Tag Archive for: no diet mentality

Evaluate and Feel Great!

Woman with thumbs upWhen you have a diet mentality, there are a lot of things that can take away from you feeling positive about yourself.  Remember those days you didn’t follow “the plan” and you felt that you had failed?  Feeling like you needed to hide to eat something you wanted to eat because that would make it less of a disgrace to your “diet,” or feeling pressure to order food you don’t even want because the people around you know you’re dieting and you can’t let them see you “cheat.”  Not to mention the only way of evaluating yourself on a diet is by weighing yourself, which as you know, is not a true testament to success in a healthy lifestyle.

The beauty of intuitive eating is it opens up a world that wants you to feel good about yourself.  If you have been progressing on a mindful eating journey, now is a great time to step back and look at all the positive progress you have made.  I want you to evaluate where you are at in the following:

  • Have you been able to look in the mirror and start finding more things that you like about yourself?
  • Do you find yourself eating foods you previously deemed “evil” and being able to enjoy them?
  • Have you tuned out negative self-talk and started to focus on positive aspects of the lifestyle you are living?
  • Have you asked your loved ones around you for their support in this healthy journey?
  • Is your scale collecting dust in your home somewhere because it is no longer a symbol of success in your mind?
  • Are you exercising because of how it makes you feel rather than to negate calories?
  • Are you stopping when you’re full and eating when you’re hungry?

If you said yes to any of these questions then you should feel proud.  These are huge hurdles to jump over when overcoming the diet mentality and to clear any of them is a great accomplishment.  The more of these questions you can answer as “yes,” the better you will continue to feel about your healthy lifestyle and your relationship with the food you eat.

Your turn to take action:  How do you feel about your intuitive eating progress so far?

Mindful Exercise—Feel the Difference

Family bikingExercise is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle.  Unfortunately, dieters look at it as a way to negate calories and as a way to legitimize eating larger amounts of food.  Or they “punish” themselves with a difficult workout because their eating was “bad” the night before and they need to “undo it.”  Exercise bulimia is also a problem in our society, where people “purge” their calories by over-exercising to burn calories.

It is unfortunate that something as beneficial and positive as exercise can have negative connotations as well.  The problem is how you choose to look at exercise.  Many people see it as something they have to do as opposed to something they want to do.  When fitting in exercise becomes synonymous to fitting in housework, it turns into something stressful, instead of an activity that can take away stress.

Instead of adopting a diet mentality when it comes to exercise, remember all of the benefits it can bring to your health.  Physical activity fights against disease.  Whether it is to better cardiac health, protect against cancers, boost your immunity or maintain bone and joint health, the physiological effects of getting up and getting moving make a trip to the doctor much less likely.

Besides the physiological effects seen, exercise boosts your mood as well.  Feel-good hormones are secreted during exercise which can lift you up and make you feel better.  The results you achieve from consistent exercise also raise your self-esteem and make you more confident to achieve your goals.  Not to be minimized, exercise is also a lot of fun!

While I encourage my clients to fit exercise into their daily routine, it is not for the reason of weight loss.  If you continue to think of exercise as a way to burn calories, then you will dread it and have trouble motivating yourself to go out for that walk or hop on the treadmill.  Instead focus on the positive benefits noted above and you will find that you are exercising not because you have to but because it makes you feel great.

Your turn to take action: How do you view exercise?  As a part of your “diet” or part of your healthy lifestyle?