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Continuing with last week’s column about someone who wanted to drop some pounds before an upcoming event and wanted to learn how best to begin a weight-loss program, this also answers a query: “How do I stop or manage my cravings? I cannot live without chocolate and potato chips.”
The focus will be on the real meaning of the word diet, and how to apply it to your health goals.
Diet in my playbook stands for “Don’t Indulge Every Time”.
This approach has been an important guiding principle for me, one that I have shared with countless others who want to know my secret, my special sauce so-to-speak, for remaining slender year after year.
A rule I adhere to is this: I simply do not indulge every time I eat.
I make choices.
The most significant choice when it comes to my body is choosing not to treat it like it were a toddler throwing a tantrum who wants what it wants when it wants it.
Just as a responsible parent corrals a child’s runaway emotions and teaches them appropriate ways to deal with and express their wants, needs and expectations, each person must learn how to deal with and corral cravings and compulsive eating if they intend to get off the frustrating roller coaster of dieting and regaining the lost pounds soon afterward.
I make conscious choices because I am committed to minimizing my risks of facing heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure and suffering from metabolic syndrome. One extra positive to this practice is a cost-savings in health care expenses, including not having to be on medications that can run in to the hundreds of thousands of dollars for those diseases.
The other positive to this practice is I feel great doing what I can to secure my health to the best of my ability, and thus, improve the chances that I am not a burden to my loved ones, or bring upon them a constant worry or concern that I may die prematurely or suffer a debilitating stroke.
Do you really want to become sick and grow old with mobility issues, requiring your loved ones to have to quit their careers or move out of their home or state in order to be nearer to you, so they can take care of you as you suffer an early decline?
Losing unhealthy fat and maintaining an appropriate weight is often a winning combination when it is self-motivated, i.e., doing it for YOU rather than doing it to please someone else, but it is a valuable spiritual practice to be sensitive to the consequences our decisions and actions have on those who love us and want the best for us.
Part of growing out of the toddler tantrum phase into mature adulthood necessitates we consider who we will be imposing upon, as a result of our poor or ignorant choices and behavior. And that includes being accountable for helping to keep our health insurance costs down, doing what we can to avoid bankruptcy brought on by medical bills and becoming a financial burden to others.
But where to start, to reduce your risks of this happening, and also, to gain a better sense of wellbeing, you ask? Many overweight and unhealthy people resist changing their eating habits because they are certain they will never be able to give up this, that or the other indulgence, due to strong cravings.
Believing we have no control over our cravings is simply a misunderstanding, or else an excuse, that holds us back from optimizing wellbeing. That belief is living as though tied to a chain, and not much different than a mistreated dog living outside in the elements, forced by the limitations of the chain preventing real freedom.
A particularly interesting thing about corralling one’s cravings and indulgences is that the cravings subside, and eventually disappear. But many people have to experience a health crisis or a complete detachment from the food or drink they crave for at least a few days, if not somewhat longer, to fully recognize how it has dominated their behavior and kept them from experiencing the lightness of food freedom.
I learned this recently after going through a minor bout with COVID. Prior to testing positive, coffee no longer tasted mighty fine, so I stopped drinking my morning cup for that first week. By the time I tested negative a few days later on June 23, I had completely lost any interest in coffee. No desire, no craving, no curiosity about it at all. I have not had coffee since then and have no plans to resume, not even to check to see how it tastes.
But putting COVID side effects aside, what about the holiday temptations? Halloween is approaching and the spending on candy and the decorated cookies and desserts are a real temptation for those trying to, or wanting to, lose weight.
How do you face these kinds of tugs on your chain?
You follow the DIET: Don’t Indulge Every Time.
Allow yourself the choice to limit, but not deny, yourself.
Find more creative ways of celebrating your holidays, beyond the habitual indulgence of consuming extra calories, fat, sugar and all the foods and drinks that are holding you back from celebrating your finest health. Email Giselle with your question at [email protected] or send mail: Giselle Massi, P.O. Box 991, Evergreen, CO 80437. For more info and to read previous columns, go to www.gisellemassi.com