10 FOOD RULES FOR SUCCESS

“What can I eat?”  This is a question I hear all the time.  So many of us want someone else to tell us what foods we can and can’t eat.  At first thought, that seems to make life so much easier.  The problem is, however, that human nature is such that when we are given rules from outside ourselves our instinct is to want to rebel.  

I don’t give you a diet because diets cause deprivation and rebellion.  This does not mean that you will lose weight and get healthy by having no eating plan.  Obviously, the opposite is true.

Make Your Own Rules

 For PERMANENT change, you must follow rules.  To get the results you want, you must make your own rules and these rules need to make sense for you. What foods are you going to eat and what foods aren’t you going to eat? You have rules in other areas of your life where you are successful — you need them with food/exercise, too.

In fact, the only reason you are now struggling with your weight and/or your health, is not because there is something innately deficient about you. It’s not because you are an out of control person, weak-willed, or had a more difficult childhood than everybody else (although, please give yourself compassion for all the challenges you have faced).

The reason your weight is not what you want or need it to be for optimal health is because in this area of your life—your weight and your health—you have failed to adopt Rules for Success.  The great news is you have followed rules for success in other areas of your life—so you know how to do it.

In other areas of your life, you base your actions on the results you want—not on transient feelings.  If you pass an attractive person on the street you don’t run over to them and kiss them just because they look appealing. You think about how you would feel afterwards and how they would react and that stops you from making such an unwise choice.

When you are getting close to a red light, you don’t pump the accelerator even if you are in a hurry and feel that slowing down is inconvenient.  You abide by the traffic rule to slow your car down and stop at a light because you don’t want to face the consequence of causing harm, wrecking your car or paying a hefty ticket.

How Do Thin People Do It?

If you want to understand how thin people stay that way, realize that they are simply doing what you do naturally in areas of your life where you are successful.

The hot basket of bread may look good when it arrives at the table but if a thin person knows that she is a carbohydrate addict, she doesn’t dive in, even if it looks and smells good to her.  Does she have some super inner power that you don’t have?  Of course, not!

You will learn to do the same once you tune into the reality that it’s not about dieting, it’s about following food and lifestyle rules that work for you, while re-programming your subconscious.

You Are Not Weak-Willed

Before you get too down on yourself and call yourself weak for living so long without following food rules, realize that this is most likely the case because following food rules wasn’t modeled to you.  In the same way, people who break social rules do so because treating others with respect failed to be instilled in them.

Now is The Time

 It’s never too late to create rules for yourself.  The first step is convincing yourself that they are necessary.

To do that, take a moment and think about what makes you successful in other areas of your life.  Instead of seeing willpower as something that you don’t possess, take a moment to reflect on the amazing amount of strength and courage within.

If you can’t see strength and courage inside yourself, take a moment to acknowledge the incredible hardship it is to carry around all your excess weight, and still lead as productive a life as you already do.  That is not easy!!  Now, let’s turn your strong will into a tool that will allow you to be happy, healthy, and live at your ideal weight.

Make this connection:

 To begin, contemplate the rules that you have given yourself about what you will and will not wear, what clothing is acceptable to you, and how you wear your hair.

 In every area of your life where life is working well for you and you are getting the results you want, you have rules. Do you blurt out your every thought?  Unlikely!  You have rules about the way you treat people and about what you do and don’t say to others. You have rules about how you care for your pets or children, whether you feel like it or not.

Transient Feelings are Not Your Driver

Create rules with food that will lead you to be successful. Rules are not predicated on whether you feel like them in any given moment.  Rules are rules because they lead to specific outcomes that are desirable.  Keep your eye on the goal always and do not allow your passing feelings to deter you.

Since food rules are essential if you want to be healthy at your ideal weight, let’s take a look at some good examples to pick from.  Think about what makes sense for you and your lifestyle.  Remember that ultimately, you must make your own rules.

Rule #1: What foods do you eat?

“I eat clean food, from the earth, in as natural a state as possible, as unprocessed as possible.  Example: If I am going to eat bread, it will only be natural Rye made only from whole wheat, water and sea salt, and no other processed bread.”

That rule alone would limit your bread intake due to convenience, and yet you wouldn’t be deprived, because you could always go buy half a loaf of natural Rye at a healthy bakery and keep it in your freezer, having a small slice at a time, if you feel that you need bread in your diet/eating regime.  Or, “I can eliminate bread all together because I see it as a trigger food that puts fat on my body.”

Rule #2: Eat With Balance in Mind

“If I do eat a carb/starch like a whole grain cracker, I ONLY eat it with a protein food (chicken, fish, meat) and a vegetable so my blood sugar stays balanced.  I never just sit and eat a box of crackers plain.”

Rule #3: Enjoy the Healthy Foods You Select

“I make sure to have animal protein and vegetables (fresh) with every meal, with only the least amount of complex carb (like a whole grain or root vegetable) and healthy fat (such as extra virgin olive oil, or a little cheese or nuts) to make the food taste good.”  The key is to enjoy everything that you do eat so you don’t feel deprived or like you are dieting, but have only JUST enough “fattening food” to make it taste good — no more than that.

Use fresh or dried herbs and Selina Natural Celtic Sea Salt (it has all the trace minerals in it – not just sodium) to flavor your foods.

Rule #4: Stick with the basics

Studies show that the less variety in your food choices, the more likely you are to be at your ideal weight.  Know what foods you do and don’t eat and stick to the plan (without ever thinking that you are on a diet).

Rule #5:  Get Rid of Trigger Foods

“I eliminate the foods that are triggers for me. I know they are triggers because when I eat them, I eat too much in general, or I crave more of that specific food.”  Get rid of all these kinds of foods and leave the area when they are being served, if you can, especially in the early stages of your weight loss/healthy eating quest.

Rule #6:  Don’t Let Yourself Get TOO Hungry

Eat some healthy treats that aren’t trigger foods for you, when you are physically hungry. You may enjoy almond butter, cheese, avocado with healthy crackers, or other “treats” that don’t create compulsion for too much food. This is what ‘everything in moderation’ means.

The more balanced and healthy you are, the easier it is to have small amounts of healthy treats without reaching a “tipping point”.  The tipping point is the place where you are overeating or binge eating.

Rule #7:  Don’t Starve Yourself

 Eat only when you are physically hungry and eat just enough to satisfy your physical hunger.  Make sure that you aren’t too hungry because when your blood sugar dips, you often can’t think straight enough to make healthy choices.

 Rule #8:  Plan Ahead

Know what foods you are and aren’t going to eat and make sure you have plenty of healthy food available at all times.  I never leave the house without having a healthy snack in my bag.  If you go to a restaurant, plan what you are going to order ahead of time.

If you’ll be on the go all day, pack enough food with you, so you won’t find yourself starving with no good choices to make.  A new mother doesn’t leave the house without a diaper bag.  You need to treat yourself like the baby who needs your care.

Rule #9:  Honor Your Emotions

Let yourself feel your feelings, but don’t let them dictate your behavior.  Express them if that is the wise thing to do, or write them down.  Burn them off by taking a walk or going for a swim.  But never eat just because you are feeling a certain way.  Let your emotions pass like the weather.

Rule #10:  Stay focused on your goal

 Have a plan to eat healthy and move your body every day.  Not because you have to but because you want to.  If ever you feel weak, just think of the alternative to healthy living and know that it’s not an option for you.

See and feel yourself as if you’ve already achieved your ideal weight.  Practice self-hypnosis every day and imagine yourself healthy and strong. You can do this!  Believe in yourself!