Eating is a mindless habit of mine that I chose to confront.
Last week in my blog post I talked about habits – neurological wiring that keeps us doing the same thing over and over because it’s easy. Once our neurons are wired together, it is effortless to make choices because the mind will default to the biggest, fattest neural habit we have that allows us to make whatever choice lies in front of us.
So in changing my body and choosing health, I also had to find NEW information to allow me to build an entirely new neural net about how to feed myself and take care of myself in order to create better results. So I didn’t go back into my past to dig out what worked before I hit menopause or an aging body – because that’s old information and it related to who I was back then.
What I also know is that ‘new and better’ is always surfacing in our world. So rather digging than up old information I sought out new, leading edge information on health, food, losing body fat, and exercise.
And WOW! A lot has changed since I was a teenager and lost the initial 25 lbs!
Science has streamlined how we thing about food. It is seen more as a fuel than a source of indulgence. Research has proven what works in your body, the foods that are necessary for your body, and how much of them to eat. Recipes abound with this new way of eating. There is material on when to exercise and how to exercise to lose stubborn fat that refuses to budge. Old myths about exercising a lot have been BUSTED as downright lies in the fat- loss process. Some exercise is necessary – but not to the level we have been led to believe.
There are books on food itself – and the truth about the food that the media pushes at us in the form of commercials on tv and advertising in stores, newspapers, and magazines. It’s actually non-food but we have become addicted to it so we keep consuming it because our bodies crave it.
In order to change the old habits I needed to find and interact with minds that were greater than my own. I needed to trust what they said and I needed to check it out by trying it for myself to find out what works and how I feel when I do it. And I have needed to commit to those new ways – even though they felt alien and unnatural.
It’s challenging, I have to say. But what I’m learning in the process of this is that what I desire to experience in life may not be easy to achieve.
As a child I was always taught to stay within my comfort zone. You know what a comfort zone is – right? It’s what is easy and comfortable because you’ve done it before – there are no unknowns and possibly few risks. As a child I was taught to do everything perfectly – so don’t risk imperfection to learn something new if you can stick with the old tried and true patterns. Because of this, I found learning both exciting and challenging. And this has definitely limited me in my life.
So this change to my eating regime is reminding me that difficulty does not necessarily mean ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ – it is a statement that what I am aspiring to reach is a stretch. In the process of stretching, I am being asked to wire in new habits and new information. The lack of comfort is simply the process of my mind updating to the new information. So challenge is not a reason to give up; it is a reason to become patient and allow the new habits to form.
I’m confronted on a daily basis with re-deciding to love my body. And the way that I do that is by committing to giving it the ‘best’ of what it needs to function optimally. And to do that I need to commit to keeping my mind updated on what that actually is.
The way I use my mind to fuel my journey to lose weight and permanently keep it off can be applied to anything in life that you desire to achieve.
My journey to lose weight and how to use my mind optimally to make that happen can be used for anything in your life – including helping my ‘Diane’s’ husband to rewire his opinion about cost.
So what do you desire to experience?
What information do you need to update and grow in order to create that experience?
And are you ready to commit?
I would love to hear about what’s on your agenda. Hit reply and share!