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Attention Yo-Yo Dieters: Please READ THIS before going on another diet this year!
As promised, here are the first two steps to help you lose weight this year without dieting!
If you are like millions of Americans, losing weight tops your list of New Year’s Resolutions and chances are, you are thinking about starting some kind of diet. For years, losing weight was a top resolution of mine and January was when I would start my diet. You know the drill: “I won’t eat any sugar, I will stop drinking wine, I will stop eating all bread products, etc, etc. Does any of this sound familiar?
And I would lose weight. In fact, I am probably one of the only people who think this but DIETS DO WORK! Yes, you read that right. Think about it: a diet is designed to help you lose weight quickly, and most of the time, you do. However, the keeping the weight off part is where diets fall short. And year after year, I would typically gain the weight back and find myself making the same resolution again come December 31st. It took me a long time to figure out what Albert Einstein meant when he said so brilliantly, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Looking back, I realize that I NEEDED diets to give me direction because I simply did not trust myself to make good food decisions. The reality was I felt that I had to restrict bread because I did not trust myself to stop eating it once I started. But, the thing is, I love bread and when I wasn’t eating it I felt like I was on a diet and that was always a temporary situation in my mind. I mean, I never actually thought I would have to live my whole life without bread (oh, the horror!), I just thought I would “get” to eat it once I reached the “magic weight” (you know, the weight where all of your problems go away in a poof!) and became “enlightened” enough to stop eating bread after one or two slices.
When I sadly realized that food enlightenment wasn’t going to come knocking on my front door, I had a choice to make: I could ride the diet rollercoaster for the rest of my life or I could learn to trust myself to make healthy food decisions. This meant opening my life up to all foods I loved, not counting calories or restricting my foods. It took a leap of faith (what if I gained 100 pounds?!!) but in learning to trust myself, I was able to lose weight without dieting and keep it off for good. Since then, I have been on a mission to change the way people lose weight. I really feel the key to getting off the yo-yo dieting rollercoaster is learning to trust yourself to eat the foods that your whole body wants (not just your taste buds) and listening to your body when it tells you when it is hungry or has had enough.
Instead of resolving to just lose weight this year, why not resolve to lose weight without dieting, keep it off for good and NEVER go on another diet again? The process of losing weight without dieting isn’t a simple formula and each person has their own process but the following steps worked for me:
~Focus on what you GET to eat instead of what you cannot eat: Add more healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables to your diet and fill up on those foods first. You shouldn’t have to give up anything to lose weight when the majority of your diet is healthy, unprocessed foods. With no more off limit foods, you can begin to change the notion that foods are either Good or Bad, and in doing so, remove the idea that you have “broken your diet” when you eat an off-limit food.
And speaking of all the great stuff you get to eat:
~Plan your meals: Take 30-60 minutes each week and plan out your meals and snacks for the week. Think about it: if you had a plan for the week and there was healthy food waiting for you in the refrigerator, wouldn’t it be SO much easier to eat well and nourish yourself? A plan will make it easier to make healthy food decisions, and the more healthy decisions you make, the better you feel and the more empowered you are to keep making those healthy food decisions.
In a few days, I will send you 2 more ideas to help you lose weight this year without dieting. Until then, Eat Well, Be Well and LOVE Every Bite! ~Jennifer
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing holiday filled with friends, family and lots of yummy food. I had A LOT of yummy food and I don’t know about you, but I actually looked forward to getting back to my healthy lifestyle after a week (or more!) of indulgence. As many of you know, I spent years of my life dieting and setting new years resolutions to lose weight, and the Monday after New Years, I would begrudgingly start my diet.
So, I got to thinking: why is it that I now look forward to my healthy lifestyle instead of dreading it like I did for so many years? And I came up with a few reasons:
1. My healthy eating program doesn’t feel anything like the diets I used to subject myself to. The way I eat now makes me feel really great, alive and energetic.
2. I really LOVE the healthy food I eat. No Kidding! Why? I took the time necessary to determine what flavors and textures in foods appeal to me and I make sure my healthy food always tastes good. I mean, I am a girl who loves food and instead of trying to ignore that fact, I embraced it 100%. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the taste of decadent foods, the only change from my yo-yo dieting ‘daze’ is that I now also love healthy foods and eat them more often!
3. I am intimately involved with my food (ooh, la la)! I feel up my produce when I am selecting it, I love gazing at the colors of the beans in the bulk foods section and cutting vegetables feels meditative (well, some of the time!). Food used to be so clinical to me, it was all about calorie content, fat grams and portion sizes and even though I thought about food all the time, I was totally disconnected from it. This relationship with food is so much more joyous!
3. I think the most important difference is that my eating program is no longer goal driven. I used to eat just to “get” something–like a thinner body, better athletic performance, etc. While it is great to have goals, I found that when I didn’t achieve them (or when I did, I wasn’t as happy as I thought I would be), I would revert right back to my old eating habits. By taking the focus off of a goal and putting it on eating to feel good NOW, I am able to make healthier choices which will ultimately lead to the goal anyway. Plus, it is SO much more fun this way!
How about you? Are you starting back on some type of eating program this week ? If so, are you excited and empowered about it? If not, what needs to change to make it exciting? Over the next few weeks, I will be focusing these posts on eating healthier and achieving the health and vitality you deserve in 2010 without feeling like you are on a diet.
Here’s to making 2010 our healthiest and happiest year yet!
~Jennifer
Speaking of healthy AND yummy, enjoy this Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili, one of my all time faves!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 anaheim pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sweet potatoes (1 1/2 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 28-can whole plum tomatoes
1 cup water or vegetable stock
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained
1 dried chipotle pepper (smoked jalepeno), seeded and chopped (easiest to do with scissors)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves, washed and dried
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and add the onion, pepper, garlic, and sweet potato chunks. Saute, stirring often, until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a wooden spoon. Add water or stock, beans, chipotle, cumin, and chili powder, bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Stir in cilantro and serve.
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