1. Food should not be wasted
We have learnt not to leave food even though we don't reallywant it. If we cooked it, bought it, served it up on a plate orordered it in a restaurant it has to be eaten because "it's asin to throw away good food". So we use our bodies as a kind ofhuman waste disposal unit and pile unwanted pounds onto ourhips.
We learnt to clean our plates when we were kids, mostly fromwell-meaning parents who wanted to make sure we got enoughnourishment and tried to make us feel guilty about all thestarving people in the world. We learnt to eat stuff we didn'treally want or need to please our parents and sometimes we gotmore food as a reward ("Eat your dinner or you won't getdessert").
Now you're an adult you can take a different approach. Buy less,cook less, serve up less and order less but if it's still morefood than you need, throw it out rather than down your throat.It's a greater waste to over feed your body than it is to throwout excess food.
2. Food equals love
We learn from birth to link love and comfort from our motherwith being fed and that feeling is reinforced throughoutchildhood. We equate food with being cared for. So it's oftenthe first thing we turn to when we want to experience thosefeelings of love and comfort again.
But food is not love. A double-chocolate chip cookie or platefulof fries will never love you back. Only people can do that.
If you need love, you need contact with other living breathinghumans. Call up a friend and talk, don't eat.
3. Slim people can eat as much food as they like
This one is actually true but not in the way we often believeit. Slim people eat as much as they like but they don't live forfood. They like to eat as much as they need and they do.Sometimes they overeat. That's when you see them eatingchocolate cake and pizza and you think they have it made. Butother times (more likely when you're not seeing them on anevening out) they're satisfied with soup and a salad. It's abalance thing. If slim people ate too much all the time theywould be overweight too!
Even so, you may find that your friend can eat more than you andnot get fat. You may put it down to the luck of a fastmetabolism but actually the slight variances you find inmetabolism make very little difference. Naturally slim peoplesimply move around more during the course of the day even ifthey don't take regular exercise. They're forever on the go.They're up and down more. And they fidget more. Studies haveshown that they use up more calories than others in that way.
If you eat and move like your slim friends you will have littleto envy.
4. Healthy food doesn't make you fat
You can get fat eating anything - although, granted, it would bedifficult to overeat lettuce. But some natural foods are high incalories - in particular nuts and seeds - so you can easily takein too many calories with these. And fruit juices, smoothies andshakes can really pile on the pounds. Too many complexcarbohydrates, whole grain though they are, will go straight toyour hips too. Healthy foods are great but they still have to beeaten in moderation.
Having said that, true healthy natural real foods are notgenerally the real problem. The main culprit here are thosefoods which are branded as healthy by food manufacturers - thefoods that are "full of goodness" or low in fat or carbs orwhatever. They offer so-called healthy options for cookies,cakes and pies that you could do well without eating. They justtempt you to eat more because you think they are healthy or lowin calories. Check the labels and give them a miss.
5. Only unhealthy food tastes good
You may have spent years assaulting your taste-buds with fat andsugar confectionary, salty snacks and fried foods and that iswhat they have learnt to know and love. But actually many foodsthat you eat have sugar and salt added to give them appeal theywouldn't otherwise have. Once you start tasting quality naturalfoods and delicious healthy recipes you will never look back.Become a true gourmet and learn to love good natural food inmoderation. Take the time to prepare and enjoy it properly andyou will find your taste buds dancing with delight.
Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small
About the author:Janice Elizabeth is a coach, slimming club owner andauthor of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program forautomatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report"How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the dietindustry doesn't want you to know" athttp://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!
