by patbarone
I hear the phrase “People Don’t Change” a lot, especially from the scientific and medical communities.
I’m just back from a conference focused on scientific studies about change. I’ll acknowledge there are studies that show most patients who encounter life threatening conditions return to old behaviors that caused the problem in the first place. Hence, red meat eventually seduces the heart patient. Nicotine lures the smoker. Weight comes back to the dieter.
I know some people don’t care to change, or it is too threatening to them to do so. Yes, living without food as a soother, friend or emotional barrier can be scarier than death.
But the problem with the general belief that “people don’t change” is: it’s just that – general.
And it’s not necessarily forever.
I fit that picture of “life-threatened-but-not-changing” once.
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by patbarone
We often think criticism will force us to act. We love to berate ourselves, talking about how “bad” we’ve been behavior-wise with food, and getting down on ourselves.
Why do we do this?
Well, I think it goes back to our childhoods. When we were young, criticism (or fear of it) often motivated us. Many of my clients (and myself) grew up with parents (more…)
by patbarone
One of my muses, a poet/astrologer, lamented beginning his vegetable garden late this year. Now, he has a fantastic array of organic produce erupting from his garden; This was his formula for success, even when starting your garden late: “The best way to grow bountiful, ripe, healthy vegetables is by applying organic fertilizer, regular watering, impeccable weeding, and steady songs of encouragement.”
It struck me that this is also how to grow a healthy body.
Organic Fertilizer
Even if organic food isn’t on your shopping list, we can all concentrate on eating healthier food. The vitamins, minerals and macronutrients we derive from food is the most important element in building health. Keeping as close as possible to the original food is the goal – whole grains, lean proteins, lots of fruit and vegetables. Simply avoiding processing and the inherent chemicals, additives, preservatives, and high sugar and salt content, can reduce cravings that lead to poor food choices.
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by patbarone
One of my clients saw my last blog post. She said, “Pat, you don’t like any of the traditional weight loss formulas, do you?”
No, I don’t.
I don’t like them because they don’t work. Trying to follow them took years of effort and rendered me mind-numbingly incapable of success. When I threw them out the window, things started moving in a positive way in my life.
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by patbarone
Being on a diet usually leads to fixation on the scale.
We are happy when it goes down, unhappy when it goes up, frustrated when it stays the same. (The truth is, any time it stays the same, we are winning, but few of us see it that way when we’re immersed in the struggle of dieting off excess weight.)
Here are some basic facts. The body is made up of fat and non-fat (lean) tissue – this includes bone, muscle, organ tissue, interstitial and connective tissue. All of this lean tissue is mostly water – 73.2%.
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