Just recently, I heard two friends say, “I’ll eat better when I’m less stressed.”
It seems than many of us are waiting until they are less stressed or they get some big problem solved or they retire before they can focus on their health.
Are you one of these people?
This got me to thinking. Why are so many people struggling with health and weight issues, yet they are not able to make any life style changes to improve their lives?
Read on to discover my top six reasons people don’t change their eating habits.
What got me to thinking
I had lunch with a friend. She has a very stressful job. She knows that inflammation is a problem for her. She is worried about her health and wishes she could lose weight. She said wanted to start exercising to lose weight even though she has not exercised in all the years I’ve known her.
When I suggested changing her diet, she asked, “Isn’t there a pill I could take instead?”
Then I had dinner with another friend. She has numerous serious health issues including type 2 diabetes. She ate a non-diabetic-friendly meal topped off by a huge piece of cheese cake (really!). She said she was having a really stressful day.
Anytime I suggest changing her eating habits, she has a long list of excuses. She is seeking medical treatment to lower her inflammation. So far all of these methods have failed to help her.
What is going on here?
These two people are not unusual. People all over are struggling with their health and are unable to make any life style changes.
I came up with six reasons people are not able to change their eating habits.
1. When you are stressed out, you seek ways to feel better. Much of our inflammation causing foods taste really good and you feel nurtured when you eat them. Unfortunately, these foods only increase inflammation and stress in the body.
2. The thought of making any life style changes increases your stress level. Even though the change could lower your stress level, the thought of change is too much.
3. You have turned your health over to your doctor. You are expecting your doctor to solve all your health problems.
4. You are addicted to inflammation causing foods. Sugar and grains that have been processed into flour act like drugs in your body. When you stop eating these foods cold turkey, your body goes into withdrawal. You feel awful and your food cravings go through the roof. Even the thought of letting go of these foods is too painful.
5. Your family would not support you. No one in your family wants to eat healthy. It is less stressful to go along with your family than to rock the boat.
6. You don’t feel good enough or deserving enough to make a change. This is a “why bother” attitude.
Did you see yourself on this list? Are there other issues holding you back from making life style changes?
Why is it important to eat healthy?
What we eat affects our health and happiness much more than most people realize. Nora T. Gedaudas, author of Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and Beyond (2011) tells us “what we eat ultimately accounts for nearly 70 percent of our health and longevity”. Gedaudas goes on to say “You cannot have healthy psychological functioning without a healthy, properly nourished body”.
Our diets are filled with processed foods, sugar, and chemicals (food additives). Not only do these foods lack nutrition, but they create chronic inflammation in your body. This chronic inflammation stresses your system and leads to heart disease, chronic pain, depression, dementia, and many other serious diseases.
Where do you go from here?
If the information in this post touched a nerve and you are beginning to consider making a change, I have two suggestions for you.
First, if a lack of self-worth or other limiting beliefs are holding you back, address these first. Check out the poetry of emotion process. You can release limiting beliefs without re-living any traumatic memories.
Second, explore healthy eating plans. The Mediterranean diet is a good place to start. This diet has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and increase life span.
Let me know what you are thinking. Leave me a comment below.
(Image: Squashy @ Flickr)
