You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘diets’ tag.
I’ve recently been banned from two internet forums: my voice is no longer heard. And what sin did I commit? Putting human interest before those of business.
Let me give you some background. Many years ago I was a fitness coach, studied nutrition and, amongst my clients, there were many whose goal was weight loss. I’ve also had close experience of people with eating disorders so, in some respects, food is important to me.
Whether somebody eats too much or too little the issue is the same: their relationship with food is out of balance. And that’s a pretty big issue all on its own. However, the more I’ve looked into this, the more I see an ever-widening gap between the human interest of people being healthy and business interests. When I say business interests I mean the food industry (additives, fast foods and processed foods), the diet industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Look at this scenario. Additives and chemicals are added to processed foods. Many of these such as sugars and sweeteners are addictive so people eat more and get fat. As they get fat they develop health problems and so are prescribed drugs. To get healthier they go on a diet. Diets are not sustainable in the long term and they fail. They get depressed and eat more and the vicious cycle begins all over again. At the same time the food industry, drug industry and diet industry are just making bigger and bigger profits.
Based on my experience I put together an E-book explaining why dieting is not the answer and offering a plan that works. As part of my research I’ve been frequenting dieting forums (who incidentally advertise a lot of different diets and I’m sure get paid handsomely for doing so).
So, my first ban came when I responded to somebody who said they were anorexic and wanted advice on the foods they were actually eating. I dared to suggest that they seek help. I was banned from the forum with no indication when I might be allowed back.
Close to that one my second ban came from a dieting forum. This forum gets thousands of messages a day from people on diets. The interesting thing is that a lot of them have been on diets for a very long time, bouncing from one to another, getting bigger and more depressed. I have been advocating healthy eating as opposed to any commercial diet and guess what? I get banned. Underneath the message telling me I am banned is a reinstatement date. Mine says ‘Never’.
When will we realise that putting business interests above human interests is a long term nuclear bomb? When will individuals wake up, put down their fatty snacks and see what’s happening? When will ‘now’ become ‘too late’?
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
WANT TO PUBLISH THIS ARTICLE?
You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
Overweight or underweight?
Anorexic, bulimic or obese?
However diverse the symptoms the cause may be very similar.
Malissa Jones is 21 years old and once held the dubious title of ‘Britain’s Fattest Teenager’. She is now suffering from anorexia.
At her heaviest of 34 stone she was eating 15,000 calories a day, more than seven times her energy requirements. To save her life she had a gastric band fitted, saw the weight drop off and became pregnant. Her son, Harry, was delivered by caesarean section six months into the pregnancy. Malissa was suffering from liver failure and Harry, malnourished due to Malissa’s eating issues, died an hour after being delivered. In an interview with Closer magazine Malissa said she doesn’t know whether she will survive on her current 300 daily calories but can’t force herself to eat.
Malissa has shown two very opposite symptoms but the cause is the same: her relationship with food is out of balance going from one extreme to another. The gastric band just helped her change the effect rather than remove the cause.
And this is where most of the solutions available for weight loss are just wrong. It’s rarely as simple as cutting down on calories and taking more exercise. The reasons why we overeat or undereat have nothing to do with calories. It’s about obsessive behaviour and the focus is food.
The only way you can break it is by pulling apart the old relationship and building a new one which is not easy and not quick. Unfortunately too many people want the quick and easy and spend years and lots of money pursuing the promises that the commercial weight loss industry make.
Malissa’s story is interesting and heart breaking. I only hope she can find the help now that she should have had in her teenage years.
Jackie Notman is a feng shui consultant and healer. In her e-book ‘Diets Don’t Work’ she has pulled together a step – by step plan that will help you balance your relationship with food. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
WANT TO PUBLISH THIS ARTICLE?
You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
The Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in England has released research results on the feeding behaviour of domestic cats. It found that healthy cats were automatically able to regulate their consumption of calories that would keep them at an optimal weight. Even more interesting was that they also had the ability to eat the right types of food in the right proportions (carbohydrates, fats and proteins). Their bodies knew what was right for them and they acted accordingly.
It’s not a huge leap to understand that humans have the same ability: our bodies know what we should be eating, how much we should be eating and when we should be eating. However, the communication channels between our body (or subconscious mind) and our conscious mind gets a bit scrambled for many of us.
Add that to the fact that our conscious mind is drip fed messages from advertisers and the media and, if we are eating unhealthily at the moment then our bodies may be hooked on certain types of unhealthy food such as sugars then it’s not surprising that we don’t know what our body really wants. In fact, we get to the point where we trust others rather than ourselves: the latest celebrity starvation diet is chosen over our body’s cries for help.
When did everybody else’s opinion become more important than our own? When did we start to dislike and disrespect our own bodies so much that we chose to abuse it and starve it of nutrients?
Your body is perfectly able to control its weight. Your body is perfectly able to tell you what it needs to become and stay healthy. Listen to your body, treat it with respect and it will repay you back by allowing you to enjoy an active, energetic lifestyle. If only it was that simple!
Habits such as unhealthy eating are hard to break. Addictions, such as sugar, are even harder. The hole in our emotions that we try to fill become unbearable if we can’t fill them up with food.
Diets are not the answer. Punishing yourself is not the answer. Working with your body is the only answer.
Cats have got it right. In fact, they could have written Diets Don’t Work but, of course they’re cats, so they can’t write – but they certainly know how to eat!
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
WANT TO PUBLISH THIS ARTICLE?
You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
Have you stuck to your resolutions?
It’s hardly surprising that New Year resolution failure rate is high (estimated at between 88 and 90%). If you live in the northern hemispshere then you make your resolutions whilst the days are short, cold and not particularly inspiring.
This is the time of winter where we are introspective: making plans but not yet acting. In the Feng Shui system this is the time of Water and Yin energy. It’s not until some Yang energy starts to mix with the Yin that everything starts to stir and, at last, we wake from our hibernation ready to pursue our goals.
So, doesn’t it make sense to to set our resolutions at this time of year? Spring is of the Wood element, creativity is high and the need to be active after an inactive winter is strong.
So, if you didn’t stick to those resolutions you made in the depth of winter don’t beat yourself up about it. The odds were stacked against you but now they’re in your favour so why not go for it?
PS: Is one of your resolutions to lose weight? Then the one thing you shouldn’t do is diet. To find out why, and what you can do that really works try Diets Don’t Work available from The Little Shop of Charms as an ebook download or in Kindle format from Amazon.
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
This Feng Shui information is general for everybody. However, there are deeper levels of Feng Shui which take into account you and your specific business or home environment.
If you would like to find out more about living in harmony with your environment, and using energy to your advantage, contact Jackie Notman on 07920 461574 or through her website www.fs168.co.uk
WANT TO PUBLISH THIS ARTICLE?
You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
Recent Comments