I’ve got to say that I feel good not eating meat. The first two months I had visions of a cheeseburger or a pulled pork sandwich slathered in barbecue sauce as my “reward” meal for being a good vegetarian for a year. Now four and a half months into my no-meat lifestyle and the cravings have stopped. Seeing a slab of beef or a cheeseburger doesn’t have the same appeal to me anymore. I was experiencing bloating, heartburn and acid reflux after certain meals with meat in them. I didn’t find out the cause until I stopped eating meat and I don’t miss those symptoms at all.
It finally clicked one day while contemplating a meaty dish being prepared on TV. I realized that I wasn’t being nostalgic about the food itself. I missed the comfort, the memories, the experience attached to the food. I was able to separate that mental/emotional part from the actual food which I now understand can be detrimental to my health in the long run. I had experienced what Dr. Kessler wrote about in his book, The End of Overeating, first hand.
The emotional relationship that we create with food can be the cause of those extra 20 pounds that we can’t seem to get rid of. We feel so powerless to food that is sitting on a plate literally screaming out for us to eat it, in our minds, then we blame ourselves for not having the will power to ignore it. It is not that simple to just say no. You must understand, for example, the reason why you have to pick up that Twinkie every time you get to the check out line at the grocery. Is it because your grandma used to pack it in your lunch every day and to this day eating a Twinkie makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Break it down, get to the root of the matter. Then separate yourself from it. Your grandma loved you with or without the Twinkie, and she probably wouldn’t want to see you become ill from all that processed food.
The key ingredient here is to inform yourself. Find out what exactly is in the food you eat and where it came from. Are those ingredients or methods of preparation and manufacturing going to give your body what it needs to run smoothly or are they going to slow you down? How do you want to look and feel a year from now? Is that food going to get you closer to your goal or make it harder for you to get there? Do you think that eating that food will make you feel better and why? Take 30 seconds, think about it, it may just change your whole outlook.
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