When “Cheap” is Really Expensive

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a rant when you suddenly realize that you aren't just upset this one time, you're upset because this keeps happening and you keep letting it happen?

Well, recently I found myself yelling at my internet provider's homepage. Clicking on another juicy headline only to find some inane sentence or two that had little to do with the compelling content that was promised, I suddenly realized how many times before I'd been duped this way. And the disturbing realization washed over me that I'd just spent an hour chasing these exciting headlines when I had so much that I wanted to do.

The headlines made me really hungry for more, but didn't deliver any substance. After spending an hour chasing their siren calls I felt empty, hollow, and disgusted with myself. In the middle of my rant I realized how common this is in the different areas of life and how similar it is to the way we eat. What we consume in our bodies, our time, and our mind has consequences for our life.

You see cheap calories are everywhere. They are in our news as fluffy, titillating, or even mean stories that do nothing to fortify or inspire us. But they do keep us hungry for the next episode and the next story.

Cheap calories literally dominate our food chain with processed, sugary products cleverly marketed as "more whole grain", fresh, or healthy when they are anything but that. And if you pay attention, you will notice that these foods never really satisfy your body's hunger. They just leave you wanting more.

Low priced clothing, entertainment, and the stuff that we buy in bulk because it's cheap overrun our homes and crowd out the beauty of the spaces we live in. They create clutter in our time, as well as our homes, and our budgets. The result is that they crowd out the higher quality items that would be deeply satisfying to us.

Gossip is a form of empty calories as well. Do the people you spend your time with speak with substance and leave you feeling nourished and fortified with the vitamins and minerals of informed opinions and perspectives? Or do they leave you feeling empty and hungry for something deeper?

Get rich quick and lose weight ove
ight schemes promise cheap solutions to profound yearnings. And like all cheap calories they just keep you hungry for more and consuming more.

We have excess weight, or clutter, on our bodies for the same reason that we have clutter anywhere else in our life; because we are chasing cheap calories that promise to fulfull our hunger- and never do. These cheap calories are expensive though: in time, self-esteem, money, and for our health.

Take a look inside yourself and outside. Where are you chasing cheap calories and empty promises? And more importantly what is filling you up and satisfying your real hunger? Where can you find real substance- in people, your time, your thoughts, and your food?

Because learning how to satisfy your real hunger is ultimately the key to permanent weight loss.
In Joy,
Patty