I’m going to be honest with all of you for a minute – you don’t need me to lose weight and start feeling healthier. What I mean by that is, you don’t need me to tell you what to eat each day. You already know exactly what to do.
It’s true: our bodies will tell us what and when to eat and drink if we just listen. Quit snacking after dinner when you’re not hungry, don’t have that extra cocktail when you know it will make you feel terrible the next day, and let your body be your guide.
It takes a bit of practice to pay attention to your thoughts that seem to argue with your body, but if we can master this skill, we will have a much easier time maintaining our weight and feeling good. It’s a simple skill, but you have to train yourself to do it consistently, so why not start paying attention to your body’s requests right now?
While I don’t tell my clients exactly what to eat each day, I do teach many awareness techniques that help you retrain your brain and start thinking about your thinking.
I’ll acknowledge that it takes work, for me as well. As I teach my clients, I continue to develop these skills because I too have struggled with not listening to my body on many occasions.
For your reading pleasure, here are some past example conversations between my brain and body. They might even sound familiar to you too!
Body: coffee is not food; Brain: shut up
Body: 3 glasses of wine always makes you feel crappy; Brain: shut up
Body: salad please; Brain: no, nachos
Body: you don’t need a cookie; Brain: but it’s my favorite kind…
