Food and Sex and Love

Have we become so confused, so jaded that our purpose in life is to lose 20 pounds?  

We  go to any extreme, starving ourselves or stuffing our bodies with fatty sausage to reach our goal weight.  It becomes our obsession, haunts us when we’re out, becoming the main topic of conversation.  We buy books, listen to tapes, search for special diet foods to reach our dream.  We put on a disguise of the healthy person and we forget.  We forget the things that will actually help us lose weight, feel healthy and alive.  We ignore our real purpose as we hide behind food and liquor and television and movies and sex.  

In the name of "health", we forget ourselves.  If we were truly in our bodies would we drink a sugary chemical filled shake in the name of weight loss?  Would we take a diet pill that could give us a heart attack?  Would we eat at an all you can eat Chinese buffet, force feeding our bellies with barbecued spareribs, fried chicken fingers and soft serve ice cream?  Would we listen to the advice of self proclaimed gurus telling us what to eat instead of listening to the wisdom of our own unique bodies?  We have cast aside our truer purpose: loving, giving to others, living in nature for the addiction of the perpetual diet.  

What will they say?  What will they say at our funerals?  Will they speak of contributions, how we helped others, how we changed lives or will they draw a blank only remembering our obsessions with ourselves and our bodies?
 
It is never too late to begin.

Take some time away from computers, cell phones, cable television, friends and family and give yourself time to be in silence.  Become aware of your body.  Sit in silence long enough and you will begin to know what your body really needs, what foods and actions really nourish it.  Give yourself permission to experience what real hunger feels like instead of the psychological hunger of unfelt emotions or unrelieved stress.  Most importantly, let a new you emerge, one who not only knows and acts on what is best for themselves, but has a deeper purpose that has to do with healing and truly living the precious life we have been given.  This is the way out and the way in.  It is what I am practicing today.  Peace.

There is an adventure waiting

Many of you have probably watched the Todd Bieber videos about the lost film in Manhattan.  He starts off saying that he has been wanting an adventure and then one comes to him.  He makes choices along the way as to whether to continue or not (picking up the film, bringing it with him, getting it developed, making a video about it) and it truly does lead him on an amazing journey.  If you haven't watched these inspiring videos I have linked them below.  It is worth watching the whole series (about 8 minutes).   In each and every moment, we make decisions that can bring us to exciting new places if we choose to follow the inspirations within us.
May your day be filled with adventure and joy!

Video 1: Found:  Lost Pictures of New York Blizzard


Video2:  Found:  Lost Pictures of New York Blizzard:  Part 2


Video 3:  Found: Lost Pictures of New York Blizzard: Part 3

Creating a fun goal around health

I just finished a five mile walk.  It was easy, helped clear my head, and made my body feel better.  I have a goal to walk 20 miles in one day.  I will be doing it with 40,000 other people in Boston in an effort to raise money for the hungry in Massachusetts.  Last year they raised over 4 million dollars.  The thing about it is this:  I am getting myself in shape getting ready for something that is fun, inspiring, and helpful to others.  So often, we go to the gym with a dreariness because we don't really want to be there and the only purpose is to make ourselves healthier.  It is a good goal, but it isn't always enough to make us want to go.  If feels lifeless.
On the other hand, challenging yourself to do something that will help others, be fun, and be healthy for you, now that's a different thing altogether.

Find something that sings to you and join in.

For more info on the Walk for Hunger

Slow Eating and Weight Loss: Does the Science Support It?

Slow Eating and Weight Loss: Does the Science Support It?

Upper Limit Problem

I am reading a great book that I would highly recommend called the Big Leap by Gay Hendricks.  It's tag line is "conquer your inner fears and take life to the next level".  In it, he talks about "The Upper Limit Problem".  His description is as follows:  Each of us has an inner thermostat setting that determines how much love, success, and creativity we allow ourselves to enjoy.  When we exceed our inner thermostat setting, we will often do something to sabotage ourselves, causing us to drop back into the old, familiar zone where we feel secure."
I have been thinking about my Upper Limit Problem with the irony involved in a day of teaching people to eat the Mediterranean Diet.  In the past, I would wake up, prepare food, sometimes for 100's of people and travel to my workshop.  As I cooked, I would tell everyone about how the people on the Island of Crete had the lowest rates of heart disease in the world, how the men live to be the same age as the women, and the qualities of the olive oil that make it a strong anti-inflammatory.
I would make them a delicious sample or lunch  and everyone would leave happy and motivated and well fed.
Except for me.
After the feelings of elation of leading a successful workshop, I often would clean up, drive home, and on the way I would eat a kid's meal at McDonalds or a couple of slices of greasy pizza with a coke or a roast beef sandwich with potato chips.
I would sabotage myself with unhealthy food just after helping others get excited about one of the healthiest ways of eating in the world.
This was my Upper Limit Problem.  I sabotaged my success with the antithesis of my success.  I would do the very thing I had just told people not to do.  I was a walking contradiction.
As I expand into a new way of being and understanding I have learned how food affects not only how I feel in the moment, but can actually contributes to my overall success (or failure).   When I eat well, my energy increases and I am able to do more of the things I want to accomplish in my life.  I also am not living a drag me down lie.
The food we eat can be a huge Upper Limit Problem or it can be what helps us make the Big Leap into the life we want.

Happy Jumping!

It is all here

Everything you have been asking for is already here.  Ask the people around you, they are human spirits, they can all help you, even the ones you are irritated by.  They may be the most helpful of all.  Stop pushing away.  The answers will come.

Going Inward

There is a book by Wayne Dyer called "There is a spiritual solution to everything".  It intrigues me to think of this, that no matter what is going on there is an answer or a way out or a way in.  When I spend 5-10 minutes in the morning and just settle into my body a lot of magic happens.  I begin to get more clear throughout the day, I become more loving in my relationships, and I begin to have gratitude for what I have.  I used to try to "meditate" and constantly get mad at myself for my mind wandering or falling asleep.  Now, I give myself much more freedom.  I let my mind wander.  I vision things I want in my life.  Occasionally, I focus on my breathing.  The most important thing is that I just give myself time to settle in to me, to let solutions come to me because there really is a spiritual solution to everything.  I just have to slow down enough to listen.