Why diets fail...and you can succeed

Are dieters really losers? Or do people who lose weight always find it again?

Life is abundant. You get more of what you ask for.

But what if you're getting what you're NOT asking for?

Know it or not, you are always asking - deliberately or unconsciously. You don't just ask with your words, but with your focus and your emotions.

Your focus is your most powerful leverage; it's why our hot yoga room is lined with mirrors. You are honing your focus: eyes open, face forward, focus, focus, focus.

Consider your focus when you're dieting: food. As the diet progresses, you're counting calories, avoiding carbs, weighing yourself daily.

You are focused on the very things you don't want: calories, carbs, pounds. Focus, focus, focus, No wonder you get more of them.

Shout "NO!" at your food and you just added extra emotional calories ("I WILL NOT eat a Milky Way bar!") Say something you don't believe ("I am happy at this weight")  and your mind hears what you do believe ("I am fat!")

You are literally eating your words.

When you "lose" something, there is an underlyng desire for it to be found.  You don't want to "lose" weight; you want to let it go.

Is the answer to ignore it all - food allergies, diets, carbs - and just feel good about what you eat?

This scientist says, yes! Using neuroscience and brain physiology, Sarah Aamodt explains why "intuitive eating" is the only diet that ever works.

You already know what's good for you....and when you believe this, you intuitively know your best diet.

Hot yoga fine-tunes not only your physical machinery, but your intuitive body-wisdom. You may find that yes, you can enjoy Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies (we serve them along with fruit, nuts, trail mix and chocolate truffles, after every hot yoga class: you choose) and have a good-feeling, well-functioning, beautiful body.

Start feeling good about the food you eat, rather than letting it eat you.

Comments

[Melina]

I love this idea! While I have never been on an official 'diet' I do try to either incorporate powerhouse health foods or reduce foods that I notice bog me down after eating. I generally eat what I want but I also think there is a beauty in retraining your taste buds by relaxing emotionally around certain foods. I'd love to eat more raw, but can feel I'm not ready yet to do that.

[Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT]

"Feel" is the operative word, Melina: when eating raw feels like fun, you're ready.