Don’t Like Your Diet? Neither Does Your Body

We will often choose a diet or eating style because someone has convinced us. Maybe it’s out of fear, desperation or not knowing what to give our own body. Someone we look up to has tried it and preaches about it, or Oprah is endorsing it or it’s claimed to have helped millions of people so OF COURSE this must be the answer!

But this is a major problem. We didn’t choose something base on how we feel and what we think or know we need. That can be the problem with the internet sometimes. We google “Quick ways to lose weight,” OR “Newest, best eating style to help with weight-loss,” OR “Oprah Diets”. Whatever we see or read on those pages forms the foundation of our eating style.

Again, this is a problem because we haven’t actually dialed into our own bodies to ask what we need. And most people don’t even think or have a clue to ask themselves or know how ask their body, “What do you need?” Or perhaps I should consult with an expert who can help me to really determine what I need to reach optimal health, lose weight, balance hormones, end self-sabotage with food and more.

We pick the new fad, the hot new thing. The best-selling book at the store. We instill all this trust, hope, faith and desperation into someone or something who doesn’t know anything about us. They don’t know your current state of health, hormone levels, current eating habits, self-care (or lack thereof) However, apparently their program can just fix everyone because this person has established a massive following whether they are celebrity endorsed, a public figure or have established a following online. Some of these people know are highly educated and really want to help! But the problem is most of these books, programs and fads are designed to make a lot of money. They aren’t really designed uniquely for you, to help you to get to where YOU want to go, there are just general guidelines. The key problem word: general. Because no one expert can create something unique for everyone.

While there may be some positives, because there are some great ideas of plans and programs, there may also be a pile of obstacles that could be created by not knowing your current state of health and just picking a superficial program.

I can relate – I tried vegan, high protein, no fruit, raw eating, full paleo, and everything in between. Each had its own promises, and I put all my hope in that this would be the thing that would fix me. While one seemed to work for a while, it also seemed it would cause other imbalances, and I was still emotionally struggling with my food and my self-worth immensely. Vegan made me more alkaline, but it made me binge more and threw my blood sugar off, and all the harsh fibers made my digestion feel like an inflamed war-zone. High protein was GREAT for my blood sugar and digestion, but gave me severe adrenal fatigue, underactive thyroid and estrogen dominance. No fruit helped my cravings, but harmed my hormones and energy levels.

I share this with you because I was hopping on these diets and eating styles to try to fix my emotional eating and my digestion, but I was doing it all out of desperation, trusting experts I had found on the internet, reading their books and taking action. The problem was I didn’t know my current state of health fully. And this is something I cannot stress enough to everyone and how important it is.

In my business, I support many people who are frustrated because certain eating plans and programs promised certain results, but unfortunately caused more harm than good. Hormones are out of balance, blood sugar is on rollercoaster, and these fads and eating styles are creating eating disorders and binge eating. People begin to fear eating healthy foods like carrots and apples because it’s not part of the diet and you won’t get your results. To me…that is messed up, and I say, stay far far away.

Yes, I know some people have success. But I ask you, is perfection realistic? Is your body just going to stay the same once you fix it? No, probably not, and no perfection is not realistic. Your body will change, and it’s about building a listening or awareness on how to listen to your body and give her what she is asking for. This takes time and practice, and I pride myself on teaching this to my clients, and having spent many years teaching myself how to listen and not resist. The cost of resisting listening to my body was huge. My hormones took four years to balance and get my energy back….that’s just one of many costs.

If you feel super frustrated, claimed you’ve tried everything and nothing is working, I ask you

• Do you know your current state of health?
• Have you had this investigated by an expert who can really help you to see physically, emotionally and stress-wise where you are at?
• Are you indulging in self-care and have all your boundaries set with saying no? Are you well-rested and hydrated?
• Does your body really like your current diet?

Well if she/he is talking to you with symptoms and you are gaining weight, feeling more tired, not fully satisfied with your food, fearing a certain food group like carbs or fats, falling off the wagon and binging and still not taking time for yourself, I can guarantee your body and mind do not like your diet. If you are restricting, calorie counting, feeling light headed and dizzy because you aren’t getting enough nourishment and stressing about weight-loss that isn’t happening, again your body probably doesn’t like your diet.

Yet we keep pushing on, not listening to our bodies and suffering. We put them through all sorts of experimentation. Which yes, I get sometimes we need to experiment, but a big red flag is when we are told to only eat 500 calories a day. If you hear that, I encourage you to run away as quickly as you can.

If you’ve suffered from chronic dieting, are obsessed with trying every new eating style and are always on the search for the thing that will FIX you, I encourage you to stop. There is a lot more that needs to be done here than just find a new diet or eating style. There is internal work, self-loving work. Learning how to build awareness and listen to the body. I call this “life’s work” and it’s the best work or journey you can ever go on because you build this beautiful relationship with yourself. And no one can give you that but you choosing to. With of course some help and support!

I highly encourage you to reach out and book a 30-minute complimentary consult to chat more with me about your struggles. I can also help to assess your current state of help and help you to identify what the best courses of action with food, self-care and ending any emotional connections with food could be for you.

What is the cost to continue to not listen to your body and just keep pulling her in every direction with diets and eating styles? Weight-gain…starvation…hormone imbalances….poor digestion….lack of confidence…there are so many potential costs. Stop them now. You truly have the power too and I hope this has helped to wake you up.:)