Mind over Matter

First and foremost, I want to thank my dear friends who are responsible for encouraging me to post the wisdom I learned from my Health and Fitness nurse. Thank you for the compliments and also the desire to learn what I've learned. I am indeed passionate about health and fitness and enjoy sharing my 20+ years of excercise and most recently, nutritional knowledge. When I was 30 and under, I concentrated pretty much on excercise and satisfied myself by eating whatever I wanted. However, the older I get the more this idea became challenging. I can no longer live in the fairytale of eating whatever I want, when I want because it now has lasting effects on my body. It started to become more challenging to lose weight and keep it off even though my excercise regime has always been pretty predictable. I felt so out of control and did not like this feeling! That is why I went to the doctor to see if everything was working as it should be. She then referred me to the health and fitness nurse. My blood work and tests all came back great, and the pattern of my excercising lifestyle was great, therefore we knew it was my eating that needed some shifting. Welcome to forty!! I have many dear friends who all fall under this category, but what we are failing to recognize is that being in and close to 40, our bodies have changed and will keep changing. Therefore eating habits are something we need to consider and work at changing if we haven't done so already. The first thing I said to my nurse was, "how can I lose weight without starving myself?? There has got to be a way!!" This frustration produced the eating plan that I adjusted to actually quite easily. I still eat junk foods once in awhile, so I don't feel deprived at all. In fact I feel like I eat alot more and this is what brings me to the title of this post "Mind over Matter".

My nurse told me to beware of the mind! Because eating by the Canada Food Guide actually prompts the average person to actually eat more, it can be hard for our minds to grasp! We automatically think, man I have to stop eating so much! She said be careful not to let down and start skipping meals again as this counteracts the whole plan. The body automatically goes into starvation mode and will start hanging on to the food for fat. In truth, sometimes I really don't feel like eating, so I bought slim fast shakes that I will blend up with ice cubes for a delicious drink. I don't use them very often and I certainly don't use them for a diet plan. They're just a good alternative to those days when you really don't feel hungry.

I hope these posts have helped those who have asked to me to write this great nutrional advice I received from a 43 yr old professional, who by the way looks totally awesome! I was inspired when I first met her just by the way she looked!!

BTW: During family prayer my kids laughed hysterically that I prayed that God would help me to lose weight. I booked myself an appointment with my doctor the next day and this has been the result! God answers these prayers too!!!