Sunday, August 22, 2010

Health and Happiness



Everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy and happy life, as health and happiness are both internal energy fields that make up our natural condition. Look at most newborn babies. They arrive healthy and happy in this physical world. During pregnancy, the Mother attempts to eat nutritious foods, drink good water, and breathe fresh air. These are the basic needs for each and every human to live a happy, healthy, and long life. Knowing this simple equation, we must stop and ask ourselves what happens along the living journey of our physical life. How do we become sick and devoid of energy? It is not that everyone does not eat, but the question is "What do we eat?" Do we eat processed foods that we remove from a can, a box, or some other container? Most processed foods do not have the same nutrients left in them as fresh, raw foods have. Once we understand that "we eat by choice," we will also understand that when we make good choices in our foods, we will be healthier and happier.


When we gain weight or get too thin, we need to understand that it is us that guides our hand to our mouth and makes the choices of what is in our hand. This puts obesity and malnutrition directly into our personal responsibility as our thinking about foods. No one else can ever be responsible for what we eat or don't eat, and we should never attempt to make someone else responsible for our personal eating habits. Over-eating should be called the "hand-to-mouth" disease" which we should be able to understand as our personal behavior. Not eating enough is also creating poor health habits and disease, so we need to seek an internal balance. Understanding the "why" of watching what you eat, is the beginning of change and success in being healthy, feeling wonderful, and actively enjoying our physical life.


Why do we overeat? Why do we under eat? The answers are not a simple one because every human being alive that is overeating has his/her own accumulation of reasons.  I suggest to my clients that if they are overeating they need to keep a "reason" diary. A "reason" diary is created by making a note of your motivation to eat, each and every time you put food in your mouth. Write down what you are eating, the time that you are eating, and why you feel hungry. Keep this diary for one month. Each month we will do a re-evaluation of your eating habits and begin to work on changing your habits that are not appropriate to maintain your normal weight.


The other issue with overeating is underactivity. Anytime that we begin a weight loss program it is time to reduce the amount of food that we eat, while increasing the amount of exercise that we get on a daily basis. My favorite exercise is walking and my second favorite is gardening. Plant a flower garden and watch the changes that occur in your yard and your physical body. Gardening is a very satisfactory form of exercise when we can see the results that we create. Exercise for me must mean something in my life or I will probably not stay focused on the exercise. Change your food to fresh, raw foods and you will begin to feel better, have more energy, and you can watch the pounds fall off your body. This will be a special joy to you when you find yourself putting on a new dress or wearing a suit that you have not been capable of wearing for a year or more.


The better you look, the happier you will be in your life! Go for it! Create a new you!

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