Many people overeat and can’t break free from their bad habits because the habits are serving a purpose. What we really want is to find more meaning and purpose in our lives which makes us feel happier.
Research shows that we are not that good at figuring out what makes us happy. There are a lot of myths about happiness. So if you think that by losing weight or fulfilling any one “goal” you will be happy, think again.
The real goal is to find a bigger meaning to what you want and focus on that; such as improving your health, or having more energy to do fun things with your loved ones. Most of the myths you will see are around the fact that we seem to misinterpret pleasure for happiness.
Happiness Myths:
1. Happiness is a final destination…you aren’t suddenly happy one day. Taking care of yourself and your “happiness” factor requires a daily commitment and certain habits you were not necessarily born knowing.
2. Being happy depends on how your day is going. When you understand nothing is bad or good, it’s all how you see it you’ll understand how happiness is an inside job.
3. I’ll feel good about myself after…having a daily spiritual practice like sitting in meditation and or journaling will help you feel a deep sense that things are unfolding “perfectly”…as they are without feeling tossed about by the “ups and downs” of life.
4. Eating and pleasure is happiness. The fleeting happiness that is pleasure based will never satisfy you in the long run.
5. Denying my feelings makes me feel better. Your feelings serve an important function, to serve as an internal guidance system. If you make a habit of listening to your feelings, they will give you clues as to what you need to do to get back on track.
6. You’re really okay with the way things are and don’t like change. Why have a life that is just ok? If deep within you sense there is something more…it never too late to get on the right destination that will help you fill what is missing.
7. You either are happy or you are not, it’s a character trait. There are actually skills, and ideas you can learn that can help you turn lemon in lemonade, enrich yourself by learning from your life, and feed what your soul is really hungry for…and it’s not what gets talked about on TV or in the media.
So what is it that makes us happy? Finding meaning in our lives and doing things that bring meaning to our lives. If you figure out how to do this, you will find it becomes easier to lose weight, and to change any unwanted habit that is really a cheap substitute for what you really want. Let me know what you think makes you happy.
Obesity and Overeating; Why you have no willpower…
Here’s what I have learned in the ten years of working with people who struggle with diet plans and are seeking healthy ways to lose weight.
Although Kelly Brownell who wrote Food Fight is focusing on children who are certainly victims of the obesity epidemic, we are all prey to these insidious and dangerous phenomena of the addictive substances in processed food. What is going on?
I think we have all been misled into believing and thinking that diet and exercise are the answer. You have been programmed to think that if you are challenged by losing weight it is because you don’t have enough willpower. There is only one problem with that solution.
You can’t diet and exercise if you are addicted to sugar.
According to Robert Lustig MD, an endocrinologist at the University of San Francisco, you don’t have a chance because sugar is for some people as addictive as the ethanol in alcohol and should be a controlled substance.
Despite this, sugar is literally in everything. This is a biochemical problem that wreaks havoc with your brain and disenables the hormones you rely on to tell you when you are hungry and full. They no longer work when you are under the influence of this toxic addictive substance. According to the Harvard Health Letter, October 2006 issue, annual consumption of sweeteners has increased to about 100 pounds per person over the past 20 years. During this period more people especially children have become overweight and obese…added sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup may be the reason. Artificial sweeteners added to drinks are particularly troubling because people believe these drinks are healthy. People who drink two cans of diet soda a day over a decade are 70% more likely to be obese. Not only are you saturating your body with sugar, it is debilitating your energy so you can’t exercise even if you want to.
The cure for this like all addictions is to become knowledgeable and ready to make some changes. The pain of continuing to eat like this has to become in your mind greater than the reward you think you get.
This includes taking a hard look at the underlying emotional or life issues that created it. As with most addictions the cure is abstinence and or a modification of how you eat that includes the consumption of plant based foods supplement with moderate amounts of concentrated protein preferably fish. This means focusing on eating real foods such as vegetables, salad, fruit and some “truly” whole grains.
Lustig said this is such a problem for our children. It starts with the baby formula we feed. If we do not have government intervention to help protect us…we will be sorry. This of course will not happen. So you have to take charge of your health yourself. The New York Times has run several articles on the merits of taxing food such as soda and subsidizing vegetables:
We need to treat the food industry just like we did the tobacco industry.
The best diet plan is to eat real food and take up something like meditation and walking to help rebalance the brain chemistry in a This is why I put together a great home study program for stress reduction that includes a great beginner course: Doubt Free meditation.
This is why I put together a great home study program for stress reduction that includes a great beginner course.