Failing & getting back on course

By Sonia Salfity,
Desperate Dieter

Have you ever asked yourself “Why me?” when you’re with people who don’t appear to have food issues. Sometimes we dream of switching places with someone who looks like they have it all together. I’m here to tell you to be careful what you wish for!

First impressions

Whether it’s obvious or not, every human being struggles with something. You’re better off accepting the fact that everyone fights a battle no one knows about. Some people are open about their challenges, but others are more private and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Understanding this is very important as we tend to judge the book by its cover before we’ve even read enough chapters. I recently heard someone on our local news say “don’t judge me by the chapter you happen to enter in.” Who doesn’t have a bad day now and then?

Can you imagine someone judging you based on the first impression you made on your worst day?

Accepting challenges

Once we accept our challenges, we can better focus on how to thrive despite them. It’s not realistic to think that one day we will wake up and never have to struggle with food or weight issues ever again. That may work in some fantasy land but not in the real world we live in.

What can make this even more difficult is that we live in a commercial world whose economy benefits off of our challenges. Advertisements for that magic pill come at us from every direction whether it’s on television, billboards or magazines and that’s not counting social media.

If it’s not a medication they’re pushing on us, then it’s the unrealistic body images that only a plastic Barbie doll would fit their mold.

The sad reality is that this does not just negatively impact us, but also impacts our children and, in turn, their children as well — actually, it affects us all.

Just as a stone you toss into the water makes ripples that grow wider, so does the effect our negative selfimage have on everyone around us. From the affect it has on our moods to the pressure it puts on us to look a certain way.

Indeed, the list is endless when it comes to the physical, emotional and mental impact all this has on us. I don’t know about you, but this can really put a toll on us desperate dieters. It’s a heavy burden that we don’t need to be carrying.

Healthier living

With that in mind, I urge you to join me as we fight to get our lives back. Doing what’s healthier for us requires us to tune out the noise of the world, including the media and ads, and other people’s comments.

Healthier living demands our full focus and attention. It requires our perseverance and determination to move more and eat well. By that I mean going back to basics and ditching all processed foods.

In other words, let’s go back to eating the way our ancestors did before convenience took over and was boxed and sold to us as being more progressive.

Friends, the only thing that’s progressive about processed foods is the number on our scales progressively going up!

Here’s to making the time to wash and chop real veggies to making delicious homemade salads.

I remember the days we ate from my grandparent’s garden: foods like cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchinis, radishes, grapes and grape leaves to name just a few.

Little did we realise then the benefits of eating fresh and organic selections.

Friends no matter how many times we fail let’s get back on course and keep moving in the right direction!

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently” – Henry Ford

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine