Regarding weight loss, our society is big on the concept of calories in and calories out but I think we are missing the point. This New Year, I want to challenge you to take a different approach; one that I’ve seen work with my clients for the long term. Let’s focus on “eating” foods that make us happy (hence our name…Happy Food). You’ll find this transformation and mind-body appreciation is what truly sheds the weight and with ease.
- Be grateful. When we focus on what we have, we perceive wealth. When we focus on all the things we want, then we feel a void that can’t ever be filled. Practice gratitude and you will see a shift in attitude, then a shift towards how you treat yourself, what foods you eat, and even how you metabolize your food. There’s a strong mind-body link. It’s one of the main ways my clients have lost weight and kept it off.
- Create healthy relationships. The top 5 people you hang out with determine your health and happiness. Let go of toxic relationships and nurture those that support you and help you thrive. It’s also a huge benefit if they are active and eat healthy. It makes weight loss and getting healthy much easier when we don’t swim upstream constantly.
- Avoid comparison. There will always be people who are more successful than you physically, financially, socially, etc. Focus on your own goals and not others. Comparing yourself is a sure way to end up unhappy and eating emotionally to fill a void. No one likes to feel inferior. This will surely pack on the weight.
- Exercise regularly. There’s a huge correlation between physical and mental health. When we exercise, we excrete hormones that make us happy, balance our blood sugar and moods, and sweat out toxins. If you don’t already know, toxins make us gain weight as we pack on the fat to dilute the toxins.
- Get quality sleep. When we don’t get enough sleep, we turn on hormones that signal hunger and turn off hormones that tell us we are full. Therefore, we overeat and our fatigued brain only leads to poor food choices (which results in more weight gain).
- Embrace routines. Routines limit choices, create habits, and set us up for success. A brain that is not overworked will have more hormones for pleasure, happiness, and good choices.
- Help others. We often focus on our problems and all the things we need to fix. Sometimes, helping others can be so gratifying that we are fulfilled and don’t resort to food (especially sweets) for pleasure. We get pleasure in non-food ways.
As you can see, our weight loss plan is very different. It works because we believe that you are not dumb and know the basics, but what is truly the problem or the obstacle? Calorie counting, restrictions, and discipline are all just band-aids and not addressing the root cause of weight gain or the inability to lose weight. And of course, you learn a ton about nutrition too to make sure you get what you need for your body type.
Get a free health consultation. You owe it to yourself to do something completely different so that the weight comes off for good without dieting! www.HappyFoodHealth.com or (619) 876-2655. Do what truly works in the long run for you and your family.
~Samantha Hua, Nutrition & Health Coach, San Diego, CA
