Here is a great testimonial and incredible inspiration from one of my recent clients. The reason I love T.P’s story so much is because she refused to accept she had to live with horrible PMS symptoms. I’m talking dehabiliting, life interrupting symptoms.
She might have been skeptical at first (read her story and you’ll get a laugh!) but she was open to dreaming about possibilities. And knowing how smart T.P is, I know she’ll now be better equipped to challenge other things that might come in her path about how things “have to be”. She’s in charge now of her health and her life.
Here’s her amazing story:
When I originally started to work with Ali, all I wanted was to lose weight. What I got was a new positive relationship with food, an understanding of how important balancing all areas of your life area and an end to emotional eating & PMS symptoms…oh yeah and I lost weight. Thank you Ali, for giving me my life back!
Ali’s approach is not a diet and it’s not only about food. I learned a lifetime worth of lessons in months. In addition to learning about new foods and food combinations, my love/ hate relationship with food became one of love/ love. I now understand that cravings are not just about food and taking time for yourself is just as important as eating foods that are good for you.
I also found the answers to my emotional eating. I have always been an emotional eater, but by asking myself the right questions, I no longer let my emotions control my eating habits. What I loved about working with Ali was that she would always suggest things; she would never say, “You MUST do this.” She would say, “Let’s try this and see if it works for you.”
It was through these suggestions that I realized that I have gluten sensitivities. I discovered that gluten was wreaking havoc on my body. Since being gluten-free, I have noticed an incredible difference in how I feel and how much easier my body digests foods.
One of my biggest issues was that due to my crazy PMS symptoms, I would have 1 good week out of the month. My symptoms included: sore breasts, very drastic manic mood swings and intense cramps. These symptoms would last for 3 weeks out of every month. But I had just assumed this was my plight and there was nothing I could do about it.
Ali said that changing my way of eating would lessen these symptoms. To be completely honest, I thought Ali’s great and all, but she’s lost her mind. I mean that’s just crazy. I’m a woman! Of course I’m going to have crazy PMS symptoms. It’s just the way it is! I could not have been more wrong!
After a few months of working with Ali, my symptoms have not just lessened…they are gone! Yes, you heard me, I said GONE! I actually had to check the calendar to see when my period was coming because I had NO symptoms! This has changed my life in the most drastic way…I can actually have one now! Gone are sore breasts that lasted for 2 weeks, drastic 3 week long mood swings and intense cramps. Now every week is a symptom free week! To say that I’m downright giddy is an understatement!
Ali really works with you to come up with a way of eating & living that works with your schedule and lifestyle. She is a joy to work with!
T.P., New York City, NY
An Alchemist’s Recipe for Dreaming Big
May 25, 2009
It’s Memorial Day weekend…time to kick-off the most relaxing season: Summer! I’m writing this on Thursday as Carlos and I are headed to Lancaster this weekend for some much needed R & R. I’ll be posting the following Monday about our trip as there is a HUGE farmers market there. I’m so excited to get away and start dreaming big about the next steps for my role in spreading the word on healthy living.
I ran across this clip below with Will Smith talking about charting your own destiny. I found it exciting and inspiring. I remember hearing this stuff years ago. But it didn’t really resonate until I got my health in order.
I always wanted to believe you could create a life you wanted to bound out of bed in the morning for. But it wasn’t until I had a body I felt comfortable in, a mood that was consistently optimistic and calm, along with enough energy to “beat anyone on a treadmill (which you’ll get once you watch the video), did things like this video move me to action. It took an exceptional level of health to take this knowing in my head to a fundamental belief that flowed through my body. There’s a huge difference between knowing and believing.
Here’s Will Smith recipe for success. I’d add that to be able to out run anyone on a treadmill and be able to have the laser sharp focus and stamina Smith references, you need a top-notch nutrition and exercise plan for your unique body, a strong spiritual connection to keep guiding you and a great team to train and support you.
What is the missing ingredient you need to live the life of your best imagination?
How to Eat to Beat Stress
May 22, 2009
Check out my latest NBC Clip on how to Eat to Beat Stress here.
There is a correction. I incorrectly stated that leptin levels go up when we don’t get enough sleep…they actually decrease. Leptin is a hormone that makes you feel full. So lack of sleep definitely makes you gain weight, or at least increase your appetite, but just wanted to get the hormone directions accurate!
Either way, get your Vitamin ZZZZZZZ.
O’ Cheerios!
May 17, 2009
One of America’s most beloved brands (and notice I said brand, not food!) is getting a long-over due visit from the FDA about its “Cheerios can lower your cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks” claim.
The sticking point isn’t over the 4% cholesterol reduction but about General Mills presenting this information in such a way to position Cheerios as a cholesterol lowering drug/supplement.
Hmmm…could it be in some ironic, dualistic Buddhist way, Big Food is trying to send a message that foods are our medicine??? If so, I’m on board….just not any Big Food Executive Board.
I don’t know what’s the most ridiculous/hysterically funny in a sad kind of way that you have to laugh at because if you don’t, you’ll throw your hands up in surrender piece of this situation: 1. The fact that relatively speaking, Cheerios is one of the least offensive brands the FDA should be losing sleep over or 2. That health claims like these have been legally prohibited since the 1993 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) and the FDA decided 16 years later to enforce the NLEA or 3. Any of us are still counting on food companies or the Corporate Dictatorship citizens frequently refer to as the U.S. government, to look out for our health.
Or, my favorite part that confirms our country is in one giant food coma, comes from Ad Age’s synopsis of the situation. Lynn Dornblaser, director of consumer package goods insight at Mintel, a global consumer, market and product research firm, said it’s not like consumers will change their minds about Cheerios or forget the messages they’ve seen in recent years. And changes to packaging, including specific health claims, may capture consumer interest for awhile, but after that, Ms. Dornblaser said, “it becomes wallpaper.”
This, from the Ad executives. They know if they keep drilling it into our heads, true or untrue, eventually it becomes a truth. Well, at least if you are cracked out on soda, fast food and sugar. In other words, the more people we get to drink the Kool-Aid, the more we sell.
I do have a point to all of this but want to make my own claim before you think I hate America, freedom and our government.
1. I love America. I think the potential here is amazing…we just aren’t living up to it right now.
2. Freedom is wonderful, until you infringe on other people’s freedom. This especially includes making it difficut to access and afford healthy foods (not brands). When you control what people eat, you control their mind/body/soul – which is a three part way of saying their lives.
3. Our government. Much of goverment food and health care policy and subsidies conflict with number 2. I hear Obama is trying to correct much of this but special interest tentacles are deep. We’ll see. In the meantime, I believe in civic responsibility and each of us taking an active role in making the whole better versus just complaining about it.
I’ve gone on long enough. But here’s what I’d like people to take away from another debacle known as our food supply:
1. Food IS medicine, not brands like Cheerios, Lean Cuisine and Snackwells.
2. Stick with whole foods – foods that don’t come in packages.
3. The more a brand needs to be advertised, the less of it you should eat. All the bells and whistles are distracting you from your commonsense.
3. Follow 1, 2 and 3 and you’ll never need to worry about lowering your cholesterol. I’m sure if you are eating well, you’ll have much more fun things to do with your time.
On that note, Cheerio!
I’m thinking this is how Kirstie Alley feels right now. She was so great on Cheers. She was great as a Jenny Craig spokesperson too. And she was great on Oprah a couple of weeks ago when she hysterically discussed gaining back 80 plus pounds. But for anyone who’s been in her plus then small then exta plus sizes knows, after putting on her funny face, she went home and stuffed it.
I do feel a deep empathy for what she is going through as I myself was an emotional eater for about 20 years of my only 30 year old life. However, I don’t feel bad for Kirstie . There is enough research out there to know this wasn’t going to work. Diets like Jenny Craig, South Beach, Atkins, Nutra-System and Weight Watchers are just that, diets. They make people who are hungry for life, feel deprived on life’s most basic level. They make eating rigid and restricted versus fun and flexible and all you end up doing is focusing on food, versus living! You lose massive amounts of muscle mass and when you are thinner, you are really fatter and burn less. But most importantly, they don’t focus on the cause of weight gain, only the symptom. If losing weight was about counting calories and fat, anyone who made it past 5th grade math would be at their goal weight.
But losing weight is more about CREATING a life you love. And I’m not talking about cooking more, eating less and hitting the gym religiously. I’m talking about actually finding out how to feed your hunger.
For many who are emotional eaters or struggle with eating, there is a deep hunger for something that isn’t being fulfilled. It might be for a career that provides meaning and not just a pay check. It could be a spiritual hunger that will help you make meaning out of the haphazardness of life. Or it could be for self-love that can only come from the self-confidence, esteem and reliance that comes from carving out a life you want versus looks good on paper to your family, friends and community. This is where the work needs to lie, not in counting calories. Because when your life is firing on all cylinders, you get an energy and optimism surge that makes food a non-issue.
And for me, as someone who dieted for 66% of her life, I never believed people when they said they forgot to eat or weren’t wracked with guilt for overeating. I thought they were full of bullshit…or had some other addiction like cocaine that stunted their appetites. I thought everyone, at least secretly, had the same tormented relationship with food…they were just better at control. But they weren’t lying. I just wasn’t ready to stop using food as a crutch to distract me from the real pain in my life. But once I was, what a simple process weight loss became.
And believe it or not, for celebrities like Kirstie Alley or Oprah who seem to have it all, there is something that needs to be healed. It could be from being afraid they will lose everything or feeling they don’t deserve their success. I don’t know. And my guess is they are trying to figure it out themselves. But if they keep asking the questions, the answers always come.
And while it’s simple, it certainly is not easy. It requires allowing all food, and the options in your life, to be “legal”. It means exploring how your mind and body works – without judgement. It means fully embracing your hunger for the experiences in life you want – like falling in love or being a published author. It means you have to start playing to win versus trying not to lose. It involves asking questions that don’t always have obvious answers: What ingredients make your body and heart feel alive? What really makes you feel at peace versus what society tells you should make you happy? What makes me feel safe and centered in an ever-changing world? It’s all about being mindful.
For many of us who live on auto-pilot, just learning to fly with mindfulness takes time that doesn’t match with a high-school reunion you are trying to be 20 pounds thinner for or a Jenny Craig photo-shoot. But regardless, it must be done if you want sustainable weight loss and more importantly, a life that feeds you mentally and spiritually.
I know personally for me, it involved finding a career that matched my values of integrity, health, love or learning and supporting others. It meant finding faith in something after being diagnosed with cancer at 13 and not belonging to an organized religion. It meant being open to an amazing guy named Carlos who is my best friend and one of my soul-mates this time around. I wouldn’t have quit my Corporate job, or committed myself to yoga and Carlos if I wasn’t playing to win.
None of this happened overnight or in time for a summer swimsuit season. Feeling safe in a fear-based society takes some soul-searching. But it’s an amazing process of discovery. The rewards are incredible. Regardless of what the mainstream media tries to sell you, life is magical and completely in your control. I’m so thankful I gave myself that space to explore because now, food is a non-issue for me and ironically, (like most of life (and not Alanis Morissette Ironic” which isn’t!), I’m at a great weight without food pre-occupying me or having food determine if I had a “good” or “bad” day. The judgements (including comparing myself to society’s ideals) have stopped and the living has begun.
I applaud Oprah for embarking on this mindfulness path, which she declared after gaining 40 pounds herself. If she can be patient in the public eye, we can all give ourselves some space for exploration. Wouldn’t it be great if next time Kirstie Alley came on Oprah, she laughed about how she used to think dieting worked? If she gives herself the time and space to find what she’s truly hungry for, she’ll have a great figure, life and attitude. What more could one ask for? I don’t know – what are you hungry for?
