A Simple Guide To Giving Up Dieting Forever (Part One: Day Four, Five, and Six)

Part One, Day Four: Your body will tell you what it needs.

Your first step in learning to keep your body running and looking the way you want is simply to listen to it. Your body is constantly giving you feedback on how it's doing. You have been programmed to survive. Your body tells you when it feels hungry, thirsty, tired, or achy. Do you stop to listen to it?

Your body craves the things that it needs. Whatever your body needs, it will tell you! This is good news for us because we are now ready and willing to listen to our new best friend! To understand what our body needs we must first learn to pay attention to how our body feels. How do you feel at this moment? Are you hungry or full? Tired or awake? Happy or Sad? Stressed or Relaxed? Look in the mirror and you will see the answers looking right back at you. Close your eyes and focus on your body… all the things we can feel if we pay attention!

Paying attention to how food makes you feel is a key lesson in this book. It is key to navigating a world filled with so many choices it can be intimidating. Food makes you feel. This simple idea has been programed into our genetic code to help us survive. It is this concept that will start to unlock your body’s full potential. Tap into this innate relationship between your body and your world and the way you look at food will transform.

How do you feel after eating these foods: a steak; an apple; fast food; pasta; chips; a burger; fried chicken; shrimp; soup; a salad, fresh vegetable, some berries? Before I started paying attention to my body, my food, and my life in a new way, I would not have been able to answer! Had I really spent my whole life without paying attention to how food was making me feel?

I would happily eat any one of the things I just listed. I love all that stuff! Food is delicious and I don’t want you to forget it! When I eat, which foods, and how much of each, is based on how each different foods make me feel and what I think my body needs. I will teach you in part two the basics of how to know what your body needs. All you have to do now is pay attention to how food makes you feel.

Daily Meditation:Spend a moment after you eat or drink something to think about how it a makes you feel. Take pride that with each food you take the time to "test’"in this way, you are one step closer to transforming your body and your life.

If you get stuck, see if any of these fit:

Happy; Sad; Energetic; Sleepy; Awake; Drained; Satisfied; Full; Hungry; Healthy; Sluggish; Achy; Bloated; Relaxed; Stressed; Strong; Weak; Dizzy

Part One, Day Five: How full and satisfied do you really feel?

One of the most important things to pay attention to about food is how full and satisfied it makes you feel. After all, our goal is to learn to give our bodies what they need. Before and after you eat or drink anything, rate your fullness on a scale of 1 to 10. Also rate your satisfaction on the same scale. You may find food that leaves you full but unsatisfied, or satisfied but not full! Think about it with everything you eat and drink today. You might be surprised to find how varied different foods can be in making you feel full and satisfied.

Daily Meditation:Pay close attention to how full and satisfied you feel after eating or drinking. Rate them on a scale of of 1 to 10.

Part One, Day Six: Learn to make yourself full and satisfied.

Throughout the rest of this book I will teach you everything I’ve learned to make myself feel full and also satisfied with my food, my body, and my life… They are all connected! I am able to eat a diet full of my favorite foods and still look and feel great. No more dieting ever! No more fighting cravings! We are going to make our own diet with all of our favorite foods in it!

Achieving your ideal healthy weight is simply a matter of listening to your body and understanding what it needs. Now that we are through Part One, we have marveled at our body and acknowledged it as our lifelong friend. We have become aware that our bodies are mere reflections of our lifestyle, including the food we eat. We are paying close attention to how food makes us a feel and what our bodies are telling us about what we are feeding it. We are now ready to move on to Part Two: Getting To Know Your Food!

Daily Meditation:Review the main points and meditations in Part One and think about everything we have learned. Try to incorporate the editions into your daily thoughts. Be proud of yourself for taking steps to become in tune with your body!