Learning to Live Our Diet

By Jennifer A. Mason, LCSW LMFT LISW-S

Why is it that when we feel we fall off our healthy eating and fitness plan our eyes become wide open to the barrage of advertisements about the way to lose 50 pounds in 1 month; use our product or video; join this gym; eat this food or drink this supplement; read this book and on and on and on.

This becomes the Regain Ritual of Hope. How can we make this time different from all the rest? How can we avoid the guilt that begins to creep in after the first week? And then the shame that hits us a month into it when we realize that this time is going to be just like every other time. And to make us forget that we have once again failed to care for ourselves, we turn to food to soothe that feeling.
 
If we continue to do the same things we have always done, we will continue to get the same results. It is essential that we do everything we can to remember it is not a diet that will make the difference in our lives.

A diet can be nothing more than food normally eaten for the purpose of maintaining good health. It should not be seen as a restrictive set of food principles for a designated period of time. We have to learn to live our diet.  This is the only life we are going to have. We alone are responsible for how we choose to live it. Once we make this choice, we can begin to move forward to break the cycle. We have to do the work; one or two pounds a week as a short term objective until we have reached a long term goal -learning to live our diet.