Shake it up!

This is the first day of Autumn. Leaves are turning colors and wind has picked up. The seasons are a symbol of natural rhythms that are part of Life. Shake up your eating habits and look at colors differently. Eat something that is only fresh now, and notice how your body responds. I think you'll have an unexpected energy boost.

Just like the weather has seasons and you change your wardrobe, the seasons are also a natural time for you to change the kinds of foods you eat. When eating is a habit - like you have the same lunch every day, or always eat a certain breakfast, or never have eggs for dinner- you lose touch with what your body really wants and needs.

Your body makes it clear when you're hungry. However it's important to realize your body's needs change all the time. That means different foods satisfy you at different times. Don't eat the same foods all the time because your body won't be satisfied, and you will still feel hungry. ouch. Take a few moments to notice what you're eating and how you feel.

It's September, and suddenly there are different fresh foods at the market. This is a natural head's up that something new is available. Take it as an opportunity to eat seasonal foods you never tried before. Different foods nourish different organs in your body. Your body will tell you what it needs. Be bold and enjoy the experiment.

You will achieve success of your eating goals by using your senses to notice what's going on with your body. Your senses naturally connect with what feels right, because your senses keep you in touch with the bigger picture of your life. Use your 6 senses and you will maintain, not gain weight.

When it comes to diet and eating, your habit may be to see your self though others eyes, or to feed your body what others suggest. Taking suggestions makes sense only when you use your brain with your gut and respond to what your body feels. You have the answers for you. Nobody else does.

Changing your eating routine is going to be exciting. Shake it up, feel refreshed and benefit with the body you want.

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden

Change your body?

“We cannot change anything unless we accept it.” Carl Jung

Last night I had dinner with a woman who told me that she had tried to love her body, but she could not. She had been told to love her body to lose weight, and this put a lot of pressure on her. Ouch. Fortunately, she doesn’t have to love her body to lose weight, but she does have to stop fighting with it. The first step toward change is acceptance. Acceptance means you will work with your body to achieve your weight goals. When you accept your body, you trust your self. It is not automatically easy, and it takes courage.

The result of not trusting your self is, you lose self-respect. Then, you feel cowardly. Then, you get mad at your self, and act in a self-destructive way. You may eat mechanically, out of anger, frustration, or boredom. Then, eating is not about physical hunger or appetite, it’s not a response to your senses, it’s a self-destructive habit. Self destructive behavior is an example of fighting with your body.

Does this mean you have to love your body no matter what you see in the mirror? Absolutely not. When you use your eyes and look at your body in the mirror and it looks out of shape, it doesn’t feel good. When you accept your body, then you are free to choose to do what feels right to change it. Instead of fighting with your self by condemning your body, you can decide to work with your self, to pay attention to how your body feels, what messages you are getting from your six senses, and what you know, to achieve a healthier body.

When you don’t accept your self, you are creating stress inside. When you don’t like your body, you are condemning yourself. You are creating hostility inside that will bug you and press your buttons every time you look in the mirror. The result is- you will unintentionally, punish your self by self-destructive eating.

Change won't happen over night or even in a week.  What will change overnight is your attitude.  Once you stop fighting with your body, you won't look at food the same way. Instead of resenting your body, you will work with it, doing what you know and feel is good.  In fact you will be using your intuition, and your body will respond.  That's a guarantee.

When things are not ideal, it is not easy to face them. But it’s a fact that not dealing with reality will not change it! Instead it’s helpful to realize that the present is the foundation for the future, and that accepting what is real means you can change it.

Download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating 

for practical advice, and you will change your body! 

When you ignore your senses, you sabotage your happiness.

Connect with your body when you eat.

If you think about eating strictly in terms of calories and rigid diets, you are missing the point of eating which is to re-fuel your body so you can have the best quality of life possible. It is intuitive to respond to your body when you eat. Your body is clear about when you're hungry, what you're hungry for, and how you feel about what you eat.

Being in tune with your 5 senses keeps you in touch with subtle bodily feelings that you may currently be ignoring. Then your intuition connects what you sense, with your mind, and that is how you realize when a decision that might habitually seem perfectly natural and reasonable is not really focused on who you are or your hunger. Intuition balances and connects your senses, mind, and emotions, it constantly gives an update that is an empowering perspective. You perceive this as an insight.

The fact is nobody rules your hunger, or your body, but you, which is why it is good to connect with your body by listening to your senses. Trusting your inner voice frees you, from rules imposed by the experience of others, to create ways of eating based on your own life realities. It also frees you to adopt rules others have discovered that intuitively feel right for you. As you learn to recognize your intuition, you will have a different perspective about eating choices.

It is not always easy to know what we want to eat because often we are a slave to our desires. This morning I saw a TV commercial for a vegetable chopper. A great looking guy in his 20’s was really enjoying chopping onions while he said, “You will have an exciting Life with (product name).”  “You can chop your troubles away!”  “You will get skinny again, one slap/chop at a time.” The target of this commercial is our desire to live a great life. But the reality is, even if this is the best vegetable chopper ever invented, it won’t bring excitement into your life. If you are a slave to your desires, you will call that 800 number right now. If you listen to your intuition, you will laugh out loud at this charming and audacious commercial.

Fine tuning your senses helps you identify and change deep-seated patterns or habits in your diet decisions that prevent you from realizing your long term diet goals.

Ignoring what you see, hear, smell, taste, or see hurts your body. When you ignore your senses you are not in control of your appetites.

Ultimately, when you ignore what you want, by ignoring your senses, your body knows it and shows it. Remember the role of your senses is to give you pleasure and protection.  Protect your self.  Use your senses to connect with your body and you will recognize that you are in control of your choices.

Will really listening you your senses guarantee that you will lose weight?

No.  Paying attention to your senses is the beginning of recognizing your 6th sense. It's like opening the door. Intuitive eaters maintain their 6th sense connection by depending on intuitive eating tools. Once you master the tools, this diet is guaranteed.

Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist, inventor of SENSA and Neurological Director of The Smell and Taste treatment  and Research Foundation in Chicago, has done remarkable studies on taste and weight loss and observed the profound effect your senses of taste and smell have on the amount of food you eat.  Dr. Hirsch discovered that patients who lost their sense of smell gained 10 to 30 pounds.  As a result he theorized that if the loss of smell leads to weight gain, that enhancing smell can promote weight loss.  And it does! Smell you food before you eat it and watch your habits change.