REVELATIONS OF A WEIGHT WARRIOR, TRISH CARR: A TESTIMONY FOR MOMS AND DAUGHTERS-PART III (Issue 35B)

by Diane Gold

We are back with Part III from the interview with Trish Carr and her weight story. We open here talking about making an exception to the diet on Sunday and the cravings it causes.

We left off with Trish talking about the munchies she makes for good eating all week. She begins a conversation about the cycle sugar starts.

URGES

Trish
It’s the sugar. The sugar is really poison. Even on Sundays, when I choose to eat something that has refined sugar in it, I know it’s going to cause me to have cravings.

Diane
Well, that’s the thing. What I don’t get personally, I can’t just have one thing for one day. I am not that kind of addictive personality.
If I have something on Sunday, I will want to have it on Monday.

Trish
Right.

Diane

And I will want to have it double on Tuesday.

Trish
Yeah, absolutely.

Diane
And that’s how it will go. So, for me, I would usually prefer not to have it at all. And that’s fine. I’m good with that.

For me, it’s not usually food.

Diane Narrative
This comment is my testament to the fact that I have throughout life, had many urges. Food was not usually one of them but it tempts me now. Any urge, though, creates the same process in my body and requires the same control as for any other substance. I have even felt addictive feelings for a significant other.

Diane
Even though I’m slender, I could be unslender in a pinch. Sometimes, I’ll bring something home which might be sweet. And I know, well, I did that today, And, oh, well guess what? I brought the same thing home two day after that. And two days after that. And then, I’ll just not do it for a year. I absolutely have to control that very carefully.

Diane Narrative
Or I could be sucking up excess fats and oils in a heartbeat.

The urge cycle is rarely talked about. In many programs, we are encouraged to tell stories about events that have taken place such as,

“I went to the health food store and purchased two pints of coconut milk ice cream. I came home and ate them. I felt sick,”

Instead of being restricted from talking about events and still encouraged to talk about what made us act on an urge like this,

“I was feeling alone since I had no friends. Instead of going to the library group, the full moon celebration, the free dance session in the park, I ate too much coconut milk ice cream and felt sick.

If we spoke more about what led us to act on these behaviors, we might be in a better place.

Now I ask Trish what she would say to people who cannot control the cravings that come after the relaxed Sunday schedule. (And based upon the rate of relapse, most people do not control themselves well for any length of time.)

URGE TIP OF THE YEAR

Trish
What I do is when I have something that’s going to cause a craving, I will tell someone else to please pay attention that I don’t have any more of this, and ask them to call me on it. So, I need an accountability partner.

Diane
Accountability partner is great. Which is why people who want to lose weight, have most of the time, used some type of group weight loss program. It’s the accountability. It’s also being able to communicate with others about it and the bonding.

HAVING A SUPPORT STRUCTURE

Diane Narrative
Trish talks about enrolling other people in supporting you in being accountable.

Trish
How many times people say I’m going to …lose weight? But as soon as you say it to another person, it raises your level of accountability.

Diane Narrative
There is an interesting article, from 2004, by Charlotte Huff. It’s called “Teaming Up To Drop Pounds.” She references a study that shows that participants who enrolled in a program with friends had higher rate of successfully keeping the weight off after six months than those who enrolled alone.

SUPPORT COMMUNITY FOR DAUGHTERS

Trish
One of those people is your mom. But the mom’s got to come from ‘I love you,’ I care about you,’ ‘I see you greater than you see yourself.’

Diane
That is fantastic. I love that one.

Diane Narrative
I ask Trish about what she would suggest for warriors of weight whose families bring the wrong food into the house.

Trish
For me, it’s about having a conversation with the other person.

Diane Narrative
When it’s the daughter who needs a special food plan and the adults are not helping, it is very difficult. Listen to the other things that Trish mentions that will definitely help.

IT’S THE MIND

Trish
There are lots of things that I did.
1)    I journaled every day what I ate.
2)    I start the day with, ‘This is how I plan my day to go.’
3)    I set my intention for the day.
It’s not just the food. Let’s be clear. Food is not the problem. Again, my mind is the problem.

So, there’s a lot of mindset things to do. And … once I do those, … you can put in front of me [some tasty chocolate snack], and I won’t want it.

But, if I’m white knuckling it all the time, with ‘Oh, I’m craving, craving, craving,’ then eventually you’re going to give in.

WHAT IF YOU HAVE NO SUPPORT SYSTEM?

Diane
It’s very hard for many people who don’t have that support system. And the other thing you had said that daughters should use the support system they have in the home which is the mom. What about daughters who don’t have a support system because either the mom isn’t going to listen or there isn’t one.

Trish
Right. And that’s where creating your own structure comes in…Every time you want to eat something that’s not on your food plan, pick up a pen and paper and write down what you’re thinking.

Diane
Absolutely.

Trish
Why are you having these thoughts? What is really going on? Because food is just a therapeutic way to get past whatever it is you’re feeling. Just like drugs are. Food is my drug of choice.

Diane
Um-hmm.

Trish
It’s really those mindset things, Diane.You can work with the food and manipulate the food and get to the size you want, but I don’t want to be white knuckling it for my whole life.

Diane
Right.

BIG TIPS
DON’T WEIGH IN TOO MUCH

Trish
I also very much kept track of my success. I have a spread sheet that I keep. Once a week, I weighed myself. Didn’t do it every day. Big mistake, getting on the scale every day. The greatest demotivator is when you’re not losing or you actually go up when you worked very hard.

I also did my measurements so that I could see. When I added exercise on a regular basis, I lost almost a whole size without losing one pound.

Diane
That is how it goes.

Trish
So, if I’m looking at the scale, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, wow. Too bad I haven’t lost anything. Well, why should I bother working out?’

Diane
Right.

TAKE MEASUREMENTS

Trish
But if I take my measurements, I can see, wow, I’m [one size less than I was].

Diane
Great point.

Trish
The other thing is semantics. We’re always losing weight. What’s the first thing you do when you lose something?

You look for it. So get rid of that expression.

Diane
Yeah, delete.

Trish
People say, ‘I release it.’ That’s too gentle. This is something that you hate. This is something you do not ever want to see again. So don’t be gentle. You get rid of this stuff so that it doesn’t come back.

CONCLUSION

Preparing this set of articles was very enjoyable for two reasons:
1) because the interviewing process is such a great way to get to know someone and
2) because the 3-article-set is so chock full of amazing strategies.

We hope you take from the article and use a tip for yourself.  And, if you have a tip or story of your own, we’d love to hear from you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE at http://warriorsofweight.com/?p=1121. And, when you’re on Facebook, go to http://facebook.com/warriorsofweight and click LIKE. We’re working on the page and would appreciate comments.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.

She is on the look-out for the next story and has a new passion within interviewing: hearing about weight stories and turning interviews into articles so that all can benefit. Diane says,

“If you take any one tip from this set of articles and use it for a 3 days in a row or more, it will bring greater results than you can possibly imagine. Do it!”

REVELATIONS OF A WEIGHT WARRIOR: TRISH CARR, A TESTIMONY FOR MOMS AND DAUGHTERS: PART II (Issue 35A)

By Diane Gold

This is the second of three parts based on an interview with Trish Carr, a speaker, author and leadership expert, who has, in her words, “gotten rid of 100 pounds,”  rather than “losing” them, because she certainly doesn’t want to look for them again.

Diane
What actually made you gain weight, if you can remember, and if you would like to share that?

Trish
You know, because it’s been a lifelong issue, I can tell you that what makes me eat is what makes me gain weight. And that is, let’s see. It runs the gamut of happy, sad, frustrated, angry, elated, joyful, you name it. If I’m emotional about it…

Bored is big.

Diane
Yes.

Trish
Bored is big. The worst thing for me is the couch. If I’m sitting on the couch, I’m thinking about what I can eat. So, I’ve got to stay relatively active.

SECRET WARRIORSOFWEIGHT.COM EXERCISE

Diane
Have you ever tried sitting on the couch sitting on your hands?

Trish
Oh, no.

Diane
It’s really fun. It’s also a very interesting way of doing an abdominal exercise.
1)    You put your palms flat on the couch, which means the back of your palms is going to be right under your coccyx.
2)    And you just hang out there.
3)    You tuck your butt.
4)    And you raise your shoulders a slight amount.
While you’re on the couch, why not work?
5)    Hold for between 15 and 30 seconds.

Diane Narrative
This exercise can be done sitting on the couch or lying on it. Make sure to keep the back straight and elongated so that the abs are working the whole time.

NOTICE THE STRAIGHT BACK ON BOTH PHOTOS

The top photo has no pillows to obstruct the view of the straight back. For those who are just beginning working on the abs, a pillow is a good choice so as not to strain the back or neck. In the second (lower) view, the fluffy white pillow is lifted up by position of the hands to hide the straightness of the back; the back is NOT caving downward but is straight, as in the upper photo.

MAJOR POINT

This exercise can decrease the appetite and make us feel very focused, powerful and confident.

Diane
Let’s say you wanted to help moms of 13-year-old girls who were an extra love size. (There’s a fashion designer who has a size extra love, extra extra love, so I love that expression ‘cause a lot of times girls don’t want to hear “big, large, extra weight.”)

Diane Narrative
We will be featuring Sabrina Barnett, Empowerment Clothing, in the coming weeks. Watch for it on July 16.

Diane
Right away, we know that the daughters are going through or will going through hormonal changes. They’ll be feeling unattractive because they have pimples, their body changes and now they have a little extra weight ‘cause their muscles are also growing.

And they’re probably ready to fight with their moms because they are going to be going through feelings of wanting to be independent and also feelings that they don’t belong.

So what would you say to moms from your experience with weight, knowing what you know about the eating cycle that would put moms on the right track to communicate effectively with their daughters so that the daughters don’t snap at them or ignore them?

And partly, I’m asking you this because you deal with a lot of people and you’re a speaker and you also coach people individually. So I know that you know the human reaction spectrum. So I’m asking on that level. How can you help moms approach their daughters, or can you not?

Trish
That’s a good point. Can you not!

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

The most important way to help your daughter is to model the behavior that you want your daughter to have. And not be obsessive about it. It’s just, ‘Oh, this is how I eat,’ not, ‘Oh, I’m watching what I eat so I can stay thin and I can look good’ because then it becomes around looking good and not feeling good and being confident. …”

ARE YOU THE RIGHT PERSON?

Diane
You know how often we, as moms, jump right in to come to the aid of our daughters – or so we think. Here’s a great point that I consider every day with my own daughter so as to be supportive and considerate without being intrusive and selfish. I have a lot to learn.

Trish
…And as far as the conversation with your daughter, depending on your own relationship with your daughter, you know that your daughter often times won’t hear you, but the same thing can come out of a friend’s mouth or a sibling’s mouth and they’ll get it; so you’ve got to question whether you are the right person. And if you are the right person, then the conversation goes to,

‘Hey, look. I’m here to help. All I want to do is make your life the best that it can be. So you tell me what I can do. I can give you a couple of suggestions on what I think might help. But,it’s all up to you, and it’s all your choice what you want.’…

The worst part was when I was a fat kid, and my mother would want me to go on a diet or help me lose weight when she wasn’t doing it herself.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Diane
This goes back to leading by example. I asked Trish her feelings about the double standards her mother was conveying of asking her to go on a reduction diet while not progressing in that direction herself.

Trish
The same thing with anything that your parents do, ‘Do what I say, not as I do.’ …There was no way she was going to give me buy in in doing anything if she wasn’t doing it herself.

Diane
Yeah, be the example.

Trish
Absolutely. You’ve got to model what you’re looking for.

SELF-ESTEEM

Trish
So the other thing to remember is that if your kid is overweight and you’re not, then they’re constantly beating themselves up. They are not happy. They are not comfortable. I was not a happy kid inside. Outside, I was fabulous. I was outgoing, But, internally, I was like, oh, my god, I’m so fat, I’m so fat. It would make me want to put another doughnut in my mouth.

Diane
I mentioned how daughters think moms will never understand. And we discussed the circumstance when the daughter may be overweight, and the mom is not overweight so the daughter is going to think, doubly, that the mom will not understand.

I asked Trish how a mom could maintain a daughter’s privacy and still get her daughter to believe in her and believe there is no competition. Trish brought up the point of our belief in our daughters.

TRUE BELIEF IN DAUGHTER

Trish
It’s all about seeing them for who you believe they are and not who they appear to be at the moment. So, if you see your daughter as confident, strong and powerful and you speak to her in those terms, then that’s what she will become. But if you say that she is confident, or you say to her, ‘Oh, you’re beautiful,’ or you say, ‘You’re a confident young girl,’ but you don’t really believe it, then the truth will no hit her. She’ll know that you’re insincere and there’s an inauthenticity there.

So the first place you’ve got to look is at yourself. Do you really believe that that’s who your daughter is.

Diane
I thought that was a tremendously good point. Often times, we, ourselves, get stressed out by the difficulties of our daughters, such as unhealthy weight in our daughters. We may lose sight of how much we really believe our daughters and focus on the the negative. This doesn’t help.

I mentioned how one of panel psychologists pointed out that when parents come to him to work with their children, the biggest thing is to work on the parent.

Trish talks about her having supervised a large staff of people as training manager (a mentor or parent-type role). She talks about a woman’s coming to her who thought she was shy. She expressed that nobody ever comes to her for ideas.

In this woman, Trish saw something special. Trish’s nurturing instincts come out here as she says,

“That woman had something to share that no one else had tapped into. I just treated her as if she were fully self-expressed, as if everything she had to share was really important;
and she blossomed because I did that.

BELIEF ACTION STEP

“And you have to do the same thing with your children. You’ve got to see in them what they don’t yet see in themselves.”

MUNCHING

Trish
And the other thing is when it comes the whole food situation, the bottom line is having food in the house that really delicious, that they can open the ‘fridge and get it.

FOOD ACTION STEPS
WHAT TO COOK

Trish’s Method: She shops and cooks on Sundays to have things on which to munch:
1.    Fresh beets.
2.    Stir fry.
3.    Veggies on the grill.

WHAT TO MUNCH ON

Trish
I’m a muncher. And I’m not changing from that. So I need to have things in [the refrigerator] that I can munch on that are good for me and that I really find delicious. Not, like my mother would say, ‘Have an apple,’ or ‘Have a carrot.’

But you give me grilled vegetables that have balsamic vinaigrette on them – that’s good!

HOW TO STIR FRY THE VEGGIES

Trish
1)    The easiest, fastest thing to do is cut up a bunch of vegetables,
2)    throw them in a pan,
3)    stir fry them with a little bit of soy sauce,
4)    if you like curry, take a little bit of … curry, mix it with soy sauce and throw it on there,
5)    stir them, and you’re done.
6)    Then, they can sit in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days; and you can eat them every time you’re hungry.
7)    SPECIAL TIP: make it pretty with red pepper and carrots. Make it vibrant looking.

FOOD ECONOMY TIP

Trish
I go to the farmer’s market and spend $12 to $16, and it feeds me for the whole week.

Diane Narrative
This dollar figure refers to fruits and vegetables, excluding protein. This means that, instead of buying 3 bags of junk chips or cookies a week, following this buying model, we could eat nutritiously wonderful snacks for the same or less money. And, of course, we’d be improving our health.

CONCLUSION

We have some really important tips in this piece on how to help our daughters with weight, the biggest of which is sharing our true vision and belief in our daughter.

The tip on how much Trish spends on her munchies may help put things into perspective. As a vegan, my fruit and veggie bill exceeds this, but it is an indicator of how well we can eat for a small amount of money.

FEEDBACK

We love your feedback. You make up the WarriorsOfWeight.com community.
______

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.

She is most pleased with the number of people who are getting involved in this story-telling part of WarriorsOfWeight.com. Diane says,

“We all have these fascinating stories to tell, some about pain, some about pleasure, some about frustration, some about joy, others about failure and its levels up to success.

We should all have the opportunity to be heard, be nurtured and grow. I will work to create such an environment.”

REVELATIONS OF A WEIGHT WARRIOR, TRISH CARR: A TESTIMONY FOR MOMS AND DAUGHTERS-PART I
(Issue 34)

By Diane Gold

This article is based on an interview with Trish Carr, a speaker, author and leadership expert, who has, in her words, “gotten rid of 100 pounds,”  rather than “losing” them, because she certainly doesn’t want to look for them again.

Trish grew up in a family where her mom, an overeater, used to hide the good junk food and give the kids the less desirable junk food. When the kids would say they were hungry, her mom would tell the kids to eat an apple but would go off and eat a special high calorie snack that she made available to the kids only some of the time.

As an adult, Trish became a nurturer: in management,  with private clients and friends, much the way a mom cares for a daughter. Her candor in this interview offers many insights for those who are working with weight.

Diane
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you know about eating the right foods before you changed sizes, that is, lost your weight?

Trish
I would say I knew 11 about the right things to eat. My entire life weight has been an issue. I can tell you the calorie count, the fat grams, the carbohydrates for every food and how many calories I’m supposed to have in a day. What I didn’t know was that calories in are not all equal.

So that was the big thing that I learned.

I could have an ice cream sundae of calories, or I could have something nutritional like fruits, vegetables and protein and that my body would react differently.

Diane
Growing up, were there snacks in the home? Was there junk food…?

Trish
Oh, yeah. You know it’s so funny when I look back on being a child and food around my house.

My mother was an overeater. My mother would actually hide the food she didn’t want the kids to get.

Diane
Meaning the junk food?

Trish
Well, the good junk food. There were these cookies out there. (Trish names a cookie.) She would hide those so we couldn’t get to those. We know they were good; we wanted to have some, right?

Whenever we said we were hungry, her response would always be,

“Have an apple.”

Or have something nutritious. But there was always junk food around.

Diane
Now, were the [named] cookies for your mom?

Trish
Yeah. Occasionally, she’d buy ‘em so we could have them, too.

Diane
What would you say was the food that gave you the most trouble? Was there one?

Trish
No. I don’t think there would be one. I think it was a whole general overeating the wrong processed foods my whole life. And I would say a lot of that was white flour, sugar, those things, cakes, cookies, pasta.

Diane
Was that financial or just choice?

Trish
Well, growing up we had low cost foods. We made Sloppy Joe’s. Things over rice, things over pasta. So it was a combination of both (financial and choice). But I think we weren’t around healthy food. It wasn’t about healthy food. My mother wasn’t eating healthy; therefore, we weren’t eating healthy.

Diane
Did you have a male influence in your home?

Trish
My father was around until I was around 12 or 13. [He] was a New York City Fireman, so he would work 4 days on, 3 days off, so he had a real weird schedule. But when it came to food, that wasn’t his conversation.

Diane
When you started to lose weight, did you use a group weight loss program or did you go about it on your own?

Trish
This last time, which is, literally, the LAST TIME, because, you know, I’m in my 50s. So I’ve done this before. I lost 100 pounds once before in 1980. I like to say that I was a size 12 for about 5 minutes. Literally, I got to size 12. I felt really good and started putting it right back on. This time, it’s been over a year, and I have not put it back. And I’m actually smaller than that; I’m a size 10, and my weight is lower and I’m much healthier.

MINDSET

Diane
Was there a different approach? Was there a different mindset?

Trish
Yeah, even though I’ve done it in the past, the first time I remember going on a diet was I went to Weight Watchers when I was about 12 years old. And I lost 16 pounds in 3 months. That was a lot, and I felt really good.

Diane
That’s very fast.

Trish
But, immediately, it came back…
Because I have a mind problem not a food problem.

Diane
I don’t know anyone else who is different.

Trish
So, the difference this time was I chose a product. It’s not a group thing, not like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.I used a program called Isagenix.

Diane
Right.

Trish
And the program was created for health. It was literally created so that athletes could build lean muscle.

Diane
Right.

Trish
And what they found is that it also got rid of fat. It taught me what to eat, how to eat. And because I got my body “clean,” I actually can now feel what processed foods do to my body, what processed foods do to my energy. I never got this way before because I was simply managing calories in and out.

Diane Editorial
We as humans respond to social proof, acceptance of behavior and action of others. When everyone cheers out loud at a rock concert or basketball game, we do it, even if it is out of character for us. When everyone offers applause at the opera and no one cheers out loud, it is more likely that we will do the same so that we are not gawked at. I always enjoyed nonconformity, but that is another type of group norm.

I believe, and statistics back me up, that it’s the community of people in the weight loss programs that is attractive to us. This includes the believers in the product Trish chose to use. Of course, sometimes, we just fall into a program or product and it works for us for multiple reasons.

The fact that many programs call for fast weight reduction that people cannot maintain is something to think about. As we emphasize in tai chi, there is no rush. The student cannot absorb the information until she worked long enough to understand it.

This is why the premise of WarriorsOfWeight.com is to offer small steps to incorporate into everyday life that are easy to do and not too difficult to maintain.

Other than seeing success in others who do a group or a product, when we use a method that has worked for others and can read success stories of others (especially when the marketing campaigns are huge), we feel not so alone.

Trish
I still have the mental [state] of ‘I really would like to have that pasta’ even though I know when I eat that pasta, I’m not going to feel so good after.

COMFORT IN HAVING FEWER CHOICES

Diane Editorial
Trish and I spoke about the many choices there are of food. I referenced limiting choices through  being a vegan.

Diane
Another advantage that I have is there are so many foods that I wouldn’t be interested in eating because they have to do with harming animals that I have so many fewer choices. And I think that having many, many…choices is like a fantasy for somebody who likes to overeat.

Diane Editorial
That’s part of what “programs” do: they limit food choice.

SOME CONTROL

Trish
There’s some security in knowing you’re going to have a piece of salmon and vegetables for lunch. And that’s what got me through a year or a little bit less than that of taking the weight off. I knew that was going to be my meal for the day, and I actually looked forward to it.

For me, the getting it off, once I got a routine going and I got comfortable with how I was doing it, it was not difficult.

The hard part now is the plethora of choices that I have and so many of them are not good.

HOLIDAY

Diane
What about giving yourself a day…

Trish
I do. Sunday.

Diane Editorial
We were talking about having a day off from the strict cycle of eating well so we don’t feel so trapped in a dietary plan.

WARNING FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

There are some people for whom this break in routine might not work out well. If a special treat one day a week could wreck the momentum of success, leave it out. If the treat requires you to spend the entire rest of the week to gain control again because of your “holiday” from your food plan, don’t consider it for another two years. I, personally, would opt out of it. I would also only commit to one minute at a time rather than one whole day. This way, I am guaranteed success most of the time.

Drug and alcohol users say they have a one day at a time philosophy for abstinence. This is a misnomer and is really a one minute at a time strategy repeated over and over again. To abstain from something for 24 hours is very long for me. To abstain for 60 seconds is, most of the time, manageable.

And facing food several times a day for survival means being very familiar with the one minute at a time control method should we be determined to curb our urge to eat.

ACTION STEPS
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Balance the body, mind,spirit DAILY through tai chi, meditation, chi kung, yoga; reading a book, writing a poem or song, playing music, painting or doing athletics.

PLANNING AHEAD

Limit the amount of choices per meal.
Make a food plan for a week that starts the following day; avoid getting hungry with no plan. If there is no food plan, repeat the previous week. The monotony may get us to plan ahead more efficiently.

TIME FOR SPECIAL FREEDOM

Include a special something one day a week. If it can be a favorite food, go for it. Don’t go crazy because it could steamroll, but make time for it – a small treat that won’t upset the work for the rest of the week.

If food entitlement doesn’t work for us, we should go to a dance, watch a celebratory movie, go swimming, journal, attend a seminar, work in a soup kitchen, donate to a microloan, give the cat a bath, whatever fills the spiritual bank and fuels us for the coming week.
___
The first and third action steps increase our energy supply and fortify our reserve to march onto the battlefield of weight, which will, one day become a peaceful place to be.

CONCLUSION

Today’s interview covered childhood memories, knowledge of nutrition and current strategy for success. There are several action steps within the article to implement this week.

Next week, in part II of this interview with Trish Carr, we will hear about what causes Trish to eat and truisms for how moms can help their daughters with weight.

This very inspiring interview is a look into the life of someone who has been working on her weight her whole life. Some of her realities may be familiar to us. Certainly, her sharing her story shows us how very similar we are.    .

FEEDBACK

Please leave a common. If you relate to this story, let us know. We are always on the lookout for another story. And we appreciate them.

GETTING PART 2 & 3 OF TRISH’S STORY

Make sure to read Parts II and III of Trish’s story.  If you want it sent to you, go to http://warriorsofweight.com/go.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She truly enjoys hearing about people’s journeys with weight and believes that when people share, everyone communicates on multiple levels. Diane says,

“By listening to others, we always grow. By interviewing, we get to pass it on.”

MOTHERHOOD: 5 COMMON MISTAKES, (2 SEEN IN TYLER PERRY’S GOOD DEEDS)
(Issue 33)

By Diane Gold

The nurturing qualities of Motherhood are resident in all of us, whether we are male or female, whether we have our own children or whether we know this feeling from supporting friends, loved ones, students, elders, juniors, or even, ourselves. It is a vast combination of traits including these that we utilize throughout our lives. They are inherent in us, some more than others. Therefore, whether we actually have children or whether we are supportive of those around us, motherhood is universal. Plus, everyone has a mother.

Let’s talk about actual mothers and how, except in extremely rare cases, we all want our daughters to thrive. We make sacrifices for their comfort, and we put them first. And, speaking personally, the privilege of motherhood is unfathomably great, and those of us in the position are uber fortunate.

In tough times, it seems, when we are out of money, love, support, time, companionship, stability, nourishment, partnership; it turns out that good mothers can become controlling, desperate, belligerent, overcome, high-strung, unbalanced, even abusive. The very daughter we love more than anything in the world, the one for whom we set out to provide food, shelter, comfort and protection becomes the one who gets the brunt of our frustration.

Our daughters are deeply affected by our actions and attitude. They know it when we cherish them above all else, and they know when we are led astray.

Just the other evening, I saw Tyler Perry’s movie, Good Deeds. Two of the characters are moms, one, an unmarried janitor and mom of a 6-year-old, newly evicted from her apartment, who is at her wit’s end needing to hide her homelessness from children’s services. The other mom, who married into wealth, expects her Ivy League son’s behavior to mirror the stereotypical Ivy League country club lifestyle. The fact that the boundaries placed on him removes his spontaneity is lost to her. The fact that he is the good son who does what others expect of him at the expense of himself is not on her radar.

Both these moms truly want the best for their children but have lost sight of what is right as they get caught up in various issues that make us human. In one case poverty, in the other case, riches, blind both moms from seeing the effect their actions have on their children.

The reason I bring up this movie is that it portrays certain mistakes we make as moms that, if we heard others talk about, we would click our tongues against our teeth in disgust and say,

“Doesn’t she know better?”

Even though we might cruise by either of these scenarios at some point.

The truth is we all do our best, or what we see as best at the time. We are not machines, and hindsight is 20/20.

THE MISTAKES
1) STRUCTURE

a) TOO MUCH
It is easy to understand how we want to protect our daughters. There are many stories about moms who keep a very tight rein on their daughters. In some countries, daughters are chaperoned until the day they get married.

What this can cause is the inability for our daughter to make personal decisions for herself since someone has always made them for her.

b) NOT ENOUGH
So many daughters run their moms. We see this more in Western society as many moms want to give their daughters the freedom they didn’t have or want companions who like them rather than daughters who need guidance.

This lack of discipline does not offer daughters the experience of understanding the importance of boundaries and may impair decision making abilities.

2) DAUGHTER RESPONSIBILITIES

In order to prepare our daughters for school, business, government involvement, community; we are supposed to give them life internships. They need to take care of their everyday living in  ways that will develop their independence.

Whether we assign our daughters chores at 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11; we are doing a good thing. Sometimes, because we want to be in a higher class than we were raised, we don’t dole out chores. Other times, in order to create infrastructure for the future of our daughters or because we were raised to let children be children and never had a chore; we burden them with too much.

3) GIVING TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO A SPOUSE AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR DAUGHTERS

As sorry as I am to admit, I gave too much time to the needs of my live-in male partner which gave too little consideration for the needs of my daughter. Fortunately for her, my ex-husband, her father, with whom she lived most of the time, ALWAYS kept perspective on time spent with her.

This behavior is one of the worst things I have ever done in my life.

It was not like the time I left my daughter sleeping in her carseat, locked in the car, in the bank parking lot when I went into the suburban bank in New York, and forgot she was there for 2 minutes. Back then, I thought that was the worst thing I had done, but it wasn’t intentional, and everything was OK. No, the behavior I am talking about was deliberately spending time with the man of the house when I should have been reading a good night story to my daughter.

I will speak more on this in my book URGES when it is finished.

There is no use in regret, and it’s usually freeing to acknowledge our actions. I am working on self-forgiveness in this department and think my daughter forgives me, too. But behavior such as this leaves lasting impact on our daughters.

4) GENDER STEREOTYPES

In modern society, the role of our daughter is not as cut and dry as it was 100 years ago. It is common knowledge that our daughters will be gurus, CEOs, single by choice, President or all of the above.

Each family has its own way of discussing what is expected. There is much evidence that we, as mothers, must be sensitive to the dreams of our daughter so that she feels comfortable to flourish in her own way, not ours.

5) REACHING OUT

Often times, we, as moms, don’t reach out in our own crisis. (Can you hear the SuperMom music?) We are often ready to lend a hand, but we work on handling our burdens ourselves. This runs the gamut from working on some emotional problem, the dire circumstances surrounding just having been evicted (as in Tyler Perry’s movie) or what to do with our problems with our daughter.

We want to teach our daughters how important it is to reach out, trust others, deserve comfort. We must do this by example.

CONCLUSION

There is a fine line between how much is too much or how little is too little. As mentioned before, we do what we think is best at the time. We also do what we can. If we have an emotionally healthy relationship, we can confer with our partner and flesh out mistakes before they happen. If we go it alone, our days are probably very busy making one plus one equal two.

The rules of motherhood cannot be written down because there are human dynamics in every situation. If the book says to give our daughters enough freedom so that they will feel relaxed enough to confide in us, the book cannot force this confidence and it cannot frame the freedom we allow.

If our circumstances are falling apart and we forget to consider our daughters carefully enough, disaster might strike.

If we are too involved in impressing our fellow Senators at a dinner, and we forget to structure life for our daughters carefully enough, we could be as negatively impacted as the previous example.

Do we give up when we make a mistake? No. We work at becoming better, stronger, more forgiving and more humble. When we look back, it seems impossible that we could have made such poor choices. We go on.

We do our best in motherhood. It’s important to keep our training wheels on, even if we think we are masters. We can usually become better equipped, even though our grandmothers’ way has much merit.

With new technology and environment, we have new circumstances into which to become sensitive. We can create second lives in virtual realities; we carry extra body weight; we stop eating the usual way and have not enough body weight and a whole lot more issues that are common to the past 25 years.

As our humanity evolves, we must be aware of what our daughters are exposed to. This might affect our mothering. We can never become too experienced and there is always something to learn. And hopefully, we will learn from our mistakes.

FEEDBACK

We welcome your comments below.
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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom. She has made many mistakes as a mom, and works to understand what methods can help others avoid the same ones. She says,

“By sharing with each other, we get a chance to purge ourselves. We also get the opportunity to help someone else who might see the light through our mistakes. This is also a path on the road to forgiving ourselves.”

WHEATGRASS JUICE: WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT IT? (Issue 32)

By Diane Gold

It’s no secret that many people ingest wheatgrass juice in one- to two-ounce shots on a daily or twice a day basis. They obtain it at the health food store, the juice store or, if they have know the merits of it, they do it at home.

What’s so special about wheatgrass is the question often asked.

1) It is one of the most alkaline foods known to us, and current research shows that foreign cells in our body, such as cancer cells, cannot live in an alkaline environment.

2) Secondly, it is high in oxygen, and current research links high oxygen with the death of cancer cells.

3) It is 70% chlorophyll, which cleans, heals and energizes. With the selenium that is present, it helps build the immune system.

4) Wheatgrass contains loads of nutrients: 13 (or more) vitamins, minerals, trace elements; all 20 amino acids and 30 + enzymes. There are not many foods this rich for our body.

5) Wheatgrass can balance the appetite because makes the body feel full, thus minimizing cravings.

6) Wheatgrass destroys free radicals by converting them to extra oxygen molecules.

7) In liquid form, wheatgrass is easily absorbed by the body, so it can add all those available nutrients without losing them in digestion.

8) Wheatgrass is a great detoxifier. With all the chlorophyll, it helps to purify the body. It’s almost like an internal deodorant.

9) Wheatgrass, with all its chlorophyll, rebuilds the bloodstream. Animal studies have shown that anemia has corrected itself with the administration of chlorophyll.

10) Scientific studies show that chlorophyll, the major component of wheatgrass, arrests the growth of unfriendly bacteria.

There are many other claims that have been attributed to wheatgrass: including that it regulates blood sugar, is good for acne, restores fertility, dissolves scarring, purifies the liver, regenerates tissue, prevents tooth decay and more.

It has been, at least, a year since I started a daily regimen of drinking wheatgrass juice.
I was lunching with a friend, and we decided that, if I researched the best wheatgrass extractor, he would spring for one machine for each of us, and we could do an individual wheatgrass regime as a team in our own homes. I came up with my choice and ordered the machine. In the meantime, my friend decided to go with another machine that did not process wheatgrass. But that got me started on my routine.

The most striking feeling I get from ingesting wheatgrass juice is that I feel like a truck, every time I do it. Almost instantly after I drink my morning shot, which is usually two ounces, I feel powerful. It’s not the same kind of strength I feel from kung fu, tai chi, hanging from some exercise machine or doing an ab workout that makes my muscles feel good. It’s different.

It feels as if I am strong because I have been purified. No kidding. As if the wheatgrass has sucked out some of the toxin from my body. I even wonder whether it is providing harmony to my life and my body. For anyone who is fighting with her body, I would highly recommend doing wheatgrass for balance.

One of the things drinking wheatgrass does is that, because of its alkaline properties, it makes us more able to enjoy the healthy foods like fruits and veggies, mushrooms, soybeans, rather than the very acidy colas, meat, smoking and coffee. (I just read a food chart that said stress is on the Acidic PH side.)

An interesting thing happened to me a little over a year ago. I went to the dentist to get my pearly whites cleaned. As usual, the session took 30 minutes because I produce plaque which takes time and skill to clean. When I went back in three months for my next appointment, the session took 20 minutes, and the hygienist said that I must be brushing my teeth more or getting the hang of it.

It is possible that my skill, after half a decade with this hygienist, has improved. But then I realized what it was. The only routine I had changed was adding wheatgrass to my diet. Because of that, I have to say it has been helpful in keeping my mouth clean, personally proving 9), above.

Over 50 years back, Ann Wigmore, The Wheatgrass Queen, and Viktoras Kulvinskas founded Hippocrates, a wellness center in Boston, where they used living foods to treat disease. Wheatgrass was given several times a day with great results. Years later, many current wellness centers continue in the same way.

In West Palm Beach, at Hippocrates, which is the Boston inspired wellness center, they grow their own wheatgrass in their own organic greenhouse, and they have a master grower to oversee it. For clients who stay for a week or longer, wheatgrass juicing is strongly encouraged often, such as several times a day and is thought to be a necessary part of healing. (For those who come for the Saturday tour and lunch only, which is what I did, wheatgrass is available during the tour and then there is lunch, which, to my delight, consisted of sprouted beans and vegetables, all uncooked.)

CONCLUSION

Based on the many healing properties that this plant has, wheatgrass juice consumption gives us a simple way to balance our alkalinity, get our veggies, get our fiber, get extra healing oxygen.

They say a balanced body makes for a balanced mind. Also, there is minimal caloric intake for this superfood.

ACTION STEP
HOW TO START WITH WHEATGRASS JUICE USING A WHEATGRASS EXTRACTOR

1) THE JUICE EXTRACTOR

Get a wheatgrass extractor. They start at $30 for a manual device. If possible, go up to $50 and get the Lexen Manual GP27.

There are two different philosophies. Some say it’s better to put your whole self into juicing and will only go with the manuals. If you are willing to spend time, go with the manual. It’s good work for the body and saves electricity.

If money is not an issue and you have interest in an electric, I use a Lexen. For me, it is important to minimize time, and the electric is quick.

2) THE WHEATGRASS

Go to the store and purchase wheatgrass in a flat. This grass must be cut down with scissors or knife before use.

If it’s bought in a plastic container or bag, it is already cut. It is always best to buy the flat, because it stays alive until you cut it. I do not make time for this step.

3) FIRST THING IN THE AM

Because the wheatgrass enzymes are alive, more of the nutrients will be absorbed if the stomach is empty. Therefore, it should be the first food of the day. Then wait 20-30 minutes so that it can properly digest before eating breakfast.

4) STRAIGHT WHEATGRASS JUICE

According to the experienced wheatgrass juicers, the wheatgrass juice is not supposed to be diluted for best results and to get the full absorption of the live enzymes. No exceptions, unless you will fold and stop the wheatgrass juice altogether if you are forced to be a purist.

I went to a relative’s Day After Wedding Day Brunch. It was very beautiful and at a posh hotel with all the bells and whistles. To my joy, they had wheatgrass juice for the guests. To myself, I called it designer wheatgrass juice. Why? It was 50% apple juice.

Of course, it is better to have a wheatgrass and apple juice combo than not to have any wheatgrass juice at all. But, when possible, drink it straight.

5) BREATHING THROUGH THE MOUTH

If needed , it’s OK to breathe through the mouth, closing the nostrils for a few minutes before beginning the juicing process all the way through to several minutes after you have consumed the juice – until you get used to it. This prevents any queasiness from the juice’s aroma, which is similar to freshly cut grass. It definitely smells fresh.

It’s been about a year that I have been juicing every morning, and I still use this breathing through the mouth method, more or less. I had to figure out some way not to deprive myself from such great food. I did, and it was well worth it!
Most people will not need this step, because they love the smell.

6) CONGRATULATIONS

You have just embarked on the health of your body. This juice will do you well for a long time.

Good for you; good to you; spread the word.

FEEDBACK

Let us know what you think of the article in the comment section below.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom. She has been doing an average of two ounces of wheatgrass juice daily for a year and is excited to share her experience with this naturally wonderful grass, so good to and for the body. She says,

“Who would have thought that such a gentle and weightless food would carry so much power in each use including being an aid to weight loss!”

PEACE AND PREJUDICE: HOW THE KEY TO PEACE IS THE SAME AS THE KEY TO WEIGHT LOSS (Issue 31)

By Diane Gold

Peace among humans stems from sameness, not difference. When we are peaceful, things are harmonious. When we are prejudiced, there is unrest, internal to us and external within our world.

We all breathe the same air, have the same powerful epidermis to protect us (we share this with plants), respirate similarly, replenish regularly, get inhabited by viruses constantly (we share this one with plants and bacteria), are all subject to the perils of weather and do well when we honor ourselves.

BELIEF IN OURSELVES

So, with all these major similarities, what are our differences, other than melanin levels, pride in roots, levels of security, money and intelligence? It’s BELIEF IN OURSELVES, the level at which we LOVE ONE ANOTHER, tolerate, nurture, sanction, recognize and respect one another AND OURSELVES, the level at which we give our neighbor the same courtesy as our family, the same respect we should be giving to ourselves and our fellow humans.

So what is the key to this tolerance that is the same for losing weight, gaining weight, stopping our urges, removing our prejudice? And how do we get it?
Those of us whose urges take us to eat too much, drink too much, use or do too much lack a certain security in and love for ourselves. These urges drive our chemicals inside to run in ways we have not yet grasped. Happily, we can learn to understand them and work with them and adjust them.

The same urge chemistry occurs in our body when we cannot tolerate someone else’s beliefs or any of the traits listed three paragraphs below. This chemical imbalance strips us of our ability to be socially acceptable; and we bash, malign, plunder someone else’s appearance or belief. This is social prejudice.

If my family teaches me to believe in the golden calf, your family teaches you to believe in the family religion and our neighbor’s family teaches their daughter to believe that she is the master and controls her own life; these three different beliefs exist. We can learn tolerance if it is doesn’t come naturally by remembering that each of us breathes the same air, eats the same food and gives birth the same way. How much we remember our sameness determines whether we have social prejudice or peace.

Similarly, the more we develop the ability to control our urges, such as eating chocolate, drinking soda or maligning a religion; the more we can exercise tolerance of ourselves and others.

So what can we do to raise THE LOVE LEVEL (which comes from BELIEF IN OURSELVES) and give ourselves the love that we deserve that will help curb our urges? What will help our health, our ability to feel good, and help us love our bodies and minds, know that we are assets to the world, know that weight, skin color, style, thoughts, feelings, hairstyle, differences, size, lifestyle, height, preference, orientation, age, race, religion, politics, color, nationality, wealth, language, beliefs, birthplace, traditions, economics do not define whether we are kind, fun, funny, loyal, honest, devoted, confident, uplifting, empathetic, charitable, attentive, considerate, dependable, generous, motivating, patient, perceptive, thoughtful, tolerant, understanding, warm and caring?

And what can we do to remove social prejudices when they appear?

SEEING OUR HOMOGENEITY, THE BIG ACTION STEP

The BIG ACTION STEP, should we choose to take it, is that we must look at our homogeneity. We must celebrate our sameness and be enlightened by it.

What if we used it to further our belief system and strengthen our tolerance?
What if we used it to help us be strong individually?

We are all a part of a body of humans and, I believe, can find a way to peace.

Whether we are too slim, too large or just right; we all enjoy the security of shelter, clothing that makes us feel beautiful, friends and family who really care for us; and we all love our own individual hobby, creative passion and cause.

If I could animate, I would draw a giant globe with people in every country representing all of us. Every time any one of us executed a prejudicial act, even if against ourselves; one of the cutout figures would collapse, only to be regenerated by a positive act, such as generosity or forgiveness. If we saw this visual representation on an ongoing basis, which measured our love and hate, we might more easily cherish, forgive and love each other.

Most of us don’t think that feeling bad about ourselves or treating ourselves badly is a negative act. It is, though, an act of social prejudice against ourselves, when we judge ourselves in comparison to runway models if we are not, or in comparison to the lifestyle of the latest female self-made billionaire if we are not.

We say what we feel for ourselves doesn’t affect others, but this is not the truth. Aside from the fact that we are all in this world together, everyone we contact is affected by our good or bad attitude. So how do we mend a bad attitude or social prejudice?

FORGIVENESS, THE NEXT ACTION STEP

1)    Forgiving ourselves for whatever we think is wrong with us
2)    Forgiving what we did wrong
3)    Forgiving someone for having a different trait or belief
4)    Forgiving someone for a bad act
5)    Forgiving ourselves for being prejudiced against someone

are very hard to do, but great steps to take.

I can think of the many times I have said,

“I forgive him,”

in my head. I have also said,

“I forgive you,”

in person, to someone in my life who did not treat me well. The words have not created absolute forgiveness in me, but it is a work in progress. It is easy for me to forgive myself for the feelings of resentment I still have, but it is hard to forgive with full sincerity.

It is almost unfathomable for me to think how hard it would be to forgive someone who had physically harmed a family member. But, that is how hard peace is.

Over 90% of the people in the United States have a belief system with one deity. It could be as much as 92%. We also believe that this deity does not make mistakes. So, if we are in this category; we know that our lives are not mistakes, so we must forgive ourselves and celebrate our individual situations.

Less than 10% of the population in the United States is firmly rooted in the fact that we are strong, self-sufficient individuals who are part of the balance or order of nature that does not include a deity. This group could be smaller than 8%. (This group often does not list its participants because of the prejudice against it, so statistics are hard to confirm.) If we are in this group, we know we are good and worthwhile by the principles by which we live. Therefore we must forgive ourselves and celebrate our individual situations.

CONCLUSION

Those of us who are tolerant of our similarities must remind those who are not. It is difficult to bring these subjects to the attention of others because feelings run so strongly in each direction.

Prejudice of any kind is prejudice.  Some people frown upon people who eat a lot. Others think they are queens.  As we grow our spiritual library, we come to terms with how we see ourselves and how we see our sameness. Often times, unless we are experiencing the strife and misery that comes from prejudice, we find it hard to relate to it.

Here’s an example:

If I have grown up an extra, extra love size my whole life, I know what it’s like to be teased about my weight. I am so busy feeling bad about being teased that I do not realize that the teaser’s insecurity is causing the intolerant behavior.

I am grown up, I open a company, have 50 employees. No one has teased me in a long time. One of the people who has been hired has a twitch, which I continually joke about with the other workers. I only consider myself and never consider that the person with the twitch is always in earshot when I tease. She feels pain when I tell my jokes. Why am I doing the same behavior that people did to me? Don’t I remember how it feels? What feeling prompts this intolerance and insecurity on my part?

It’s all about BELIEF IN MYSELF. Poking fun at the twitcher buries the pain I felt when I was teased. It also makes me feel powerful now when people gather ’round and laugh at my jokes. What I don’t consider is that the employees may be gathering around and laughing because they feel sorry for my power tripping from pain. Others may be getting comic relief from someone else’s pain, also a common, but not admirable, human trait. Finally, most of the group is gathering because I am the boss, and it would be impolite not to gather.

SMALL BUT IMPORTANT ACTION STEPS

Here are some small daily action steps to go along with the SEEING HOMOGENEITY and FORGIVENESS, above. When we familiarize our mind to kindness, we become kind. On the other side, when we fuel our intolerance, our prejudice (toward ourselves and others) grows.

1)    Upon awakening every day, take 10 seconds to acknowledge that we are as wonderful as our heroes, our love interest, the person we most want to emulate and our role model. This builds self-confidence in a subtle but constant way.

2)    After the first 10 second exercise, take 10 seconds to acknowledge that there are no mistakes in the natural order of things. Therefore, we are exactly who we are supposed to be. This will build strength that we are a firm part of the world plan.

3)    As we are sitting up from our sleeping position, take 10 seconds to realize our good fortune, such as having the use of our limbs, having the use of our senses, having whatever we do have. Each of us will cherish something else, but this gratitude is important to experience. Gratitude brings humility which brings understanding and peace.

4)    Sometime during the week, even if it’s only once:
a.    Tell a joke to someone sad
b.    Give a homeless person a book
c.    Go to http://theanimalrescuesite.com and click a button to give a free bowl of food to an animal. (There are many sister sites here for other causes of your choice.)

The secret behind this action is that, as we are clicking our support for some outside cause, we are curbing our appetite for that very moment and making a difference to someone else. This type of action leads us to develop our character and become stronger to reach our goal in the food department. Both curbing our urge and building our character lead to the likelihood of our being a tolerant member of society.

5)    Once a day, we should look in the mirror at our lips smiling and know that we have just seen a very worthy human being.
Awareness of Homogeneity + Forgiveness = Urge Control + Peace, Inside and Out.

FEEDBACK

Please leave your comments below. We truly value all of them.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom. She is excited about discovering that the key to peace resembles the key to urge mechanics. She says,

“The key is examining ourselves. When we are willing to look at our urges, we can see our true selves in the mirror. With time, we can mold ourselves to be more in the direction that we wish. It may not be easy, and it will take time. In a lifetime journey, there can be no rush.”

IMPORTANT NOTE

For people with a medical diagnosis or a prescription drug regimen, I’d like to begin with Elisa’s words in quotes below,

“Be sure to discuss the possibility of a Cleanse with your [health care professional]. Large and heavy doses of medication are especially hard on your organs without solid foods. As a result, juice cleansing may not be an appropriate option.”

Although not everyone will use the cleanse, this article gets us in the mood to consider the benefits of regular juicing for fun and health.

THE JUICE CLEANSE (Issue 30)

by Elisa Rodriguez

WHAT IS THE JUICE CLEANSE?

It’s essentially a liquid diet consisting of organic fresh fruits and vegetables (without the fiber), in most cases that take the place of solid foods for a day or certain number of days.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A JUICE CLEANSE?

The point is to allow the body a period of rest, free from breaking down heavy meals, which, in turn, enables the system to “clean house.” It’s a sort of reboot for all the systems of the body.

Since we spring clean our homes and regularly maintain our cars, we should also make it a priority to fine-tune our own uniquely crafted vessel. It’s the only one we’ve got!

THE JUICER

My personal favorite is the Breville (any model), due to its large chute, quick speed and minimal prep required.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Any juicer will do a fine job. Do a little research to see which one is right. It’s an individual decision. There is also an alternate option below for those who don’t have a juicer.

CLEANSE PREPARATION

Once you have a juicer, you want to select a 3-day period where you can focus on the Cleanse. This will mean:

•    Mentally preparing to consume fewer calories and to feel hungry.
•    Including one day pre and post juicing for fruits and veggies only.
•    Having the proper ingredients in your house for pre-, post- and during the cleanse.
•    Allowing time to prepare the juice despite your busy schedule, and, in fact, slowing down your schedule for the cleanse.
•    Allowing a period of minimal activity to deal with detox, which may or may not include headaches, fatigue and irritability.
•    Allowing time to rest and relax so your body can work most effectively.

Let’s break this down further.

WHAT INGREDIENTS SHOULD I START WITH?

Cucumber, celery, broccoli stems, and apples make a great simple starter. Believe it or not, the cucumber and broccoli stems have a mild sweetness, so they provide a nice neutral flavor.

THE 3:1 RATIO, THE KEY TO GREEN JUICE AND BALANCED BLOOD SUGARS

The beauty of the cucumber/celery/broccoli/apple combo is that it provides a 3 to 1 ratio of non-starchy veggies to fruits and/or higher glycemic index veggies (like carrots), assuming that equal proportions are used.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

1)    High glycemic fruits or vegetables are used more sparingly because they break down more quickly, raising the blood sugar level.
2)    The elevation in the blood sugar level produces insulin to transport the sugar to be used by cells as energy.
3)    When lots of insulin is produced from eating high glycemic foods (like high glycemic fruits or vegetables), this production tells the body it has lots of energy.
4)     Because the body thinks it has lots of energy, it stops burning fat and starts storing it.
5)    Another concern is that, the insulin removes too much blood sugar from the blood so the body feels tired and hungry.
6)    When the body feels tired and hungry, we crave sweets, overeat and start the cycle over again.
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This ratio ensures that a less sweet beverage is absorbed into the blood stream to avoid a spike in blood sugar. The vegetables naturally reduce the sweetness of the beverage. The reduction in sweetness results in steadier serum values, less and lower spikes to reduce the occurrence of plummeting blood sugars, which follow an elevated glucose level resulting in a false sense of hunger and ultimately overconsumption of calories.

Therefore, to juice effectively, you want to maintain the 3:1 ratio at all times. This isn’t to say that carrots or fruit (higher glycemic index foods) are unhealthy. In fact, they are just the opposite, but the quantity and combination of such ingredients should be carefully considered when juicing for wellness.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Some non-starchy veggies are artichoke, arugula, asparagus, bean sprouts, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, daikon, kale, eggplant, greens leek, lettuce, okra, onions, peppers, radishes, zucchini.

Some starchy veggies are beets, carrots, corn, green peas, parsnips, plantains, pumpkin, sweet potato, taro, white potato, winter squash, yams.

High Glycemic Index veggies are potatoes, corn, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips. Beans vary in glycemic index level.
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WHAT ABOUT ORGANIC PRODUCE?

Purchase as much organic produce as possible, since the pesticides are easily absorbed when the body comsumes juice.

Cucumbers tend to be expensive, yet they contain some of the highest pesticides. I typically rinse them in vinegar to help strip the pesticide residue from their skins, which I peel for added insurance.

One item, which you might buy non-organic, would be citrus due to the thick protective peel or rind, unless you intend to juice the entire rind. Then, organic is recommended.

The other perk to organic is that, as you refine your taste buds by consuming a clean unprocessed diet, you will find that organic produce has added flavor.

Eventually you might combine and juice whatever collaboration of produce you conjure up from your fridge (provided it follows the 3:1 ratio); this is my norm. In fact, if you have an overflow of produce that is soon to spoil, juicing is a fantastic way to avoid lost nutrients to the trash.

HOW LONG SHOULD A BEGINNER CLEANSE?

If you’ve never purely juiced before, I suggest starting with a one-day cleanse and easing yourself into the juicy goodness. This requires one day of raw fruits and veggies pre-cleanse and one day of gently cooked/blended fruits and veggies post-cleanse.

THE PRE- AND POST-CLEANSE REGIMEN

For anyone and everyone attempting a juice cleanse, I suggest allowing one day of low starch fruits and veggies before and after the actual juicing. This allows your body to adjust to the lighter fare, while lessening the withdrawal effects from your usual routine.
Regardless of how many times one cleanses, this is a vital step to make the cleanse most effective.

Pre-fast, (the word “fast” refers to the juice fast and is synonymous with the juice cleanse) your stomach receptors are expanded and stretched and awaiting a larger quantity of food. By leaning in from large meals, to fruit and veggie solids, to fruit and veggie liquids (aka juice), it is much less of a shock to your system. This single step could make a BIG difference.

Similarly, post-fast, your stomach receptors have shrunken from a liquid diet. Your body has become content with less, and you don’t want to undo this hard-sought progress with a heavy meal. If you resume heavy meals too quickly, you may very well end up with a stomach ache, nausea or bathroom blues.

Post-cleansing, you should resume solids slowly by starting with ½ of a steamed organic zucchini, which is especially gentle on your GI tract. Cooked squash, pureed soups, and blended smoothies are all good options following a juice cleanse.

The day after the post-cleanse, you can gently ease into a high-nutrient diet style with solids such as fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts/seeds, beans and legumes.

THE ACTUAL CLEANSE
1-Day Cleanse For Beginners

PHASE 1 – DAY 1

Raw fruits and veggies only. No animal products (meat, dairy, poultry, seafood), no nuts/seeds, no grains, no beans/legumes, no oil, no salt, no sugar, no flour, no alcohol, no coffee, no caffeine, no chocolate.

PHASE 2 – DAY 2

Organic raw fruits and veggies juiced in the 3 to 1 ratio, meaning that each of the cucumber, celery, broccoli stems and apple must have equal amounts of liquid juice. The amount of juice for each food will vary based upon the age, quality and type of the food.

PHASE 3 – DAY 3

Gently cooked squash, pureed soups, blended smoothies and fruit whips.

ALTERNATIVE
Alternative if you don’t have a juicer or if medications preclude The Juice Cleanse

An alternative is a blended cleanse, where you blend fruits and veggies in a high-powered blender to create green smoothies, blended soups and fruit whips for a prolonged period of time. This can have a similar effect to juice cleansing without adding stress to your system in the presence of medications.

LONG-TERM BENEFITS

While cleansing seems like a hot trend these days, it has real sustainable power to promote longevity and to reduce aging when made a regular part of your wellness routine.
Juicing provides a form of calorie-restriction and low caloric intake over time that is associated with an increased lifespan.

As a result, juice cleanses can be an integral part of health promotion to enhance quality of life while reducing inflammation in the body.

CONCLUSION

Once you master The Juice Cleanse, I suggest making it a monthly occurrence to help recalibrate your taste buds, cravings, quantities and food habits. In other words, make juicing your lasting friend rather than a temporary trend.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Juicing on a regular basis really feels good. It feels as if I have taken a bath from the inside out.

FEEDBACK

Please leave your comments below. We value them very much.
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ELISA RODRIGUEZ, AUTHOR

Elisa Rodriguez is a registered dietician. She emphasizes a whole food, herbivore eating style in addition to promoting blending, juicing and fasting for health.
Elisa is a living example of the power of healthy food and has defied Lupus through her whole food, plant-based diet. She has her degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Delaware and is available to work with people on dietary health issues.
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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR/PUBLISHER

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom. She believes in empowering the body through healthy foods. She says,

“The body loves fresh juice. It is so important that we give some to our bodies. We will be thanked a thousand times over.”

PREPARING TO THRIVE WITH FOOD ADDICTION: HOW TAI CHI MIND READIES US FOR CHANGE (Issue 29)

by Diane Gold

As someone who enjoys teaching, my main focus in passing on self-help is to teach people that it is easier and more effective to create smooth, one-step transitions in our lives than heart-wrenching, deprivation-based pathways. I am not saying that we don’t have to work hard to achieve change. I am saying that our attitude about the work can come from a place of endowment and not of hardship.

Tai chi is a way of thinking, moving, emoting and living where it is easier to ripple like water in a pond than it is to navigate through a raging ocean storm. (All mind/body training has similar goals.) Many hundreds of students I have taught and I, personally, use this way to navigate life. With this in mind, I believe that all the programs each of us chooses for personal development give us a foundation in how to be happy, healthy and wise and not sad, repressed and stressed out. These programs teach us to apply the knowledge to our every day lives.

So let’s say we study tai chi, based upon circles and the lack of angles. When we apply the balanced movement of tai chi to our lives, we panic less, walk more confidently, breathe more evenly, are more productive and more motivated. When we ignore or forget these principles of balance; we become pinballs, maneuvering obstacles and have no roots to hold on to. When we apply tai chi mind, including the slow movement of tai chi, to other areas of our daily existence, we end up understanding Aesop’s Tortoise Philosophy, that is,

“Slow and steady wins the race.”

Meaning we have to be prepared, persistent and positive when embarking on an undertaking, no matter what it is. But how many programs forget to include preparation?

Let’s say we want to lose weight. We must start at step 1: GET READY, as in,

“Ready, set, go.”

Instead of focusing on the flood of thoughts in our head about how we couldn’t stop eating a minute ago or an hour ago or yesterday or for the last 10 years through 16 weight loss programs; let’s prepare now for this goal of weight loss.

Most program guides leave out the part about preparing the mind. This one secret will affect our journey’s outcome.

CONCLUSION – WITH ACTION STEPS TO FOLLOW

With a relaxed and focused mind, we begin a quest with the best conditions for victory. When we first learn to surf, we don’t go out on a raging ocean; we opt for a calm sea when the waves are more predictable. When we go out on the most important date of our lives, most of us won’t wear a sweatshirt (although I did; we dress up. As simple as it sounds, when we spill certain substances on our clothes, we prepare them with certain cleaning helpers before putting them in a washing machine.

These help techniques are what we must provide for our mind. We might as well grab every advantage we can so that we can reach our goal with as little effort as possible. We must take steps to reduce our anxiety, understand what is ahead of us, perceive our situation and be our own cheerleaders. Even if we don’t believe in ourselves today, if we

“Fake it to make it,”

we have the best chance of becoming what we  act we believe.

Another important quote, this, said by Ben Affleck in Boiler Room,

“Act as if.”

It’s not that we will immediately transform and believe in ourselves, with stability and nerves of steel, devoid of personal challenges; but we will have taken a moment to examine where we are and where we are going. This act of preparation gives us the presence of mind and the awareness upon which success is built.

(This article is the result of my considering the many food help programs that exist today. I included the word “addiction” because it is a buzz word. It is not a helpful word for the consumer; it brings a weight all its own and carries with it stigma and prejudice. Labels help researchers; they usually do not help the people who are labeled until the labels do not obviously apply.?

ACTION STEPS

The truth is everyone can stop eating one specific food for a small part of one hour on a regular basis. After all, we breathe in between bites and do not consume our food while breathing in. So, if we break down our eating schedule, we already do what we wish to achieve. We already do not eat all the time.

Let’s say we eat 15 times a day, when we only want to eat 5 small meals a day. During those 15 times, though, there are always breaks between these meals. We will use those to our advantage.

We need to have a conversation with ourselves before we start out on our program, during one of those times we are not eating.

1)    This is what we should tell ourselves at the start of every day. (We can do so look in the mirror if we have one.)
a.    I am hopeful.
b.    I already know how to take breaks from eating.
c.    I am more likely to succeed by preparing my mind for my task.
d.    I have control over my actions, even if for a short time.
e.    I have the power to take a tiny step.
f.     I do not deserve to suffer over food.
g.    Making change can be my fun adventure.

2)    This step can be done once or continually.
Watch this You Can Do It movie clip

After taking these steps in (1) and (2), we can go about our day with a renewed attitude and our new food plan in mind.

If you would like help with a step-by-step food advocate, go to Food Advocate.

FOOD ADVOCATE, affectionately called M.A.M.A.

For the first time ever, we offer FOOD ADVOCATE to help you thrive.
M.agnify your ability to eat healthy food.
A.fford your Food Advocate.
M.otivate yourself.
A.ccess, 24/7.

Go ahead, check out FOOD ADVOCATE.

FEEDBACK

Your feedback is very important to us, and we appreciate your time in leaving it in the comment section below.
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DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight.com, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom. She loves to be an advocate for people, whether it be with weight issues, in personal or corporate wellness. She says, “We all need someone to lean on . That’s why we she has begun Food Advocate.”

Mind Sound is a wonderful program we can offer now. It is a scientifically proven technique where listening to sounds enhanced with particularly studied musical pulses can help us achieve our goals through the calming effect the music and pulse combinations brings to us.

This technology uses the same principles as the music therapists I studied with. There are three kinds of programs we can listen to:

• sounds alone, slow and meditative
• sounds along with verbal affirmations
• electronic sounds of a more rhythmic design

These programs can help us with any weight issues. We must be willing to be patient with them. Please stay tuned.

Mind-Sound: Music And Language Create Imagery Through Sound, An Interview With Heiko Martens-Scholz

by Diane Gold on July 9, 2012.

Our main article focuses on Heiko Martens-Scholz, motivational psychologist and author, and his success working with hundreds using mind-sound technology which he calls Hi-Tec-Motivation.

Also in this issue…

Which of these areas gives
YOUR DAUGHTER the most struggle?

1. eating junk food
2. eating oily food
3. eating salty food
4. eating sugary food
5. middle of the night eating
7. blaming others
8. sneaking food

Help Your Daughter TODAY!

Enter Your Name & Email, Right
To Get Access To FOOD ADVOCATE!

Food Advocate is a proven consulting program
that helps daughters love their weight, love their body and
love their relationship with food.

Fill Our The Form For Full Details.