Crowding out the "bad"
Do you ever find yourself saying” I am so bad, I just ate all of those chips” or ” I have to eat good today because yesterday I was so bad”. I put “bad” in quotes in the title because food is neither good nor bad, it is simply food. That being said, there are certain foods that provide more fuel for your body and help it perform at it’s peak, while supporting a healthy weight. Fundamentality it is all about creating balance in your life and with your eating habits.
Have you ever wondered why when we label something as bad or forbidden we crave it more? Its because it draws our attention to it. Once something comes into our awareness, and especially when we label it, it has the power to take over our every thought. The law of attraction does not label things bad or good, it just knows what you are focusing on and it brings it right to you. So if you are focusing on what you cannot have, or something that is ‘bad’ you will see it wherever you go. It is a cruel joke that the universe plays on us. Same thing with loosing weight. If you are trying to loose weight but all you are focusing on is how you cannot loose weight you will see proof of that everywhere and the scale will not move. What we give our attention to grows! Your thoughts create your reality!
Test it out, I read about the following exercise in the book E2 by Pam Grout. Next time you see a red car notice it, take it in and focus on it. Make it your intention to notice and see red cars. Notice how many red cars you see in a day and then the next day. You will notice you are all the sudden seeing more red cars than you normally see. You are bringing those red cars into your conscious awareness, they where always there you are just focusing on them and therefore seeing more red cars.
What we focus our attention on grows.
So if that is true can’t we simply shift our perspective from foods that are ‘bad” and focus on those that are ‘good”? Yes! Lets bring your attention to foods that grows in nature, clean whole foods that nourish you and make you feel great. Colorful salads, fruits and vegetables that are loaded with vitamins and minerals and fuel for your day. When eating healthy becomes your focus you will naturally crowd out the not so good foods you used to crave. Bad habits will fall away and be replaced with good ones and over time it will become your new normal. Now training your brain to think this way does take some discipline and time. Every time you find yourself falling back into your old patterns of thinking you have to catch yourself (without judging yourself) acknowledge it and begin again.
Keeping a mindfulness food journal is a great way to keep you on track. Write down what you eat, how you feel and some positive affirmations to keep you going.
Try this. Open up to a few random pages and write a few things you would like to tell yourself along the way such as:
“I deserve to be the happiest, healthiest version of myself”
“What you can imagine, you can create”
“You’re amazing keep going"
“I am magnet that can attract anything I desire”
This is a great way to send yourself some self love and be your own cheerleader on your journey to better health. A journal is a tangible way to stay on track, it brings a sense of mindfulness into your day. It will teach you so many things about yourself too. Do you have a habit of eating while you sit in front of the tv at night? If you have to write it down it brings awareness to it. Knowledge is power, the more you learn about yourself, your habits and hang ups (we all have them) the greater the chance of you changing them. Also by adding mindfulness into your eating habits you have the power to say I’ve thought about it and I do want that brownie. So you have it, you enjoy every bite (one serving size of course), you write it in your journal and you get right back on track. No guilt, no beating yourself up, you get right back to focusing on your healthy living goals!
When you stop labeling food as good or bad it loosens its grip on you. When you do indulge and have a treat it wont ruin your whole day. I cannot tell you how many of my clients think that once they eat that first cookie their whole day is ruined and everything goes down hill from there. Not true, it is never one cookie or one cheat meal. If you fell on the ground in the morning, would you stay there all day, of course not! You would get back up and move on. Same with food, as long as your eating healthy most of the time, the little treats are fine. You have it, you enjoy it and get right back to eating healthy.
You can apply this formula to any area of your life, relationships, money, a new car… Its is the law of attraction, what you focus on will show up to you in your life, so instead of drawing things you do not want into you life by focusing on it, start manifesting the good stuff! When you focus on the bad, lack or negativity you see it everywhere you look. When you focus on the good, the good gets better!
When you learn to focus your attention in this way you become so full of positivity that all the negative things you may have focused on in the past fall away. It is out of mind, out of sight. Yep, we have been saying it all wrong. In this state things flow easily and abundantly to you. You do not sweat every little set back because you know you can focus on the positive and it will get you right back on track. Not only that but your positive mindset will be contagious and people will be drawn to it. You will be broadcasting out amazing energy that will spread to everyone you come in contact with. You will not only change your life but you will influence the lives of those around you and draw new amazing people into your life. Everything will fall into place, you will be healthy, happy and live the life you have always wanted to. Start today!
