Diet Free Radiant Me™ Archives - Page 32 of 46 - Diet Free Radiant Me | Intuitive Eating | Emotional Eating

Are Negative Food Messages Causing You to Gain Weight?

It’s no question that obesity is a major concern in the United States. The rise in obese adults in the last few years has given authorities a reason to take action.

Today there are a number of campaigns out there trying to steer the public towards healthier food choices. However, some of these messages are actually backfiring. The reason? Because they’re delivering strong negative messages instead of positive ones.

Researchers are finding that negatives messages such as “sugary snacks are bad for you, don’t eat them” can actually cause you to choose these foods rather than ignore them. Interestingly, positive messages around sugary snacks that don’t illicit negative feelings about eating them have less of an impact in you choosing these foods.

One study from Arizona State University wanted to see if this theory was true. The study included 397 participants who were given a positive or negative message about sugary snacks in the form of an advertisement. Following the ad, the subjects were offered cookies on their way out.

What they found was that people who received the negative message consumed 29% more cookies than those who saw the positive message.

The researchers wanted to further explore the effects of messages on food choices. This included a negative message, a positive message and a balanced message that portrayed even-handed information about the benefits and drawbacks of consuming sugary snacks. In this study, 324 people participated.

The results of the study found that participants who were shown the negative message consumed 30% higher unhealthy snack choices compared to the group who received the positive message. The group that received the balanced message consumed 47% less unhealthy snacks. What this study ultimately shows us is that advertisements in the media have an effect on influencing how you perceive food and even the choices you make.

But let me take this a step further. The diet industry and other health gurus and experts out there who are telling you “don’t eat carbs they are bad for you (or gluten, sugar, etc… you can fill in the blank with all the negative messages you are told), are actually setting you up to crave these foods and eventually break down and overeat them. This in turn perpetuates the restriction/deprivation/dieting/feeling guilt and shame vicious cycle that so many overweight people struggle with every day of their lives.

Is this you?

Do not be fooled; be aware of the information you’re exposed to and stay alert to inaccurate information from biased sources.

For more information on becoming the expert of your own body, download my free e-book here

Your turn to take action: What negative messages have you fallen prey to that led you to overeating those foods?

Is Intuitive Eating a Weight Loss Program or Not?

More often than not, people struggling to lose weight will say yes to a new diet that hits the market. Whether the catch phrase is diet, program, system or technique, if it is something they haven’t tried, you can bet they are going to get suckered into the claims that THIS is the diet, program, system or technique that will finally help you achieve the weight loss you pray for.

So when I was having a conversation the other day with a woman who was asking me about the intuitive eating work I do with my clients, I wasn’t surprised when she asked me about the “weight loss program” that she was interested in learning more about.

I quickly stated, “Intuitive eating is not a weight loss program”.

Whoa! Wait a minute! That stopped her dead in her tracks. Her mouth dropped open. “If it is not a weight loss program, then what is it”, she asked.

I proceeded to explain to her that the intuitive eating work I do with my clients is a step-by-step process to help them transform their relationship with food, where they end the battle with food and their body and achieve great pleasure in eating once again.

You see, all the years of dieting has caused food to be your enemy, and has led you to feel guilty after eating foods that you deemed “bad” by the diet industry. On top of that, each time you eat one of these bad foods, or you overeat and feel shame and guilt, you also feel miserable about yourself and your body.

Intuitive eating puts all things back into perspective. Intuitive eating reminds you that you are in charge of your food choices and your body. You have the inner wisdom to know when you are hungry and when you are full, when you should start eating and when you should stop.

The process of learning to become an intuitive eater puts you back into the driver’s seat of deciding what foods you want to eat, how you want to dress, and helps you to love and respect yourself, and your body again.

In turn, as you learn to live life as an intuitive eater with an inner love that shows kindness to yourself, gentleness with yourself and ultimately acceptance of yourself, something wonderful happens. You start to release weight! You start to feel your pants become loser, your stride become longer, your walking pace become quicker and your breathing become easier.

Yes, you will naturally lose weight, returning to what is a “natural, healthy weight” for your body, not an ideal weight based on a calculation and a chart.

So, is intuitive eating a weight loss program?

No, it is not.

Can you release weight when living life as an intuitive eater making conscious food choices?

Yes you can!

Sounds pretty darn good to me!

Your turn to take action: Contact me if you would like to get started on your intuitive eating journey. Just click here to learn more.

Is it Possible to Eat without Food Worry?

If I told you, a chronic dieter, that you can recapture the pleasure in your eating and look forward to your meals with excitement and not fear, dread or worry, what would you say?

“No way, impossible.”

“I wish!”

“I doubt it!”

I know that this might seem unachievable to you, having battled with your weight for years, being on and off diets without long-term success. All these diets have caused food to be your enemy, which is quite unfortunate because food is meant to nourish your body.

How many times have you accepted a lunch date with your girlfriends, or dinner date with your partner only to worry for hours beforehand what you will order and if you are going to overeat? The worry about how many points the salad dressing is, how many calories are in the creamed spinach and concerned that you will leave the restaurant feeling bloated, heavy and miserable.

All this fear and worry leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. You DO overeat, you DO feel guilty and ashamed and you DO leave the date feeling bloated, heavy and miserable.

In my work with my clients, I help them to understand that through the process of learning to be an intuitive eater, you actually lose this food fear and food worry and instead leave the restaurant or dinner table feeling utmost pleasure in what you have just eaten (and you were able to focus on your wonderful dinnertime companion instead of thinking about eating too much food).

The secret is in SAVORING YOUR FOOD! This means slowing down and taking the time to enjoy all the qualities of the food you are eating including taste, texture, temperature, aroma and appearance. This sounds a lot like mindful eating, doesn’t it? Yes, it is and it is exactly what I teach my clients as they move along their intuitive eating journey.

This month is National Nutrition Month. The theme is “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right”. This theme meshes wonderfully with the message of mindful eating. Take the time to enjoy food traditions and appreciate the pleasure, great flavors and social experience that food can bring to your life.

Would you like to participate in a free 7 day challenge where you can learn how to “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right”?

This challenge is happening in my private Facebook group. It’s called:

Savor the Flavor of Eating

7 Day Free Challenge

Discover:

– What’s behind the “HOW”, “WHEN”, “WHY” and “WHERE” you eat.

– Begin your journey towards a more mindful and pleasurable eating style.

Join us for Free by clicking here. There is no opt-in required to join our group. This takes you to my private Facebook group. All you have to do is request access to join and Walla! I’ll accept you and welcome you in.

The challenge starts on March 7. You can only participate if you are part of the private Facebook group, so click here now and request access to join.

National Eating Disorder Awareness Week

This past Sunday marked the start of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Eating disorders come in many different forms, and people with an eating disorder often don’t recognize that they have one. Like other “awareness” weeks, the objective is to get the message out there.

The message that you don’t need to suffer, there is always someone there to help.

Here is some more information about different kinds of eating disorders that you may not even know about. I hope to shed some light on how to recognize an eating disorder.

The two commonly talked about eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia.

Bulimia is the act of bingeing and purging. A person with bulimia will often consume more calories in one sitting than they would in a normal day. This bingeing leads to guilt and self-shaming which turns into purging. The act of purging has a number of consequential effects that compromise your health. People with bulimia are often a healthy weight but are struggling on the inside.

Anorexia nervosa is disease that tricks your mind into seeing a distorted, often larger, version of yourself. It is the act of starvation that is a bit easier to identify because a person with anorexia nervosa typically appears thin and fragile. People with anorexia forfeit calories as well as many vitamins and minerals that are necessary to keep their body running.

While these may be two terms that you are familiar with, there are other disordered eating habits that exist. There is binge-eating disorder which is very similar to bulimia but without the purging. Binge-eating is uncontrollable, continuous eating past the point of fullness. Gymorexia, which is the act of over-exercising and pushing your body past its healthy limits. Orthorexia which is the act of obsessive “healthy eating”. And many more.

Regardless of which eating disorder is employed, those who struggle with eating disorders seek ways to change their body. It’s hard to avoid the media and the inevitable messages that come from the diet industry. But despite our cultures best efforts, it’s important to find happiness and peace in your own body.

In order to break free from the daunting stress and pressure that comes from dieting, I encourage my clients to embrace intuitive eating where they can begin to trust their inner body wisdom to guide their eating. This takes time, patience and support.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please share this information and seek help immediately. The sooner you do, the sooner you or your loved one will find peace with their body.

If I can help, please email me at Bonnie@DietFreeRadiantMe.com .

Why a Diet Food Delivery System is Making You Fatter

Breakfast Burrito, Chickpea Falafel, Shitake Glazed salmon with Basmati Brown Rice and Broccoli, Veggie Pizza….YUM!

These sound delicious, right? They are menu items I am reading off a menu that you can have delivered to your door daily for an exorbitant amount of money. But the money doesn’t deter you because this is a “diet food delivery system” that tells you exactly what to eat in the exact amounts to eat each and every day, several times per day. You have ZERO decisions to make about food.

Wow, sounds awesome!

Or, does it?

I’ll tell you, at a quick glance, sure who wouldn’t want cooked food delivered right to your doorstep which all you need to do is eat when it arrives. But let me ask you. For how long can you shell out the big bucks for this convenience? And, what happens when you want to live your life again by going out to dinner, meeting your friends for lunch, going to a party, wedding, or barbecue get-together. I could go on and on and mention all the social occasions that revolve around food, and you won’t know what to eat. Or, worse yet…

You will sit there and NOT eat and stick out like a sore thumb.
You will bring your boxed food, and again, stick out like a sore thumb.
Say, “the heck with it” and eat everything in sight because tomorrow you are going back to your delivered food. But in the meantime, you overeat, feel bloated, cranky, lethargic and guilty for having blown your diet once again

Let me ask you, why do you put yourself through this time and time again?

I know the answer. It’s easy to follow what someone gives you, or the foods someone else prepares for you.

It’s easy to not make any decisions about food.

But ultimately, this does not make you happy. This NEVER helps you reach your ultimate goal of a healthy body and a healthy life where food is just…dare I say…NORMAL!

Take a moment to digest what I am saying. I know that you are in agreement here. But I also know that you are afraid to let it go. It feels safe to you, and without it, you don’t trust yourself. This lack of trust comes from your years of dieting and following what others tell you to eat and do. If for just one moment, you can think back to your early childhood, before you had a weight problem, you trusted your body to tell you when you were hungry and when you were full. You can get back to that point. But you have to let go.

Let go of the diets, the boxed food, the food rules, the conditions you place on your food.

Open yourself up to learning to trust yourself. It will be a journey, that’s for sure. And, some days, that trust will be there more than on other days. But learn from it each and every step of the way. You can only do this if you are willing to stop obsessing about the scale right now. To stop obsessing about numbers, how much you lost, how much you gained. If you continue to watch the scale, you will continue to diet for many years to come.

But, and this is BIG…if you can trust yourself enough to put the scale away (hid it, throw it away, ask your partner to discard of it), then you are one step closer to reclaiming the trust in your body and to forever NEVER DIET AGAIN.

I am here to support you in whichever way you please. Just reach out and ask.

The Most Important Step in Losing Weight

I’m going to keep today’s blog short. It’s a quick message for you, although I realize it might not be so easy or quick for you to internalize.

I was asked a very interesting question yesterday. The question went like this:

“What is the most important thing I can do to lose weight besides changing my eating?”

I imagine what comes to your mind, besides food, would be….exercise. But that’s not what I answered her.

The very first and most important thing you need to do if you want to lose weight and never gain it back is to CHANGE YOUR MINDSET! That’s right. It has nothing to do with food.

You’ve tried changing your food and exercise before. You’ve been on multiple diets, on and off. You’ve gained weight, you’ve lost weight, and you’ve gained the weight back again.

You’ve exercised at the gym, at home, you’ve done boot camps, you hired a trainer, you tried Zumba and even spinning.

And, you are right back where you started from. Trying to lose the weight again.

This is because you have been starting at the end, not at the beginning. You have been so focused on what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat as dictated by the diet plans and what is “healthy”, that you aren’t understanding the big WHY– why you choose what you choose, when you choose it. You are stuck in a diet mentality and are afraid to let it go.

It is most important to start by changing your mindset around food, around dieting, around your body and your life. As a dieter, you must move past your dieting mentality and the idea that you need to deprive yourself and/or restrict yourself of your favorite foods in order to lose weight. You must move past the thought that you must “follow” what someone else tells you to eat because you no longer trust yourself to make those decisions.

The sooner you can do this, the sooner you can develop a healthier relationship with food and allow yourself to be guided by your inner body wisdom to know when to start eating and when to stop. However, if you say in the cycle of food worry, you will continue to think it’s the food that’s at the core of the problem, and that’s just not so.

There’s a lot more I can say on this topic. We are discussing it in our online private Facebook community.

Come and join the discussion.

Taking the Next Step on Your Intuitive Eating Journey

Anyone who works with me knows that self-care is a major part of my work. Between taking an extra few minutes for yourself each day, fueling your body with nourishing foods, and knowing when to ask others for support, there are many ways you can put your self-care in the forefront of your life.

The process of improving your self-care may be slow starting and its okay to take baby steps to help yourself. You may have started by giving yourself a few minutes to de-stress each day and eventually moved to learning how to prioritize your activities so you are doing what you enjoy most.

I have seen a lot of great turnarounds over the last year; people like yourself who have taken their self-care from the back burner to the front and center of their life. Making this shift is a major step on your intuitive eating journey.

Yet, what I am finding is that many of you are stopping there. You are not taking the process to the next level. You are seeking out free resources to help you become an intuitive eater, yet you are still spinning your wheels. You are taking 3 steps forward, 2 steps backward.

Sure, if you continue at this pace, you will eventually get to where you want to be (an intuitive eater) but why wait that long?

You can accelerate the process by partnering with the right person who will guide you using an organized proven system.

I am that person for you. And I have the system for you. It’s the Freedom to Eat Forever™ Program, a 5 step intuitive eating process that will enable you to enjoy guilt-free eating and a life free of dieting.

But you know what? You have to step up to the plate and invest in yourself and your future. It’s when you invest in yourself that you see the results. I did it, and so can you.

Check out this cool video. Then email me or Facebook message me if you want to see if it’s your time for Freedom to Eat Forever™.

Hurry. Class starts February 3, 2016. I don’t want you to be left out. Take your intuitive eating to the next level.

Don’t allow a number (on a scale) to determine your self-worth

For many people, the scale has always been used as a measure of happiness. Whether you realize it or not, the number on the scale often influences your mood and subsequent decisions each day.

The scale is one of the biggest threats to anyone trying to make peace with food and to find comfort with their own body. If you weigh yourself on the scale to see your weight loss progress, you probably connect the number shown to a value of your self-worth. And you likely have expectations of what the number on the scale means.

What am I referring to? Let’s say you really commit to making mindful, healthy choices all week and at the end of the week, you hop on the scale all excited to see a loss but instead you see your weight hasn’t changed much. It will be easy for you to say “I did all the work and for what?”

Or maybe you had a very “lax” week and you had a few late night food binges or ate past the point of comfort and when you weighed yourself that week, you lost weight! Maybe you will think “why try so hard if I can lose weight eating chocolate cake with each meal!”

Weighing yourself on the bathroom scale is a sure way to undermine all your efforts and hard work. The scale is tricky. You may not see your weight dropping as much or as quickly as you hoped for. You may feel discouraged and want to give up on your efforts or you may feel inclined to switch to extreme weight loss measures for fast gratification.

However, if you would like to make meaningful changes to improve yourself and your life, LISTEN UP! It’s time to put the scale to rest.

The scale measures your total body weight and the number can fluctuate based on hormones, when you last ate, and more. If you are relying on the scale to report to you how you are “doing” on your eating plan, you will likely be disappointed if you don’t take these other variables into consideration.

If you want to experience true results, stopping watching the scale and start listening to your BODY. That’s where the true AHA moments happen.

Do you have a “goal weight” hovering in the back of your mind? Forget about it. Shift your focus away from the number to how you FEEL and how well you are LISTENING to your body.

If you need some help with this try to focus on some of the following instead of focusing on the scale:

How do you feel when you engage in exercise each day?
Did you only decide to eat when you were physically hungry? Did you stop when you felt comfortably satisfied?
How is your energy and stamina? Your mood?
Are you comfortable and confident in your own body today?

Your turn to take action: Put away the scale and commit to not weighing yourself for one month. Focus on listening to your body and let me know how you feel.

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I Want OFF this Roller Coaster Yo Yo Diet Ride

I’m sure it feels like everyone you know is starting a new diet or workout regime this month. In the past I’m sure that even YOU have fallen into the hypnosis of the “January start a new diet” trend set by the diet industry. I want to challenge you to try a different approach to your health this year.

The truth is that every “new diet” you see is actually the same. There is always going to be the latest trend hitting the internet or newsstands. But at the end of the day, all diets have one thing in common: someone other than yourself is telling you what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat. And truth be told, they aren’t going to help you feel better about your relationship with food OR yourself.

So, let’s not kick off 2016 with a cloud of dieting thoughts over your head, okay? It’s time to jump OFF the diet roller coaster and to start listening to your inner wisdom. Who better to listen to than your own body?

Okay, so this sounds all great, right? And the new programs that are being marketed now are calling themselves “Lifestyle Programs”. But let me let you in on a little secret. Those “Lifestyle Programs” are just fancy names for diets. They say they want to help you make lifestyle changes, but they are still giving you lists of foods to eat and not to eat.

Oh, by the way, don’t even get me started on those doctors with Harvard degrees that are promoting “Detoxes”. Give me a break! Anyone is going to lose weight if they drink these concoctions for a week or a month. Then what happens after the detox is over? You know what happens….

But I divert. Let me get back on course here.

If you are riding this diet roller coaster, you’re probably unintentionally making 3 common mistakes that are preventing you from losing weight forever.

I explain these 3 biggest mistakes in my new video series. Click HERE to learn more about the mistakes you are making that keep you glued to the seat of the roller coaster, AND find out how you can get off.

Oh, and feel free to share this blog with other friends and family members who want off this roller coaster ride too!

Discover the 3 Mistakes that Keep You Glued to the Seat of the Roller Coaster HERE.