Nutrition & Exercise
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Your Diet Isn’t Doing It!
Put Your Health and Happiness First and other Positive Outcomes will Follow
July 2017
By Myrna Haskell
So, you’ve tried just about every diet known to man. You’ve counted calories, weighed in - literally, tried that over-the-counter, “sure thing” remedy, bought gazillions of exercise gimmicks (it’s now part of your yearly budget), but you still find that you can’t get to that weight that makes you feel healthy and good about yourself.
What’s wrong?
YOU’RE DIETING!
Ellie Savoy is a Board Certified Holistic Health Coach and the author of the #1 international bestselling book Stop Dieting Start Living: 5 Foundations for Your Health to Permanently Lose Weight Without Dieting, Starvation or Suffering in Silence (DFH PRESS), which is excerpted in this issue. She is also the founder of the “Stop Dieting Start Living Weight Loss System” which aims to transform the way people look at their body, health and life. Ellie talked with me about her philosophy for gaining control of eating by choosing to live a healthy lifestyle and by facing what’s really going on in your life, emotionally, environmentally and psychologically. We discussed Chapter 5 titled “What’s Really Weighing You Down?”
I asked Ellie about emotional turmoil and its link to overeating. “Food is not the issue, it’s the symptom,” she states. “Large events that cause stress are typically triggers, such as moving, divorce, loss of a loved one, a relationship that’s not working, a job you feel unhappy with, etc.” However, it can also be a feeling of being stuck. “I would eat my lunch by 10 am because I was bored. I was a boredom eater. Instead of making changes, I would stuff it down,” she recalls.
“We start to ask questions about why we’re here and what our life has really been about,” she points out. “Sometimes people are unhappy in a relationship but don’t know what the alternative looks like, so they’re afraid to change. Perhaps someone is unhappy with their financial situation, so they just purchase something on a credit card to feel better. However, this ultimately makes you feel bad, so the cycle begins,” she continues.
Ellie works with clients to help them find out what’s really going on and to learn to be truly honest with themselves. Honesty is key. “People will say, ‘I don’t eat out very often,’ but they do things automatically that don’t even register as eating out. For instance, that fancy, sweet coffee they pick up every day on the way to work might not get counted.”
Clutter is also a big indicator that something is going on. “You start to let things go, such as a huge project that isn’t getting done or mail that is piling up and left unopened. If it’s bothering you, then it’s a problem,” she says. “Everything is energy, and thoughts are forms of energy. So, if it’s bothering you, it’s affecting your health and, in turn, might trigger I’m-just-going-to-go-eat-a-cookie to feel better.” Ellie says that it’s essential to practice mindfulness about how you feel throughout the day and how your body is evolving. If we’re self-responsible in one area, we become more responsible in another.
She also emphasizes that food is about pleasure. “Shift away from good and bad (or cheat) days. To me, that’s someone who cleansed so they can cheat. Instead, it’s about finding a healthier path that doesn’t feel like a chore. What can be more wonderful than being healthy? If we feel guilty during or after eating, we’ve created a different experience – one where our inner chatter scolds, ‘I’ll never lose weight!’”
She clarifies that it’s not a one-size fits all situation. You have to listen to your body. “It’s about self-awareness and responsibility.”
I went back to Chapter 5 after our conversation and found that Ellie sums things up perfectly toward the end. “None of us typically want to go poking around in our lives to uncover stuff we would rather pretend didn’t exist. Yet, until we stop avoiding the truth about our reality, nothing will change, and we will keep doing what we’ve always done and keep getting the same results we always have.”
So, you’ve tried just about every diet known to man. You’ve counted calories, weighed in - literally, tried that over-the-counter, “sure thing” remedy, bought gazillions of exercise gimmicks (it’s now part of your yearly budget), but you still find that you can’t get to that weight that makes you feel healthy and good about yourself.
What’s wrong?
YOU’RE DIETING!
Ellie Savoy is a Board Certified Holistic Health Coach and the author of the #1 international bestselling book Stop Dieting Start Living: 5 Foundations for Your Health to Permanently Lose Weight Without Dieting, Starvation or Suffering in Silence (DFH PRESS), which is excerpted in this issue. She is also the founder of the “Stop Dieting Start Living Weight Loss System” which aims to transform the way people look at their body, health and life. Ellie talked with me about her philosophy for gaining control of eating by choosing to live a healthy lifestyle and by facing what’s really going on in your life, emotionally, environmentally and psychologically. We discussed Chapter 5 titled “What’s Really Weighing You Down?”
I asked Ellie about emotional turmoil and its link to overeating. “Food is not the issue, it’s the symptom,” she states. “Large events that cause stress are typically triggers, such as moving, divorce, loss of a loved one, a relationship that’s not working, a job you feel unhappy with, etc.” However, it can also be a feeling of being stuck. “I would eat my lunch by 10 am because I was bored. I was a boredom eater. Instead of making changes, I would stuff it down,” she recalls.
“We start to ask questions about why we’re here and what our life has really been about,” she points out. “Sometimes people are unhappy in a relationship but don’t know what the alternative looks like, so they’re afraid to change. Perhaps someone is unhappy with their financial situation, so they just purchase something on a credit card to feel better. However, this ultimately makes you feel bad, so the cycle begins,” she continues.
Ellie works with clients to help them find out what’s really going on and to learn to be truly honest with themselves. Honesty is key. “People will say, ‘I don’t eat out very often,’ but they do things automatically that don’t even register as eating out. For instance, that fancy, sweet coffee they pick up every day on the way to work might not get counted.”
Clutter is also a big indicator that something is going on. “You start to let things go, such as a huge project that isn’t getting done or mail that is piling up and left unopened. If it’s bothering you, then it’s a problem,” she says. “Everything is energy, and thoughts are forms of energy. So, if it’s bothering you, it’s affecting your health and, in turn, might trigger I’m-just-going-to-go-eat-a-cookie to feel better.” Ellie says that it’s essential to practice mindfulness about how you feel throughout the day and how your body is evolving. If we’re self-responsible in one area, we become more responsible in another.
She also emphasizes that food is about pleasure. “Shift away from good and bad (or cheat) days. To me, that’s someone who cleansed so they can cheat. Instead, it’s about finding a healthier path that doesn’t feel like a chore. What can be more wonderful than being healthy? If we feel guilty during or after eating, we’ve created a different experience – one where our inner chatter scolds, ‘I’ll never lose weight!’”
She clarifies that it’s not a one-size fits all situation. You have to listen to your body. “It’s about self-awareness and responsibility.”
I went back to Chapter 5 after our conversation and found that Ellie sums things up perfectly toward the end. “None of us typically want to go poking around in our lives to uncover stuff we would rather pretend didn’t exist. Yet, until we stop avoiding the truth about our reality, nothing will change, and we will keep doing what we’ve always done and keep getting the same results we always have.”
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Click below for an excerpt
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