Resources:
Diet
Revamping your diet may be what you need to get back some control
over yourself, reduce stress and feel physically better. Having
an attitude of open exploration, without preconditions of what
may be good or right for you is essential. All that matters is
that the diet you adopt makes you feel healthy.
We recommend that you begin by monitoring how your diet is now.
Download and print Keeping a log of your life.
It contains a simple chart to see where you are at in terms of
your eating pattern.
You don't need to
stress about it. All you need is a attitude of finding out
what works best for me, now. Where we often get
screwed up, is making it black and white. Diet is complex. And
what works for one person may be completely wrong for another.
So there is no set "right way". If the diet (or regime)
you are adopting doesn't appreciate that everyone is different,
maybe it isn't a flexible enough diet. Personally I would recommend
an Ayurvedic diet because the diet recommended by it depends
on
your Ayurvedic body type.
There is no point setting yourself targets that are impossible
to achieve. Then it becomes almost an excuse to fail, and you
end up not doing anything at all.
All someone else can tell you is what worked for them. You have
to find out yourself if it will work for you. Of course there
are some general principles to follow that you probable already
know:
- cut out the crap (ie junk foods)
- cut out the excess refined sugars, salts, chemicals and unhealthy
stuff
- eat more fruits and vegetables, but even that, would depend
on what works for you, because some people, should not eat some
vegetables, and some should eat more of certain other vegetables.
Reading some books, seeing a nutritionist and getting some basic
blood tests, etc. can be helpful. But in the end, it will be up
to you, to do it.
The main thing is not to get lost in your own dramas, your own
traps that you set in your mind to run away from actually doing
what you know you need to do.
You should not think
about it being that you are becoming disciplined or adopting
an iron will. It is better to feel like you are just
choosing to see the world in a new way – the way where you
are in control of you. It is the direction you chose towards
yourself
that will lead you somewhere.
Or you can look at
it like this – if you don't smoke, never
smoked, or quit, and then found it disgusting – you are
not attracted to cigarette ads. It does not even register with
you.
It has no impact on you. It has no influence on you. You do not
even see it, because it has no bearing on your life.
If you are a vegetarian, not because you wanted to become one,
but because your partner is, you may you secretly crave meat.
So you haven't made any shift in your basic inclinations towards
meat. But if you are a vegetarian, because meat just doesn't work
for you, then you are just not inclined towards eating meat. It
isn't a matter of whether you like it or not. You have become
sensitive to what your particular body needs and you have found
that meat did not agree with you. It has become something you
just know and accept as part of your makeup.
For example, you may
think "I hate brussel sprouts",
or "I love peanut butter". But your tastes can change.
Do you remember what you liked and disliked as a child? Surely
you aren't as picky now.
Sometimes we can trust our cravings and sometimes we can't. For
example, I often crave ice-cream. But I know from experience that
if I satisfy that craving every time I have it, the result is
that I start feeling ill later on.
If you are inclined to be vegetarian, seeing someone else eating
meat, does not change your mind, and make you want to eat it.
This is not to say that you should, or should not eat meat, or
anything else. How would I know? How would anyone else know, but
you, or someone simply reflecting back to you, what they see working,
or not working, for you?
It's time to take
the power back into your hands. But be careful with running
away with good intentions. You can get so lost in
your new diet plan that you forget to live your life. Balance.
That is the word, simply "balance". See what works
and try and try again to find some new ways of eating that
suit you.
Nothing stays the same. Nothing remains constant. We all have
to change and see again and again what works for us.
Just because when we were young, we hated brussel sprouts, and
loved peanut butter, doesn't necessarily mean that it will be
the same now that we are older. We may find we actually like brussel
sprouts especially if they are prepared a different way.
It is a matter of being in tune with what our bodies actually
need. You can get an indication of this by how well it digests.
We may end up changing to love brussel sprouts, and not peanut
butter. At least that is the theory. I still hate brussel sprouts,
and love peanut butter, personally, and it is not so bad for me.
But that's me, what about you, now, right now, what do you want
to change, for you?
