I also want to remind you that it is such a courageous step because you may have had this pattern for 30, 40 or even 50 years. So it’s important that you acknowledge this because you may go a little easier on yourself if things don’t change in an instant!

This article helps you gain a greater understanding of how to do change your beliefs, to create a new, sustainable habit. This week we will discuss your beliefs around food and your body.

Remember, most of your beliefs and decisions about health and wellbeing were firmly implanted in your mind before the age of seven years old. That means you had made decisions about food and eating patterns, as well as ways of approaching your health and dealing with illness, simply by observing role models in your environment.

You may have experienced your mum telling you you weren’t allowed to eat something sweet, for example, but later observing her ‘sneaking’ the same sweet thing. This might have caused you to decide that eating sweet things was ‘naughty’ or ‘bad’ and it should only be done in secret. As a result, when you eat sweet things you feel bad about yourself, or you feel guilty, hence confirming the belief that you are ‘bad’ for eating the ‘bad’ food. Can you see how destructive this has been to your life?

That is why it is so important to address these beliefs and decisions first, because they lie at the core of Why you have these eating patterns and habits. Your beliefs form the basis of why you do everything you do. From an energetic perspective, your beliefs determine how safe you feel in your body, and in the world. In eastern philosophy, your beliefs are associated with the first chakra and your feelings of stability and security.

The first question to ask is ‘What beliefs do I have around my body image and food?’

It’s important to be completely honest with yourself when you begin this process, so you can maximize its benefits. To do this, grab a notebook and pen, take yourself to a quiet space, where you feel safe, and know you won’t be disturbed. Read through this process first and then do it in a way that feels best for you.

Sit with your feet firmly on the floor, so you can sense the connection between your feet and the earth. Close your eyes and take some deep breaths, right down into your belly. If you want to you can even imagine a red spinning wheel at your tailbone – this represents the first chakra. Breathe into this bright red wheel and notice how you feel.

Now bring up an image of your body, as if you are looking in a mirror, and notice what you see. At the same time, bring in to your awareness your health and vitality, as it exists right now. Allow yourself to look at how you feel in your body.

Now ask yourself:

“How do I FEEL about my relationship with my body and my health?”
“What do I judge or criticize myself about?”
“What are my self-sabotaging behaviours, and those I just don’t like?”

Observe how you feel in your body as you ask yourself these questions. At this point, if you want to record anything, make some notes in your notebook for you to remember later.

Now ask yourself:

“What are my beliefs about my body and health?” (Maybe you believed you are powerless over your body, or that you are not worthy of having energy or nourishment, or that there is something wrong with you. Remember, be honest because that is how you will start to change).
“What effects have these old, outdated, disempowering beliefs had around my health and body image”

Observe how you feel in your body as you ask yourself these questions. At this point, if you want to record anything, make some notes in your notebook for you to remember later.

Now you have made an admission to yourself that you are holding on to some outdated beliefs around your body and food. That means you now know you have the power to shift what you believe, and how you treat yourself and food. Congratulations!

From here you can allow yourself the vision of what your body will look like if you gave up these behaviours and beliefs and consciously started to make new choices!

I’m sure it is becoming more and more apparent you are not simply eliminating a food from your diet AND why you may have tried in the past without success.

You are walking on a new path – and taking smaller steps, which leads to sustainability in changing your habits.

Remember, in all that you do, create balance and harmony, not trauma and chaos, when it comes to your body. And make it sustainable! Most of all ENJOY THE PROCESS.

The post Creating A Sustainable You – Your Beliefs appeared first on Join me in the Garden.

Deciding to remove old eating habits, or addictions from your life, can be tough work, and when you do that it is a courageous step that deserves to be done properly.

That means striking a balance so it is sustainable.

If you have had a particular pattern around food for 30, 40, even 50 years, it’s important you go easy and not expect yourself to be ‘superman/woman’. Because even though you want it to change instantly, it may produce challenges for you.

I want to stop and emphasise this point with an example for a minute. Most of our beliefs and decisions about health and wellbeing were firmly implanted in our minds before the age of seven years old. This means we made decisions about food and eating patterns, as well as ways of approaching our health and dealing with illness, simply by observing role models in our environment.

A classic one, to which you may relate, is that you weren’t allowed a certain treat by your mum, yet you saw mum later ‘sneak’ something sweet when she thought you weren’t looking. So a possible decision you made as a result was maybe, “eating sweet treats is ‘bad for me’ or ‘it should only be done in secret’”, or “I need to hide the fact I eat these things”. As a result, later in life, whenever you eat something that is ‘bad’ for you, you feel ‘bad’ about yourself, and then develop feelings of guilt. And so it goes in a perpetual cycle.

We are ‘addicted’ to this pattern and the feeling it produces, so when we decide to introduce a healthier eating pattern it is so much more than just taking away a food, or introducing a new one.

When you make such a change you are re-programming not just your mind, but your entire physiological and emotional response.

That is why it is so important for your changes to be MANAGEABLE and SUSTAINABLE. I recommend a three-step process for changing an eating pattern.

1. Your Beliefs. When you look at your patterns around food, one of the first things to investigate is your relationship with food and how you use it in relation to your body. Some questions to ask yourself are:

What beliefs do I have around my body image and food?
Do I believe I am worthy of having energy or nourishment?
Do I criticize my body?

Once you have answered these questions, you have admitted that you are holding on to some outdated beliefs around your body and food. This is where the real power lies. Because you can’t get out of the mud until you admit you’re stuck in it, right? So now you know you have the power to shift how you treat your body you can allow yourself the vision of what your body would look like if you gave up these behaviours and beliefs.

2. Your Choices. The next question is now a matter of choice. Once you start to question your old, outdated beliefs, you become aware of new choices available to you. Previously were too stuck in your old belief pattern to be aware of them. Ask yourself:

What would be available to me if I decided to change my beliefs around
my body and food?

Notice you have not yet removed anything from your diet. This step, which is so often the first one we jump in to, doesn’t come until we question our beliefs, and formulate SUSTAINABLE new choices.

3. The Desired Changes. The next question naturally becomes:

What am I ready to change?

Make it a small step, and make it measurable. Maybe you want to cut back on caffeine, but if you are used to drinking five cups a day, is it really fair to expect yourself to cut it out completely and think you will not go crazy from the caffeine headache after about 72 hours?

A more realistic option would be to decide that, for the next week, you will cut back to three cups a day, at least three or four times a week. That way, you are giving yourself a break.

I want to get another thing straight – you’re not copping out when you do it this way. You’re not taking the easy option. Remember the discussion about the fact that you’ve had this emotional pattern for 30, 40, 50 years? When you cut back on your caffeine intake you are not just cutting coffee out of your diet. You are changing your physiological responses. You are making change! And there is no cop-out about that.

Give yourself a break.

After a week of sticking to your new coffee-drinking habit, introduce another small step AFTER you have patted yourself on the back for sticking to it for a week. Give yourself credit. You have just implemented positive change, and you have done what it takes to make it work. Don’t move on until you have celebrated your success in some small way.

Now, doesn’t that sound much more manageable and sustainable?

I’m sure you understand how this way of changing your eating habits can have a much more profound effect on your body and your life.

In all that you do, create balance and harmony, not trauma and chaos, when it comes to your body. Most of all. ENJOY THE PROCESS.

Creating A Sustainable You – Let’s Start With What You Put In Your Mouth!

The post Creating A Sustainable You – Let’s Start With What You Put In Your Mouth! appeared first on Join me in the Garden.