I need this?’ or, to put it more concisely ‘put that down immediately’. Orange is most likely going to lead to red. Only eat with deliberation, never by default or for any number of other tricky reasons – comfort, habit, boredom etc. Reasons all of us are familiar with.

How To Kick Off Your Day

Eating breakfast is a very habitual thing for us. Sometimes we are hungry in the morning but mostly, I suggest, we are not – we are just operating from habit. Try to focus on whether your eating is motivated by habit and then make the other choice and decide that a coffee is all you really want and need at that time, so make a great coffee and get on with your day. Unless you are burning energy at a high rate, you do not need to eat simply because it is considered eating time. Intermittent fasting (a long period of fasting overnight from dinner through to lunch the next day) will mean weight loss. Try not to eat too late at night and no snacking afterwards. That is important – after dinner you must not continue to snack – that is a habit and not a need.
If you choose to eat breakfast you may not eat processed cereals. Ultra processed foods are not good for anyone at any time, ever. My philosophy is that if you can’t tell by looking at it what it’s mother was, then it’s certainly not something you should eat. (I’m talking to you, Fruit Loops). Prefab cereals also have a good deal of added sugar, even muesli. Eat oats or porridge or a muesli that has been made by someone who cares what goes into it. Eat an egg.

Take a bit less, savour it more.
The next thing to be aware of and an important place to make change is how much you eat. It is wise to put your chosen amount of food on your plate – enough to satisfy you but no more. Then you never go back for second helpings. As soon as you have served yourself, put anything left out of sight because that puts temptation out of range. There will be plenty of time to eat the rest of that food at your next meal. If you plan to sit over your meal for a long, social time, just drink more water instead of more wine or eating more food. I have a friend lost weight simply by changing the serving size of her dinner from a large main to a more starter-sized main.

From Three to Two
Another thing that works is to eat your main meal at lunch time or in the afternoon. Or you can cut down your meals from three to two with the bonus that moving it earlier extends your overnight fast. Can you see how implementing any of these ideas will work to help you manage your weight?

Quality over Quantity
My brother gave me a book once called “How To Live a Charmed Life”. He thought it might be helpful for me as he declared he didn’t need it. In that book it was suggested that if the food on offer for a particular meal was not quality then you should just skip that meal. We often think we must eat, but do we really have to if we are not actually hungry? Nothing dire will happen if we skip a meal – or even three meals once a week. That already reduces your intake by 1/7th. You could choose to skip one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner on different days and there goes 1/7th of your intake for the week. Well done.

What works for Some

Some people love to eat regularly and in measured amounts. A friend of mine said he believed regular eating times and regular amounts allowed his system to know it is always going to be fed enough and at the usual times, so there is no need for the body to store up reserves for a potential ‘famine’. An interesting and valid perspective. He maintains his weight with such an approach.

Go Green

Try to have greens every day – especially leafy greens. Silver beet, spinach, rocket, broccoli, kale, cabbage, pak choi. Eat lots of them. Make it the biggest serving on your plate. The best dressing for this is simply sesame oil and soy. Just splash a bit of both on at the end of cooking or if you are eating them raw. Along with greens you must also focus heavily on vegetables – all colours and all kinds. Your body will love you for it. If lots of vegetables is not your usual practice then you are signalling to your body that change is afoot, it’s going to be great and your body’s going to love it.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Play a game with this. Talk to you body (perhaps silently if there are people around). Say to it “ooh we are so going to love this salad/ time out for a break from that meal/ just tasting but not taking a big serving.” Tell yourself this is a matter of respect and honour because you appreciate your body and you are going to do youR best to look after it ad honour it.” That may sound like it’s outside your usual realm of thinking but do it anyway. I am in Japan at the moment. I see this as a country that shows respect as an integral part of its philosophy. There are many people in Tokyo and I have only seen three who are overweight, so they are getting something right.

Dining Out

As a rule, order just a main course when dining out. It’s ok to sit on your glass of wine or water while others work their way through the menu. I have often observed that those who do not eat every option on a menu are usually the slimmer ones. This is a time when you can share a starter of a dessert so you are enjoying and tasting but keeping control of your intake.

The In Between Times

As a rule, unless it’s a very special occasion, no food at morning and afternoon tea time. We just don’t need it. If you have breakfast and usually a muffin at morning tea before then having lunch, that will no longer be your practice. If you do decided to partake – you must adjust at your next meal or just skip the next meal. A taste (spoonful) of anything else is enough to satisfy curiosity and curb any feeling of missing out.
No more sweet drinks (they contain 10-12 teaspoons of sugar). Get a nice fizzy water instead and drink it from a beautiful glass. Innumerable numbers of people used to take sugar in their tea and coffee and now, never do. It’s a habit that can easily be changed and once it’s changed – you lose the taste or desire for added sugar.
No more snacks – chippies, nuts, candy, late night ice cream. Just tell yourself that not only do you not need it you no longer want it. I’m sorry to say “no” so often but not saying no has got you to a place you are not happy in, so it’s time for change – and it’s change you are choosing.

Let Them Eat cake.

The serving must be half the size you would serve to others as it’s about training yourself to eat less while enjoying everything. Dessert, occasionally, is fine but not as a habitual practice. By way of full disclosure, I eat cake and sometimes for breakfast. There, I’ve said and I feel better. Because food and cooking is my thing, I like to taste everything but I don’t have to have a full serving.

Take A Note

Keep a food diary. This makes you think twice before indulging as you have to own up to it by writing it down :). Also, very often we are not actually aware of what we are eating so making a note helps keep track and also works as a deterrent where necessary.

The Nay Sayers

If you have wicked people around you telling you to eat more and to continue with the habits that you have now chosen to leave in your past, then you must look them squarely in the eye and tell them you are making some important changes in your life for your health, wellbeing and longevity and that as your good friend or family person, you need to enlist their support in staying strong. Even go so far as to ask them to be your wing man if others put pressure on you to eat more than you know is right for you. That will put them on your team. If you need to go further say meaningfully that you have to do it ‘for your health…’ suggesting that is an actual requirement. That is a completely true statement.

What Now?

Now you must begin. Pick one of the above strategies and implement it. Then pick another and another. Success lies in this process. Remember to tell yourself you have a wonderful body and you and your body are collaborating in a new and incredibly effective way. Make sure your self talk is supportive of what you want now and not how things have been. Say to yourself every day that you are managing your weight easily and effectively by making your own choices about how you do that. Tell yourself you are living happily ever after at your Ideal Weight. This is your life and your story so only you can decide what it’s going to be.