Weight Loss
Cocaine or Artificial Sweeteners?
For those of you finding it hard to break up with Diet Coke (or any other diet soda for that matter) or your favorite lowfat, low cal food-type substance you’ve been eating, take in this information from Dr. Mark Hyman, NYT Bestselling author of The Blood Sugar Solution.
“A study of rats that were fed artificially sweetened food found that their metabolism slowed down and they were triggered to consume more calories and gain more weight than rats fed sugar-sweetened food.
In another alarming study, rats offered the choice of cocaine or artificial sweeteners always picked the artificial sweetener, even if the rats were previously programmed to be cocaine addicts. The author of the study said that, “[t]he absolute preference for taste sweetness may lead to a re-ordering in the hierarchy of potentially addictive stimuli, with sweetened diets . . . taking precedence over cocaine and possibly other drugs of abuse.
…If you are thinking that diet soft drinks or artificial or even natural sweeteners are the answer for getting off sugar, think again. Diet drink consumption has increased 400 percent since 1960. It may or may not cause cancer, but the evidence is mounting that it leads to weight gain rather than weight loss.
Those who consume diet drinks regularly have a 200 percent increased risk of weight gain, a 36 percent increased risk of pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, and a 67 percent increased risk of diabetes. A study of 400 people found that those who drank two diet sodas a day or more increased their waist size by five times.
Seems you can’t outsmart Mother Nature. Tricking your brain into thinking you are getting something sweet plays dirty tricks on your metabolism. Artificial sweeteners disrupt the normal hormonal and neurological signals that control hunger and satiety (feeling full).”
Full Dr. Hyman article here:
http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/04/03/diet-drinks-helpful-or-harmful-to-kick-the-sugar-habit/
My lunch today almost made me cry
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Do you believe in Santa Claus?
Do you believe in Santa Claus?
I’ll bet the answer is no.
But perhaps there was a time when you went through what over two billion people have gone through:
Believing in Santa Claus.
Believing that a rotund man in a red velvety suit with a white beard and spectacles circles the globe on a sleigh pregnant with gifts, propelled forward by a herd of flying reindeer.
You might have even written a letter to this fictitious character or left him cookies and milk with a side of carrots for the reindeer as my nephews have. Or perhaps sat on his lap and gotten your picture taken with Santa himself (as I have), believing you were in the presence of the great and mighty Santa Claus, giver of gifts to children nice but not naughty.
As I began to learn about my mind and my thoughts and I came to question limiting beliefs that I had long held, believing in Santa Claus came to mind.
So often my clients and I can cite “proof” for our point of view – whether that evidence comes from the agreement of friends and family members, the popular culture, the nightly news or events in our lives.
But let me just say that right now there are millions of children who believe in Santa Claus and think he is as real as the toys they play with or the clothes they wear.
Santa Claus is as real to those children as your “horrible boss” or your “controlling mother-in-law” or the belief that “life is unfair” or “there’s never enough time” might be to you.
Those children dream of Santa Claus, think of him fondly, talk to him in their minds or at the mall, want something from him, think that he will be landing on their roofs this Christmas Eve, and that they will be opening gifts personally delivered by him on Christmas morning.
But do those beliefs make him real?
Not to me.
Or you.
But he sure as heck is real to the children who believe in him.
Just as the outdated or limiting beliefs we hold are real to us.
So when you’re working with your coach. And she questions one of your limiting beliefs:
If I weigh _______, I’m a failure.
If I owe ________, I’m a loser.
The reason I don’t have or can’t have _______, is because of _______.
Remember this.
Just because you’ve got a lot of proof and agreement for your limiting and possibly (very) painful beliefs, doesn’t mean that what you believe in is any more real than Santa Claus.
Originally posted 12/23/11
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WundaBody Challenge
It’s 2010.
I am driving to the final weigh-in of the Best Body Program held at my local pilates studio where the winners will be announced.
And I am ready for this damn thing to be over.
I am climbing the walls because for “almost” 10 weeks it has been like holding a beach ball under water: unwieldy, unnatural, awkward, troublesome and impossible to do 24/7.
In the beginning, I experience the rush of starting something new and fresh. I pay attention to portion size and food choices and come religiously to my weekly workouts.
And I lose weight. But…
As the weeks progress, my excitement wanes. I am left with me and my choices and my mind.
There is a reason why I am overweight. I emotionally overeat.
And life just keeps happening during this program. Can you say: boss, bills, customers, employees, traffic, voice mails, emails, economic meltdown – the trials and tribulations of life in general?
As the weeks progress, I begin trying to hold the beach ball down.
I am controlling my eating with the sheer force of my will – which will only last so long if I cause myself a whole new set of negative emotion everyday.
While I control my eating with force, I am not getting the daily relief that I usually derive from food. The epic battle for relief from my internal mental landscape is on. In the absence of alternative tools, my desire for emotional relief will win out. This is why diets, budgets, and going cold turkey rarely work out.
The urge to overeat (or overspend or over-anything) is still there.
And this internal urge to overeat is in full force thrashing against an opposing urge for external changes (weight loss), reward and approval.
And now I am driving to the weigh-in.
Twelve pounds lost if I recall correctly. It doesn’t matter really because whatever I lost I gained back at depressingly fast speed.
I “win” Second Place.
But…
Inside I know that I cannot control what is coming. The urge to eat will win, and a bag of Reese’s Mini-Peanut Butter cups are in my near future.
Until we can address the cause, weight loss is a struggle, and the urge to overeat is a force to be reckoned with.
How do I know this?
Because during the Best Body Program, I was introduced to the book, “If I’m so Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight” by Brooke Castillo in a lecture that was given to participants.
I went on to complete two Life Coach Trainings directly with Brooke Castillo (Weight Loss and Money Certifications) and now do this work full-time. When I saw the light at the end of a very long weight struggle tunnel, the idea of making this my own life’s work made sense to me in a very meaningful way.
I now believe in permanent or bust.
I decided I would do what it took to lose the weight – One. Last. Time. No matter what it took as long as it was permanent, peaceful, and could be sustained indefinitely.
The studio that held The Best Body Program is now WundaBar Pilates, Montrose.
And I am extremely privileged and excited to share what I know during the 2013 “WundaBody Challenge.” I will be the resident Certified Weight Loss Coach and co-creator of the updated and revised program which will provide a multitude of tools for dissolving your weight loss struggle.
CJ Blaquera, www.CJCoaches.com, helps smart, soulful women become the deliberate creators of their own lives and attract their natural weight peacefully and permanently.
