Day 3: The ONLY way to lose weight and be healthy.....30-Day Yoga Journey to Enlightenment and Well-being

Miss a day or just joining: TABLE OF CONTENTS
As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.
-Adelle Davis
=====================================================
Day 3 Activities:
1) Mantra meditation (introduced yesterday)
2) Come to terms with the basic equation for losing weight - and start losing weight today
=====================================================
Come to terms with the ONLY way to loose weight:

I think the reason there are soooo many books, CDs, diets about loosing weight is because people (myself included) don't like the SIMPLE truth:
In order to loose weight, we need to consume fewer calories than we burn. (i.e. eat less, exercise more)
I know, same old, same old...but that's the point. We don't like to hear this because it can be hard, boring, time consuming, emotional, you name the complaint.

And so rather than explore what makes it challenging for us to tip the (no pun intended) scale in our favor, we deflect by seeking a new cardio machine at the gym, a new strength-building sequence, a low fat version of our favor it food, a ratio controlled diet, a restricted diet....anything to avoid the SIMPLE idea of consuming fewer calories than we burn.

My guess is that most of us are conversant, if not experts in healthy eating - so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on detailed diet recommendations. If you are looking for a healthy way to eat, my personal recommendation is the American Heart Association's DASH Eating Plan. I find it practical, healthy, and non-restrictive. It can be adapted for vegetarians.

The other end side of the weight loss equation is burning calories. Again, most of us know what to do....life just gets in the way of the doing.

So our focus will be on the intention and the execution of our calorie burning.
Eat less, exercise more. Repeat
This is what I propose for the weight loss part of our enlightenment:

  1. In your notebook (day 2 assignment), write down everything, yes everything that goes into your mouth. I plan to do this after I eat dinner. This activity is part of our mindfulness practice. It is easy to eat without thinking. Being AWARE of our behaviors and the full truth (yes, that was 4 pieces of Whole Foods' new sweet chili tofu that just went in my mouth). Write one, brief summary of how you would characterize your eating for the day. Some examples: "I ate beyond my satiation point"...."I felt invigorated by what I put inside my body today"..."I tried some new healthy foods"...."my sodium intake was higher than I would like it to be tomorrow"
  2. MAKE THE TIME FOR EXERCISE THAT BURNS CALORIES. We're all busy and there are competing demands on our time (we'll work on that later in the month), but to loose weight and maintain a healthy heart muscle, we need to work our heart muscle. Build in a minimum of 30 minutes per day to your schedule for the next 7 days. Write it down - either in your calendar or in your notebook when you plan to exercise. I have devoted 5 am-7 am everyday for the next 30-days to this journey. This will be my time for the rituals that I write about. You may not have that much time or interest, so one hour will do too. We just have to carve out the time. Simple as that.
  3. Each night in your notebook, chart out your food/exercise balance for the day. Food health on one side, exercise on the other. No precise measurements, equations required...your intuition and your knowledge of nutrition and exercise will be more than adequate. This is intended to keep us aware, not to punish or create a complex math project. Below is my Balance Chart from the last 2 days. The greater the length of the columns, the healthier the day! The shorter the columns, the more likely you are staying steady or gaining weight (i.e. Day 2 was "healthier" than Day 1). Feel free to create your own interpretation of the Balance Chart. Sketch it out anyway you like, even in words....just be sure to remain aware of your calorie intake/expenditure ratio.

Thanks for sticking with me....hari om yogis and yoginis...we're on our way to enlightenment....

>


8 Comments:

Jennifer Monk said...

http://www.rawfor30days.com:80/
I came across this through an ompass email and also came across David Wolfe. I am learning a lot today about how to eat. And funny enough, once again the 30 days to enlightenment is paralleling the raw for 30 days idea. Best of all, I can eat Chocolate!! I hope that you will enjoy the link. Love, Anam, Jennifer Monk, www.monkyoga.com

Florian said...

Hi Jennifer...cool how life syncs up sometimes. Keep me posted on the raw diet...happy to hear it includes chocolate...what about cheese??

Bob Weisenberg said...

The DASH diet is great. I took it up several years ago for its original intent--to reduce blood pressure. It took several months of detailed effort, but then it was pretty effortless. And it worked. It's important to radically reduce salt intake, too, if lower blood pressure is your objective.

Bob W.

Florian said...

Bob....glad you like the DASH diet. I found out about it because I too have high blood pressure and a family history of early heart attacks...so my doctor gave me a pamphlet about it years ago and I've never found another diet that is as reasonable and satisfying. It's just good ole healthy eating. Thanks for following, Bob!

Jennifer Monk said...

I am loving this and thank you for this 30 days to enlightenment and the extra special link to my website through my post.

Milk product and eggs are not allowed. No animal bi-product. However, it is a process. I absolutely love cheese!! So far, I am sticking to the raw foods except for I had chicken one day. Milk is easier to cut out because I know I am allergic and if I want cheese I am allowing goat cheese until I can switch over to nut cheeses. There are recipes for making what tastes like cheese out of nuts. I have had a cheese dip before made out of nuts and it was fantastic and surprisingly satisfying. I am searching for recipes and will substitute until I ween myself off cheese. You can find out more about the raw food diet at http://www.rawfor30days.com/RawFor30/ReverseDiabetes5.html

I am slowly going through the transition without forcing it. My family is loving some of the recipes I have made that I learned on the video I purchased on the Raw for 30 days website.

Turns out that what caught me was not only how bad it is on the environment to be eating animals but animal flesh is so toxic and I am loosing so much of the nutrition in my food by processing my food through cooking. Animal meat has adrenalin from the animal being killed that is shot through it when it dies. This among many other toxins is transferred into our body when we eat it. The raw food dieters on the video profess that they don't get ill with colds or flu and that they are more flexible and their bodies perform better. As well, their energy levels are maximized. I recently started a kung fu class and my body recovered quicker without meat in my body and when I ate meat, I had muscles soreness which I attribute to toxins in my muscles. Peace, Happiness and Loving Kindness to all, Jen

Jennifer Monk said...

Namaste Bob,

I will take a look at the DASH diet to see if it gels with what I have started as I am open to what flows for me. I also have people in my family with high blood pressure. Thank you for your post. Jen

Martha said...

There may be something even more important than calories in and energy expended worth considering. That's slowing down and savoring life!

I highly recommend the life changing book, The Slow Down Diet by Marc David to all who struggle with weight issues. He's a yogi too - having been on staff at both Kripalu and Canyon Ranch.

Florian said...

Martha-thanks for your comment. The Slow Down Diet sounds GREAT...I'll put it on my swaptree list right now. Thanks for the suggestion. Deborah