Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Healthily Ever After

*Photo courtesy of Windows

I'm re-reading an excellent book, Feeling Light. I love, love, love it. This is the second time I've read it, but I think I will keep it around for quite a long time for reference. It's one of the only weight loss type books that I would recommend to anyone. It incorporates a whole range of things to do to keep your body healthy, strong, and fit--both mind, body and spirit.

As I've mentioned before, I don't believe in diets. Of course a lot of people lose weight on a diet. But what happens when the diet ends? The weight, and usually even a bit more, comes right back on.

Feeling Light is a holistic approach to losing weight and being healthy. One of the most important pieces of the "plan" if you want to call it that, is this piece of advice: Don't worry about all you can't have, think of all you can. In the book, the authors are speaking to the fact that often people think that eating healthfully is some sort of punishment. "Oh, I'll never be able to have cookies and ice cream again!" Instead of thinking this way, the authors suggest that someone look at the 101 different types of produce that's available to them and all the ways that they could prepare and enjoy it. (And by the way, I would never, ever subscribe to the notion that cookies and ice cream are completely forbidden. Just that they're best eaten in moderation.)

This type of thinking can easily be transferred to other areas of our lives. What if, for instance, instead of thinking of all the things we can't afford, we thought of all the great things we already have? What if we spent a little time thinking about the parts of our job we loved, instead of the one or two aspects that are annoying? Instead of thinking about all that is wrong with our lives, what if we looked at the ways we could make it better?

Attitude is such a huge factor in our perception of the world around us. And you don't have to be a Pollyanna to see that a more positive attitude really can make a difference.


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