Diet Inspiration and Answers
CardioMender, MD helps motivate in a common sense, non-judgmental way, and answers questions to help you get, and stay, on track in your weight loss journey to health and looking great! Read on for some real-world diet inspiration from South Florida’s best weight loss physicians.
We have the most to gain by losing!
Q – Why do we wish people a Happy and Healthy New Year?
A – We place supreme value on both health and happiness, as well as the belief that there is a direct link between the two. In the long run we are unable to maintain good health, let alone feeling and looking good, without maintaining a healthy weight.
Q – Why do our actions not match our values? Why not put our money where our mouth is?
A – Without the knowledge and tools to implement a sustainable solution, we lack the power.
Q – Why is it irrational for us to feel shame for not being able to keep weight off?
A – Diets don’t work in terms of achieving sustained weight loss; medical studies have proven this. This explains the phenomenon of yo-yo dieting. We feel shame when we are not able to maintain weight loss after having implemented what we are told are bona fide solutions by those touting and promoting diets and gimmicks. Thusly, we believe that we are failures. Shame is immobilizing and keeps us stuck because we ‘failed again’ and nobody wants to feel like a failure, so we do nothing, and lack effective diet inspiration. In order to have a sustainable outcome, we must have both a real desire for change and a realistic solution available to us. Without the diet inspiration, knowledge, tools and support that address the root cause of what drives us to eat more than we need, it is not rational to feel shame since we never had a real capacity to achieve a sustainable outcome.
Q- Why don’t we trust our feelings?
A- Our bodies don’t lie. Our brains tend to rationalize. The reality is that we truly feel and look better when our weight is down. We need to ask ourselves, “Why not feel and look better?”Awareness is a Recipe for Success: Time is of the essence and the ultimate commodity. Many prepared foods are designed to get us to eat more than we need. The food industry’s primary motivation is to maximize their profits. They provide ‘quick fix’ meals and snacks that are produced as cheaply as possible to maximize their profits and our waistline, but not our health.
Q- What really are our priorities?
A- We have competing priorities and are out of touch with the real consequences of our moment-to-moment choices which can have a dramatic, negative impact on our health, happiness and how we look and feel. What can be more important than our bodies and our health? In the long run, how can we be available to our loved ones or our businesses if we don’t feel good because of failing health? It is essential that we invest in ourselves. If not, relying on the quick fix food industry that capitalizes on our time shortage sets up a lifetime of dependency and food addiction. Most of us don’t put cheap, inferior gas in our cars; why put inferior, non-nutritious, often addicting, quick fix foods (more appropriately called “people chow”) in our bodies?
Q- What is the Groundhog Day’s Principle?
A- If you do things the same way day after day, you get the same result until you identify and prioritize your values. Thinking we will achieve a different result doing things the same way is how Einstein defines insanity.
Q- What really is the Challenge?
A- Each of us must identify our real individual values and make achieving them a top priority, once and for all. To this end:
- Construct a plan. The plan needs to specifically address the factors that lead to the undesirable outcome. Usher in sustainable changes that address the root cause, an evidenced based solution that provides the tools, support and a long term maintenance program.
- Remain open, objective, nonjudgmental and flexible. One size does not fit all. Implement strategies that work for you and achieve BOTH the desired short and long term results. Go easy on yourself. If you don’t get the results that you are looking for, ask for help. Then, if you are being truly honest with yourself and your support team, and still not getting desired results, the program does not work for you. Move on and find one that does. You deserve it!
Q- What is the answer?
A- Once you find a solution: Live It! Otherwise, you’ll go back to where you were before.
You’ve Got to Live It!TM
If you have been to our CardioMender, MD Weight Loss Specialists wellness center and have met our doctors and team, you know that we are all about motivation, caring and providing support without judgment. Let us answer YOUR weight loss questions!