Get out of the kitchen fast

Do you ever find yourself at the end of a good healthy meal, no longer hungry but wanting to eat something else?

Here is one idea to help you break the habit of eating more than you need.

GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Go do something that entices your mind in a different, but encompassing way.

If your mind is refusing to leave, then take a small amount of what you are craving, put the rest away, make a deal with yourself that you can eat it when you get to another room and then leave the kitchen and eat it just before you get involved in something else that occupies your mind and feeds your soul.

P.S. This works best if you do as much as you can of your kitchen clean-up before you sit down to eat your meal.

Try it and let me know how it works for you, or what challenges you run into.

What Makes You Beautiful?

This week has been one for reflecting on beauty.

On Sunday, I settled into the overstuffed chair in the living room to read from the book, Beauty: Rediscovering the True Sources of Compassion, Serenity, and Hope by John O’Donohue, that a beloved client had gifted me with. From it I quote – “When we say from our heart to someone: ‘You are beautiful’, it is more than a statement or platitude. It is recognition and invocation of the dignity, grandeur and grace of their spirit.”

At the gathering at my sister’s in the evening, I was in a touching conversation with a friend including a discussion about her beauty. This woman radiates the loveliness of a compassionate and kind spirit. And she is blessed with the genetics of a classic Italian beauty with high cheekbones and almond eyes. Yet still she cannot accept herself as beautiful and talked about wanting to get her nose fixed.

A study commissioned by Unilever, the company behind the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty reviewed the attitudes of 3200 women from 10 countries regarding beauty.

Only 2% identified themselves as beautiful.

How do we define beauty, culturally and individually? Is it measured by the ideas of perfection that are portrayed by inauthentic images portrayed in advertising, movies and television? To some degree, this seems to be the case. In this study, more than two-thirds (68%) of women strongly agree that “the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can’t ever
achieve.” Women over 30 tend to believe this more strongly than women 18 to 29.

I love this Campaign for Real Beauty that Unilever has initiated. It is brilliant marketing but it is also using its power to wield an important message. Maybe it will be the beginning of a paradigm shift that needs to happen in the media.

Media aside, we all need to do what we can on an individual level to create beauty within and without. In the same study mentioned above, when asked what makes them feel beautiful, 92% of women stated ‘being loved’, 89% said “doing something that you really love to do” and 82% claimed that “taking good care of themselves” made them feel beautiful.
Fortunately, whatever we were given genetically, we have control over these aspects of our lives.

I invite you to ask yourself the same question: What makes you feel beautiful?

Whatever it is – do more of it. Our world needs more of the ‘grandeur and grace of your spirit’ and you need to feel more of your own beauty.

Survive vs. Thrive

In the work that I do with clients, we spend chunks of time identifying and re-establishing their beliefs. The entire process is beyond the bounds of this blog, but I want to tempt the palate of your mind by inviting you to pay attention to your perceptions. Perceptions offer you insight into what you believe and give you a vantage point for changing them.

Why bother you might ask?

Beliefs, and the perceptions that belie them, are what drive the thoughts, feeling and actions that ultimately determine the outcome of our lives.

Recognizing that we have choice in how we perceive empowers us into possibilities that we may not have considered before.

There are endless perspectives through which you can view yourself, others or a situation.

However, I have categorized perspectives as being ones that either help you just survive or a position that helps you thrive. Lets take a look at the difference between survive and thrive.

Survive is about endurance and perseverance under extreme circumstances. It is a good thing to have skills that allow us to survive but as a state of mind it is not an ideal way to live our daily life. It leaves us with a sense of having little or no choice.

Thrive on the other hand is about prospering, flourishing. A healthy and light body and mind depend on perspectives that thrive. In thrive we have an abundance of choice.

Consider what it is like to look through the lens of survive vs. thrive.

Viewing Thru the Lens of Survive vs. Thru the Lens of Thrive
Blame vs. Self-responsibility
Defensive vs. Receptive
Opinionated vs. Open
Arrogant vs. Humble
Fearful vs. Trusting
Resistant vs. Willing
Perfection vs. Excellence
Self-doubt vs. Confidence
Hatred vs. Forgiveness
Rigid vs. Flexible
Anxious vs. Calm

Shifting perspectives is an experiment in viewing differently.
Identify the survival perspective that you are viewing a situation through. Then try viewing it through the lens of its opposite, or another thrive perspective.
Look at it strictly as an experiment in viewing differently. What do you experience?

To Supplement or Not to Supplement (that is the question).

Have you ever wondered with all the supplements offered on the market with claims of weight loss, if any of them really work?

In a nutshell, no supplement is going to work over the long term if you ignore the quality and quantity of food that you are eating. So start with your food intake. Eat consistently (every 2 ½ to 4 hours) throughout the day, including breakfast. Get plenty of protein (lean chicken, fish, eggs, beans, some dairy and lean meat), vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds and purified water to support the biochemical needs of your body and brain.

Then, when you are on your way to practicing healthy eating, you could greatly benefit by the support of some of the scientifically-researched nutritional supplements. (I say practicing because it takes time to change our dietary lifestyle, so even if you are moving in the right direction you could get added benefit from supplements.)

Weight loss is connected to the balancing of hormones and neurotransmitters. As we age, all of the important metabolism-regulating hormones diminish, making it harder to maintain our ideal weight. Finding your ideal food and supplement regimen is dependent on your specific biochemistry, and is unique to each person. However there are three supplements that have are on the market that I wanted to share with you. I have gotten good results with them. All have been generally been proven safe (read the cautions with each one) and can benefit a cross-section of the population. However if you have any questions about whether you would personally benefit from one or more of them, feel free to send me an email or give me a call.

1/ High Alpha Whey Protein – I find that almost all of the people that struggle with their weight have some issue with blood sugar regulation and brain neurochemicals. This is a concern for many health issues, including the storage of fat and extreme cravings. Eating frequently and including protein in each of your 4 – 6 meals, is the first and most dramatic step to stabilizing these issues. Due to busy lives, most people benefit by having a quick protein snack in the form of a drink that can be prepared in a shaker cup. I recommend Brad King’s Ultimate Protein or another high-alpha whey, I scoop per serving (12.5 grams of protein). It is the most absorbable whey and has glycomacropeptides that will support the production of the hormone CCK which promotes a feeling of satiety. Caution: Although whey protein is 95% lactose-free, be cautious if you are highly sensitive to dairy.

2/ Hoodia Gordonii – Hoodia is the now-famous (after exposure on 60 minutes and Oprah) cactus from South Africa that has been used for generations by the bushmen of the Kalahari to suppress their appetite on long treks. Research estimates Hoodia to be up to 100,000 times as potent as glucose (blood sugar) in sending a signal to the brain that the body is in a state of satiety. It also contains a host of trace and major minerals which contribute to tonifying and energizing the body. The key is to get an authentic variety of Hoodia as there are a lot of imitations on the market. I like the American company NOW. www.nowfoods.com and the Canadian company Flora. www.florahealth.com Both companies can provide the certification to its authentic South African origins. Recommended dose is anywhere from 400 to 3200 mg. per day. Start at a lower dose and work up to where you get the most benefit. Best to take it 1 hour before eating. Make sure that you drink lots of water in the day because it is also a thirst suppressant. Caution: Do not expect this to do anything more than suppress your appetite to help in reducing intake. If you continue to eat large amounts due to psychological attachment to food, it will not work. Also, it can take up to 2 weeks to notice its effects.

3/ 7-Keto DHEA – 7-Keto is a metabolite of the youth-supporting, metabolism-inducing hormone DHEA. It raises the activity of the active thyroid hormone T3, which raises your heat producing, fat-burning capacity. In a study of 30 participants, all doing the same amount of exercise and eating the same number of calories, the 7-Keto group lost substantially more weight and percentage body fat (average 6.34 lbs and 1.8% body fat) in 8 weeks than the placebo group. It is meant to boost a sluggish metabolism when used in conjunction with good eating and exercise. It increases the efficacy of good eating and exercise by 3X. Recommended dose is 100 mg. 2X per day away from food. NOW has a good 7-Keto. Caution: Although purported to be safe, we do not yet know the long-term effects of 7-Keto, so it would be best to discontinue use periodically and only use when in need of a metabolic boost. 7-Keto has been shown to increase heart palpitations and headaches in some individuals. As in any supplement, start slowly and pay attention to its effects on your body.

Is Your Environment Supporting You?

When I was 24, I wasn’t happy with my work, my relationships (or lack of them), nor my body. I decided it was time for change. So I took off to Africa, completely immersing myself in a different environment for 6 months. That knocked me out of my old patterns. When I returned from Africa, I made a decision to get out of the restaurant business, to study photography, and I moved from Vancouver to Victoria.

My environment changed dramatically and so did how I felt about myself. As a result, I lost the extra 25 lbs. I had been carrying since puberty. Granted, I was young, childless, with few responsibilities beyond taking care of myself. Still, this part of my story makes a clear point.

When you are looking to create big change in your life, you have to consider whether your environment is supporting you to live that change. Ignoring this aspect in your game of health and weight is a recipe for failure.

Look at your environment in relation to the physical space that you live and work in, the food and the objects that are in that space, the people that you are in relationship with, the way that you think and feel when you are in your space.

What works to support the goals that you have?
What needs to change?

Your environment reflects who you have been.
What will it need to look like for you to become who you want to be?