Raw Weight Loss: Lose Weight with Love

I've never stopped to count the myriad ways in which people try to lose weight. There's dieting, of course, which ranges from the healthy (raw foods) to the absurd (cabbage soup, anyone?). There are supplements and pills, exercise videos and DVDs, health clubs and diet clubs, frozen and packaged meals, drastic surgery and many, many more ways to lose weight.  Yet what each of these diets lack is one simple ingredient that can transform dieting from a weight loss chore into a new lifelong habit: love.

Victoria Moran, a well-known motivational speaker and writer, published a book called The Love-Powered Diet in which she advocates a vegetarian diet. She cites many reasons why such a diet falls under the heading of a love-powered diet.  Eating low on the food chain and mostly plants demonstrates love for animals and for the planet. However, more importantly, when we fill our bodies with healthy, life-giving foods and stop abusing ourselves with food, we love ourselves, which fills the primary need in our lives.

Many of us, however, do not demonstrate love for ourselves when we diet. We mentally beat ourselves up over eating something not on our food plans. We listen to the inner critic while stifling the inner cheerleader. We look in the mirror and see a fat person instead of a healthy person emerging from a cocoon made of extra weight.

Losing weight with love means treating yourself with kindness and compassion. For some people, this feels awkward.  Many of us are so used to the notion that only a tough, critical, judgmental attitude will change our behavior that we feel as if gentle words of encouragement are ineffective. It's as if we were all raised with a drill sergeant lodged in our subconscious!

If the mental image of a drill sergeant barking orders at us or an inner critic constantly belittling our efforts really worked, most of us would be at our goal weights by now.

Since when did yelling, scolding, or calling anyone names motivate good behavior? Think about it this way: would you talk to a child like that? Sometimes when I catch my own inner critic, I'm appalled at how I talk to myself. I think, "If I heard a mother in the store talking to her child like that, I'd consider it child abuse!"

Approach your weight loss efforts with compassion, love and kindness. Applaud the small successes. If you're not comfortable with this approach, you may want to seek help from a counselor, minister, or coach who can lovingly guide you into new pathways. There is a better approach to weight loss than constant nagging and criticism. Love yourself and the weight loss will follow.


    
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These statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration.  The preceding information and/or products are for educational purposes only and are not meant to diagnose, prescribe, or treat illness. Please consult your doctor before making any changes or before starting ANY exercise or nutritional supplement program or before using this information or any product during pregnancy or if you have a serious medical condition.


Written by:  Jeanne Grunert
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