What does THIS have to do with THAT?

If you have been following my blogs, reading the comments, articles and quotes I post on Facebook, and paying attention in any way, you might be a bit confused.  It seems like I am scattered all over the place.  Consider our weekly challenge "Stop the Negative Self-Talk".  We all have that little voice in our head that whispers hurtful, discouraging words to us all the time.  It tells us we can't do something, have something, be something, or go where we want to go.  This negative self-talk can affect our day, our attitude, our relationship with ourselves and with others and can keep us from achieving our dreams and goals.  I am, by trade, a Nutritional Consultant, however. What does all this have to do with nutrition? EVERYTHING!

 Last night for dinner, I had a piece of eggplant parmigana pizza.  Now pizza is fine to have once in awhile.  The slice I ate not only had the traditional crust, the cheese, the sauce and the oil but it was topped with tender slices of fried, breaded eggplant.  I started out by eating only half but by the time the night was over, I consumed the whole thing.  It was delicious! I don't even want to think about all the fat and calories in that one piece of pizza and I am not going to punish myself for eating it.  Punishing myself will only make me feel bad.  It's ok to indulge occasionally. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that.  Some people, however, eat like that every single day!

After eating that slice of pizza, I could have listened to the negative chatter in my head. 
"You fat slob! You are a nutritionist and you are eating this? How can you possibly tell anyone else about eating well when you just ate an entire slice of eggplant pizza? You're a failure, a poor example and now that you feel really bad about yourself, how about a big bowl of icecream to make you feel better? You already went way over your fat and calorie allotment for the day so why not?"

Listening to that voice could catapult me into an unhealthy, non-stop eating frenzy.  Ice cream before bedtime, an unhealthy breakfast the next morning, a burger and fries for lunch, a mid-afternoon candy bar from the office vending machine, several drinks and fried finger foods at happy hour followed by another fat and calorie-laden dinner. This vicious cycle could go on for weeks and before long my clothes won't fit.  I will begin to feel really bad about myself, indulge in more self-destructive behavior and as a result my health will suffer, my relationships will begin to fall apart, and my whole life will be one big mess. Sound familiar?

You might want to lose weight, heal your unhealthy relationships with food, prevent heart disease or diabetes, or just want to live a long and healthy life.  You will never achieve these goals permanently without a true and sincere love for yourself.  When you love someone, you respect them.  You never want to hurt them on purpose.  You won't abuse them, harm them, or point them in the wrong direction.  There are times that we unintentionally hurt our loved ones but we apologize and make things right again. 

  This doesn't mean you will never again enjoy a slice of eggplant parmigana pizza. What it does mean is that every day you will  want to nurture yourself with good things and pizza, burgers and fries, chocolate cake or a whole package of oreos before bedtime will be the exception and NOT the rule.  When you love and respect yourself you will want feed your body, mind and spirit with good things- REAL food, encouraging books, healthy relationships, a satisfying spiritual practice. It's all about balance. I am a Holistic Nutritional Consultant.  Holistic means "whole". This is not some "New Age" mumbo-jumbo.  I believe and teach others how to nourish themselves on every level.  When the body, mind and spirit are being fed good food... you will become healthy and whole.  All that excess weight will melt away, your health will improve, and you will be living the life you always dreamed of.

And this is my Daily Cyn..........