About weight (4)

[Guest Mauritz]

In the West, we have the "All or Nothing" approach to life - there's no middle way. If we decide to diet or change our life - it's all or nothing. We stick to something for a little while, then we overstep, fall back to our old ways - then feel terribly guilty ...... our bad habits then just gets worse. This guilt trip has a snowball reaction - each time we want to do something about our situation, we remember our failures and we just give up.

Everything about our lives in the West are based on good and bad - nothing or all - no middle way. In the East, various philosophies concentrate on the middle way. Bad is just something that happened, something you can change - not something you have to dwell on or something that's going to weaken you forever.

Diets make money, because the majority of them just don't work, because they make you feel guilty ..... because you can't keep up. People jump from diet to diet like monkeys jump from tree to tree. Each failure make you feel more insecure and more negative about yourself.

There is a different way and that is not to place YOURSELF into the hands of a diet that helped Boy George or Madonna, but to place YOURSELF into the YOUR own hands. You learn how your body functions, you listen to you own body - you DON'T ignore the symptoms - the constipation, the back aches etc - not even when the doctors tell you that's just normal for you age or whatever. If you feel it's wrong, then in most probably is.

There is no point in changing your life by cutting out everything - for example - coffee, chocolates, alcohol or whatever. YOU KNOW, you're going to eat/drink it again - then just feel guilty about it. Here is a better way - it works for kids as well. You can't keep kids from certain things - sooner or later, they're going to make up their own minds. It is better to teach them how to control the way they eat.

This is what we do and the way we 'control' the diets of our kids. We don't ban anything. They can eat what they want, but ....... only once a week - normally starting Friday dinner, going for 24 hours - in moderation of course. I follow the same principles right now during my own diet. If I want a coffee or alcohol - I can have it Friday night or maybe Saturday. If the kids want McDonalds - they can have it then. Sunday is the day of GOOD eating - a day to detoxify (get that hangover out of the way). This day of detoxifying is important before the kids start their school week. Important for anyone with a full week.

The rest of the week, everyone keeps to a healthy diet. For us a healthy diet is:

no dairy products, except white cheese and Kefir yogurt we make ourselves (sometime life yogurt that we buy).

no wheat based products.

no caffeine.

no sugar related products.

no processed foods.

heaps of fresh fruit & vegetables.

all foods not overcooked, especially vegetables.

no bought fruit juices - only selfmade fruit & vegatable juices.

red meat in moderation (according to western nutritionists, YOU ONLY NEED 5Og PER DAY).

In short, don't try and cut everything out of your diet - now and then it's good to be 'bad' and to have fun. The secret is to control it somehow. All the above "no's" are a fact of life - it is part of who we are - you can't cut it out completely. You might succeed for a while, but most people go back to the 'bad' habits and things get out of control.

Personally, I think it's better to have the 'bad' stuff, but to control it. This way the liver can cope and do what it is designed to do. IT CAN'T COPE WITH THIS STUFF EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF THE DAY. No animal can have the same quality of food everyday. Most food is seasonal - the liver gets time to rest. Nowadays humans can eat all types of fruit, vegetables and other food all year round. Add all the other stuff and the liver is STUFFED.

[Guest JWEL]

Thanx for the info. Will TRY!