Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Your Thoughts about the Foods You Eat - impacts your weight!



Did you know that you have a "food vibration"? Sounds like a new song or something. Oh, oh, oh ... food vibration! HA!

Basically, your "food vibration" is what you are telling yourself about the foods you eat and how you are feeling as a result of those daily thoughts you have around food. Once you are aware of what you are telling yourself, you can shift it so that you start feeling better about what you put into your body. You can also start paying attention to WHY you gravitate towards the foods you eat and if it is really coming from a place of joy or if you are just eating because you are stressed or bored.

Here's a little exercise that I give my weight loss coaching clients. Play with this one and see what comes up for you:

Take a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the center of the page. (It would be ideal if this paper was lined paper so you can keep track of each item easily)

On the left-hand side of the page, I want you to make a list of all the foods that you absolutely LOVE to eat (right now, list all your favorite foods – yes, including that piece of chocolate or piece of cheese cake or a medium rare piece of filet mignon) – don’t over-think this too much – just jot down all those foods you perceive as “yummy”.

Now, I want you to pay attention as you are writing them down, as to what you are telling yourself about these foods. So, on the right-hand side of the page, jot down next to each food item what initially came up for you when you thought of that food – what story do you tell yourself about it? For example, if your first item was ice cream – do you say “this is going to make me fat” or “this is bad for me” or do you say “every time I eat this I just thoroughly enjoy it – it brightens up my day and there is no guilt at all!” Do you get the idea? You can even use a “+” or “-“ sign on that right-hand column to represent whether you tell yourself that this food is “good for you” or “bad for you”.

What you are doing right now is taking a food thought inventory so that you are more aware of the stories you tell yourself when it comes to what you put in your mouth.

As you can imagine, if you are telling yourself the story that “chocolate is going to make you fat”, what do you think your body is going to do with that thought? Remember ... everything is energy and when you say “chocolate is going to make me fat”, you are affirming just that. And your body will respond accordingly. Don’t believe me? What happens when you eat the foods that you believe to be unhealthy or fattening and continue to do so? Do you find yourself feeling good about yourself? Are you losing weight as a result of eating these perceived “bad foods”? I don’t think so.




There are people who can eat many of those foods that you deem as “bad for you” and they don’t gain weight – why is that? (I know, you just can’t stand those people!) I know someone who believes “I eat whatever I want, and never gain weight!” and that’s their reality. But that same person listens to what their body is telling them and is eating from a place of joy, not from a place of emotional baggage & feeling stressed.

So, let’s get back to your list. I want you to scan the list again and ask yourself the following question:

When do I typically crave this food? What’s happening before I make the choice of eating this food?

What I am getting at here is that you may be the person that reaches for that bag of cookies when you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, angry, etc. And that one choice might turn into eating a whole bag of cookies and then you feel guilty because you did.

If you are starting to see a pattern in what you tell yourself about the foods you eat and at what times you are actually drawn to them – that’s great! Because once you recognize and are aware of what you do, you can change it. That’s quite empowering, isn’t it?

For me, I love dark chocolate and I have my daily fix each day. However, I would be in that right-hand column a big “+” sign for this food item, because there is no guilt, no dis-empowering story I am telling myself about dark chocolate – it’s just is a feel good food that I feel good about before, during and after I eat it!

So, do I gain weight from eating dark chocolate ... NO? Do I over indulge in it … NO! It’s a treat that I enjoy. Period. That’s it.

Get it?

So, if you have a wonderful clean energy around that food that you really like – no guilt, no story of “this makes me fat”, and you are drawn to it when you are feeling good and Lovin’ Life, then it’s all good.



But, if you find that you are telling yourself a story that a particular food is “bad for you” or if you are drawn to that food when you are in a stressed out place, then you need to either change the story (and really believe the new one) or honor your beliefs and don't eat that particular food and most of all, if you are eating from a place of stress, you need to address the stress first without "feeding it" ...literally.

Many times we don't even eat because we are hungry or desire some treat, just for the pleasure of it. We eat because we are stressed and somehow that "food" fills a void ... temporarily. But it never addresses the emotional baggage that lies underneath. That's the stuff that I work on with my weight loss coaching clients, so that next time they feel stressed, they have an abundance of Law of Attraction techniques to help them relieve the stress, feel more at peace and align with total wellness with ease!

To your Health & Happiness,
~ Maria

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