What is Your Underlying Commitment to Yourself?

For the past four years you've been saying you want to lose twenty pounds, but here you are today not having met that objective.  So you wake up and decide today is the day.  You tell yourself, "I can do it! I'm going to make healthy choices."  You begin the morning by eating a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of whole wheat bread and leave for work feeling empowered.  Then, after eating a beautiful green salad for lunch, you have an urge for something sweet and decide to lean over and take a couple of bites of your best friend's cheesecake.  It's so good that you just can't stop, and like any good friend you help her finish it off.  Then, after a long day, you go for your favorite---a hamburger and fries---for dinner.  You rationalize your choice by saying that you had time only to stop for fast food because you worked late and by God you deserve that burger anyway.  For the moment you feel better.  Guilt eludes you and your rationalization keeps you from looking around to see if there is a deeper cause for this choice. Your excuse for your consistent behavior stops you from unearthing the source of your self-sabotage.  But then while you're getting ready for bed you begin to feel bad about the choices you made.  The burger and fries no longer feel so good, and that moment of bliss turns on you quickly, becoming a source of shame, robbing you of your goals and desires and feeding your resignation.  You go to sleep swearing that tomorrow will be a new day.  You wake up wanting to eat well and stick to your diet, but sometime around 4p.m., after having a healthy breakfast and lunch, you succumb once again to that urge for a little snack.  Then you're off again and the cycle repeats itself.  This is a day in the life of an underlying commitment.  

Is this bad?  Only if you hate yourself for eating badly that day.  It's a disempowering choice if you beat yourself up over it.  It's the most common human struggle.  When you are making choices that lead you further from your goal rather than closer to it, you know that you are operating on top of an underlying commitment.

If this example is familiar to you, I would ask you to become aware of what commitment is present for you when you are eating foods that are not supporting you to reach your goal.  You can do this by asking yourself, "What am I committed to in this moment?"  The only way to stop this battle is to acknowledge what is going on.

(Parts of this story are an excerpt from the book The Right Questions by Debbie Ford)

Bad Fats Be Gone!

Oils and Fats to Avoid:

Vegetable Oils and their fats should be avoided completely. There are much healthier alternatives and there is no reason or need to consume these types of fats. The main culprits to watch out for are:

• Canola Oil
• Corn Oil
• Soybean Oil
• “Vegetable” oil
• Peanut Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Safflower Oil
• Cottonseed Oil
• Margarine
• Shortening
• I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter (You better believe it!)
• Smart Balance (Not a Smart idea!)
• Any fake butter or vegetable oils products

There is no nutritional need for these oils and healthy fats can be found in higher amounts and better ratios in many other types of fats. This article has a great breakdown of the Polyunsaturated, Monounsaturated and Saturated content in the above oils.

While it is simple enough to avoid these oils themselves, the tougher challenge is avoiding all the foods they are in. Check out practically any processed food, and you will find at least one of these ingredients, often labeled as “partially hydrogenated corn/soybean/etc oil” or “May contain soybean or canola oil.” These foods in particular often contain one of the above unhealthy oils:

• Salad Dressings
• Store Bought Condiments
• Mayo
• Chips
• Artificial Cheeses
• Store bought nuts and snacks
• Cookies
• Crackers
• Snack Foods
• Sauces
• Practically anything sold in the middle aisles of the store

Excerpt from www.wellnessmama.com

Good Fat!

Oils and Fats to Use Freely:

There are so many wonderful and healthy fats that are beneficial to the body, so there is no reason to consume the unhealthy ones above. Fats that can be consumed freely for optimal health are:

• Coconut Oil- Filled with Medium Chain Fatty Acids and Lauric Acid, coconut oil is an all star of the saturated fats. Since the fat composition in cells in the body is largely saturated fat, it is important to get enough of it from healthy sources. Coconut oil does not oxidize easily at high temperatures or go rancid easily, making it a good choice for cooking and baking. It also makes a great natural moisturizer and can be substituted for butter.
• Meats – Meat, especially red meat, has gotten a bad rap, and unfortunately, the animals we eat have been as mistreated nutritionally as we have. Meats like grassfed beef and free range chicken has a very different nutritional profile than their feedlot counterparts. Grassfed and free range meats have higher nutrient levels, healthy forms of saturated fats and even omega-3s. If possible, consume these forms of meat.
• Butter- This one food is usually the one people are happiest to start using again. Butter tastes delicious, and pastured grassfed butter is an excellent source of fat soluble vitamins, healthy saturated fat and other nutrients. In contains a compound that Weston A. Price called Activator X, known to improve nutrient absorption and have preventative benefits against disease.
• Organic Cream- also a good source of healthy saturated fat, organic heavy cream is essentially liquid butter, and is great served whipped on top of fruit, in desserts or in cream based recipes.
• Olive Oil- High in monounsaturated fats and low in polyunsaturated fats, olive oil is a great oil for salad dressings, homemade mayo,  and cold recipes. It shouldn’t be used for cooking since its high monounsaturated fat content makes it susceptible to oxidation at high temperatures.
• Palm Oil- Has a high saturated fat content and is also heat stable. Some sources claim that palm oil production often encroaches on the natural habitat of some endangered animals, though sustainable versions can be found. If in doubt, just use coconut oil.
• Avocados and Avocado Oil- A good source of monounsaturated fats and great on salads or in guacamole. Avocado oil is milk tasting and can be used in salad dressings.
• Fish- Fish are naturally high in Omega-3 fatty acids and can help improve the Omega-3/Omega-6 balance in the body. Look for sustainable wild caught sources, and stick to small fish like tuna, sardines, salmon, etc to minimize mercury.
• Eggs- Another all-star in the healthy fats community, eggs are loaded with vitamins, healthy fats and necessary cholesterol. Consume them daily from free range sources.

Excerpt from www.wellnessmama.com

Why Diets Don't Work!

You can’t turn on the TV, drive down the road or go to a party without being confronted with America’s hottest obsession: weight. Diets are a billion-dollar industry; companies spend millions and millions luring you to try the latest diet (low carb, high protein, low fat, no fat, you name it) with promises that this will (finally!) be the solution—your shortcut to a thinner body. Advertising efforts also deeply affect our children, who develop distorted body images and are often on diets as early as nine or 10 years of age.  

Our culture touts diet pills, celebrity workouts, convenience foods and trendy diets to help us achieve our desired weight, but these quick-fix solutions have backfired. America’s populace has reached its highest weight in history. About half of Americans are overweight; one-third are obese. Diets steer us away from our common sense and dip deeply into our pocketbooks while eliciting few, if any, lasting results. Why?

• Diets don’t work because each person is unique, with different needs based on gender, age, ancestry and lifestyle; how could one diet be right for everyone?

• Diets don’t work because they are extreme solutions. As in physics, if a pendulum swings to one extreme, it has to swing equally to the other. A diet might work for a short amount of time, but research shows that almost all diets result in a 10-pound gain once off the diet. 

• Diets don’t work because they are too restrictive. People who fail on diet plans are not flawed or weak. Diets by nature require discipline and restriction at levels that are unsustainable by a healthy human body.

• Most people are disconnected from why they gain weight and see diet as the only culprit. For example, ignoring or discounting emotions is often the first thing to cause weight imbalances. 

Excerpt from Integrative Nutrition.

Conscious Eating

When you eat with cause, intention and purpose, there are no televisions in front of you.  You are not behind the wheel of a car.  You are not driving.  You are not eating within 1 hour of bedtime.

Eating from cause is simply eating, chewing, tasting and digesting properly.  You want to achieve the maximum number of chews in the bites that you take.  How many can you get?  Make it a fun counting game with kids at your next meal.

1.  Chew your food.
2.  How many chews can you get?
3.  Put your fork down after each bite.
4.  Eat 2-3 hours before bedtime.
5.  Eat with no distractions.

Remember the old saying: “If you eat standing up, death looks over your shoulder.”

Why You Should Attend SBAC's FREE Health & Wellness Expo this Wednesday, May 8th!

Come to the first annual SBAC's FREE Health and Wellness Expo at The Meadows Club - Wednesday, May 8, 2013 from 11AM - 7PM.

See ways to:

• improve your health within and outside of work
• improve productivity
• seminars on the latest studies in health
• informational booths
• vendor raffles

Be among the first 150 people in the door to receive your free Corporate Wellness Gift Bag.

Also, be sure to visit my booth (Life Elemental) for a chance to win a 60-minute massage by Gayle Stephens or a $50 Whole Foods gift card.  Winners will be announced by email.

Presented by the Small Business Advocacy Council, this expo is meant for anyone interested in health and wellness, creating a healthy work environment, and those who hold HR roles or are business owners.

Click here to read more.