Stop Worrying; Start Enjoying

[wosnes]

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. Buddha

I received two books today. Totally different subjects, neither about diet or health yet both said the same thing about diet, weight loss and health.

From The Art of Being a Woman by Veronique Vienne:

"Even though you may never be a victim of famine, nature keeps your calorie-stashing instincts in good working order, just in case. A signal from your brain that you are about to overindulge is enough to trigger a food-emergency practice run. Your metabolism reacts as if you were a ravenous hunter-gatherer.

"All you need to do is absentmindedly reach for a bowl of roasted peanuts on the bar, or pile your plate high with pancakes, sausages, and eggs at one of those eat-as-much-as you-want buffet brunches, and you will most likely experience a numbing sensation in your head similar to the strange buzz your television set emits when the government is testing the emergency broadcasting system.

"That mental buzz means that the 'storage-only mode' has been activated. It's probably too late for you to do anything about it, so make the best of it. Dedicate the calories you are about to ingest (and the resulting blubber buildup) to your ancestors for whom a free-for-all was such a rare opportunity....

"...Even more confusing to your body than the abundance of food is the abudance of health-related advice on the subject of nutrition. Diet books are just about as irresistible, and just about as addictive, as the fast food they denounce.

"You cannot soothe a growling stomach with alarming words. In fact, cautionary dietary information is likely to unsettle your digestive system. Obsessive dieting only manages to activate the body's most basic biological assumption -- that excessive concern about food can only stem from lack of nourishment. Before you know it, your genes have adjusted your metabolic rate and lowered your fat-burning thermostat, and you gain weight even if you eat less.

"In other words, if you worry too much about what you put in your mouth, you send your body and your brain a malnutrition message that triggers its hoarding mechanism as surely as if you were a victim of hunger. Ironically, skipping meals, reading the small print on nutrition labels, counting calories, and scrutinizing your cholesterol levels actually increases the circumference of your waist.

"Don't give up food, give up food phobia. Go on a diet of pleasant culinary thoughts..."

From Being in Balance by Dr. Wayne Dyer:

Chapter Five: You're Not What You Eat; You're What You Believe about What You Eat

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistant is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. Nikos Kazantzakis

"If you're overweight, out of shape and suffering unnecessarily from physical maladies that are related to your lifestyle, this radical idea may require a lot of determination to overcome your disbelief. So begin right now by rereading the title of this chapter. Isn't it strange to think that your diet or lack of exercise aren't completely responsible for the state ofyour health? Maybe it has to do with what you believe...

"...As difficult as it may be for you to accept, your beliefs about what you're eating and how you're living your life are far more important to examine and change than the actual activities of eating and exercising. The mind-body connection has clearly been established in medical and scientific research. Your beliefs are thoughts, and your thoughts are energy. If you've convinced yourself that what you're about to do is going to have a deleterious effect on your body, then you're doing precisely what Kazantzakis suggests -- your're passionately believing in something that still does not exist. That is, your unhealthy bodily reaction to what you're about to do is only a thought, not a material reality. However, by holding on to that thought, you facilitate the process of indeed making it your material reality."