More food for thought from the Beyond Chocolate newsletter.

PRINCIPLE NO. 8: Move
Remind me what these principles are about.

Ready, steady, go!

Your seasonal spirit may only just be kicking in but gyms across the country are already gearing up for the inevitable January peak in new memberships. And for the first few weeks of the New Year, all will be well. Eager recruits will have a glue-like attachment to their 'required' five times a week schedule until slowly, but surely, it all becomes unstuck. Five visits reduces to four, four ends up as three and three...three quickly becomes a memory of another failed resolution as the new kit is relegated to the under-stair cupboard, with the outdated celebrity exercise videos, dusty aerobic step and deflating exercise ball.

Here at Beyond Chocolate we know that moving is essential for all of us - for our health, for our wellbeing, for how we feel about ourselves and our bodies. We also know that, for many, the positive benefits are blocked by a mental wall of negative associations. Firm foundations of hatred are laid in old-style PE lessons, built upon by years of timetabling exercise alongside the latest diet and with each cry of 'I'm just not fit enough', the resistance grows. But it doesn't have to be like this and Beyond Chocolate's approach to moving your body can help.

Ready! Get moving now - don't wait for next Monday or until after Christmas. Make a deal with yourself to do just ten minutes of something and remind the resisting part of your brain that if you don't like it, you can stop.

Steady! Experiment. Found circuits soul-destroying and aerobics awful? Try belly-dancing, yoga, trampolining, horse-riding or salsa. Why not take advantage of the season and ice-skate, head out tobogganing or start a snowball fight?

Go! Tune in to how your body feels before, during and after moving. If you loved it, go again but take it in small steps and stay away from 'I must do this five times a week!' rules.

And as a final reminder that movement should be about pleasure not pain, glee not guilt, fun not failure, we hand over to Tegwen, London who attended a workshop in July 2008 and loves to move, for all the right reasons...

'Out on my 'run' this evening, there was a group of lads parked in a souped-up hatch-back, sitting on the incline at the end of my first mile. As I jogged past at a snail's pace, they jeered, stuck their heads out of the window and one of them yelled "Go on love, you can do it!" I just turned my head, flashed them a huge grin and yelled back "Thank you!" They laughed, and actually the whole thing made me feel great.

And why? Because, at the end of the day, who am I running for? Not for those kids in my class who used to bully me for being overweight, not for my family's gentle (!) insinuations that I could do with losing a few pounds and certainly not for a collection of teenagers parked up on a corner in London.

No. I'm running for me because it makes me feel good. About myself, about my life, about my body, just in general. I want to be around for a while and to get fit (not thin, mind - fit). And, you know what, those boys were right. I could do it. And I did.'

Just wondering if anyone is still interested in intuitive eating.

Hi Carol and everyone!

Me, me, me! I'm still interested! I'm not doing very well at it right now but I'm still interested. Sorry I've not been around. This is just a busy time of year.

I was just thinking today that it seems like I'm still in diet mode when it comes to holiday eating. I keep finding myself thinking "I'll get back at it after the new year starts." Is that diet mentality or what?!?! So yeah, I've been a slacker big time lately. Not really trying to eat intuitively, just eating to eat. Blah! Eating cause it's there. And once again I think the satisfaction factor is playing heavily in that area. I'm needing to get to the grocery store real bad and so I've just been grabbing whatever is available (which ain't much!) and I find myself looking for whatever it is that I'm wanting to eat and not finding it. So I eat whatever and go back looking for something else.

So have you finished the book yet, Carol? Still finding it helpful?

And how about you JamieJo, are you still hanging in there?

Hope everyone is doing well! Have a great one!

I've been giving it a lot of thought lately. I mean, I do eat intuitively to a degree. More than this summer. I'm working on how to move a little more in that direction.

For example, I'm realizing that the timing and size of my snacks isn't right. It's not bad, but it needs to work better for me. I can plan out nutritious, balanced meals and snacks for the day, and they look great on paper ...

But I'm finding that I need more of a midmorning snack. I'm hungry then no matter what I've had for breakfast. So I think I will be doing more of two breakfast morning . I'm tired of being hungry, even if it doesn't make me binge on anything.

Then, I'm finding I need a bigger lunch. I want some bread or something with lunch, and a piece of fruit. Then I think I don't even want/need an afternoon snack. Sometimes all that snacking gets to be its own burden!

Then I don't need as big a dinner as I've been having. Just because I can, doesn't mean I'm hungry for it . And I've been lazy about having a piece of fruit for dessert, and I miss it! I think I feel better with lots of fruit.

It's not that I was trying to stick to some dieting rule, it's more that I was just being lazy about tweaking it. And they're not even big changes. I enjoy the way I eat, but I can love it even more . So I'm working towards these changes over the next few weeks to months.

I think as I fine tune my eating routines a bit more, it will be easier to listen to my hunger. I find it so strange how HARD that is. I mean, I don't binge, and I don't starve. I don't have trouble with the extremes. But still, I'm not really eating more or less according to my hunger - I just eat my portioned out meal.

Hi Julie and Blue. I think sticking with eating when you're hungry is more difficult than it sounds if we haven't done that most of our lives. I mean, if you've been dieting for nearly 40 yr. what can you expect? Everything does taste so much better when you're hungry. I'm still reading the IE book. I've been reading the Anne of Green Gables series lately so I got sidetracked by that. But maybe that's a good thing if it means that I'm not concentrating on weight loss books.

I thought at first somehow you were going to tie in IE to something in the Anne of Green Gables books


I think you're on to something there!

I have such nostalgia for those books. Some day I'll have to read the first book and see how memory compares to now I've seen the actress from the movies in other things, and not been thrilled with her. But I loved her in the Anne movies, and will always picture her when I read the books.

From the Beyond Chocolate newletter.

PRINCIPLE NO. 9: Support yourself
Remind me what these principles are about.

Who knows what is a "healthy" diet?

What does the term 'healthy eating' mean to you? Open any magazine and you will find a bewildering array of conflicting and confusing messages. Every day, dozens of 'experts' purport to know what's best for you. We are bombarded with eating plans and food lists which promise to keep us younger, mentally alert and, of course, slim. Should we be eating more salmon or avoiding fish altogether? Is it blueberries, goji berries or acai berries that burn fat? Is butter better than margarine? Are baked potatoes good or bad carbs? Low fat, low carb, high protein, low GI, syns, points... confused?

For Beyond Chocolate, a healthy diet satisfies our body's physical, intellectual and emotional needs and is bound up with a healthy attitude to food whether it's apples or avocados, cheese or chocolate! In the context of Beyond Chocolate, when we talk about 'healthy eating' what we really mean is having a healthy attitude to eating and to food. Unfortunately, today the term 'healthy eating' has become another euphemism for dieting. A 'healthy diet' is not a low fat or low carb or low anything diet, it is a diet where carrots and chocolate both have an equal, rightful place. It's about turning to ourselves for the answers, learning to listen to what our bodies tell us and to make choices that keep us feeling in health and with a healthy attitude to food.

...and what is the "perfect" body?

Look at any magazine cover and you'll see headlines such as:

"Fail-safe tummy-trimming tricks"
"Top 10 dresses to disguise the party season bulge"
"Banish saggy boobs: the lowdown on lingerie"

Everywhere we look we are told that in order to be happy and successful we must have toned, bronzed, youthful and above all slim bodies. We are offered countless miracle solutions and "top 10 tips" on how to flatten stomachs, eradicate cellulite and hide our curves. But who decides what the perfect body is? And what happens to the 97% of the female population that doesn't - and never will - have it? At Beyond Chocolate, we don't believe that you have to be 'fat and happy' but we also know that if you wait to be thin to be happy - you are less likely to succeed. We know that the best way to lose weight is to stop focusing on how much we want our bodies to look different, how much we hate this bit or want to change that bit. The irony is that weight loss comes when we start to live in the body we have now and when we focus our attention on having a healthy, satisfying and balanced attitude to food. And yet most women who come on our workshops want to be thinner above anything else. At worse they hate their body, at best they tolerate it. Learning to accept and feel comfortable in the body you have now is the only way to get the body you want.

Hi, I'm still here, too. It would be a real shame if this thread died out, I think it's unique on 3FC. Carol, you're really on to something, I rarely read anything that isn't diet or school related, and, think I'd be a lot more fun and in the moment if I did. I'm rereading the book from cover to cover, really pausing to take it in. I'm a big pseudodieter, it was always for my health, but, the things I chose to do were always extremes I could never stick to. I've probably spent the equivalent of a new car on diet plans. If I decided to never buy another diet, that would be a hugely impowering step for me. Have a great day.
Amie

Hi, so sorry i have not been in. loss my brother 11/21 and so was taking care of him and with him alot. he was sick long time so at peace now. i am to as he was not good. so now christmas time and busy. but hey i will still drop in . losing wt still and i love that. my daughter got me curves for christmas so love it. all going good . MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. LaDean

I picked up a sore throat and sinus infection from my DH and I want to tell you I sure don't feel like exercising or doing much of anything. Plus we got a foot of snow last night. I have a son in Seattle and a daughter in Portland and by the looks of the weather map they are getting multiple storms. Can't wait to call my daughter to see how they are all doing. It's different for them because those cities don't have the snow removal equipment like we do.

Hey there!
Still here, reading the posts every day. Hard to reply with a 3-mo-old and a 1.5-yr-old. Diapers, potty training, etc.

About the "healthy eating," I need to interject that we've really become conscious about eating naturally-occuring foods. For example, I think that eating butter rather than manufactured margarine, or stevia/sugar/agave nectar rather than splenda/equal, is important.

I love IE because it seems RIGHT. It seems like exactly what God created our bodies to do: monitor themselves.

But does putting manufactured foods (marshmallows, highly-preserved cookies, etc.) in them go along with IE? I don't think so. I think that some of the manufactured foods or easily available foods that were not so easily available years ago are not necessarily good in large quantities. It's like putting trash in your gas tank instead of gasoline.

My DH's grandmother remembers living on the farm, and when she was hungry she would pick a plum off the tree for a snack. That seems more like what our diets should be like: in-season foods, naturally occurring, easily grown/produced.

But as has been brought out on here before, the way to truly get rid of the cravings for oreos is to just eat a whole bag and then puke them up later. Just give in. In our home, we're trying to retrain our cravings to tune them in with veggies and fruits and whole grains, especially those in season (I made some pumpkin/onion soup the other day--yum!).

My two cents...
I'm still here, reading every day, even if I don't post!!

Hey, mom2mollie, I think the point made in IE is that, after the restriction are taken away, you will naturally find that processed foods don't make you feel very good. I really like Tacobell, but, I don't eat it often, or much fast food, for that mater, because, it makes me dehydrated and I have a headache afterwords, salt and preservatives I guess. Carol, hope your throat and sinuses feel better. I'm in Ashland, and there's tons of snow. I seem remarkably food nonobsessed these days, knock wood, but, of course, there's Christmas, worrying about getting everything done.

Our computer has been acting up. I think it is the wireless router and they want $40 for service because it is out of warranty. I may be scarce here for awhile but I hope not.

i'm seriously concidering something like intuitive eating and wondering if anyone can tell me more about it...and on a side note how do you deal with people who are always saying you don't need to lose weight blah blah blah

Hey, Me4life, welcome. Intuitive eating is based on the book by the same name, by two nutritionists who got frustrated with the failure of dieting. It teaches you to accept all foods as having equal emotional value, not good or bad based on arbetrary nutrition rules, to eat the right amount to satisfy your body, to enjoy each bite, stop when you're full, accept your body as it is, and deal with your emotions without using food. It's an incredibly freeing way of life.
I would smile and thank those who say you don't need to lose weight, and perhaps realize that our issues with food go far beyand the size of our bodies. People who don't understand can be frustrating. Perhaps someone else on this board might be more help or give a different perspective. Seems to be kinda slow around here, must be the holidays.
Carol, I'll missyou, you are an inspiration and a fixture on this board, have you been with IE since it's inception on 3FC? Hope your computer problems are resolved soon.
I got two cookie jars for Christmas, remember how I always wanted one? When it rains it pours, I'll be baking overtime.
It looks like my relationship of a year and a half may end, my choice. No matter how much I give it's never enough, my Bf has no self esteem, and refuses to stop drinking. He's very sweet to me, but awful to himself. I don't want to be with someone like this. So, while I'm sad, it's best for me.
I'm leaving town tomorrow, I'll check the board before I leave. Be back Tuesday.
Amie