Change Your Mind Change Your Body
Don’t eat this, no carbs, no fat, ahh don’t you hate when people tell you what you can’t do? I know I do. One thing that I don’t do well is listening to people who are trying to tell me what not to do when I really want to do it. So, as you can imagine when diets I have been on in the past say don’t eat a certain food it only makes me want it more. You know the rule, you always want what you can’t have.
Do you feel the same way I do about restricting diets? Well, what if you started to think about it a different way? What if you changed your mindset to thinking about your eating as coming from an abundance mindset instead of a lack or deprived mindset.
First lets talk about what is an abundance and the lack mindset. You have probably heard about it before in other realms like business or money. In an abundance mindset it means that there is always enough to go around, there is no limit or boundaries to what you can have. A lack mindset means that you believe you can never have enough, there is not enough to go around and you are always left wanting and needing more.
How to look at nutrition a different way.
The dieting mindset comes from a place of lack and deprivation instead of looking at it as a healthy lifestyle. Here are some ways to change your mindset.
Dieting Mindset- I can never have that food again. When you are dieting you start to have the mindset that you will never be able to enjoy a cookie ever again (or whatever food is off limits). When you start to feel as if you are never going to be able to eat a piece of cake then you will start to crave it more. Like we discussed before its like that theory that you always want what you can’t have.
Abundance Mindset- You can have whatever you want whenever you want it. Meaning that if you one day you want a piece of cake then you can have a piece and not feel guilty about it. It doesn’t mean that you will eat cake every day for the rest of your life but knowing that you are able to indulge once in awhile takes the pressure off of never being able to have it again.
Dieting Mindset-There will not be enough. This is another reason many of us subconsciously overeat and indulge. For some of people who might have been raised in a larger family or the youngest this may apply. A lot of people tell me that they feel as if they don’t eat everything in front of them then there will never be another chance to eat that food again.
Abundance Mindset-I think as rational adults we can put that theory to rest. There will always be an abundance of food for us to eat no matter when we need it. We are lucky enough to have food available to us all the time and therefore when we know we can get what we need at anytime there won’t be such an urge to binge when you have food in front of you.
Dieting Mindset- This is the only time I am ever going to have this food again. This usually occurs around eating holidays. You get to the Superbowl party and you think I will never be able to eat this amazing cheese dip until next Superbowl so I must eat all of it now!
Abundance Mindset-I can still eat that special holiday food anytime of year. So what if 7 layer cookies are usually only made during Christmas, does that really mean you can never get them another time during the year? I doubt it very much. Once you come to realize that you are able to eat those foods you love anytime and not just during a special holiday it takes the pressure off needing to binge on that food when you see it only once a year.
Dieting Mindset- Everything is all or nothing, black or white. Dieters see their eating plans as either they are on or off a diet. If you eat something that is not “on” your diet then you feel like you automatically failed on your diet which usually leads to binging and then punishing yourself after.
Abundance Mindset- There is sometimes moderation and gray areas when thinking about nutrition. If you can start to practice with the mindset that you are neither on or off a diet, and there are no good and bad foods, there are just foods that help you burn fat and that help you store fat then you will have a whole new outlook on what you eat. Learning that every meal is an opportunity to put your body into fat burning or fat storing mode can help to really make you understand that your body doesn’t work in absolutes. Finding your fat loss formula takes some trial and error and some self discovery. We should all learn to love our bodies more and do things for our body that help us to be healthier and happier and not punish our bodies with extreme dieting and exercise.
Changing your mindset around your nutrition can be the key to making changes and learning the fat loss lifestyle.
