Today is the first day of Lent. Traditionally, Lent is a period of fasting and self-repentance. I'm not particularly religious, but I think that a lot of older rituals were developed for a reason and have value in themselves, regardless of all the other obligations or religious connotations. Think of it as a framework to a better you :) I see Lent as an opportunity to improve yourself. A time to break nasty habits of create much better ones.
In the past, people fasted to celebrate Lent. Now, most people give up an indulgence, usually something that worsens their health. No soda, no cake, no chocolate, no sweets, no bread...you get the picture. We have moved from a society that had just enough to survive to one of over abundance and indulgence. We all have developed poor habits that worsen our overall wellbeing.
Take the initiative and do something for yourself this year. Use Lent as a framework to make a promise to youself. It doesn't have to be centered on deprivation. You can make it as positive as possible but gear it towards creating health, not taking away from it. Some examples are do yoga for 46 days straight, eat a piece of fruit before every meal, get to bed before 10 5 out of 7 days a week, etc. You can also go the traditional route and not eat desserts, not drink soda, avoid high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fats.
Whatever it may be, here are 3 guidelines.
1) Gear it towards health: For purposes of my blog :) Health is not just about what you put into your mouth. It's about your environment and overall lifestyle. Cut back on chemical cleaning supplies, get 10 minutes of direct sunlight every day, a limit of 2 hours of TV a night...
2) Try to be realistic about it: Remember, this is your promise to yourself! You can make whatever stipulations you want to ensure you can actually carry it out (within reason-don't say you will give up ice cream all but 6 days of the week). For example, you can do whatever it is you're going to do for 5 out of 7 days, or only have dark organic chocolate , or run every morning unless it's snowing outside.
3) Tell people: This is twofold-telling people will 1) get your support from your loved ones and also keep you accountable. Let people know what you're giving up so they can support you in your efforts. So that if you are giving up meat for Lent, then they will not make you a meatloaf at their dinner party. Tell your friends and family in a casual email, post it as your gchat or Facebook status, tweet about it via Twitter, or make a comment to this post!
So after all this chitter chatter about what you should do, I'm sure you're wondering what I'll be doing. I plan to do two things (b/c I always have to complicate it). First, I will not eat baked goods for 46 days-unless they are homemade. And secondly, I will not eat after 8:30 except once a week. How about you?
Showing posts with label habits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label habits. Show all posts
2.17.2010
5.07.2009
cleansing with fruit
So I am at the end of the second day of my three day fruit cleanse. I was first introduced to a fruit cleanse about a year ago. My former manager, an avid sailing yogi, experienced her first fruit cleanse at yoga bootcamp with Baron Baptiste. When she brought up the idea one day in the office, I decided to join her. I was less concerned or aware of the benefits; I really saw it as a challenge. Little did I know that a year later, I would be practicing my third cleanse.
The rules are simple: eat nothing but fruit for 3 days. For me, that means eating any assortment of oranges, apples, grapes, grapefruits, pears, strawberries, bananas, and the occasional pomelo. This also includes tomatoes and avocados which are the savory savors of the cleanse. :) However, actually going through the cleanse is not as easy or delicious as it sounds. The three main challenges (isn’t it strange how things come in three’s?) are overcoming: 1) our habits; 2) our aversion to limitations; and 3) our propensity for distraction.
our.habits: Like I mentioned in the last post, we have many lifestyle habits, especially concerning food. Breaking our habits is extremely hard and requires a lot of willpower, especially when it is self-induced. This cleanse provides a little bit of structure to test our willpower. We can rationalize the hell out of it but at the end of the day, we never really NEED anything. This is something I try to remind myself, whether I am on a cleanse or not. Tonight, for instance, I was rationalizing that my Teddie’s All Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter would be appropriate for the cleanse because peanuts are legumes, which are technically fruits. But I reminded myself of the reason I was doing this in the first place and settled down to a dinner of avocado, strawberry, and tomato salad with thoughts of peanut butter cookies dancing in my head. It is a long road to breaking those habits, but I see the cleanse as a pit stop to revisit periodically to get me back on track.
our.aversion.to.limitations: When you used to ask your mom for cookies before dinner and she said no, how much more did you want them? We don’t deal well with limitations and never will. This cleanse is all about retraining our minds and allowing ourselves to see that limitations will not ruin us. We don’t need to eat 3-6 different meals each day to survive nor do we need to eat everything but the kitchen sink for every meal. Actually, it is easier on our digestive system to limit the variety of foods that we eat in one sitting. And remember, there is always tomorrow to enjoy those cookies.
our.propensity.for.distraction: Food often serves as a distraction mechanism. Either from itself (at the buffet, how many of us actually taste our bland cubes of jello atop overly spicy chicken wings atop soggy French toast atop greasy lo mein noodles?) or from other issues (at a family reuinion, how many of us stuff our faces instead of partaking in a conversation of how well cousin Johnny is doing in med school?). Going on this cleanse gives us a bit of breathing room allowing us to focus on other aspects of our lives. Focusing on other things will be easier because frankly, by the afternoon of your first day, eating fruits will be so monotonous that you will only eat when you are hungry. Lessening the distractions of our days helps us not only to take a step back and be more aware of ourselves, but also start to observe what is going on around us- details that we’ve previously overlooked.
A fruit cleanse is a vehicle that brings out and makes us aware of our attachment to food. It seems simple enough but this cleanse that appears to only limit us physically challenges us very much psychologically. Giving ourselves the opportunity to check back in with our body is crucial to our mind.body connection.
Until next time, be strong and be aware.
The rules are simple: eat nothing but fruit for 3 days. For me, that means eating any assortment of oranges, apples, grapes, grapefruits, pears, strawberries, bananas, and the occasional pomelo. This also includes tomatoes and avocados which are the savory savors of the cleanse. :) However, actually going through the cleanse is not as easy or delicious as it sounds. The three main challenges (isn’t it strange how things come in three’s?) are overcoming: 1) our habits; 2) our aversion to limitations; and 3) our propensity for distraction.
our.habits: Like I mentioned in the last post, we have many lifestyle habits, especially concerning food. Breaking our habits is extremely hard and requires a lot of willpower, especially when it is self-induced. This cleanse provides a little bit of structure to test our willpower. We can rationalize the hell out of it but at the end of the day, we never really NEED anything. This is something I try to remind myself, whether I am on a cleanse or not. Tonight, for instance, I was rationalizing that my Teddie’s All Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter would be appropriate for the cleanse because peanuts are legumes, which are technically fruits. But I reminded myself of the reason I was doing this in the first place and settled down to a dinner of avocado, strawberry, and tomato salad with thoughts of peanut butter cookies dancing in my head. It is a long road to breaking those habits, but I see the cleanse as a pit stop to revisit periodically to get me back on track.
our.aversion.to.limitations: When you used to ask your mom for cookies before dinner and she said no, how much more did you want them? We don’t deal well with limitations and never will. This cleanse is all about retraining our minds and allowing ourselves to see that limitations will not ruin us. We don’t need to eat 3-6 different meals each day to survive nor do we need to eat everything but the kitchen sink for every meal. Actually, it is easier on our digestive system to limit the variety of foods that we eat in one sitting. And remember, there is always tomorrow to enjoy those cookies.
our.propensity.for.distraction: Food often serves as a distraction mechanism. Either from itself (at the buffet, how many of us actually taste our bland cubes of jello atop overly spicy chicken wings atop soggy French toast atop greasy lo mein noodles?) or from other issues (at a family reuinion, how many of us stuff our faces instead of partaking in a conversation of how well cousin Johnny is doing in med school?). Going on this cleanse gives us a bit of breathing room allowing us to focus on other aspects of our lives. Focusing on other things will be easier because frankly, by the afternoon of your first day, eating fruits will be so monotonous that you will only eat when you are hungry. Lessening the distractions of our days helps us not only to take a step back and be more aware of ourselves, but also start to observe what is going on around us- details that we’ve previously overlooked.
A fruit cleanse is a vehicle that brings out and makes us aware of our attachment to food. It seems simple enough but this cleanse that appears to only limit us physically challenges us very much psychologically. Giving ourselves the opportunity to check back in with our body is crucial to our mind.body connection.
Until next time, be strong and be aware.
5.03.2009
the mind.body connection
Before delving into the relationships between food & the mind and food & the body, we will briefly examine our mind.body connection. Or should I say DISconnection?*
Back in the days of the cavemen and cavewomen, humankind’s biggest concerns were to survive from one day to the next. Due to the scarcity of food, we only ate when we were hungry or when there was food to be had. When it was dark, we would sleep. Modern developments have made absent many of the issues that our ancestors dealt with, like scarcity of food, light, and warmth. Although our world has changed dramatically, I do not believe we have changed that much psychologically. We still act on instincts and have carnal desires. However, in today’s society, our desire to survive is no longer the issue. Instead, we focus on attaining pleasure. Unfortunately, that shift from survival to pleasure is the root of the growing disconnect between the mind and body.
Now you may think, is it a crime to want to be happy? It is not a “crime” until you start to hurt yourself. In modern day, we have instant access to almost anything that we want and are often so overstimulated that it is easy to be caught up in attaining gratification and ignore our bodies’ needs. Additionally, we have become so ego-centric that what we think is right for our body, not our common sense or intelligence, makes our decisions for us. Our desire for pleasure is very complicated but ultimately, it leads to our seeking euphoria-usually a false sense of it. This false sense of happiness often coincides with a complete disregard for what the body really needs.
There are one-off cases of pursuing instant gratification but many times, our desire manifests itself into habits. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “Humans are creatures of habits.” And that is because habits are developed around repeated experiences that provide us the feeling of pleasure-what we are all ultimately seeking. Habits become so ingrained into our lives that sometimes we do not even recognize them as habits, but as the norm. This ill-recognition is one of the main indicators of the mind.body DISconnection.
Now, you may think that this post contains many broad statements about the general population and does not apply to you. You are right to think that because habits range from the very minor to the extreme. The indications of extreme are addictions like alcoholism, obesity, and drug abuse. But I am adamant when I say that everybody has a habit that has caused them to ignore their body at one point or another-including you. How many times have you stayed up later to catch a TV show that you ALWAYS watch when your body is telling you that you are tired and need sleep? Have you ever gone back to the buffet line one too many times only to feel nausea and stomach pain later? You may think that missing a little sleep to catch that TV show is not a big deal, but it is safe to say that this was not the only time you ignored your body. Constantly disregarding the body is dangerous. It may be hard to believe, but the body actually knows what we need better than ourselves. Before we examine our bodies’ relationship with external factors, we need to restore this relationship within ourselves.
Amid the hustle and bustle of our lives, it is easy to get lost in our thoughts and be clouded from what our bodies need. I encourage everyone to live quietly the upcoming week, or even just the next few days. Take off those iPod buds on your commute to work and listen to your body. Before you reach for that second helping at dinner, think, “Does my body really need this or is it just a habit for me to have a second helping?” Recognizing the disconnect is a huge accomplishment unto itself. It is the first step in restoring the mind.body connection.
Until next time, listen and learn.
*The mind.body connection is a very extensive both biologically and psychologically. I have only chosen to cover one aspect that serves to support my idea of the harmful disconnection between the mind and body.
Back in the days of the cavemen and cavewomen, humankind’s biggest concerns were to survive from one day to the next. Due to the scarcity of food, we only ate when we were hungry or when there was food to be had. When it was dark, we would sleep. Modern developments have made absent many of the issues that our ancestors dealt with, like scarcity of food, light, and warmth. Although our world has changed dramatically, I do not believe we have changed that much psychologically. We still act on instincts and have carnal desires. However, in today’s society, our desire to survive is no longer the issue. Instead, we focus on attaining pleasure. Unfortunately, that shift from survival to pleasure is the root of the growing disconnect between the mind and body.
Now you may think, is it a crime to want to be happy? It is not a “crime” until you start to hurt yourself. In modern day, we have instant access to almost anything that we want and are often so overstimulated that it is easy to be caught up in attaining gratification and ignore our bodies’ needs. Additionally, we have become so ego-centric that what we think is right for our body, not our common sense or intelligence, makes our decisions for us. Our desire for pleasure is very complicated but ultimately, it leads to our seeking euphoria-usually a false sense of it. This false sense of happiness often coincides with a complete disregard for what the body really needs.
There are one-off cases of pursuing instant gratification but many times, our desire manifests itself into habits. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “Humans are creatures of habits.” And that is because habits are developed around repeated experiences that provide us the feeling of pleasure-what we are all ultimately seeking. Habits become so ingrained into our lives that sometimes we do not even recognize them as habits, but as the norm. This ill-recognition is one of the main indicators of the mind.body DISconnection.
Now, you may think that this post contains many broad statements about the general population and does not apply to you. You are right to think that because habits range from the very minor to the extreme. The indications of extreme are addictions like alcoholism, obesity, and drug abuse. But I am adamant when I say that everybody has a habit that has caused them to ignore their body at one point or another-including you. How many times have you stayed up later to catch a TV show that you ALWAYS watch when your body is telling you that you are tired and need sleep? Have you ever gone back to the buffet line one too many times only to feel nausea and stomach pain later? You may think that missing a little sleep to catch that TV show is not a big deal, but it is safe to say that this was not the only time you ignored your body. Constantly disregarding the body is dangerous. It may be hard to believe, but the body actually knows what we need better than ourselves. Before we examine our bodies’ relationship with external factors, we need to restore this relationship within ourselves.
Amid the hustle and bustle of our lives, it is easy to get lost in our thoughts and be clouded from what our bodies need. I encourage everyone to live quietly the upcoming week, or even just the next few days. Take off those iPod buds on your commute to work and listen to your body. Before you reach for that second helping at dinner, think, “Does my body really need this or is it just a habit for me to have a second helping?” Recognizing the disconnect is a huge accomplishment unto itself. It is the first step in restoring the mind.body connection.
Until next time, listen and learn.
*The mind.body connection is a very extensive both biologically and psychologically. I have only chosen to cover one aspect that serves to support my idea of the harmful disconnection between the mind and body.
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