Category: social pressures

Eating Dust and Over Training

Date: 20 October 2008
Tags: eating habits, saying NO, exercise, personal trainer, workout, Susan Cass, body, crash diet, cake, social pressures, get fit, calories, Think before you eat, belief, habitual eating, Weight Loss, behaviour, snacking, gym

Comments (2)

Hi everyone, here's a great little piece from a friend of mine. Her name is Susan Cass, she's a Personal Fitness Trainer and she really knows what she's talking about... Enjoy :)

I can't have that, I really can't have that - I want it, I want it - oh okay I'll just do an extra hour in the gym tomorrow, donuts aren't that bad after all anyway are they? Especially if I scrape a bit of the sugar off and it after all it has a hole in the middle.....

So tell me, Dust? high in fat, low in fat? Well probably both depending on your mind set that day. Had a great day? - yes? so its okay to reward yourself with "CAKE". Had a bad day? Yes? so it's okay to cheer yourself up with "CAKE"

Do you remember being at school and doing exceptionally well in your spelling test? Well it was more than likely your folks were waiting at the school gates with a huge smile and armed with that finger of fudge for being great. Didn't make the soccer team first squad? Your greeting at the school gates is now open arms, a sympathetic expression and that finger of fudge. So you can see a distinct pattern emerging. From a young age food was generally interpreted as both reward and condolence.

As we have gotten older we've understood that more calories we consume than we actually need leads to carrying additional body weight - so we start trying to balance out our calorie intake/expenditure formula by overtraining or going on bouts of sudden and severe training regimes which overtime can damage our internal body systems. For example in order to have that Krispy Kreme, you HAVE to do an extra hour on the stepper or run an extra 6 miles, or you'll feel guilty for the rest of the day.

So food can quite often resemble an emotional crutch to get us through any situation and battling your conscience on a daily basis could feel like the energy equivalent of fighting 10 rounds head to head with Mohamed Ali (if only the calorie burn were the same!)

The question is, Do I REALLY want to eat that, do I REALLY need it? If the answer is yes - then you will have it. If the answer is no, think about doing something that makes you feel good? Perhaps a long walk in the countryside alongside a babbling brook breathing in the fresh air? A competitive game of 10 pin bowling with friends at the local alley? a game of five aside with your friends after work? shopping with girlfriends and the purchase of those killer Jimmy Choo's, going to see the newest film release at the cinema? - just reading that probably made you smile.

Somewhere deep within us, we have some unique behaviour triggers, the things in life that truly inspire us and make us feel great and want to push on. Write down those thoughts, aspirations and goals that inspire you as well as your measurable goals and how you are going to achieve them. Refer back to them as often as you can as a reminder that will keep you on course. It will act as a motivational tool to make sure you stay focused and on track. Over time your goals and dreams may change, so you may need to try a variety of approaches and change your diet to find that winning formula for you. There is no right or wrong - if it works for you, it works!

If you always do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got - so chuck away those emotional food crutches, think about the consequences of your actions everyday and take a positive stance to change by taking responsibility to break the bad habits. Its truly liberating and you'll step out of bed every morning healthier, happier and more in control of you. No more food rewards and no more Majorie Dawes!

Article by
Susan Cass
Personal Fitness Trainer

Comments (2) | Print | Send | 647 Views
Stumble This Post

What do you know you know?

Date: 05 October 2008
Tags: power of suggestion, behaviour, self-image, criticism, self-concept, brain, positive thinking, self belief, confidence, Think before you eat, belief, Edward R. Murrow, social pressures, habit-changing

Comments (0)

Do you have people in your life who are always telling you what to do, happy to dispense opinions whether you want to hear it or not? Do you seek guidance from friends, colleagues, books or magazines and then apply them to your own life? If so, have you ever been so confident in using that advice that you would pass it on to your friends and relations? Indeed, have you drawn upon that advice to form your own belief?

Beliefs form the cornerstone of our lives, they thread through our being, discreetly guiding us through life’s ups and downs allowing us to us to make sense of the world and to function in it.

We learned our beliefs about ourselves and the world in which we live, when we were very young. Our understanding of ourselves and our world derived through whatever versions were presented to us by the most influential adult figures in our lives. Without question we absorbed and believed all the messages which were relayed in our environment. These may have been spoken words which criticized or appreciated us or they may have been more subtle thought and behavior patterns which influenced our home life. Once a belief is formed, we will tend to persevere with that belief and use it secure us to our understanding of the world around us. In fact we will be insistent not simply on believing, but to believing just what we do believe.

Beliefs hold power, they have the potential to divide a nation, and they can create turmoil and unrest. You only have to switch on the TV and give a brief glance at the world news, to see how beliefs divide countries and lead to war. But what are your beliefs, what do you hold be true to you? This is not a question of religion; this is more an enquiry into what makes you tick. In 1951 a radio show entitled, 'This I Believe' by Edward R. Murrow, invited people from all walks of life to present their personal philosophies;

"People of all kinds who have nothing more in common than integrity, a real honesty, will write about the rules they live by, the things they have found to be the basic values in their lives".

The radio show presenter forewarned his audience that this would not provide an answer for the problems of life and help overcome the issues of the time.

"And yet in talking to people, in listening to them, I have come to realize that I don’t have a monopoly on the world’s problems. Others have their share, often far bigger than mine. This has helped me to see my own in truer perspective: and in learning how others have faced their problems - this has given me fresh ideas about how to tackle mine"

All too often people are happy to dispense of advice and more often than not we are happy to accept that guidance at face value. Those more astute amongst us may already be practicing a higher degree of restraint in accepting second hand advice. But what about passing on advice? I’m sure those of you with children, or those who work in education are pretty au fait with dispensing advice, even though it may be directives from above. But what infinite wisdom would you wish to convey to your kith and kin if given the chance.

We all have little nuggets of worthwhile advice from experiences and people we have encountered. They can remain locked away in our psyche for eternity, or they can be used rather like a manual to help us and others navigate our course through our being.

Comments (0) | Print | Send | 406 Views
Stumble This Post

Special thanks to Raymond Camden for this blog platform: BlogCFC.