It all begins with your mouth
Creating a life that’s blossoming with physical, emotional, and spiritual health has a lot to do with what goes in and comes out of our mouths. You may not have thought about it much, but it’s not only the toxic food we consume too much of that destroys our physical health, it’s also the toxic and negative way that we speak about ourselves, our bodies, and change that can defeat our mental health and our ability to bring about real transformation. Let’s talk for a moment about both of these issues. In my book Encounter Weight Loss, the chapters follow an acronym that spell E.N.C.O.U.N.T.E.R. and the first E is the starting place for lasting change. E=Eat Real food. Jack LaLane who was a pioneer in the fitness movement and who lived to 98 years old, had a very simple saying. “If God made it eat it if man made it don’t”. Or if you are an atheist you might say… only eat foods that come directly from nature. These foods are “one ingredient foods”. For example, an apple has .. one ingredient, a piece of broccoli … one ingredient, rice… one ingredient.… You get the idea. Human’s originally ate, and still thrive on one ingredient foods. When I am working with women in weight loss coaching, they are often more obsessed with weight loss than their health. They are trying to get into a certain size or bodyweight at all costs and so they don’t learn the lessons that lead to a long healthy life. They are pursuing a quick fix, rather than permanent change, and so they often end up eating what I call “Frankenstein foods”. These are man-made diet foods with so many chemicals and additives that they bear little resemblance to real food and although they may help you lose weight, they also poison your body. We had an adorable West Highland Terrier, who was poisoned by melamine being added into the dogwood we purchased. It was a big scandal and many dogs died. Our Westie lived but had kidney damage. It was easy to make the connection between the poison and illness because it happened really fast. It is more subtle when it comes to what we buy in the supermarket, but let’s take a moment here for a reality check. If every added ingredient in the food you buy, was considered a step away from real food, how many steps away from “REAL” are the items in your grocery cart? Pick up a box of kids' cereal or fruit rollup and start counting. You will be up to 30 added ingredients before you know it. So that food is 30 steps away from being real! So my challenge to you is to let go of the number on the scale this year if you are going to pursue real transformation. Most of your “diet” attempts have not worked anyway. I will share some key’s with you in the following weeks about how to trigger lasting weight loss. But this is the starting place, Eat Real Food. Let go of all the diet rules and fears and eat one ingredient real foods for as much of your diet as possible. So that’s what goes into your mouth, but how about what comes out? Do you realize that the person that you believe the most is yourself? I have an interest in and have studied quantum physics over the years. One thing that I learned is that the vibrations and frequencies around us, impact us. Like a tuning fork in music, we tune ourselves to the frequency of what we hear. So when we hear someone speak positively we are inspired and tune into that, and our body and mind will follow. When we speak negatively, we tune to that, and our body and soul align with exactly what they are hearing. “I can never lose weight”, “I have no energy”, “I always fail” and other statements need to STOP! It is time for you to make an important announcement to your body, your soul, and the universe. In 2021 I am making a change. I am taking back my health. I am getting fit and loving it. Start to talk to everyone you know about the change you are making, and your body, soul, and spirit will sit up and take notice! The bible says in the book of Hebrews 11:3 that God framed the world with his words. Now it’s your turn. How are you going to frame your world in 2021? I would love to hear about that in the comments. If you lose your health, you lose your future. Or as some would say.. “If the devil can take away your health, he can steal your destiny”.
However you look at it, the reality is that we too often ignore the warning signs of weight gain, the loss of mobility that comes when we are not active enough, the low and powerless feeling that comes when our mental health is not at its best, and the long term effects of habits that we can not seem to shake. We know “we should” make a change, but it’s something that it’s easy to put at the bottom of our list of things we are focused on. Particularly as women, when we allow the needs of others to dominate our focus. I want to challenge you to change your mindset this year and put your health at the top of your list. It actually is true, that if you lose your health you lose your future. I would like to tell you a bit about an awakening I had recently that changed my whole perspective on making my health a constant priority. 2020 was a very tough year for me. I was in a big transition having just left my full-time job as a pastor in a local church to take on a new role as the leader of Women on the Frontlines. Then a hurricane of problems hit and many of them affected my health. I was at a healthy body weight but, but strange and concerning small symptoms were appearing in my health. I ignored it at first, because I was "too busy" but eventually listened to the small nagging voice of my body telling me it needed my attention. I was told by my doctor after some blood tests that my body was not absorbing enough nutrition from my food. I was traveling a lot to do events for WOFL and grabbing a meal here and there, and although all my meals were low carb, and my weight was stable, on the inside trouble was brewing. “How could this be? I’ve written a book on weight loss and now I’m sick? Wow, I had thought that the tiredness I was experiencing in the afternoons was just aging… what a reality check! My health continued to spiral downward in the coming months as Covid set in, and my sister was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I was now faced with actively watching someone lose their future due to a loss of health. I was then hit with constant nausea and other gastro symptoms as a result of the issues with my body. Many tests later, there was no answer to the nausea and stomach issues except for “stress” due to life events. Finally, as the nausea was brought under control, my body responded with a rebound of weight gain. My sister passed, and covid level five lockdown came to my city, depression, and feelings of despair hit full force. It can be very hard to come back from a loss of momentum. From a weight gain where you have previously done the work to lose it, from relapse when you have been addicted, or from a place of depression that becomes so severe that you don’t even want to do anything. But that was what I was facing, and I decided that a broader approach to restoring my health was needed. So my focus in 2021, is a spirit, soul, and body approach to health. I knew that it was time to stop ignoring the needs of my soul, and the quiet but insistent voice of my body. I decided that since my call is to run WOFL for the next many years, I would have to stop allowing the demands of ministry to squeeze out the time for exercise and pursue, nutrition above simply losing weight. Of course, I know the facts necessary for change, and likely so do you. It’s not knowing the truth that’s the issue for us as humans... it’s acting on it! I will be sharing my health journey with you this year, a few times a week on WOFL through my blogs. I’ve been teaching on various aspects of health for many years including being a weight loss coach and I will be sharing both my journey and the non-fad-based approach to change that I believe will help us all in the process. I want to invite you to give yourself the gift of your health this year, not only as an act of self-honor but as a seed towards your future so that it will be long and fruitful. Whether it is weight loss, an addiction, aging symptoms, or depression I believe it's time to put yourself and your health on the list of your priorities. Would you join me as we journey together? |
Wendy Peter is the North American Director of Events for the Women on the Frontlines Organization.
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