CUT CALORIES IN 2013
By Food Freedom Mentor and Yoga Teacher Darshana Weill
2013. The beginning of a new year and the start of new resolutions. I like making resolutions. It’s like the beginning of a yoga class when you set an intention.
Doing (more) yoga, eating better and raising the bar on your health commitment are often resolutions on many people’s lists. Therefore I want to offer a chance to radically change your viewpoint on food and eating habits especially when it comes to cutting calories.
At this time of year clients want to cleanse from winter and holiday foods, a desire to use foods for more energy and perhaps use food to heal some kind of health concern.
Those are all fantastic ways to use food for healing. Yet I also see another resolution in the New Year over and over and over again. The plan to go on “a diet” and cut calories.
Being an ex dieter I understand. This resolution was on my list for years, well decades. Each January 1st I would vow that this was the year I would change my diet forever, stop binging, restrict the amount of food I put in my body (that’s where the calorie counting came in) and be that healthy person I wanted to be.
I used to think that the best way and perhaps the only way to do this was by religiously adhering to the formula eat less (calories), exercise more. Now it is true, it does work but was it the only way to maintain my weight and be healthy?
When I was about 27 years old I decided I would take a different approach. I call it the yogic path with food. And here is what I discovered.
As I learned to transition from eating a standard American diet to a sudo health food diet to what I eat today, a real whole foods diet filled with grains, greens, sweet vegetables, high quality vegetarian and non-vegetarian protein and high quality fats, the numbers game became irrelevant.
Why would I have to count calories when I was placing heaping amounts of kale and carrots on my plate? I didn’t. Weren’t fruits and veggies always counted as unlimited foods on “a diet”?
The numbers game was only relevant when I
· Ate processed foods.
· Ate them unconsciously.
· Didn’t trust my own internal body to know when I was full.
· Was out of touch with my bodies voice, eating rhythm and pattern
· When I was making up for a binge
All of these reasons forced me to count all the calories I had just eaten because then I could maneuver all the other foods I ate the rest of the day so I wouldn’t have to feel bad about myself because I still came in under the amount I had allotted myself that day.
But here is the further problem. Calories counting and going on “a diet” encourages you to think about what you are going to eat, not feel. Learning how to nourish yourself becomes a kind of mathematical game to figure out, every day.
As a yogi I want to encourage you to stay out of your head. The practice of yoga directs us into a larger wisdom in side and that wisdom comes from something much grander than your ability to think, especially when it comes to nutrition.
Freeing and healing yourself with food is just like the yoga on your mat. It’s an inquiry into the unknown, not some calculated method. It involves breaking down the conditioning you have with food (and believe me there is a lot of that) and the ability to stay in the moment and ask yourself: what am I hungry for?
So in 2013 here is what I suggest. Just cut calories. Meaning this …stop counting calories.
Stick to whole natural foods. Put your focus and attention on how to curb your cravings, balance your hormones and eat in moderation (bramachara). And leave the #’s out of it.
If you are interested in learning more I want to invite you to join me in January for three Saturdays at Yoga Tree Hayes for the 21 days to food freedom program. A cleanse for women ready to kick their cravings to the curb.
This program will focus on eating through intuition, how to use your yoga practice to strengthen your health and support you to liberated your relationship to food. For more details or to register go to: http://bit.ly/Darshana21DayCleanseStartsJan12Hayes
If you can’t make this one or have questions or want to speak to me about whether this is the right fit for you email me directly at darshana@darshanaweill.com.
And I would love to hear what you thought about the article. Write your comments in the space below.
In health and service~
Darshana
Darshana Weill is a Food Freedom Mentor and Yoga Teacher. She founded 21days Food Freedom Program and the Kiss Uncontrollable Eating Goodbye Program. She teaches women to use consciousness in their relationship to food. She works with individuals and groups. She also teaches a variety of health related workshops around the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and nationally.
NEXT WORKSHOP AT THE YOGA TREE
21 Days to Food Freedom
A cleanse for women ready to kick their crazy cravings to the curb.
January 2013.
Saturdays
January 12, 19 & 26, 2013
To register go to: http://bit.ly/Darshana21DayCleanseStartsJan12Hayes
OTHER WORKSHOPS DARSHANA TEACHES AT THE YOGA TREE
The Yoga of Food: How is life feeding you?Nutrition 101, Sugar can be Medicine, Women’s Wellness: Treat PMS Naturally and Yoga and Food For Emotional Eating.
To find out more about Darshana’s program
FINDING FOOD FREEDOM
Check out www.darshanaweill.com or
www.findfoodfreedom.com/21days
To contact Darshana directly call 510-423-0603 or email her at darshana@darshanaweill.com
Want more recipes? Check out Darshana’s 50 quick and easy recipes Ecookbook: http://darshanaweill.com/page/cookbook-1
