August 14th, 2009
Photo by Torkil Stavdal
In times like this we still want to feel our best. The times when there is enough money around we tend to somehow show it through our fashionable – and expensive- choices.
We shop when feeling down and dress up when going out. We are socially active and represent ourselves as having it together.
What then happens when it all falls apart and we cannot afford the anti-depressants of shopping and the self-esteem lifting of socializing?
We go inward. For some, this means to retreat to the couch and watch TV with chips and chocolate. However, this does not do the trick of countering depression or boosting the self-esteem. Quite the opposite. The fats and sugars wear us down and out and cause a downward spiral which only gets harder and harder to break every day. The staying in and being inactive causes a deepening of the feelings of being incapable and with that an even greater barrier to being social.
If any of this sounds familiar you are not alone. That might not help you much though. But what will help you is getting a new perspective.
Food is the new coping skill of the people in the know.
Food will help you feel better sure. I probably don’t have to tell you that. But what you might not think of is that food is also becoming the new fashion. It is becoming the new way of you expressing who you are and what you believe in. It is becoming how you can mingle and be social without shopping for the latest fashion and still be fashionable.
How about that. Taking better care of yourself and gain in your well-being. That is a new level of self-esteem that is far more lasting than the latest fashion you can buy in a store.
Restaurants are certainly becoming more and more food fashionable too. It used to be the scene that was hip, cool, and notable. Now it is about the food. Food is sustainably grown and harvested. Vegetarian and vegan food, and even raw food, is gaining attention from a broader audience of eaters. Chefs are looking to make a difference and are shopping at the farmers markets to serve the freshest and most local. The decor is no longer as important as the quality of the food. The presentation and the taste of what is on the plate is gaining the attention, not the chair that is chosen by the designer. The designer is the chef. More small restaurants are emerging again where the chef himself is the owner – and sometimes even your server too.
My point is. Eating well is no longer for the privileged few it is for all of us. We all need to see our food as our daily basis for living well, being well, feeling well – it is simply a well choice.
So my suggestion is – Enjoy your food, find the best you can, buy local and sustainable, eat organic as much as possible. Now that is a fashion you can use to make you feel better.
Eat well, Be well,
ex-fashionista gone foodista, Jeanette
Note: The appetizer dish above is from local heirloom tomatoes, layered with homemade guacamole with some smoked salmon in it, roasted baby artichoke hearts and a few sprouts to accessories. We served it for our guests at a recent dinner and they seemed to love it.
Tags: better health, buying local, eat local, eating well, fashion and food, food and health, health and fashion, healthy food, healthy life-style, heirloom tomato appetizer, living well, local farming, new way of living, self-care, stronger health, sustainable farming, tomato dish
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June 21st, 2009
The scale on the bathroom floor or the internal one by which we measure our health are two very different ways of weighing in on what is going on with your health and your body. Many struggle with the numbers on the scale and many clients come to me expecting one in my office. There isn’t one. I believe we each need our individual relationship to our scale as an instrument of information. I certainly do not want to be using it to measure the progress of my clients since that number is but a number. How we use the information is very important to how we see ourselves. A scale is a measure of relativity.
See I got up this morning and I gained 2 llb overnight. Wow. Wait a minute. I just spent one month losing 4! What is wrong with this picture? The scale is! And this morning I actually felt really good -and slender. So those 2 llb must be someone else’s!
See the scale gives me a number that I fortunately don’t trust much. Sure it tells me my weight in a given moment. But it does not tell me my size since muscles weigh more that fat. Nor does it tell me how I feel physically or gives me my measure of well-being.
I do use my scale though, even if I’m not sure it is actually correct because it is probably about as old as me. Which means 46 for those who might wonder. So yes I am supposed to be in the age where it is harder to manage my weight. And I am sure it is for a lot of people. But for me – the scale helps me do that. It gives me the relativity that I need to stay within a range that I have decided works for me. But that range is easily 4 llb more or less.
The scale holds such power for so many though. It also holds the mood of the day, the level of self-esteem, and a judgement that we will never win. It is a bit like the stock market. It can go up and down a lot in one day, but over time it gives but a tool to keep in range with ones goal for weight management. If we put too much value on the number on the scale we can end up feeling horrible about our weight and with that comes emotional eating, which tends to squeeze that number on the scale in the wrong direction.
I do get on my scale more or less every day, but I pretty much forget what the number said within the second I get off. I use it more as a tool for seeing how well my body is doing. That means. Is it holding on to too much of yesterdays foods or processing it well.
Reality is unfortunately that it is so much easier to gain weight than to lose. 1 llb per week is a good average weight-loss, but many have heard of these miracle cures where you drop a lot of weight in a few weeks. We are not talking about the same matter of weight though. Water weight and false fat certainly holds pounds and size but the weight that creeps up on you over time is the fat and that is also what takes more effort to get rid of. This is often why someone hits that bump in the road of weight-loss. Once the initial easy false fat comes off, it is time to get into the nitty gritty and by then most lose the motivation because there is not as much progress and it takes more effort.
One must for long-term weight-loss is consistency. But the scale will not be. It will swing. It measures everything. How much water you drank. The amout of food that is in your stomach. And what is in the process of travelling through your body’s system. Which by the way can take a few days depending on what you ate.
So the true scale is the one by which you measure your progress of making healthy choices. With more and more consistency. And then the true size is the one you feel best at. That does not have a number. It has a sound. Ahhhhhh. I feel goooodddd.
Now go put a smiley face on your scale where the numbers used to be or write “I Love Me” in big bold letters. 
Enjoy balancing your scale,
Yours in health and joy
Jeanette
Tags: better health, emotional eating, healthy life-style, long-term weight-loss, managing weight, self-care, weight-loss
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