Tag Archive for Change Your Thoughts

All Behavior is Belief Driven

elfJust 9 days til Christmas – I feel the energy in the air!!  Along with a giant To-Do list in my notebook.

I’m going to blast some facts at you, because : All Behavior Is Belief Driven.  Think it’s hard to walk past platters full of doughnuts, cookies, or bagels without eating any? It depends on your belief:  do you believe that flour and sugar are literally toxic to your brain and body, or do you still look at food as calories that you can work-off or starve-off later?

Fact: flours that contain Gluten (a group of proteins that are in grains) have ADDICTIVE properties, they literally stimulate pleasure centers in your brain that make you want more.

Fact:  no human being on earth has the digestive enzymes to break down glutens from wheat, barley, or rye.  Think you don’t have a problem because you’re not a Celiac?  Celiac disease is an AUTO IMMUNE reaction to the glutens. That happens to some people.   For the rest of us, the damage accumulates over YEARS:  the undigested proteins leak thru the gut wall, inappropriately; our immune system responds to the foreign objects, and where we’re most vulnerable (joints, brain, nervous system, thyroid, etc) gets attacked.

Fact:  sugar has ADDICTIVE properties. Studies show that it’s MORE addictive than Cocaine.  In 1700, the average American ate 4 lbs of sugar a year; in 1800 it was 18 lbs;  in 1900 it was 90 lbs,  in 2009, it was 180 lbs.   

Imagine the power that foods containing both Gluten and Sugar possess.  Think you can have just a little?  Maybe,  there’s actually still some people left that can have a bite and walk away, but they’re in the minority.  Most people have their appetites seriously triggered, and it tends to stay triggered.

Fact: in 1890, 3% of the population was overweight,  in 2010, 70% of our population was overweight.

Fact:  Gluten and Sugar are conclusively linked to Cancer, Heart Disease, Obesity, Migraines, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Auto Immune Conditions, Depression, ADHD, ADD, Anxiety, and just about every disease out there.

Fact: 70% of Illnesses today are PREVENTIBLE.  70%.

There’s a sweet, sweet girl who’s wisdom I follow, her name is Charis.  She wrote one of the most profound statements this past weekend.  She said to spend time before the New Year thinking about what you manifested this past year.  OMG I LOVE THAT.  Our life, our body, our thoughts, our “luck”, our relationships, they’re all exactly what we made of them.  Evaluate where we are, where we want to be, and how to get there.  If it’s a different place, it won’t be doing the same old thing, that’s for sure.

We only have a few weeks left of the Change.   Nothing changes if our thoughts don’t change.  Nothing.  Actually, I should say, nothing PERMANENTLY changes.  Will powering through situations is do-able, for a little while.  Then there’s the backlash.  Remember that quote I used the other day, ” for every diet, there is an equal and opposing binge”?

Practice making the association between every bite you put in your mouth and your health, your energy, and your resilience.   If you have children, help them make that association too.  We live in a world that promises happiness if you drink diet coke or eat pop tarts and frozen pizza.  We’re bombarded with ads promising quick fixes with pharmaceuticals.  We see pictures of beautiful people indulging in alcohol, chips, and candy, sending the message that if they do that and look that good, we can do that and look that good.  It’s not true.  Our body, our brain, and our spirit need Real Whole Food, sleep, exercise, and love.

I’ve got 3 quotes for you; if you really want to change, write them down and meditate on them.  Post them on your lamp your mirror your steering wheel;  practice positive, productive thinking.

(1) “Most of us have practiced doing things the wrong way for years, we can’t expect everything to turn around in a few weeks. ”  Joyce Meyers

(2) “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”  Norman Vincent Peale

(3) “Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.”  Golda Meir

 

More Gluten Free Summit Snipits, and a Focus Reminder

gluten e summitThe Gluten E Summit continues to impress, if you haven’t registered, it’s not too late, there’s still 3 more full days of FREE lectures by doctors and researchers who are at the top of the game when it comes to Preventative and Functional Medicine.   Dr. O Bryan, who’s at the helm of all this, has created a listening ability to access each of the lectures right through your email.  If you don’t have Stitcher or iTunes, that’s okay, you don’t need them.  Just click on the link and listen in your car, your home, the gym, where ever.

Here’s some highlights from the past couple of days:

“Main stream medicine does NOT have a monopoly on knowledge” ( this from Dr. Natasha, who has TWO MDs)

“Fat makes you thin, and Sugar/Glucose makes you fat.”  (all carbohydrates break down to glucose)

Two slices of Whole Wheat bread have more glucose and will raise your blood sugar HIGHER than Two Tablespoons of Sugar.  ( whole wheat’s not the health food it’s cracked up to be)

Gluten-Free Foods are a BIG PROBLEM.  They’re made with high glycemic flours (rice flour gluten free mini browniesshoots blood sugar up quicker than wheat flour), sugar, and chemicals.   They’re usually just another processed food.    (from me:  if you go Gluten Free, let it mean Real Whole Foods)

Gluten Free = Gluten Free.  Microscopic amounts of Gluten trigger the same Immune Response that large amounts do.

“Removing gluten is NOT Alternative/Functional/Holistic medicine;  it’s good medicine backed solidly by Science.”

Put Gluten and Sugar together ( for example, in a processed food like crackers, cereal, bagels…), and you’ve got the perfect storm for Addiction.  Chemicals are triggered that are “opioid-like”;capn crunch  the same areas of the brain that respond to drugs and alcohol light up.  Why set your kids up for a life time of the same battles you’re fighting, or worse?

“It’s become NORMAL to start the day with dessert: cereal, danishes, bagels;  this matters because Food is Information, and the information anyone gets from those kinds of foods is All Bad”

Everyone who lectures reminds us that reactions to Gluten don’t just happen in the Gut.  As a matter of fact, around 70% of all reactions happen in places OTHER THAN THE GUT:  the brain, the cardiovascular system, the joints, and the skin.  Several Neurologists who’ve spoken say that Gluten Sensitivity is responsible for a large portion of Parkinson’s, Bells Palsy, Shaking, Migraines, etc.    Our food has consequences!

And my favorite quote of the day:  “Your Body Is NOT a Math Equation (calories in calories out doesn’t work), It’s a Chemical Reaction.”   The food we eat triggers hormones, and they determine whether we store fat or burn fat.

throw bread awayWhich leads right into our Change Effort that I’m running through January:  Most negative thoughts about your body lead to a plan to reduce calories through diet or burn more calories through exercise.  None of this works:  not the negative thoughts, and not the diet and exercise program (that’s the calories in – calories out paradigm).   Check the statistics:  almost 100% of everyone who loses weight on a “diet” gains it back.  Want real change?  Change Your Thoughts!!!  Quit focusing on what you don’t like about yourself ( your thighs, your stomach, your weight), and start focusing on being a better person, having a kinder heart, fostering better relationships.  Use the Mantra “I practice being kind, not right.”

As for really changing your body?  Start thinking of Food in terms of the Effects it has on your hormones:  carbs encourage you to store body fat through the hormone Insulin; and the main two components that build your body structurally are Fat and Protein.  Feed your body what it takes to run beautifully, and be beautiful.  Eat Real Whole Foods.  Work on being in charge of your thoughts.  Our food matters, and our thoughts matter.  We have so much power, control, and choice over our life! There’s some people who climb into little boxes and stay there for days, they will their Respiratory System and Cardiovascular System to slow down – just to prove they can.  These people aren’t magic, they’re focused;  you can focus too!  Start practicing now and change will happen.     “I practice being kind, not right.”