Saturday, May 28, 2011

Training my brain to THINK like a thin person.

I started reading Judith S Beck, Ph.D's NY Times bestseller, "The Beck Diet Solution: train your brain to think like a thin person."

As a big fan of psychology I like her approach of using Cognitive therapy to help you change your eating behaviors by training you brain to think like a thin person.

You can use any diet you want and she has you pick a back up diet in case the first one doesn't work.

I am an RN, with years and years of dieting experience and along with my medical back ground,  I am pretty sure I know what I need to eat and not eat to be thin and healthy. The "diet" I chose is my own and I call it the Whole Foods Diet. No not the grocery store, but I am sure you could shop there, but just like it sounds, Whole Foods. Nothing processed. No wheat, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol (except on special occasions). Only Whole or Natural foods. Fruits, vegetables, lean protein from grass fed, free range sources, couscous, quinoa and whatever else I can find.

My goal is to follow this strictly for 6 weeks while I am off work recovering from my surgery. I am currently on DAY 6 and I have to say it's going surprisingly well. It's not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Of course I don't have my normal stressors of living and I am sure that is helping immensely. Which is precisely why I wanted to do it now.

With having this time off I have the luxury to plan my meals, sit undistracted at meal times, focus on my food in front of me and to eat as slowly as I can. It's amazing to me how much effort it takes for me to be conscious of my food. Eating unconsciously was one of my favorite past times.

On 3 x 5 cards I have 29 reasons why I want to lose weight and I read these cards at least 2 x day to reinforce why I am doing this. I work constantly at giving my self credit for staying the course and doing the best I can.

Each Day of the 6 week Cognitive course that Dr Beck has created you have a new chapter to read, short 3-4 pages and she has objectives for you to follow for the day. Simple easy to achieve steps.

Today, Day 6, I am to find a Diet Coach. Someone to keep me motivated, build my self-confidence, help me solve problems and keep me accountable. My sabotaging thought is that I don't want to impose on anyone. It's a lot to ask and I know people are busy. I didn't even ask my first pick, I made the decision for her, and decided she is too busy. My next choice was my husband Greg who jumped at the chance to help me. He is the most physically fit 50 yr old I know. He probably weighs less now than when he did when he graduated from college. He has a logically engineering mind and is an excellent problem solver. He should be a great choice.

So far I have to say, I feel great physically and emotionally. My body is not hurting nearly as much as it usually does (could be the rest also). Emotionally, I feel like I am starting to climb out of this hole I have put myself in. Like a deep dark well. And right now I am finding little hand and foot steps carved into the sides the well and I am slowly climbing my way out. We saw this show once, "I shouldn't be alive", and these 2 climbers got stuck in a crevice. One of them survived and they showed his painstakingly slow efforts to climb his way out with a pick ice and crampons. His will and determination saved his life. I would have to say it's going much easier for me. And for that I am thankful. My hope is my will and determination with save my life also. With a big family history of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and arthritis, I need to take the steps now to save me a life. One little foothold at a time.
 

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