Ambassador of Wellness : Oprah, general wellness

In the interest of Self-Disclosure

Eliz — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:55:21 GMT

To so many folks battling with their weight, next month's O Magazine cover shows an unre-touched Oprah at her current weight, next to a photo taken 4 years ago, is like reading a page from their own diary. It's an all too familiar story of weight lost, feeling confidence & power over food, and then regaining the weight.

Oprah: "I'm mad at myself. I'm embarrassed. I can't believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, 'How did I let this happen again?'"

I empathize with Oprah's struggle, and anyone else who has struggled with their eating and health habits. And HABIT is the key word there. We are the size and shape we are because of our habits.

As a Wellness Coach I help people change their behaviors, or rather, their habits that surround their health; eating, activity, sleep, stress, and smoking cessation. Imagine what a fraud I felt like when I wasn't able to maintain the weight that I wanted to be.

I'm not a big New Year's Resolution maker. I create goals when I want to change something in my life, and then I do it. At the beginning of 2008 though, I felt like I had an unhealthy eating habit and I wanted to get rid of it: I eat very good quality foods & for the most part, I would eat good portion sizes. But every now & again I would binge. When I looked into the future as a young woman, I didn't see myself at 40 with that type of relationship with food. I wanted to get it under control.

I know that when some people binge that they take in upwards of 5000 Calories. I didn't go to near that extreme, but I felt out of control with my eating & therefore resolved in 2008 to get control over my eating habits.

There were two things that helped me:

Am I Hungry - This is an e-book that guides you through the process of eating intuitively. It seems stupid, but before you eat anything, you ask yourself, "Am I hungry?" The accompanying journal is more than just a food log; it's an exploration of why we eat the way we do. It can really help open your eyes to your own eating habits.
Bodybugg - This device tells me how many calories I've burned in a day. The Bodybugg helped me in my eating habits because I am so active. There were days that I don't think I ate enough because I wasn't hungry (following the Am I Hungry? plan). Not eating enough meant that the next day I didn't have enough energy to fuel my workouts and I probably overate because I was hungry from the day before. By monitoring my activity level along with my food intake, I was able to easily take off the weight that I wanted to get rid of by eating just enough food to create a calorie deficit while at the same time eating enough to not get hungry.

So I still struggle. Some days are better than others, but I'm in a much better place than I was a year ago. Boredom seems to be my biggest emotional eating trigger, and just being aware of that is helpful. As with any transformation, making it through the program is just the tip of the iceberg. It's the following days, weeks and years that reinforce that good behavior and allow us to acquire new habits to replace the ones we're not so fond of.

Copyright Elizabeth Sherman. Purchase a Bodybugg through Elizabeth Sherman.

The chemical free diet

Eliz — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:45:00 GMT

Yesterday, Jenny McCarthy & Holly Robinson Peete were on the Oprah Winfrey Show. They both have sons with autism. Jenny McCarthy has just published a book titled: Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism where she discusses her journey to reverse autism in her son. Yes, you read that right - reverse autism.

What I find fascinating about this topic is that she was able to do it through food. Within 2 weeks of eliminating dairy, wheat, and artificial flavoring and dyes from her son's diet, he had doubled his vocabulary. That's HUGE! For those of us who are healthy, we don't really consider how food affects us - maybe a bit in reference to our weight, but to realize that there are foods out there that are toxic to us -- foods that may be fine for someone else, but for a child it clouds the brain, slows down his central nervous system and even interrupts his emotions. To be able to see such gains in such a short amount of time by simply eliminating those toxic foods is fantastic.

Excerpt from the Autism Society of America:
Autism is the most common of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders, affecting an estimated 1 in 150 births (Centers for Disease Control Prevention, 2007). Roughly translated, this means as many as 1.5 million Americans today are believed to have some form of autism. And this number is on the rise.
Based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Education and other governmental agencies, autism is growing at a startling rate of 10-17 percent per year. At this rate, the ASA estimates that the prevalence of autism could reach 4 million Americans in the next decade.

This quote begs the question, "If autism is on the rise, what is causing it?" Looking back on her own experience, Jenny McCarthy realized that she saw changes in her son's behavior at about 1 year; when he received his vaccinations. There is no conclusive evidence that she is in fact right, however the Center for Disease Control & Prevention is investigating the link between autism & childhood vaccines.

So what are we putting into our bodies? Why is it that we believe that food manufacturers have our best health in mind when they market food to us? I think we believe that both our government (CDC, FDA, USDA) have good intentions, however I truly believe that these organizations have changed paths to a political agenda as opposed to one that has the best interest of the people at hand.

And then there's doctors. Why is it that when a doctor says "take this pill" that we do it without questioning "why"? Long gone are the days of the country doctor who makes house-calls. My doctor appears so busy that I feel like I have to lock the exam room door just to ask general questions about things that are going on in my body. Doctors too often treat symptoms and not the cause - because it's easier to treat symptoms; and treating symptoms means taking more drugs.

Instead of consuming more chemicals, maybe we need to consume less in order to reach optimal health. Our bodies are incredible machines that really only need water, protein, carbohydrates and fat in order to survive - and in fact, not only survive, but excel. Live as close to nature as possible & your body will thank you by allowing you to live a long healthy life.