Attitude Awareness

Is food intake and fitness part of Attitude Awareness? Of course! Everything about your life is affected by what you tell yourself conce
ing what you're experiencing. You consciously and subconsciously program your computer/brain by the thoughts you think. You feel more control over your life when you purposely think the thoughts you choose to think. An interesting fact is that your thoughts quickly turn into beliefs, and that makes changing thoughts more challenging once that happens.

With summer already here, could you use a change in attitude to shed a few pounds and trim your body a bit? Would you like to feel better, have more energy, and to look better as you get into your warm weather clothes?

Would you like just a bit of slack in your slacks? If you think you're going to go on a "diet" you'll hate it and even sabotage it. Diets feel restrictive, they feel like a punishment, and you'll feel deprived if you put yourself on a diet. You'll have more success with slimming your body if you don't label your decision. Think of it as an adventure in seeing how great you can look within a few weeks of just modifying your habits. This is where attitude enters your consciousness.

Here are a few suggestions that I have found helpful, and I would love to hear yours too. First, please don't make work out of this, and don't be hard on yourself. This is your idea to actually do it, so have fun with it. Make a game out of it! Stay off of the bathroom scales! You'll drive yourself crazy, if you are constantly weighing yourself. Let your clothes and the way they fit tell you how you're progressing, and be patient with yourself. Also, keep your decision to shed a few pounds, to yourself! This is a gift from you to you, and if you willingly take responsibility for the healthier packaging of the wonderful person living inside of you, you won't need to engage your Ego with an announcement of your intent.

Quietly decide to eliminate a couple of items from your daily intake of food, like ice cream or bread or French Fries. You decide what you might want to avoid, for a few weeks. Or, decide to have these items two times a week instead of every day, perhaps. If you feel sorely tempted to eat one of these items, in spite of your good intentions, you might want to eat half of it and save the other half to freeze for a delayed treat. Maybe you could be satisfied with just two bites of it, put your fork down, and wait a few minutes to rethink if you want two more bites or you could put it away and out of sight, Tell yourself, "I could have the whole thing if I wanted it; but just for now, I only want two bites." Never say to yourself that you can't have a certain food. Of course, you can have anything you want; but just for this one time, you might choose not to have it. Maybe you'll have it tomorrow, if you still want it. When tomorrow comes, maybe you'll want to say, "Oh, I think I'll delay that food just one more day."

You might decide that you will eat everything that the family eats, deny yourself nothing; but just eat smaller portions than you usually do, and no second helpings. From the first bite of food you put into your mouth, chew it very well and keep it in your mouth a bit longer than usual before swallowing it to really experience the flavor, texture, and taste sensation of that bite. At the same time, tell yourself that you are really getting full. Remind yourself gently with each bite, how full you are. You might take a nice, long, slow breath between each bite and savor and appreciate the food fully, completely.

Place your food on a luncheon size plate, instead of a large dinner plate, so your eyes see a plate filled with food. As you look at your plate and appreciate what you are about to enjoy, visually select two bites of food that you are not going to eat. You are going to leave them on your plate, and discard them at the end of your meal. If this seems wasteful to you, keep them separated and clean, and offer them to a family member. Or you can save the two bites for a treat, two or three hours later. Remember to have fun with this!

Use a luncheon or dessert size fork instead of a dinner fork, and take modest portions of food on the fork. If you have soup (very filling with the liquid that takes up space in your stomach), use a teaspoon instead of a soupspoon. It will take longer for you to eat and give time for your brain to adjust the mechanism that tells you when you're satisfied. Of course, you've been telling yourself how full you are from your first bite. Your marvelous brain/computer doesn't question what you tell it, it just obeys.

It is up to you to practice the positive techniques that will give you mastery over your food intake. Instead of food being the boss of you, you will soon be the boss of what you choose to eat, when you eat it, and how you eat it. It won't take long for you to have a good handle on your eating habits, and it's fun to start to feel some extra room in your clothes.

Don't skip a meal or go more than five hours between meals (during waking hours), thinking that it is good thing to do. Your metabolism needs to be kept revved and burning calories for you. If you have long intervals between eating, your digestive track thinks that you are in a state of starvation, and will slow down to burn fewer calories, in order to ration out the food in your body and sustain your life. (If you feel chilled, it is a good clue that your metabolism has slowed and is not burning calories efficiently.)

Low fat blender drinks can be very helpful to shrink your stomach to a smaller size, so that in a few weeks, you will feel comfortably full with less food. The liquid drink is contained in your body in a way that doesn't stretch the stomach, as solid food does with similar amounts of nourishment. I enjoy a blender drink for breakfast, but make sure to linger over it, as much as your time permits. You might even finish it in the car or later at work.

There are powdered mixes in the health food stores that are based on soy formulas, high protein formulas, and a good one with a spirulina base. I like to vary the drink by adding crushed ice to the bottom of the blender, a scoop of the powder from one of the mixes, maybe a little plain no fat yogurt to make it thicker and creamier, some fresh fruit or a little fruit juice, skim milk or powdered milk, distilled water, and then blend it until the ice cubes frappe the drink. Avoid making it high in sugar and aim instead for the protein content.

You can also vary your blender drink by the flavor of the powder i.e. vanilla, lemon, chocolate, and others. Some left over (refrigerated) coffee and no fat cocoa mix makes a delicious mocha flavor. A scoop of Millers bran or oat bran makes a high fiber drink. Enjoy creating your own taste treat in this liquid form. Be sure to keep it liquid or you defeat your purpose.

Clean water is an important component in eating well. So, please consider setting a measured amount of water (perhaps one half gallon) on the kitchen counter and take a big drink of it every time you walk through the kitchen. Your goal is to empty the jug by 5 pm, so your sleep will be undisturbed. If that isn't convenient for you, put the water in a couple of bottles and take them with you to drink in the car and while at work. A very thin slice of lemon added to the water will make it a delightfully special beverage. Again, you need to play a creative game with yourself while you're changing your outlook and attitude about fueling your body. Someone said, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." So, if you want a different result, I guess you want to do something different, right?

You might want to park your car a little farther from the building or the store, than you usually do. You might decide to slowly increase the number of times you take the stairs, instead of the elevator or the escalator. Remember to breathe on each step to avoid being breathless by the time you reach the top. Many people forget to breathe and thus do not compensate for the exertion they experience. Adding some mild exercise, such as walking, will help speed your metabolism to burn extra fat. I hope these suggestions are helpful to you. An important step is to leave those two bites on your plate at each meal, and have fun with your new eating attitude! nn### nnn