SANCTUARY

 

Play & Book Excerpts

 


 

Stop Dieting Start Living
(Interior design: Bright Flame Books)
© 2015 Diet Free And Healthy Inc.

 

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Partial Excerpt from Chapter One:
 
Are You Missing From Your Life?
 
I know this might sound strange but have you ever considered that you might be missing from your life? You are nowhere to be found on a mental, physical, emotional or spiritual list of priorities. Have you ever had a conversation with yourself about this? Does it feel impossible, maybe even a myth to make yourself a priority? Yet if you don't, who will?
 
People do nice things for us at times and we feel appreciated from time to time, but what about the in between times? When you make yourself a priority, the nice things from others become the icing on the cake. Bringing more awareness to your own needs and saying yes to yourself more and as often as possible doesn't mean suddenly becoming irresponsible and blowing off your commitments. It is simply about honoring yourself in a healthy way and acknowledging that you have needs and desires that deserve to be fulfilled, instead of leaving yourself on the side line. Think of it as showing up as the real, whole you, every day.
 
Our Patterns Form at an Early Age
 
I married two months before my 20t h birthday, the first time around. In fact, at that time I was a wife, a stepmother of two, a godmother and an auntie. I was older than my years. I loved being married, having my own home and my own life. However, it was challenging with a readymade family and so many responsibilities. I had a mortgage and money was tight. I often felt overwhelmed and stressed, but there were many wonderful times too. Even back then, it seemed normal to me to put everyone and everything else ahead of myself. I never even considered that I wasn't making myself a priority or deeply acknowledging my own needs and wants. During one of my periods of exhaustion from overdoing things and dealing with stress, my dad told me that only one person could change things. That person was me. He was absolutely right. I only made changes when I was forced to in order to feel better, but as soon as I was up and running again I was back to my old ways. A bit like having a hangover and saying that we will never do that again – until the next time. We can quickly forget how awful we felt.
 
We form patterns early on in life that can end up staying with us for a long time, even our whole lives. We tell ourselves that all is well, but somewhere deep down and buried we know that something is missing. We even wear “masks” to show the outside world that all is rosy in our lives. Have you considered that you have patterns? What do the patterns of your life look like? Do they bring you happiness? Have you always thought you should take care of everything and everyone else no matter what? It's just “who you are” right?
 
Before we know it, the years pass by and we find ourselves in situations that we don't like in all kinds of ways. These patterns translate to how we show up in the world and how we take care of ourselves. Unhealthy patterns keep us from that true sense of feeling satisfied on a deep soulful level.
 
All too often, a diet becomes a pattern too. I don't know about you, but I have never been excited about going on a diet. If excess weight has been a struggle for you and dieting has been your pattern for losing weight, please don't beat yourself up. It's not your fault. The dieting industry is a multibillion dollar industry and we are bombarded with the promise of the next one and the next one as the solution to our problem. All too often, the pattern of dieting can leave us feeling like a failure, miserable and stuck. However, there is an easier and more effective solution other than using diet after diet for weight loss.
 
Are You Listening to Your Body?

When we really pay attention to all the alerts from our body, we have an opportunity to course correct before things become dire, but all too often we are primarily focused on losing weight and not necessarily on our health.
 
The human body is so amazing. Among many automatic functions, it regulates temperature, the heart beats without us thinking about it, and it lets us know when all is not well. When something hurts, it's our body's way of communicating with us. It wants to bring our attention to something so we will make necessary changes. It's a truly amazing system. Yet it is often an inconvenience for us to feel pain and discomfort, so we ignore it or take a pill in order to keep going. All too often we don't take the time to stop and listen to what is really going on or why.
 
The pain or discomfort you feel is a cry for help from your body. If you are overweight and your knees hurt, your body is letting you know that it can't handle that much weight. Taking a pill for the pain is keeping you from listening to what your body really needs you to do, which is to lose some weight. I know it's a drag to think about losing weight, especially when you've done it over and over again by going on a diet. A pill seems like the easy solution, so you can manage the pain without changing anything, but is that what you really want? Do you really want to ignore the deeper desire you have of looking and feeling great long-term?
 
Yet, being kind to yourself means making it a priority to listen closely to the needs of your body, just like you would for a close friend or family member that needed your help. Think back to when a child or someone you love cried for help. Chances are you did all you could to help them. You didn't ignore them and hope they would stop asking. Your body is no different. It is letting you know that it needs your attention and help to make it happy and well so you feel great and content on a much deeper level.

 


 

Ellie Savoy is a Board Certified Holistic Health Coach and the author of the #1 international bestselling book Stop Dieting Start Living: 5 Foundations for Your Health to Permanently Lose Weight Without Dieting Starvation or Suffering in Silence. She is also the founder of the Stop Dieting Start Living Weight Loss System. Her commonsense and step by step approach has literally transformed the way people look at their body, health and life. She spent over two decades under a great deal of stress. She lost sight of the importance of her health time and time again, gaining weight and yo-yo dieting to take care of it, skipping meals during the day, eating too late at night, and letting work dictate how all of her time was spent.

Ellie’s approach is not just for yo-yo dieters or those wanting to lose weight – it’s for everyone who is concerned about what their future looks like and wants to take control of their health. She has helped women with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, thyroid imbalance, irritable bowel syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and a host of other symptoms. Ellie helps you to show up in your own life, stop making excuses, shift your mindset, have a plan and connect with the passion in your belly to live your best life.

Ellie offers private coaching and group coaching in person and virtually as well as workplace health and wellness customized programs. She is also frequently booked as a keynote speaker.

 


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