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