The US is the fattest nation in the world and the UK topping the obesity rankings in Europe according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Corperation and Development)
It is now clear you have a much better chance of surviving something like a pandemic if your body is in good working order, you are not overweight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Simple things like flossing your teeth every day instead of just brushing have been estimated to add as much as 10 years to your life so imagine what you can do for your immune system by feeding yourself the right fuel.
There is no better way to compromise your body's natural defensive mechanism than compulsive over eating, likely to kill you faster than alcohol or drug addiction. Excess weight represses your immune system. The only way to naturally boost your immune system is by looking at our food and food supplements. Sugar, including the foods that break down and produce sugar, carbohydrates, is more addictive than an opiate like heroin so it's not surprising if we don't consciously choose the healthy option we all subconsciously reach for the fix.
Eating healthy food is a gratifying experience when you have trained your brain to be grateful for the colourful array of vital vitamins, minerals, nutient antioxidents you get in an abundance of roasted vegetables or a big salad. Giving your body what it needs will make you happy, your body will take care of that for you.
We all have foods we don't like or prefer less but being a picky eater is not the most attractive quality and limits your options when it comes to socialising and travel. In free life coaching sessions whether someone is overweight or not we work on food gratitude. Over half the world's population doesn't have enough to eat. When you cultivate gratitude for your food and gratitude to the person who has made it, if it's not you, you will expand your food horizons and not be so rigid, able to try foods in the past you may have turned your nose up at like Beetroot, (everyone hates it why? iron rich and so incredibly good for you) Jackfruit or Avocado.
Next time you visit the supermarket, or even better support your local farmers market, market garden or farm shop, try to stay on the outside of the aisles and confirn your shop to colourful food. Have a go at avoiding white food and see how it makes you feel, white bread, white pasta, white rice. If you cannot give up carbs completely swap to brown bread, rice and pasta.
Many people believe potatoes to fall in this category giving them up immediately to lose weight quick. Potatoes fill you up, are full of vitamin C and really only become calorific and unhealthy when swimming in butter or deep fried so oven baked fat chips are certainly not off my menu.
The key to losing weight is a gradual permanent change in lifestyle not a diet. This kind of long term goal or change is only possible if you do some work of your mind and your belief system. Depending on how old and how motivated you are will depend on how successfully you are able to adjust your eating patterns. When I lost all the money I was forced to make dramatic life changes but I coach people through to their personal development goals and the level of success depends on how quickly the person in question can acknowledge and own their own choices.
Once you have managed to resist something once, tried something different and better for you with an open mind, enjoyed it and been grateful for it, the next time will be so much easier. Being consciously grateful will substitute the negative feelings of dissatifaction when you didn't get to eat what you crave like a juicy hamburger, with bacon and double cheese dripping in grease.
Focusing on the smallest of achievements in the short term when it comes to relearning what you like, (children given fruit instead of sweets as a treat love fruit and choose fruit over sweets as their treat in adulthood) will deliver feelings of empowerment, confidence and strength over the long term.
It is a good exercise in your meditation to go over the fuel you have given your body in a 24 hour period. When you do this you'll see immediately when during the day you are at your weakest to temptation usually in the evening, craving something sweet.
Demi Moore introduced me to apples and peanut butter when I crave something sweet instead of chocolate and my Galaxy substitute, two or three squares of dark cacao 80% chocolate, which I'll admit is an aquired taste but the beauty of it your body won't crave more and more and more.
Photo by guillermo gavilla/Pixabay