Welcome fall! The seasons are changing and so are the times in which we find ourselves. I know I’m wondering how I got to be 31 (birthday is today!) and why are the Steelers 1-2, losing to the Bears and Bengals. Really, is this happening?
It seems a 31st birthday has hit me more than my 30th. All of a sudden I’m like, “Woo, I’m really not getting any younger” (even though I feel it), and life is what you put into it. Hallmark wasn’t lying. Two years ago I left my corporate job and would have never imagined life would be this rich, spectacular and challenging (I have some really exciting news to share with you next month so stay tuned!). I see so many people like myself, reconfiguring their lives to match these crazy times, bucking the status quo and going for it, whatever “it” may be.
As someone who is not a huge fan of authority or of old-fashioned institutions, I find this all very exciting. People are finally starting to question and wonder, “Why” and “How”, and they are searching for new meaning. A little dose of skepticism (or intellectual curiosity for those Pollyannas) is healthy!
I see my clients understanding how much more powerful food is than pills. I see them getting savvier about what food even is! They are educating their doctors about food and healing themselves from diagnoses that were slapped on them by outdated medical information. For example, there is Dan, a former client, who had various diagnoses and struggled with digestive problems for most of his life. In four short months, his health was completely restored. Hear from Dan here with what life looks like now.
It’s empowering when you know you can heal and control your body. If you can do that, what else is there to master?
Before we get back to debunking myths, a few housekeeping items:
1. Many have written that you’ve missed some of the Lounge & Learn classes but are interested in the various calls. All class recordings are available on my website. The $30 is an introductory price and will be going up along with my new website in two weeks. So get them here now. From “Gluten-Free” to “Supercharging Your Metabolism”, each one is designed around radical changes through rational strategies.
2. The next Lounge & Learn will be Monday, October 19 @ 7:30 p.m. We’ll be discussing “The Divine Secrets of the Unemotional Eating Sisterhood”. Sign up here (space is limited and these calls are growing immensely in popularity because of all the juicy information discussed).
3. My new website (www.alishapiro.com) will be up very soon. If you want to continue to receive my newsletters, you will have to sign up from the new website. There will be a complimentary Lounge & Learn for signing up. I’ll send out an email giving you instructions but be alert!
As you have followed me the past couple of newsletters, I’ve been debunking popular health myths. We are now onto myth number 4: I just can’t lose weight. I’ve struggled with my weight all my life and probably will forever. No matter how much I count calories or exercise, I can’t seem to get my weight under control.
Sound familiar? It has to, because 95% of people aren’t losing weight and keeping it off. And it’s for three main reasons:
1. Weight^loss is not about calories in, calories out
2. Conventional cardio makes you fat
3. Most of weight^loss isn’t about weight
Remember what I said about times are changing – keep that open-mindedness even with what may seem obvious!
There’s a new emerging equation and by now, some of the mainstream media is picking up bits and pieces of it (my “Supercharging Your Metabolism” call ties all this information together in a nice and neat 7-step equation). And well, food companies have been aware of this information for years which is why they meticulously design their foods to exploit your genetic weaknesses and raise their profits.
While calories are important, equally important are caloric quality and balancing your hormones. When eating poor quality, processed foods, signals that keep your metabolism running smoothly don’t get delivered and the memo that you are full never arrives. On the hormonal side, which is affected by food, environmental toxins and lifestyle habits, hormones control satiety, appetite and the thyroid, (which is the gas pedal to the metabolism). When they are out of whack, so is the scale (here’s an article on plastics role in weight gain).
Our food quality and lifestyles have gotten so out of sync with our ancestral heritage that our bodies are on the fritz. Yes, evolution is real. Because there is so much added stress on our bodies, from poor diet to lack of sleep to environmental toxins, doing long bouts of cardio can actually stress the body even more. The excessive adrenaline and cortisol production that results from this exercise further aggravates the hormonal dance.
$%!*$%(*) It really isn’t that complicated though, I promise. If you try to make it complicated and dramatic, then you are probably using your weight as an excuse not to address some other issue that is more painful to your soul than your pant size. Furthermore, if you get annoyed just reading that, then I’m probably speaking directly to you.
So enough with the problems, give me some answers! Here are five tips to get started on melting the weight off, permanently:
1. Get on the “Cook It Yourself” diet. If you want to eat it, cook it. To understand how processed and restaurant food messes with your appetite for DAYS (yes, not just one meal), read this .
2. For meals and foods you can’t cook, focus on nutritional value, not caloric value. Real food is packed with nutrition making you feel full and your hormones balanced. See here how I surprised Bill Henley on NBC about what real food is!
3. Upgrade your grocery cart with these metabolism-boosting choices
4. Integrate interval and weight training into your work-outs. This is crucial! You can work out less and get better results.
5. Sit somewhere quiet. Be with yourself or a trusted friend who will be supportive yet candid. Ask the questions, “What would I have to deal with if I weren’t trying to lose weight?” Once you figure that out, get moving on solving that. Weight loss will be much more effortless when you have a life void of emotional landmines.
If you are really serious about weight^loss (and don’t want to wait years till doctors and the mainstream media catch on), I’m going to plug my “Supercharging Your Metabolism” call again, because it’s that good – and accurate. It will save you months of frustration and lay out the entire seven pieces of the real weight^loss equation (it includes great interval and mental exercises for weight^loss). And it’s only a $30 investment. Remember, prices are going up when I launch my new website.
And if you know it’s more an emotional-eating problem versus a logical one, join us on “The Divine Secrets of the Unemotional Eating Sisterhood” call on Monday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m. We’ll peel back the onion and explore what is making you eat emotionally and then provide a plan to end this de-habilitating cycle. It will be liberating and packed with great insights and mental exercises to have you stop eating and start living.
As I close, I want to give a special thanks to all my clients who have worked with me over the past two and a half years. Thank you for trusting in me to co-pilot your health and for being a rebel rouser. Many of my clients would never think of themselves as rebellious but they are, in the most quiet and influential of ways. They have bucked a social milieu and an economy that can only exist when we feel inadequate – in our bodies, our health, in our knowledge and in effect, our power. They are living and breathing inspiration to their families, friends, communities and doctors, of the power of whole foods and whole living.
You see, when you adopt this lifestyle, you aren’t just changing how you eat; you are changing the world. The times are definitely changing and for those people like my clients, it’s definitely for the better!
Here’s to some fabulous fall foliage,
Ali