Finishing the Race

If you want to lose weight, you have to stop believing that if you eat you will gain weight. When your body gets its nutritional needs met, and it starts to trust you are not going to starve it, your body lets go of excess energy stores—shrinking your fat cells. Many people have the mindset if you skip meals you can lose weight—that’s not the right way to go about it.

Too commonly people drink soda, coffee, or a caffeinated beverage to raise their blood sugar and mask hunger. Hunger now silenced, they do not eat thinking this is the way to lose weight. The message they are giving their body is, I am going to starve you. The body’s response is to protect itself by hanging onto its energy stores—enlarging your fat cells. Again, making it very difficult to lose weight. Too many of my clients had a hard time losing weight and admitted to frequently skipping meals. I have found this attempt never works.One of the goals on this journey is to have a healthy metabolism. When you starve your body your metabolism slows down. I know this is going to be hard for many of you to accept that have had a diet mentality for so many years, but you want to get hungry. Hunger is a good thing. Hunger is your body’s natural response to let you know your body needs more life-giving fuel. Plus, it is an indicator that your metabolism is picking up and that’s a good thing! Which means your body won’t feel the need to protect itself from imposed starvation.

Permission to Eat Granted

One of the best ways to curb your weight is to give yourself permission to eat an abundance of whole plant-based foods throughout the day—foods as close to nature as possible. Juicing and smoothies count too. Small meals more frequently work really well to boost your metabolism.

And of course, it helps to wean yourself from frequent doses of fast foods and nutrient-deficient foods.

Just a little reminder:  When you increase your whole, plant-based foods, remember to drink plenty of water to digest your food efficiently and avoid bloating. Patiently give your body time to adjust as it soaks in all this nourishment and releases excess fat stores. With a new outlook that food is meant to nourish our bodies and we need to eat, it is easy to enjoy all the varieties of plant foods guilt free.

 Blessings to your health!