diet Nation

Have you tried, one million times, to start a diet and for the love of everything that is holy, you've failed every time? You woke up Monday morning with resolve and a fervor to fit into your two sizes too small pants. You ate your 1/2 cup of oatmeal with 1/4 cup blueberries and almond milk, because you read oatmeal will decrease your blood pressure, blueberries will prevent you from getting cancer and milk is liquid poison. You skipped into lunch time, literally, because you read childlike play will burn more calories and ward off depression, with the joy of eating 1/2 a sandwich: turkey, hold the cheese, mayo, and well...bread, two cups of veggies and a 24 oz big gulp of WATER. Chips? No thank you! Diet Soda? Nope, that will only undo those blueberries you ate for breakfast. It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon and you are feeling fine! And not just okay, fine. No, you are feeling, short shirt, tight pants, hair all done up Fiiiiine. You drive home feeling faint looking for your next meal, uh gerbil snack. You aren't sure you if you crossed over the dotted line more than a few times or not since the ringing in your head may be from lack of food or from those oncoming cars blaring their horns. Dinner started off good. Chicken? Check! Broccoli? Check! No bread, no butter, no fat, no fun! You aren't certain if the feeling of clawing your significant others eyes out are from your new found healthy diet or from your new found healthy diet. This sucks!

In the 13 plus years I have met with clients they all have the same complaints. I can't I can't I can't, but I want! Although the above is filled with healthy, should be eaten on a daily basis foods, we struggle to create a habit out of consuming them. Seriously, I've had potato chips. They are delicious. Ice cream companies don't sell billions every year for ice cream's healthy benefits. Come on people! These foods taste good. The problem is WE have not been taught the fine art of moderation. We NEED to learn to eat the things we don't like in order to have the things we do like. I realize you are probably reading this at the ripe 'ol age of "older than seven" thinking. 'I eat healthy foods. That's not my problem.' You got me, but taking broccoli, slathering it in yummy cream sauce and placing it over noodles, does not a healthy food make.

We want to be thin and not healthy. We want to look good, but we feel like crap. I promise, yes promise if you focused more on how you feel and not on how to get into those skinny jeans you would start to shed those pounds. We are a diet Nation. We have learned to diet like pros. The problem is...once our bodies realize we are depriving it of necessary calories, it fights back. It turns on the "feed me" hormones and turns off the "burn those stored calories" hormones. We are such hard workers, but we are working too hard in the wrong direction. Give your body what it needs and it will stop screaming for more. Introduce your body to breakfast and it will kindly remind you a few hours later to give it more. Snack is not just a five letter word. It is the vehicle to get you to lunch and dinner without maiming people. Dinner is not your last supper, unless it is and then go ahead and gorge yourself. Otherwise, most of us do not need to eat enough to get us through the winter at dinner. Work smarter and not harder!

Here's your start point: 
Your goal is to consume 5 Cups of Veggies/Day - No dressings, cream sauces, butter or oils. Just good 'ol from the Earth veggies. (Please note FRUIT may be camping out in the same section of the Food Guide Pyramid, but it is not a Vegetable!)

NO Limits

We are taught there are not limits to the human mind. If we all journeyed on in this life only aspiring to the limits we have set for ourselves or those limits others have set for ourselves, we would still be living on a flat world. The stars in the sky would have no rhyme or reason. There would be no such thing as planets, cars, planes, high rises, the Internet, telephones. And I'm not entirely certain what my son would do without the iPad. We would til our own lands. We would rely on only what we had and what we could do for ourselves. We would hope for greater, but settle for meritocracy. Our history not only teaches us how we have gotten to where we are today, but it also teaches us to strive for better. To fight for what we believe. To work for what we want. And to dream big.

Although those before us have paved the way to greatness, we all hold greatness within us. We hold the ability to do better and be better. Unfortunately, we carry the words of others to hold us down. We hear, oddly from those closest to us, "You can't.""It's not possible." "What are the odds." And we carry on holding the odds of failing in our hands and close to our hearts. We forget about the amazing things we have done til now.

Lets take a page from an infant. They are born with only the ability to eat and cling to a safety source. In a short year they learn how to roll over, crawl, walk (most of the time), talk, laugh, communicate and single handily control their world. We do not put limits on them. In fact we encourage them to perform greatness. We encourage them to roll over with toys, cooing and smiles. We clap when the push up they all fours as if they have climbed a mountain and we sit poised and ready to catch their first step. We allow them to dream and acquire greatness. And then....as quickly as they become great we begin setting their limits.

We live in a fearful world. Trust me, I get it. I thoroughly enjoy living under my rock of nativity so I don't have to fear all that is wrong with our world. I cling to safety at whatever the cost and often I can be heard saying, "That sounds dangerous." Here's the problem people. We have allowed our fear to prevent us from stepping out and trying. We are allowing ourselves to let the assumptions and thoughts of others control our actions. We are so fearful of failing that we aren't even trying.

Today, break your glass box. Crush the limits you have set for yourself. Surround yourself with high fivers and dream makers and quiet the naysayers. Share your dreams and then forge ahead. We strive for health, longevity, wealth, happiness and love, but some of us are settling for mediocrity. You have one life. One go around and you wont get another chance. You can choose to make the most of what you have or settle for what others have painted your future to be. Find your ocean and sail it. Pick your mountain and climb it. If you can't fly, grow wings.