Being a person who has struggled with being overweight since toddler-hood, my sense of self was that I was an obese person, like I was made this way. Obese was my "normal". My identity. My destiny. My attempts at weight loss were frequent and varied, but the results were always temporary. The times I spent close to my healthy weight never changed my personal identity. I always knew that all those pounds of fat were waiting in the wings, ready to slam back on me. I was never safe from it, like I was being stalked.
The emotional chaos of never feeling at peace with my body took it's toll in many ways. Every choice and decision I made in life, somehow pivoted from my low self esteem and my knowledge that I would never be good enough.
I could never figure out how other people maneuvered through their lives, seemingly free from the constant anxiety I had with food and body image. Did other people go to school with a burning empty stomach in their attempt to be normal? I would watch my thin friends and try to figure out how they ate so much, so freely, without any guilt or shame. Why weren't my siblings fat? What was wrong with me? Why was I different? Oh..right...obesity is me.. my normal.
I lost my weight on Cambridge 14 years ago. The amount of effort to lose the weight, was nothing compared to the mental work I had to do to change everything I believed about myself and who I was. Instead of seeing my obesity as normal and moments of thinness as temporary, I had to flip that and force myself to believe that my obesity was what had been the deviation from normal. My body had spent 42 years trying to deal with my physical and emotional demands. It hadn't failed me, I had failed it. I may or may not be more prone to weight gain then someone else with different DNA, but that is my reality to accept and to be responsible for.
We all come in to this world with different challenges. There is no standard "normal". Just your own personal story. My story is that for most of my life, I believed a lie. A lie I convinced myself was true. Obesity is not my identity, my destiny, or my curse. I spent my life justifying my poor health and not ever really taking responsibility for it. I am not that person anymore.
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Showing posts with label fat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fat. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Saturday, February 7, 2015
That Old "Nature vs Nurture" Thing.
In all my years (most of my life) of living as an overweight to obese person, I often tried to solve the mystery of why I was burdened with whatever it was that had made me that way. I know most believe it is just a matter of eating too much and not moving enough, but I know for a fact this is not true.
I grew up in a home where we were not allowed to raid the fridge or dig around in the pantry for something to eat. We were raised to eat what my mother put in front of us, no more, no less. There was no fast food or restaurant meals in our lives. There was very little of what would be considered snack type junk foods. Just home cooking. I was one of 4 siblings, the baby. My 3 older sibs had no weight issues at all. They were thin and for the most part pretty sedentary. I was 100% tomboy. I rarely sat still and even TV watching was a short term activity for me. Besides, in the 60's and 70's there were only a few channels to choose from and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings. If we did not have our chores done in time, we missed the boat. With only one TV in the house, my parents had first priority for evening viewing choices. I learned very early (around 4) to become an avid reader for my entertainment, or to just go outside and play. I loved basketball, handball, riding my bike, working with my dad in the garage, anything that kept me moving. In spite of that, I was a pudgy kid from birth.
One of my earliest memories were of being in my stroller at a school carnival with my mom and brother and sisters. We had stopped at a booth with the most amazing aroma! They were selling little bags of fudge and boy I could hardly wait! My mom was actually buying some! I waited for my share, but I was told, "Not for you...you're too chubby". I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that for some reason, there was something wrong with me. From that point on, that was my number one identity in my mind. I was different. I was "chubby".
Thus began my endless quest to be thin and normal, first through my mother's efforts, then through my own. As I said, although I ate exactly the same as my siblings, I was the only one in my family, other then my mother, who had a weight issue. My mother had also been an extremely active child and teenager. Her sister had been completely sedentary...and thin. It was during the depression and her father had died when she was only 14. Needless to say, she and her sister and mother had struggled to get by so food was not abundant. In spite of my mother's involvement with sports, even playing ball with the boys long before that was acceptable, she was never thin like her girlfriends all were. She eventually became an obese woman that lead to hypertension, then heart failure, then death at only 62. I evidently inherited my mothers health DNA. I inexplicably struggled with the weight, had elevated BP in my teens, became diabetic even though I kept my weight from exploding through very strict control, and had heart failure in my mid 20's. This was not a lifestyle issue. I came in to the world this way.
Over all these years, trying to understand why, in spite of my constant effort to remain healthy...well...except in my 30's when I just stopped fighting it up and ballooned to well over 300 pounds...why could I not figure out how to be "normal" like my friends? So much guilt is attached to obesity and like me, not everyone who struggles with this problem is 100% to blame. Just like the color of your eyes or hair, or personality traits or interests, how our body processes nutrients will differ, sometimes well out of the norm. You can't change that.
My point is not to make excuses or cry "poor poor pitiful me" or blame my mother. This is and has always been my reality. My job has been to do what I can to manage it and not end up dying much too early from a weight related disease as she did. Keeping my weight under control it top priority to accomplish this. For me, Cambridge not only allowed me to lose the weight when no other diet would work for me, but it has also been my maintenance tool that has kept me on track for a long healthy life. I turn 56 next week. When I compare my health status at this age, to what I remember my mother's being, it is drastically different. I still have the same health issues and I always will, but I keep things controlled and I work hard at staying as healthy as I possibly can in spite of them.
I grew up in a home where we were not allowed to raid the fridge or dig around in the pantry for something to eat. We were raised to eat what my mother put in front of us, no more, no less. There was no fast food or restaurant meals in our lives. There was very little of what would be considered snack type junk foods. Just home cooking. I was one of 4 siblings, the baby. My 3 older sibs had no weight issues at all. They were thin and for the most part pretty sedentary. I was 100% tomboy. I rarely sat still and even TV watching was a short term activity for me. Besides, in the 60's and 70's there were only a few channels to choose from and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings. If we did not have our chores done in time, we missed the boat. With only one TV in the house, my parents had first priority for evening viewing choices. I learned very early (around 4) to become an avid reader for my entertainment, or to just go outside and play. I loved basketball, handball, riding my bike, working with my dad in the garage, anything that kept me moving. In spite of that, I was a pudgy kid from birth.
One of my earliest memories were of being in my stroller at a school carnival with my mom and brother and sisters. We had stopped at a booth with the most amazing aroma! They were selling little bags of fudge and boy I could hardly wait! My mom was actually buying some! I waited for my share, but I was told, "Not for you...you're too chubby". I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that for some reason, there was something wrong with me. From that point on, that was my number one identity in my mind. I was different. I was "chubby".
Thus began my endless quest to be thin and normal, first through my mother's efforts, then through my own. As I said, although I ate exactly the same as my siblings, I was the only one in my family, other then my mother, who had a weight issue. My mother had also been an extremely active child and teenager. Her sister had been completely sedentary...and thin. It was during the depression and her father had died when she was only 14. Needless to say, she and her sister and mother had struggled to get by so food was not abundant. In spite of my mother's involvement with sports, even playing ball with the boys long before that was acceptable, she was never thin like her girlfriends all were. She eventually became an obese woman that lead to hypertension, then heart failure, then death at only 62. I evidently inherited my mothers health DNA. I inexplicably struggled with the weight, had elevated BP in my teens, became diabetic even though I kept my weight from exploding through very strict control, and had heart failure in my mid 20's. This was not a lifestyle issue. I came in to the world this way.
Over all these years, trying to understand why, in spite of my constant effort to remain healthy...well...except in my 30's when I just stopped fighting it up and ballooned to well over 300 pounds...why could I not figure out how to be "normal" like my friends? So much guilt is attached to obesity and like me, not everyone who struggles with this problem is 100% to blame. Just like the color of your eyes or hair, or personality traits or interests, how our body processes nutrients will differ, sometimes well out of the norm. You can't change that.
My point is not to make excuses or cry "poor poor pitiful me" or blame my mother. This is and has always been my reality. My job has been to do what I can to manage it and not end up dying much too early from a weight related disease as she did. Keeping my weight under control it top priority to accomplish this. For me, Cambridge not only allowed me to lose the weight when no other diet would work for me, but it has also been my maintenance tool that has kept me on track for a long healthy life. I turn 56 next week. When I compare my health status at this age, to what I remember my mother's being, it is drastically different. I still have the same health issues and I always will, but I keep things controlled and I work hard at staying as healthy as I possibly can in spite of them.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Temporary Weight Loss?
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 04/13/14:
It's interesting how we think about weight loss. We go on a diet. We lose weight. We reach our goal (hopefully). We return to regular eating. We gain the weight again. We blame the diet for only being a temporary fix.
Because of this pattern we think it's the failing of the weight loss plan we choose. That would be like blaming the effect for the cause. It's not logical thinking and it's not how things work. The only way a person gains weight is by over eating and under moving. There is no mystery. If a person returns to the eating habits and lifestyle that put the original pounds on, it will again...of course!
Weight loss plans do not cure obesity. Even weight loss surgery does not cure obesity. Obesity is not a disease that needs curing. It is a physical symptom of an emotional malfunction. If the emotional component is ignored, no diet in the world will grant permanent weight loss. Rather then looking at obesity as a temporary condition of a body and mind out of sync as we should, we tend to think of restoring our body to a healthy weight as temporary and in peril of reversal at any moment! That is faulty thinking.
It's a true fact that most people that manage to lose weight will gain weight again. They won't gain "back" the same fat they lost before. It no longer exists. It's not out there floating around just waiting for an opportunity to jump back on! However, people are perfectly capable of accumulating new fat if they go back to living a lifestyle that supports it. We need to stop thinking of our obese selves as our normal selves. Our normal self is at a healthy weight and fitness level. Up until now, lifestyle has prevented this normal. Our bodies try every minute of every day to restore normal. It's how we're made. The excess fat on our bodies is the intruder and needs to be eliminated and denied reentry!
Weight loss is only permanent when we accept the fact that the reason we were fat was completely due to how we think and feel about food. Obesity happens because of us. It does not happen to us.
It's interesting how we think about weight loss. We go on a diet. We lose weight. We reach our goal (hopefully). We return to regular eating. We gain the weight again. We blame the diet for only being a temporary fix.
Because of this pattern we think it's the failing of the weight loss plan we choose. That would be like blaming the effect for the cause. It's not logical thinking and it's not how things work. The only way a person gains weight is by over eating and under moving. There is no mystery. If a person returns to the eating habits and lifestyle that put the original pounds on, it will again...of course!
Weight loss plans do not cure obesity. Even weight loss surgery does not cure obesity. Obesity is not a disease that needs curing. It is a physical symptom of an emotional malfunction. If the emotional component is ignored, no diet in the world will grant permanent weight loss. Rather then looking at obesity as a temporary condition of a body and mind out of sync as we should, we tend to think of restoring our body to a healthy weight as temporary and in peril of reversal at any moment! That is faulty thinking.
It's a true fact that most people that manage to lose weight will gain weight again. They won't gain "back" the same fat they lost before. It no longer exists. It's not out there floating around just waiting for an opportunity to jump back on! However, people are perfectly capable of accumulating new fat if they go back to living a lifestyle that supports it. We need to stop thinking of our obese selves as our normal selves. Our normal self is at a healthy weight and fitness level. Up until now, lifestyle has prevented this normal. Our bodies try every minute of every day to restore normal. It's how we're made. The excess fat on our bodies is the intruder and needs to be eliminated and denied reentry!
Weight loss is only permanent when we accept the fact that the reason we were fat was completely due to how we think and feel about food. Obesity happens because of us. It does not happen to us.
There are 2 absolute things I know and I can promise are true.
#1. If you stick to Cambridge 100% you have the iron clad ability to get to your normal healthy weight.
#2. If you go back to eating as you did before, you will once again gain weight and may end up right back where you started.
With these 2 simple facts we have all the information we need to make our post Cambridge weight our new permanent normal and the knowledge of what (not) to do to ensure we don't gain weight again.
#1. If you stick to Cambridge 100% you have the iron clad ability to get to your normal healthy weight.
#2. If you go back to eating as you did before, you will once again gain weight and may end up right back where you started.
With these 2 simple facts we have all the information we need to make our post Cambridge weight our new permanent normal and the knowledge of what (not) to do to ensure we don't gain weight again.
It may take some time for your brain to catch up to your body. I know mine did. But the mind and body are very much connected and by rebooting your emotional connection to food, clearing out all the old thinking and programming, you can then welcome in your new and improved belief of self.
Turning 55
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 03/14/14:
I had my birthday last month, Feb 18th to be exact. I guess it was one of those half way milestones, no longer early 50's, on my way to 60. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I have not had nearly the adventures I thought I would have had when I was young. So much of my early years were consumed (no pun intended) with parenting, food, my obesity, and poor health. Now I am healthy, but not in a financial place to do all the traveling etc I had hoped for. I guess you can't have everything, but as you get older you do become hyper aware of the time you have left on this planet and think a lot about whether you are spending it doing what you would like to be doing.
I had a lifelong dream of living by the beach. I do. I had a lifelong dream of finding and marrying someone that would love me unconditionally. I have. I had a goal of my Cambridge business being my retirement income. It is. Now this one may seem weird, but I love Disneyland and being a So Ca girl it was one of my favorite places. I dreamed of living close enough to be able to have a resident pass and go whenever I felt like it. Not being a fan of Anaheim I never made the move...but.... we now live in Fl about an hour and a quarter away from Disney World with resident passes in hand. Check! Life is good.
I had my birthday last month, Feb 18th to be exact. I guess it was one of those half way milestones, no longer early 50's, on my way to 60. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I have not had nearly the adventures I thought I would have had when I was young. So much of my early years were consumed (no pun intended) with parenting, food, my obesity, and poor health. Now I am healthy, but not in a financial place to do all the traveling etc I had hoped for. I guess you can't have everything, but as you get older you do become hyper aware of the time you have left on this planet and think a lot about whether you are spending it doing what you would like to be doing.
I had a lifelong dream of living by the beach. I do. I had a lifelong dream of finding and marrying someone that would love me unconditionally. I have. I had a goal of my Cambridge business being my retirement income. It is. Now this one may seem weird, but I love Disneyland and being a So Ca girl it was one of my favorite places. I dreamed of living close enough to be able to have a resident pass and go whenever I felt like it. Not being a fan of Anaheim I never made the move...but.... we now live in Fl about an hour and a quarter away from Disney World with resident passes in hand. Check! Life is good.
Years ago when my kids were young.. I was a single mom, we were on food stamps, I was disabled, and life was bleak living in a government subsidized apartment complex, I struggled constantly to keep us afloat and not let my kids know how desperate our situation was. I wanted them to have as normal of a childhood as I could provide as a single parent. I ran a licensed day care in our apartment and did the best I could. I was always aware of how well my childhood friends had done and how different our lives were. Even something as simple as having a car less then 20 years old, or taking a vacation, or even having a VCR was stuff I only dreamed about. Forget about ever owning my own home. For some reason my life had taken a detour and it was about survival, nothing else.
One day I sat and made a list of all the things I wished to achieve and acquire. It was crazy and out of reach, but I just wanted to see it all in writing. #1 was lose weight and get healthy and it went on to other things, ultimately ending with a house of my own. I taped it to the wall next to my bed and forgot about it. Most of the things on the list were simple, not extravagant, but still not in sight.
I remember a movie that was a favorite of mine and my kids. It was called "A Home Of Our Own" with Kathy Bates playing a widowed mother searching for a place she could raise her kids. There is a line that summed up how it was for us. One of her boys is looking in a store window at Christmas and his adult voice narrator said, "When I was a kid, everything you saw...was something you couldn't have". Yup. It was like that.
Anyway, it was some years later. We were still living in that apartment, but things had changed. I had lost my weight on Cambridge. In that experience I discovered I was so much stronger then I'd given myself credit for. I became a Distributor and had built a strong business in a very short time. One day my daughter came to me with a peice of paper. She showed it to me and said, "Mom...do you realize that you have achieved just about everything on this list?" I had forgotten about it and was shocked to see that she was right! The only 3 things remaining were to buy my own home, find love, and travel. 4 months later I bought my first home. A 2800 sq ft home on half an acre in central Ca with a ready made park like play ground in the back for my day care, 20 fruit trees and a place to move my beloved elderly Aunt in with us. It was all pretty incredible for my little family. That was almost 11 years ago. After 4 years I sold that home and made a nice profit, enough to buy a beautiful home on the river in Utah. We spent 6 happy years there, I eventually started dating and then met my husband. We've been married for 2 years now and moved across the country to where we are now, 6 miles from the most amazing beaches.
I guess my reason for this post, other then I was sitting here this morning counting my blessings and taking a moment to realize how fortunate I am, was to put it out there that no matter how your life is now, no matter how defeated you may feel at the moment, life can turn on a dime if you let it. It takes work and courage and a willingness to abandon old beliefs and habits and whatever has been holding you back, but you can accomplish great things if you put you mind and your shoulder to it and not let anything stop you. Making that list so many years ago when I had no reason to think any of it would ever become reality was that first tiny push to cracking the door of possibilities. I didn't need to believe at the time that any of it would happen, because I didn't! lol! I don't know why I taped it up rather then tear it up, but it was the beginning of the change for me. My life really began at 42 and by the time I was 50, I was finally feeling free to be the person I should have been all along.
Never underestimate your ability to change yourself or the circumstances of your life. We are so much more powerful then we believe ourselves to be. Some things in life happen to us, but most things happen because of us. Don't be afraid to take responsibility for the situation you're in because that just means you can change it.
So..turning 55? Well....that just means I have had one more year to celebrate my life that it took so long for me to discover.
One day I sat and made a list of all the things I wished to achieve and acquire. It was crazy and out of reach, but I just wanted to see it all in writing. #1 was lose weight and get healthy and it went on to other things, ultimately ending with a house of my own. I taped it to the wall next to my bed and forgot about it. Most of the things on the list were simple, not extravagant, but still not in sight.
I remember a movie that was a favorite of mine and my kids. It was called "A Home Of Our Own" with Kathy Bates playing a widowed mother searching for a place she could raise her kids. There is a line that summed up how it was for us. One of her boys is looking in a store window at Christmas and his adult voice narrator said, "When I was a kid, everything you saw...was something you couldn't have". Yup. It was like that.
Anyway, it was some years later. We were still living in that apartment, but things had changed. I had lost my weight on Cambridge. In that experience I discovered I was so much stronger then I'd given myself credit for. I became a Distributor and had built a strong business in a very short time. One day my daughter came to me with a peice of paper. She showed it to me and said, "Mom...do you realize that you have achieved just about everything on this list?" I had forgotten about it and was shocked to see that she was right! The only 3 things remaining were to buy my own home, find love, and travel. 4 months later I bought my first home. A 2800 sq ft home on half an acre in central Ca with a ready made park like play ground in the back for my day care, 20 fruit trees and a place to move my beloved elderly Aunt in with us. It was all pretty incredible for my little family. That was almost 11 years ago. After 4 years I sold that home and made a nice profit, enough to buy a beautiful home on the river in Utah. We spent 6 happy years there, I eventually started dating and then met my husband. We've been married for 2 years now and moved across the country to where we are now, 6 miles from the most amazing beaches.
I guess my reason for this post, other then I was sitting here this morning counting my blessings and taking a moment to realize how fortunate I am, was to put it out there that no matter how your life is now, no matter how defeated you may feel at the moment, life can turn on a dime if you let it. It takes work and courage and a willingness to abandon old beliefs and habits and whatever has been holding you back, but you can accomplish great things if you put you mind and your shoulder to it and not let anything stop you. Making that list so many years ago when I had no reason to think any of it would ever become reality was that first tiny push to cracking the door of possibilities. I didn't need to believe at the time that any of it would happen, because I didn't! lol! I don't know why I taped it up rather then tear it up, but it was the beginning of the change for me. My life really began at 42 and by the time I was 50, I was finally feeling free to be the person I should have been all along.
Never underestimate your ability to change yourself or the circumstances of your life. We are so much more powerful then we believe ourselves to be. Some things in life happen to us, but most things happen because of us. Don't be afraid to take responsibility for the situation you're in because that just means you can change it.
So..turning 55? Well....that just means I have had one more year to celebrate my life that it took so long for me to discover.
Diary Of A Chubby Kid
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 01/16/14:
From about 13 years old on I starved myself. I had been a chubby kid all my life and once I got in Jr High the teasing was relentless. 7th and 8th grade were horrible, but that summer I started restricting calories and lost weight. My family was happy to see me losing and didn't seem to care how I was doing it. I got through 9th grade very hungry, but I was able to fit in and wear those hip huggers and tight clothing and yes, my beloved Dittos, a brand of pants very popular in the 70's. I still felt very fat compared to all my super lean friends. Being so tall, (5'9" ) I already felt like some kind of amazon.
I grew up in Southern California in the San Fernando Valley so it was very much an appearance consciousness culture and the beach was the place to be. I needed to be able to feel ok in a bikini to fit in with my friends. The summer before beginning high school I went on 800 calories or less a day. I didn't care what I ate, as long as it was under 800 for the day. A whole can of Franco American spaghetti has about 270 calories. I loved it. I would have a piece of white bread with it and call it dinner. That summer I dropped down to the size 6/7 and grew boobs and everything was looking GOOD! People were shocked when I showed up in High school. The problem was that I was starving every single day. I don't remember one day of high school that I wasn't faint with hunger. I left home in the morning starving, spent the day starving, and then picked at my dinner and went to bed starving. This was before anorexia was a thing, but I don't think I was anorexic. I just knew that the only way I could not be fat was to not eat. I had been on a diet my entire life so this was not far from normal for me.
I started getting sick a lot, then bruising and hair loss started. It worried my mom and dad enough to take me in to our old family doc to see what was wrong. He was forever testing me for diabetes as a kid and he thought for sure this time it would come back positive. It didn't and I didn't say anything about my diet. He congratulated me on my weight loss though! Oddly enough, I did eventually end up becoming diabetic.
It will always remain a mystery how in a family of 4 kids, 3 girls and one boy, that I was the only fat one. All of my siblings were stick thin. As children, we all ate the exact things in the same amount. My mom served us our meals and that was all she wrote. No seconds or in between snacking, nothing. We rarely had sweets or sugary drinks or chips and never ate out. I was the only active one too. I was a total tom boy and they all were couch potatoes. Honestly, I don't think I have a single memory of my brother ever being upright! lol!
I came to the earth this way. I was a chubby baby, (9lbs 3oz!) a chubby toddler, a chubby pre-teen, a starving teenager, and an obese adult. I never felt "normal". It took about 5 years after my weight loss with Cambridge to finally experience life without constantly thinking about my weight. It's not completely gone of course, but it's no longer in the forefront of my brain at all times. I know I will never be out of control again and that as long as I have Cambridge I can relax and live life, but that chubby kid is still in there. I should have a talk with her and let her know we are going to be ok.
From about 13 years old on I starved myself. I had been a chubby kid all my life and once I got in Jr High the teasing was relentless. 7th and 8th grade were horrible, but that summer I started restricting calories and lost weight. My family was happy to see me losing and didn't seem to care how I was doing it. I got through 9th grade very hungry, but I was able to fit in and wear those hip huggers and tight clothing and yes, my beloved Dittos, a brand of pants very popular in the 70's. I still felt very fat compared to all my super lean friends. Being so tall, (5'9" ) I already felt like some kind of amazon.
I grew up in Southern California in the San Fernando Valley so it was very much an appearance consciousness culture and the beach was the place to be. I needed to be able to feel ok in a bikini to fit in with my friends. The summer before beginning high school I went on 800 calories or less a day. I didn't care what I ate, as long as it was under 800 for the day. A whole can of Franco American spaghetti has about 270 calories. I loved it. I would have a piece of white bread with it and call it dinner. That summer I dropped down to the size 6/7 and grew boobs and everything was looking GOOD! People were shocked when I showed up in High school. The problem was that I was starving every single day. I don't remember one day of high school that I wasn't faint with hunger. I left home in the morning starving, spent the day starving, and then picked at my dinner and went to bed starving. This was before anorexia was a thing, but I don't think I was anorexic. I just knew that the only way I could not be fat was to not eat. I had been on a diet my entire life so this was not far from normal for me.
I started getting sick a lot, then bruising and hair loss started. It worried my mom and dad enough to take me in to our old family doc to see what was wrong. He was forever testing me for diabetes as a kid and he thought for sure this time it would come back positive. It didn't and I didn't say anything about my diet. He congratulated me on my weight loss though! Oddly enough, I did eventually end up becoming diabetic.
It will always remain a mystery how in a family of 4 kids, 3 girls and one boy, that I was the only fat one. All of my siblings were stick thin. As children, we all ate the exact things in the same amount. My mom served us our meals and that was all she wrote. No seconds or in between snacking, nothing. We rarely had sweets or sugary drinks or chips and never ate out. I was the only active one too. I was a total tom boy and they all were couch potatoes. Honestly, I don't think I have a single memory of my brother ever being upright! lol!
I came to the earth this way. I was a chubby baby, (9lbs 3oz!) a chubby toddler, a chubby pre-teen, a starving teenager, and an obese adult. I never felt "normal". It took about 5 years after my weight loss with Cambridge to finally experience life without constantly thinking about my weight. It's not completely gone of course, but it's no longer in the forefront of my brain at all times. I know I will never be out of control again and that as long as I have Cambridge I can relax and live life, but that chubby kid is still in there. I should have a talk with her and let her know we are going to be ok.
Binge eating, emotional triggers and other thoughts
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 01/14/13:
People get obese for a variety of reasons and rarely does it have anything to do with hunger. We become obese for emotional reasons and over time we learn to attach food and feelings. Binge eating is emotionally driven and once triggered, it can seem impossible to stop. Have you already identified what your triggers are to binge eat or to eat the wrong foods? Is it stress? Loneliness? Boredom? Habit? Anger? Self abuse? Perfectionism? We all have triggers that set the binge ball rolling. Pay attention to the thoughts you have before you open the fridge or grab your keys to hit the fast food drive-up. By listening to your internal dialog you can begin to change the behavior.
I was a stress eater. Unfortunately I was always under stress. I grew up with panic anxiety disorder. I had my first panic attack when I was 6 years old in a department store with my parents. I had no idea what was happening, only that the world suddenly was spinning, my heart was exploding and a rush of what I now know was adrenalin flooded my body. It was the most horrible thing I had ever experienced up until then and over time I had more and more attacks that ended up being attached to more and more surroundings and activities until I was almost paralyzed. I became agoraphobic by my teenage years. Because of that I missed out on a lot of the normal experiences a young person has. College? not possible. After I was married at the too young age of 19 and had my first baby 9 months later, it became nearly impossible for me to leave the house on my own, even to just get the mail. During that time food was an easy distraction to deal with my unhappiness
I had dealt with weight issues my whole life but had managed to keep it somewhat under control through Weight Watchers, the diet of the month or plain old starvation, but after another baby and a divorce, all bets were off. I went fully in to the worst years of compulsive binge eating that robbed me of my health and any chance at love or happiness. Anxiety, panic, depression, loneliness,self abuse and loathing...it was all there as I struggled with health crisis and single parenthood and poverty. The only thing that gave me any comfort or solace was food...I thought. In reality and hindsight it was the creator of my misery that pushed me in to a deep hole I did not know how to escape from.
One of my greatest challenges during my weight loss was dealing with the emotions that became raw and open without sedating with food. I had to force myself to face the lion's mouth and find other ways to cope. The first was to identify my triggers and the thoughts that immediately followed. I also had to experience the anxiety that would build and build as I resisted the compulsive urges to self medicate with food. I had no tools to work with so I learned as I went. I developing phrases and techniques to defuse the stress and get to the other side. When I faced temptation...the worst being pizza....I would tell myself, "The food will always be there. Anything I want so badly today will still be there tomorrow". It's kind of funny. I shared this phrase some 12 years ago on this board and now I read it all over the Internet. Hopefully it has helped others as it did me.
The goal is to calm the anxiety and find a peaceful place to operate from. Anything you can do to defuse the emotions and thoughts that lead to binging will eventually make you free from that negative cycle of stress/ obsess/ binge/ regret/ depression. Eating should never be emotionally driven. Never eat to pacify an emotion or to reward a craving. Just committing to those two things will stop most binges in their tracks.
Perfectionism was listed above as one of the possible triggers. You may question this, but most overweight people do suffer from it. We tend to be "all or nothing" thinkers. If we can't be perfect we degrade ourselves and use it as an excuse to quit or fail. How many diets have you started and not finished, assuming it was a proven weight loss method? What ended it? My guess is that you had a cookie or some little thing not on your plan and then the self flogging began and the food flood gates opened.
The ONLY reason Cambridge worked for me is because I didn't quit. No matter how many binges I had, no matter if it was just a soda cracker, (and frankly..the perfectionist in us sees a cracker the same as if we spent 2 hours at the buffet) I didn't quit. I pushed past all my old patterns and refused to find excuses to give up.
I have learned over the years that it doesn't matter where you come from, what your circumstances are or what your past contained... rich or poor, tall or short, male or female, loved or alone, young or old, famous or accomplished or just an average person getting through the day...obesity brings us all to the same place. We are equal in this. You can be dirt poor or have every opportunity at your fingertips, it levels the playing field because ultimately we are all the same. As human beings the internal struggle is.. as my country boy husband would say, "A one butt job". You are alone in your head. Only you can control your thoughts, your reactions, your perceptions and your behaviors. A victim thinks these things are controlled by outside influences. The truth is, we make our own destiny. Your past is not an indication of your future. The past is vapor. You can't change the direction of the road you already traveled, but you can change the direction of the road ahead.
Next time you feel the tension building and the urge to eat the feelings away comes over you, stop and listen to the dialog in your head. What are you telling yourself? Are you reacting to an outside stress and not acknowledging it? Are you bargaining or justifying something that you know ultimately will end in a binge or eating something that will make you feel out of control...even if it's just a cracker? Once you identify the emotion you can then change your course before you reinforce the behavior. It won't be comfortable at first, but this is not about being comfortable. It's about recovery and healing and learning. Replace the energy you would have devoted to food with something positive like walking, reading or call a friend.You can learn new ways to cope with life that actually bring you happiness and a sense of accomplishment and control.
People get obese for a variety of reasons and rarely does it have anything to do with hunger. We become obese for emotional reasons and over time we learn to attach food and feelings. Binge eating is emotionally driven and once triggered, it can seem impossible to stop. Have you already identified what your triggers are to binge eat or to eat the wrong foods? Is it stress? Loneliness? Boredom? Habit? Anger? Self abuse? Perfectionism? We all have triggers that set the binge ball rolling. Pay attention to the thoughts you have before you open the fridge or grab your keys to hit the fast food drive-up. By listening to your internal dialog you can begin to change the behavior.
I was a stress eater. Unfortunately I was always under stress. I grew up with panic anxiety disorder. I had my first panic attack when I was 6 years old in a department store with my parents. I had no idea what was happening, only that the world suddenly was spinning, my heart was exploding and a rush of what I now know was adrenalin flooded my body. It was the most horrible thing I had ever experienced up until then and over time I had more and more attacks that ended up being attached to more and more surroundings and activities until I was almost paralyzed. I became agoraphobic by my teenage years. Because of that I missed out on a lot of the normal experiences a young person has. College? not possible. After I was married at the too young age of 19 and had my first baby 9 months later, it became nearly impossible for me to leave the house on my own, even to just get the mail. During that time food was an easy distraction to deal with my unhappiness
I had dealt with weight issues my whole life but had managed to keep it somewhat under control through Weight Watchers, the diet of the month or plain old starvation, but after another baby and a divorce, all bets were off. I went fully in to the worst years of compulsive binge eating that robbed me of my health and any chance at love or happiness. Anxiety, panic, depression, loneliness,self abuse and loathing...it was all there as I struggled with health crisis and single parenthood and poverty. The only thing that gave me any comfort or solace was food...I thought. In reality and hindsight it was the creator of my misery that pushed me in to a deep hole I did not know how to escape from.
One of my greatest challenges during my weight loss was dealing with the emotions that became raw and open without sedating with food. I had to force myself to face the lion's mouth and find other ways to cope. The first was to identify my triggers and the thoughts that immediately followed. I also had to experience the anxiety that would build and build as I resisted the compulsive urges to self medicate with food. I had no tools to work with so I learned as I went. I developing phrases and techniques to defuse the stress and get to the other side. When I faced temptation...the worst being pizza....I would tell myself, "The food will always be there. Anything I want so badly today will still be there tomorrow". It's kind of funny. I shared this phrase some 12 years ago on this board and now I read it all over the Internet. Hopefully it has helped others as it did me.
The goal is to calm the anxiety and find a peaceful place to operate from. Anything you can do to defuse the emotions and thoughts that lead to binging will eventually make you free from that negative cycle of stress/ obsess/ binge/ regret/ depression. Eating should never be emotionally driven. Never eat to pacify an emotion or to reward a craving. Just committing to those two things will stop most binges in their tracks.
Perfectionism was listed above as one of the possible triggers. You may question this, but most overweight people do suffer from it. We tend to be "all or nothing" thinkers. If we can't be perfect we degrade ourselves and use it as an excuse to quit or fail. How many diets have you started and not finished, assuming it was a proven weight loss method? What ended it? My guess is that you had a cookie or some little thing not on your plan and then the self flogging began and the food flood gates opened.
The ONLY reason Cambridge worked for me is because I didn't quit. No matter how many binges I had, no matter if it was just a soda cracker, (and frankly..the perfectionist in us sees a cracker the same as if we spent 2 hours at the buffet) I didn't quit. I pushed past all my old patterns and refused to find excuses to give up.
I have learned over the years that it doesn't matter where you come from, what your circumstances are or what your past contained... rich or poor, tall or short, male or female, loved or alone, young or old, famous or accomplished or just an average person getting through the day...obesity brings us all to the same place. We are equal in this. You can be dirt poor or have every opportunity at your fingertips, it levels the playing field because ultimately we are all the same. As human beings the internal struggle is.. as my country boy husband would say, "A one butt job". You are alone in your head. Only you can control your thoughts, your reactions, your perceptions and your behaviors. A victim thinks these things are controlled by outside influences. The truth is, we make our own destiny. Your past is not an indication of your future. The past is vapor. You can't change the direction of the road you already traveled, but you can change the direction of the road ahead.
Next time you feel the tension building and the urge to eat the feelings away comes over you, stop and listen to the dialog in your head. What are you telling yourself? Are you reacting to an outside stress and not acknowledging it? Are you bargaining or justifying something that you know ultimately will end in a binge or eating something that will make you feel out of control...even if it's just a cracker? Once you identify the emotion you can then change your course before you reinforce the behavior. It won't be comfortable at first, but this is not about being comfortable. It's about recovery and healing and learning. Replace the energy you would have devoted to food with something positive like walking, reading or call a friend.You can learn new ways to cope with life that actually bring you happiness and a sense of accomplishment and control.
See, Taste, Smell, Feel, Sound
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 01/09/13:
These are the senses that stimulate us to eat, especially the foods that are designed to make us eat even if we are not hungry or would be better off eating something nutritious.
See: We are very visual when it comes to what we choose to eat. It has been said that we eat with our eyes first. Food designers count on this for advertising. You are watching TV and a commercial comes on for a big greasy bacon cheeseburger. You will find your desire to jump in the car to go get one build as the visual stimulation continues. You may even start to feel your heart rate go up and your anxiety build. You have been manipulated by food artists in to having an emotional and physical reaction to a visual stimulus. A little experiment...take a big bite of something that looks delicious to you, chew it up really well, spit it out on to a plate and then look again. Do you want to eat it now? Would you pick it back up and chew some more and swallow? Probably not. More fun...take a big piece of pepperoni pizza, put it in the blender with some water and turn it on. Pour it in to a glass and take a good look at the globules. Ya wanna drink it up? Yeah, not so appetizing now, is it?
Taste: A no brainer here. Of course our appetite will be stimulated by tasting something yummy. We tend to crave or binge on certain things like sweet, fat, salt..strong flavors that pack a punch. You rarely see someone binge on fish or poached chicken or cauliflower.
Smell: Again, no surprise there. This is why food service businesses will pump their cooking odors out in to the atmosphere to lure in customers. We are lead by our noses and since taste and smell are dependent on each other we want what we smell.
Feel: This one is a little less recognized as a stimulus. Feel doesn't mean touch. It means mouth feel or texture. You may not be aware how much this governs what you crave. Crunchy, fatty, crispy, creamy, cold, hot, slimy, gritty, oily, tough....did you feel that? Texture can often times determine if a food is palatable or not. It can taste like heaven, but if the texture is wrong it will be rejected. This is why the ingredient list on packaged foods is so LOOONG. A great deal of food science is focused on feel or texture and additives and chemicals are enlisted to create that perfect crunch!
Sound: like texture, we hear what we eat. Crispy or crunchy foods can mean a bag of chips, or a stalk of celery, but add in the other senses and it will likely be the bag of chips.
So what's a dieter to do? You can't lock yourself up with a nose clip and a blindfold. We all have to be out in the world and that means being bombarded with constant food messages. There are a few tricks to spare you some of the taunting by advertisers. If watching TV and a food commercial comes on, close your eyes. It's that simple. You can hear that burger being described, but it will have no effect on you. If you are out and the smells are wafting, keep a small bottle of essential oils or a fragrance that you like and sniff away. People will wonder what you are sniffing, but let them wonder. If you find yourself craving salt or sweet or sour or some other intense flavor, sometimes there is nothing better then a pickle! You get smell, taste, crunch, and virtually no calories all in a nice little vibrant green package! Sugar free sweet gherkins are one of my favorite go to snacks. I can only eat one, but it has a lot of satisfaction.
Over your time spent on Cambridge you palette will cleanse and you will find that your desire for salt and grease etc will be gone and you will enjoy real food flavors more. The addictive qualities of manufactured Frankenfoods are there to suck you in, coming back for more and more. You can break that chain and believe it or not, there will be a day when you can look at what once had you hooked and it will have no hold on you. You will see it for what it is. I call it "Death on a plate". I even picture a skull and crossbones on top of it!
These are the senses that stimulate us to eat, especially the foods that are designed to make us eat even if we are not hungry or would be better off eating something nutritious.
See: We are very visual when it comes to what we choose to eat. It has been said that we eat with our eyes first. Food designers count on this for advertising. You are watching TV and a commercial comes on for a big greasy bacon cheeseburger. You will find your desire to jump in the car to go get one build as the visual stimulation continues. You may even start to feel your heart rate go up and your anxiety build. You have been manipulated by food artists in to having an emotional and physical reaction to a visual stimulus. A little experiment...take a big bite of something that looks delicious to you, chew it up really well, spit it out on to a plate and then look again. Do you want to eat it now? Would you pick it back up and chew some more and swallow? Probably not. More fun...take a big piece of pepperoni pizza, put it in the blender with some water and turn it on. Pour it in to a glass and take a good look at the globules. Ya wanna drink it up? Yeah, not so appetizing now, is it?
Taste: A no brainer here. Of course our appetite will be stimulated by tasting something yummy. We tend to crave or binge on certain things like sweet, fat, salt..strong flavors that pack a punch. You rarely see someone binge on fish or poached chicken or cauliflower.
Smell: Again, no surprise there. This is why food service businesses will pump their cooking odors out in to the atmosphere to lure in customers. We are lead by our noses and since taste and smell are dependent on each other we want what we smell.
Feel: This one is a little less recognized as a stimulus. Feel doesn't mean touch. It means mouth feel or texture. You may not be aware how much this governs what you crave. Crunchy, fatty, crispy, creamy, cold, hot, slimy, gritty, oily, tough....did you feel that? Texture can often times determine if a food is palatable or not. It can taste like heaven, but if the texture is wrong it will be rejected. This is why the ingredient list on packaged foods is so LOOONG. A great deal of food science is focused on feel or texture and additives and chemicals are enlisted to create that perfect crunch!
Sound: like texture, we hear what we eat. Crispy or crunchy foods can mean a bag of chips, or a stalk of celery, but add in the other senses and it will likely be the bag of chips.
So what's a dieter to do? You can't lock yourself up with a nose clip and a blindfold. We all have to be out in the world and that means being bombarded with constant food messages. There are a few tricks to spare you some of the taunting by advertisers. If watching TV and a food commercial comes on, close your eyes. It's that simple. You can hear that burger being described, but it will have no effect on you. If you are out and the smells are wafting, keep a small bottle of essential oils or a fragrance that you like and sniff away. People will wonder what you are sniffing, but let them wonder. If you find yourself craving salt or sweet or sour or some other intense flavor, sometimes there is nothing better then a pickle! You get smell, taste, crunch, and virtually no calories all in a nice little vibrant green package! Sugar free sweet gherkins are one of my favorite go to snacks. I can only eat one, but it has a lot of satisfaction.
Over your time spent on Cambridge you palette will cleanse and you will find that your desire for salt and grease etc will be gone and you will enjoy real food flavors more. The addictive qualities of manufactured Frankenfoods are there to suck you in, coming back for more and more. You can break that chain and believe it or not, there will be a day when you can look at what once had you hooked and it will have no hold on you. You will see it for what it is. I call it "Death on a plate". I even picture a skull and crossbones on top of it!
Have you placed your order yet?
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 12/24/12:
It's Christmas Eve. Some people celebrate the holiday and have their big meal on this night while others have it Christmas day. Whichever day ends up being the big feast, I hope you have your Cambridge sitting all ready for you to get back to business on Wednesday. People can gain 15 pounds or more over the holiday season. The gaining part is easy. Most of us have learned over the years that the hard part is losing the weight, even harder...maintaining. Yes...we do have one more holiday looming, New Years, but honestly...aren't you sick of eating by now? I know I am and I haven't even had any where near the amount of food I used to eat this time of year. We had a nice family dinner tonight and tomorrow we will have breakfast, but that's the end of the celebratory food. No leftovers. As of lunch time tomorrow I am on Cambridge 100% so I can get back to feeling good. Right now I am tired, achy, foggy headed and a little bit crabby. I am looking forward to the energy and lightness and clearhead - not to mention the overall sense of wellbeing that comes with being on Cambridge!
It's Christmas Eve. Some people celebrate the holiday and have their big meal on this night while others have it Christmas day. Whichever day ends up being the big feast, I hope you have your Cambridge sitting all ready for you to get back to business on Wednesday. People can gain 15 pounds or more over the holiday season. The gaining part is easy. Most of us have learned over the years that the hard part is losing the weight, even harder...maintaining. Yes...we do have one more holiday looming, New Years, but honestly...aren't you sick of eating by now? I know I am and I haven't even had any where near the amount of food I used to eat this time of year. We had a nice family dinner tonight and tomorrow we will have breakfast, but that's the end of the celebratory food. No leftovers. As of lunch time tomorrow I am on Cambridge 100% so I can get back to feeling good. Right now I am tired, achy, foggy headed and a little bit crabby. I am looking forward to the energy and lightness and clearhead - not to mention the overall sense of wellbeing that comes with being on Cambridge!
I Can ALways Tell When The Holidays Are Coming
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 11/08/12:
The support board gets quiet and sales take a major dive. I understand of course. It's hard to think about weight loss when you know you are going to be more tortured and tempted then normal..I get that, but the problem is that by sacrificing 2 whole months for a couple of holidays you are losing out on prime dieting time. Winter months are excellent for staying on a diet. People are home more, not so many BBQ's to navigate, clothes are more forgiving for size changes and you have the chance to make a grand unveiling once the weather warms up again! If you want to feel like a rock star, try showing up at the first family event in the spring in some cute little outfit after a winter of bulky sweaters and sweat pants have been hiding your transformation.
Yes, Thanksgiving is 15 days away and Christmas is a month after that, but what about the other 51 days or so between now and the New Year? Does it make sense to just give up and promise to get back at it Jan 2nd? I don't think so. It won't be any easier then. Weight loss is never easy, even with a wonderful product like Cambridge.
Is it possible to lose weight this time of year? Absolutely! Is it possible to gain 15 pounds this time of year? You know it! Given a choice, would you rather lose or gain weight over the next 2 months? You can gain another 5,10 or 15 pounds if you make that choice, or you could lose 40 or 50!
Don't fall in to that trap of thinking you are powerless over holiday eating or that your family would be disappointed if you didn't take part in the feeding frenzy. You have the right and the ability and the power to put your health and happiness first. The holidays will be here again next year, I promise!
Yes, Thanksgiving is 15 days away and Christmas is a month after that, but what about the other 51 days or so between now and the New Year? Does it make sense to just give up and promise to get back at it Jan 2nd? I don't think so. It won't be any easier then. Weight loss is never easy, even with a wonderful product like Cambridge.
Is it possible to lose weight this time of year? Absolutely! Is it possible to gain 15 pounds this time of year? You know it! Given a choice, would you rather lose or gain weight over the next 2 months? You can gain another 5,10 or 15 pounds if you make that choice, or you could lose 40 or 50!
Don't fall in to that trap of thinking you are powerless over holiday eating or that your family would be disappointed if you didn't take part in the feeding frenzy. You have the right and the ability and the power to put your health and happiness first. The holidays will be here again next year, I promise!
Using Cambridge For Emergency Food Storage
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 11/06/12:
I grew up in the Mormon faith. There is a big emphasis in that church on emergency preparedness. They are counseled to have a minimum of a 72 hour kit to grab and go if you have to evacuate, all the way up to a years supply of food storage and necessities. In the case of a catastrophic event or even just unemployment you would be able to survive and provide for your family. It was always out of my financial reach to do that. Being a single mom I was struggling just to feed my family TODAY! lol.
Dehydrated food storage was expensive, it took up a LOT of room to store and you had to rotate it so things didn't spoil. Rotating it was tough in my family because most of it doesn't taste good and nobody wanted to supplement our regular diets with it. I have known many Mormons over the years that invested huge amounts of money in food storage, only to have to dispose of it years later when it went bad.
When I found Cambridge again the thought occurred to me that this would be the perfect food storage solution! It's affordable, complete nutrition and it takes little room for a good supply. All you would need would be an additional calorie/energy source like peanut butter (for those that have no weight to lose or children) and some water and you would be well fed. After 9/11 people were feeling very vulnerable and searching for some way to survive should something else happen. I had already bought my own supply of Cambridge to have in storage for me and my 3 kids. I had several jars of peanut butter and some bottled water. Once I put the idea out there for others it took off like a wild fire. Everyone was so thrilled to find something compact and affordable and healthy to store, not to mention good tasting.
Now I know that a lot of the people who were hit with hurricane Sandy had to evacuate and a great many people lost everything they owned, but for a lot of them that were not evacuated the things they are dealing with are no food, no electricity, no transportation and empty stores. Living now in a state that is known for Hurricanes I have that possibility in my future as well. I have my supply of Cambridge. Before the next hurricane season starts here in June I will also have water and some sort of calorie source all put away in water proof containers. I will be able to keep it up in the garage and it will be good for 5 years. It gives me a peace of mind to know that if we are in a situation where we need it, it will be there for us. Have food, money, water, 1st aide supplies and anything else that you think you would need to get by. If your space is limited then Cambridge is perfect. One can would feed one person for a whole week. I don't know anything else that could do that. If you would like more info please send me an email and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Dehydrated food storage was expensive, it took up a LOT of room to store and you had to rotate it so things didn't spoil. Rotating it was tough in my family because most of it doesn't taste good and nobody wanted to supplement our regular diets with it. I have known many Mormons over the years that invested huge amounts of money in food storage, only to have to dispose of it years later when it went bad.
When I found Cambridge again the thought occurred to me that this would be the perfect food storage solution! It's affordable, complete nutrition and it takes little room for a good supply. All you would need would be an additional calorie/energy source like peanut butter (for those that have no weight to lose or children) and some water and you would be well fed. After 9/11 people were feeling very vulnerable and searching for some way to survive should something else happen. I had already bought my own supply of Cambridge to have in storage for me and my 3 kids. I had several jars of peanut butter and some bottled water. Once I put the idea out there for others it took off like a wild fire. Everyone was so thrilled to find something compact and affordable and healthy to store, not to mention good tasting.
Now I know that a lot of the people who were hit with hurricane Sandy had to evacuate and a great many people lost everything they owned, but for a lot of them that were not evacuated the things they are dealing with are no food, no electricity, no transportation and empty stores. Living now in a state that is known for Hurricanes I have that possibility in my future as well. I have my supply of Cambridge. Before the next hurricane season starts here in June I will also have water and some sort of calorie source all put away in water proof containers. I will be able to keep it up in the garage and it will be good for 5 years. It gives me a peace of mind to know that if we are in a situation where we need it, it will be there for us. Have food, money, water, 1st aide supplies and anything else that you think you would need to get by. If your space is limited then Cambridge is perfect. One can would feed one person for a whole week. I don't know anything else that could do that. If you would like more info please send me an email and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Hunker Down!
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 11/01/12:
The holiday season is once again in the works. Too much food..and for the most part fattening food... will be all around us. Maybe we can't be perfect all the time, but we can be most of the time. Never let one mistake change the course. We all need to "hunker down" as the newscasters and public officials kept saying over these past few days to those unfortunate souls in hurricane Sandy's path. I've never heard that phrase so many times in my life, but for those of us who are attempting to make progress with weight loss over the next 2 months, in spite of holiday madness, they are perfect words to live by. So here we go people! Hunker down and get ready for the challenge! Thanksgiving, here we come!
Food is Fuel
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 08/17/12:
Just like your car, if you kept putting gas in it but you never turn it on and go anywhere it will begin to spill out and get out of control. There is only so much a gas tank can hold. It would be great if we were self regulating and only able to consume exactly what our body will use like a gas tank, but unfortunately our fuel source is abundant and all around us.
People that contact me usually get freaked out at the low calorie content of Cambridge. I have to remind them that a calorie is not a nutrient like protein or carbohydrates. It is only a way to measure the amount of energy food produces in the body. As long as you have stored body fat you have calories. Imagine that chunk of fat in your body. If you could reach in and pluck it out and put it on the dinning room table, would that make an impression on you? It sure would for me!
Our bodies store fat and sugar for a reason. We were never made to live in the abundance that we do now. If we were designed for that then we would have a self regulating mechanism that would prevent us from consuming too much fuel. Not only that, but the foods we eat are mostly void of nutrition and have no other function then to be stored. We are calorie hoarders ! If you watch that show "Hoarders" then you get the picture of what I'm saying. The chaos you see in those houses is similar to what your body is dealing with. People stuff their houses with garbage and useless junk until the house is literally deteriorating around them. They are drowning in junk. You body is suffering the same stress load trying desperately to manage all the garbage and fat/junk that you keep forcing in every day. It's time to clean house!
If we begin to look at food as it was intended to be for us which is fuel then we begin the process of restoring balance and health. I used to feel imprisoned by my body and fat. I understand now that it was my own thoughts, beliefs, behaviors and actions that had me in prison...all stuff that I had the power to change in a heartbeat.
Just like your car, if you kept putting gas in it but you never turn it on and go anywhere it will begin to spill out and get out of control. There is only so much a gas tank can hold. It would be great if we were self regulating and only able to consume exactly what our body will use like a gas tank, but unfortunately our fuel source is abundant and all around us.
People that contact me usually get freaked out at the low calorie content of Cambridge. I have to remind them that a calorie is not a nutrient like protein or carbohydrates. It is only a way to measure the amount of energy food produces in the body. As long as you have stored body fat you have calories. Imagine that chunk of fat in your body. If you could reach in and pluck it out and put it on the dinning room table, would that make an impression on you? It sure would for me!
Our bodies store fat and sugar for a reason. We were never made to live in the abundance that we do now. If we were designed for that then we would have a self regulating mechanism that would prevent us from consuming too much fuel. Not only that, but the foods we eat are mostly void of nutrition and have no other function then to be stored. We are calorie hoarders ! If you watch that show "Hoarders" then you get the picture of what I'm saying. The chaos you see in those houses is similar to what your body is dealing with. People stuff their houses with garbage and useless junk until the house is literally deteriorating around them. They are drowning in junk. You body is suffering the same stress load trying desperately to manage all the garbage and fat/junk that you keep forcing in every day. It's time to clean house!
If we begin to look at food as it was intended to be for us which is fuel then we begin the process of restoring balance and health. I used to feel imprisoned by my body and fat. I understand now that it was my own thoughts, beliefs, behaviors and actions that had me in prison...all stuff that I had the power to change in a heartbeat.
How The Foods We Eat Affect Our Mood, Energy And Quality Of Life
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 03/13/12:
I find it very interesting how the foods we eat can have an effect on our physical and mental state. This past weekend was my husbands 60th B-day and we had a big celebration with all of his family here at the house. Andy has been following a low carb eating plan to try and reduce his triglycerides and he has been sticking to it 100% for the past month. He is a sugarholic so this has been a real test for him. I have avoided sugars and grains for some time now so for me it has not been much of a change when I cook for him.
Sunday was the big day and we decided we would relax the rules and just have whatever we wanted. BIG MISTAKE! lol! I won't go in to the menu out of respect for those here SSing but it was for the most part not low carb other then the meat and some of the salad dressings I make with xylitol rather then sugar so we could eat the leftovers. There was a ton of food and 2 Costco cakes. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed the food, including me and Andy.
Well...did we pay the price. He is still paying actually as he feels compelled to finish his B-Day cake that is left. I may have to throw it out to save him from himself! lol! That night and the following day I felt hung over, sluggish, bloated and gassy and just plain BLAH! I'm finally feeling more like my normal self, but looking in the mirror this morning was shocking. My eyes were so puffy I looked 10 years older and my skin was dull and pale. I probably still have some water weight retention, evidently mostly in my face, and my tummy is still a little rocky, but wow! Was that a rough couple of days!
When you eat clean and then dump in a bunch of junk you can really feel the difference in quality of life. I'm now used to having lots of energy and feeling clear headed. That was not always the case however. I spent most of my 30's in a food induced fog and feeling horrible was my norm. My weekend celebrating was a bad flashback of those days that I have no wish to ever go back to.
Eating whole fresh foods makes all the difference in energy and mood and overall health. I already knew that, but I got a refresher course on the subject! That energy and sense of vitality you get while SSing on Cambridge is a taste of what's to come if you make this a permanent change in lifestyle. Right now you are giving your body complete balanced nutrition and it is rewarding you! Once you have lost your weight the next challenge is putting together a good eating plan for maintenance. You can continue to use your Cambridge as I have these past 11 years as a base for your diet. Exercise is important. Then by adding just whole unprocessed foods cooked properly and avoiding grains and sugars you will find maintenance is not going to be an issue this time. It simply just happens.
I find it very interesting how the foods we eat can have an effect on our physical and mental state. This past weekend was my husbands 60th B-day and we had a big celebration with all of his family here at the house. Andy has been following a low carb eating plan to try and reduce his triglycerides and he has been sticking to it 100% for the past month. He is a sugarholic so this has been a real test for him. I have avoided sugars and grains for some time now so for me it has not been much of a change when I cook for him.
Sunday was the big day and we decided we would relax the rules and just have whatever we wanted. BIG MISTAKE! lol! I won't go in to the menu out of respect for those here SSing but it was for the most part not low carb other then the meat and some of the salad dressings I make with xylitol rather then sugar so we could eat the leftovers. There was a ton of food and 2 Costco cakes. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed the food, including me and Andy.
Well...did we pay the price. He is still paying actually as he feels compelled to finish his B-Day cake that is left. I may have to throw it out to save him from himself! lol! That night and the following day I felt hung over, sluggish, bloated and gassy and just plain BLAH! I'm finally feeling more like my normal self, but looking in the mirror this morning was shocking. My eyes were so puffy I looked 10 years older and my skin was dull and pale. I probably still have some water weight retention, evidently mostly in my face, and my tummy is still a little rocky, but wow! Was that a rough couple of days!
When you eat clean and then dump in a bunch of junk you can really feel the difference in quality of life. I'm now used to having lots of energy and feeling clear headed. That was not always the case however. I spent most of my 30's in a food induced fog and feeling horrible was my norm. My weekend celebrating was a bad flashback of those days that I have no wish to ever go back to.
Eating whole fresh foods makes all the difference in energy and mood and overall health. I already knew that, but I got a refresher course on the subject! That energy and sense of vitality you get while SSing on Cambridge is a taste of what's to come if you make this a permanent change in lifestyle. Right now you are giving your body complete balanced nutrition and it is rewarding you! Once you have lost your weight the next challenge is putting together a good eating plan for maintenance. You can continue to use your Cambridge as I have these past 11 years as a base for your diet. Exercise is important. Then by adding just whole unprocessed foods cooked properly and avoiding grains and sugars you will find maintenance is not going to be an issue this time. It simply just happens.
What Makes Us Fat
Originally Posted by Pam Turner on 01/06/12:
I wanted to write a bit about how grain based foods and sugars, especially those in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is found in just about everything, have caused the obesity problem we have here in the USA. Sadly, as other countries adopt our eating habits, their health declines as well. Society's that never had obesity problems with their traditional diets.. now do.
We have been told for many years by our government what we should eat and how much. We had the "Food Guide Pyramid" which our children were taught in school and physicians and nutritionists passed on to patients. We were taught that our diet should be based on grain...11 servings a day with lesser amounts of proteins, veg, fruits and very limited fats. We were told that natural foods like coconut oil, butter and animal fat which had always been a part of our diets were suddenly bad for us and they were replaced with vegetable oils and hydrogenated margarine and shortenings. During those years the health of this country has gone consistently downhill. What were once rare diseases like diabetes, cancers and vascular disease are now common and even expected. If the counsel we have been subjected to was sound, why have we become so sick and fat? How could we still be so wrong?
The body has a very small need for sugar and once a person's intake exceeds that it gets stored as fat. Grain based foods get converted to sugar quickly and cause insulin spikes. Insulin is the body's fat storing hormone. It tells the body to store fat rather then use it for energy. Most of us have way too much insulin circulating due to our high sugar/grain diets. When you consider the fact that for decades the USRDA told everyone to eat low fat while eating 11 servings of grain a day it is no wonder why we are all struggling with our weight. They use grain to fatten livestock for slaughter. In a way, we have been too.
Grain has always been the biggest crop in the USA. So big in fact that we shipped it out to other countries just to get rid of it. Telling the US citizens that they NEED 11 servings went a long way to converting that abundance of grain in to cash.
I get asked all the time about what to eat to maintain once the weight is lost. It's simple really. Don't eat grain and don't eat sugar. You will never be fat again. Focus on healthy sources of fats and protein and vegetable with very limited fruits and grain. We humans were not designed to eat grain. If we were we would have the kind of teeth that could grind it up and we would be able to eat it as nature made it, whole..raw..and unprocessed, but we don't. Good way to lose a tooth! The teeth we do have tell us that we are designed to eat animal, vegetable, fruit, nuts and seeds. If you can chew it raw, it's food for you. Sugar was only meant to be eaten in season. Consider this.. in most parts of the world that have winter weather we see that the fruits ripen in the summer and late fall, natures way to fatten people up for when food is less available. Dietary sugar makes fat. Dietary fat makes energy.
Here is an excerpt from an article about this subject that explains it well. It's talking about the mistakes we make in diet and exercise and how the body responds:
Dr. Doug McGuff is an emergency room physician and an expert on exercise and diet. He explains:
"Your skeletal muscle – if you're lucky – can hold maybe 250 grams of glucose, and your liver holds about 70. If you take 320 grams of glucose as what your storage capacity is, you can kill that with a single trip to Starbucks. Once you go beyond that, your body is going to find some sort of way to deal with those excess carbohydrates.
If your glycogen storage is full, your body has nowhere else to put it. So instead of going all the way through this metabolic pathway, it… produces body fat. That's called the novel glycogenosis. We are in the midst of a very bizarre, evil-scientist type experiment in the Western world, because we are dumping into our bodies an amount of carbohydrate and, in particular, refined sugars, that are way above the capacity of our metabolism to handle normally."
The result of our modern diet, which is loaded with grains and sugars (especially fructose), is a large percentage of obesity, and people that are overweight. This can be turned around, however, using a wise combination-approach of a high-fat, low-carb diet and high-intensity interval training.
"Through an amplification cascade, when you're doing a high-intensity exercise, you very aggressively empty sugar out of your muscle cells. By doing that and combining over the low-carbohydrate diet, you start to heal the metabolism," Dr. McGuff explains. "They are able to access their energy source finally. That's how they can turn things around."
It's crucial to remember that you cannot exercise your way out of a bad diet, and the first step toward improving your diet is to cut out as much sugar/fructose and grain/carbs as possible. Your diet actually accounts for about 80 percent of the health benefits derived from a healthy lifestyle, with the remaining 20 percent coming from exercise. That benefit ratio could lean even higher toward diet, according to Dr. McGuff:
"The standard American diet is highly inflammatory. It produces systemic inflammation of an order that is almost beyond belief. In that state, if you do exercise of any significant stress, you're just adding inflammation on top of the inflammation, and you're actually putting yourself at a bit of a risk. I advise people to get their diet straight and then exercise. "
If you are worried about maintenance, don't be. You can be very happy and satisfied on a no-grain eating plan. If you get back to how nature intended us to eat, which has been the path of evolution for us as well as all the other living things on earth that have not become extinct, then you can live a healthy life free of obesity and dieting. Cambridge is a jump start to get the weight off fast. The rate of weight loss accelerates the metabolism's ability to begin healing because body fat causes many negative effects to your overall health, far more then you can imagine. Body fat affects you hormonally, skeletally, mentally, chemically and prevents full mobility of the body. I think it is safe to say that there isn't a single cell that isn't in some way affected by obesity. Having an overabundance of sugar in the system also encourages systemic yeast overgrowth, a whole other problem many people are now suffering from that has been discussed previously in other articles. We all want to be healthy, vital and active. Getting back to eating the way nature designed is the natural way to maintaining a slim body and a healthy life.
I wanted to write a bit about how grain based foods and sugars, especially those in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is found in just about everything, have caused the obesity problem we have here in the USA. Sadly, as other countries adopt our eating habits, their health declines as well. Society's that never had obesity problems with their traditional diets.. now do.
We have been told for many years by our government what we should eat and how much. We had the "Food Guide Pyramid" which our children were taught in school and physicians and nutritionists passed on to patients. We were taught that our diet should be based on grain...11 servings a day with lesser amounts of proteins, veg, fruits and very limited fats. We were told that natural foods like coconut oil, butter and animal fat which had always been a part of our diets were suddenly bad for us and they were replaced with vegetable oils and hydrogenated margarine and shortenings. During those years the health of this country has gone consistently downhill. What were once rare diseases like diabetes, cancers and vascular disease are now common and even expected. If the counsel we have been subjected to was sound, why have we become so sick and fat? How could we still be so wrong?
The body has a very small need for sugar and once a person's intake exceeds that it gets stored as fat. Grain based foods get converted to sugar quickly and cause insulin spikes. Insulin is the body's fat storing hormone. It tells the body to store fat rather then use it for energy. Most of us have way too much insulin circulating due to our high sugar/grain diets. When you consider the fact that for decades the USRDA told everyone to eat low fat while eating 11 servings of grain a day it is no wonder why we are all struggling with our weight. They use grain to fatten livestock for slaughter. In a way, we have been too.
Grain has always been the biggest crop in the USA. So big in fact that we shipped it out to other countries just to get rid of it. Telling the US citizens that they NEED 11 servings went a long way to converting that abundance of grain in to cash.
I get asked all the time about what to eat to maintain once the weight is lost. It's simple really. Don't eat grain and don't eat sugar. You will never be fat again. Focus on healthy sources of fats and protein and vegetable with very limited fruits and grain. We humans were not designed to eat grain. If we were we would have the kind of teeth that could grind it up and we would be able to eat it as nature made it, whole..raw..and unprocessed, but we don't. Good way to lose a tooth! The teeth we do have tell us that we are designed to eat animal, vegetable, fruit, nuts and seeds. If you can chew it raw, it's food for you. Sugar was only meant to be eaten in season. Consider this.. in most parts of the world that have winter weather we see that the fruits ripen in the summer and late fall, natures way to fatten people up for when food is less available. Dietary sugar makes fat. Dietary fat makes energy.
Here is an excerpt from an article about this subject that explains it well. It's talking about the mistakes we make in diet and exercise and how the body responds:
Dr. Doug McGuff is an emergency room physician and an expert on exercise and diet. He explains:
"Your skeletal muscle – if you're lucky – can hold maybe 250 grams of glucose, and your liver holds about 70. If you take 320 grams of glucose as what your storage capacity is, you can kill that with a single trip to Starbucks. Once you go beyond that, your body is going to find some sort of way to deal with those excess carbohydrates.
If your glycogen storage is full, your body has nowhere else to put it. So instead of going all the way through this metabolic pathway, it… produces body fat. That's called the novel glycogenosis. We are in the midst of a very bizarre, evil-scientist type experiment in the Western world, because we are dumping into our bodies an amount of carbohydrate and, in particular, refined sugars, that are way above the capacity of our metabolism to handle normally."
The result of our modern diet, which is loaded with grains and sugars (especially fructose), is a large percentage of obesity, and people that are overweight. This can be turned around, however, using a wise combination-approach of a high-fat, low-carb diet and high-intensity interval training.
"Through an amplification cascade, when you're doing a high-intensity exercise, you very aggressively empty sugar out of your muscle cells. By doing that and combining over the low-carbohydrate diet, you start to heal the metabolism," Dr. McGuff explains. "They are able to access their energy source finally. That's how they can turn things around."
It's crucial to remember that you cannot exercise your way out of a bad diet, and the first step toward improving your diet is to cut out as much sugar/fructose and grain/carbs as possible. Your diet actually accounts for about 80 percent of the health benefits derived from a healthy lifestyle, with the remaining 20 percent coming from exercise. That benefit ratio could lean even higher toward diet, according to Dr. McGuff:
"The standard American diet is highly inflammatory. It produces systemic inflammation of an order that is almost beyond belief. In that state, if you do exercise of any significant stress, you're just adding inflammation on top of the inflammation, and you're actually putting yourself at a bit of a risk. I advise people to get their diet straight and then exercise. "
If you are worried about maintenance, don't be. You can be very happy and satisfied on a no-grain eating plan. If you get back to how nature intended us to eat, which has been the path of evolution for us as well as all the other living things on earth that have not become extinct, then you can live a healthy life free of obesity and dieting. Cambridge is a jump start to get the weight off fast. The rate of weight loss accelerates the metabolism's ability to begin healing because body fat causes many negative effects to your overall health, far more then you can imagine. Body fat affects you hormonally, skeletally, mentally, chemically and prevents full mobility of the body. I think it is safe to say that there isn't a single cell that isn't in some way affected by obesity. Having an overabundance of sugar in the system also encourages systemic yeast overgrowth, a whole other problem many people are now suffering from that has been discussed previously in other articles. We all want to be healthy, vital and active. Getting back to eating the way nature designed is the natural way to maintaining a slim body and a healthy life.
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