Do You Want To Lose Your Weight?

The importance of living a healthy lifestyle for maintaining general good health and preventing chronic diseases has been well established. A healthy lifestyle is quite simple to achieve – one does not need to do anything “crazy” to adopt a healthy lifestyle. I will say that a certain amount of independent thinking is required to separate truth from fiction in most modern health advice currently being delivered.

The most important thing you can do is eat well. Avoid toxins in your food as much as possible and consume plenty of fresh fruit, veggies and whole grains; exercise moderately a few times per week; avoid smoking, including secondhand smoke; and avoid gaining too much weight (which should come naturally if you eat right and exercise). While it is not always possible to eat all Organic food – the EWG recommends 12 fruits and vegetables that should be organic because of their higher levels of pesticide residue. Avoiding environmental toxins as much as you can is an important part of achieving a healthy lifestyle.

Our modern lifestyle is very convenient – but it can also be extremely unhealthy. Most of us eat too many processed foods and too few fruit and veggies; we rarely exercise; and when we develop chronic conditions such as diabetes, we rely on conventional medications to make us feel better – but these medications often have devastating side effects. Instead of accepting the importance of living a healthy lifestyle for us and for future generations, we continue with our bad habits – then take potent, toxic medication to treat our inevitable symptoms.

Of course, not all aspects of living a healthy lifestyle are in our control. We are going to be exposed to certain environmental toxins whether we like it or not. But many of these factors are absolutely in our control. Whenever we can, we should be responsible and make the right choices.

This is why it is so important to be sure you eat well as the key factor in achieving a healthy LIFESTYLE.

I say “lifestyle” because what I know is that “eating well” can sometimes be something a person does with resentment because they feel “sacrifice” is required to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

I remember when people who ate poor foods used to joke with me and say I was not really living because I chose not to eat pizza and drink beer – and I always replied “how much LIVING can you do when your body is recovering from what you put in it?

Shifting from an Unhealthy to a Healthy Lifestyle

The reason I discuss the healthy lifestyle tip of simply EATING WELL on my blog is because it has been so effective for my health.

It was not always like this though. I remember when I was addicted to a chocolate bar each day and I always had headaches or an infection or illness of some kind.

In addition to excessive sugar cravings (eating a chocolate bar each day) I also suffered from many unhealthy symptoms that were challenging to resolve through traditional medicine: Frequent headaches, Skin problems (ie. eczema, acne, hives, Bloating, Gas, Bad Breath, Weak or brittle hair and nails, Fatigue and lethargy, Excessive stress, Candida overgrowth, Yeast infections, Food or Environmental Allergies, Anxiety or depression, Diarrhea, Constipation, Memory loss, Mood swings, Frequent colds or infections, PMS or bad menstrual cramps, Bladder infection, Loss of sex drive…etc

Ughhh! No fun at all!

Years later, I LOVE good food and I am rarely sick. Eating well is the perfect way to get in tune with your body and really get back to basics of what your body needs. It challenges you to give up the vices that you take for granted, break your addictive eating habits and start again from the beginning. Eating well is a healthy lifestyle choice that gives you clarity on what your body really needs, not craves and becomes the foundation for all other healthy lifestyle choices.

An important thing to remember with eating well is to really examine your root philosophy for adapting more healthy foods into your lifestyle.

This is SO IMPORTANT!

If it’s simply to loose a few pounds – I personally feel that this is not enough of a motivator and you will set yourself up for “failure” however, if you choose to eat well to enjoy a better quality of life, to do things you have not done in years and to not get sick anymore, then this is a wonderful motivator that will likely last!

So, getting really practical, eating well obviously involves making a few changes to the foods you prepare and enjoy.

I always listen to my body when I eat. I do not calorie count, measure my fist, use ratio’s or anything that causes me to separate myself form the food I eat.

The main reason I enjoy excellent health is because I am critical of what I eat – I choose to eat REAL food.

Because of this, I do not need expensive supplements or challenging programs to maintain my weight.

Delicious menus of real, whole foods allow me to enjoy the things so many diet plans warn against.

This sounds simple enough, but what I have learned is that many people simply do not know what a healthy lifestyle consists of, especially when it comes to food!

I try to keep things as simple as possible. I shop from the perimeter of the grocery store, eat mostly wild and free range chicken, very little meat and mostly raw organic fruits and vegetables, with beans and rice. It’s not practical to list everything I eat here, but feel free to visit my blog and download your FREE Healthy Grocery List while you are here!

Goddess is a very misunderstood concept that has been given many meanings. There is of course the ancient, mythological meaning that we all have a clear understanding of. But when it comes to the role of the Goddess in modern times, let alone women embodying and becoming Goddesses, the term is often misused. Some speak of the ‘Goddess of Marketing’ or the ‘Entrepreneurial Goddesses’ when paying a woman a compliment on her professional expertise. Others use the term when referring to feminine leadership. So is Goddess just an ancient figure? Is the term referring to professional excellence? Or does it refer to an inherent sacred feminine essence that transgresses time and space? And why has the term gained popularity in recent times? Clearly it is time to move humanity from a dominantly fear based mindset to a purely love based state of being.

The Power of Fear

Fear is the foundation of our society and has been used for millennia to control humans. If people are living in fear of punishment they will do anything those in power desire: pay taxes, parking fines and have vaccinations. Fear is a masculine principal that became necessary when some wanted to impose their will on others, when comparison, competition and thus the need to control came into play.

The power games of the rulers throughout time have brought our planet to where it is now and the Earth is responding with her ever increasing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. They are mirroring back to us our own ignorance, our attitude of separation and our fear. They are the alarm clock that is ringing to awaken us to who we truly are: spiritual beings in a human body, beings of love, One with all that is.

Some people are awakening out of their materialistic, selfish slumber, yet the majority is simply happy that they are not affected by the devastation, or they blame God for that they are ‘unlucky’ to be affected, instead of understanding that we create our reality ourselves.

2012 is approaching. The Earth is shifting into a new phase and right now, we are not in harmony with the Earth, thus being affected so terribly by these changes. Goddess lives in her heart, she is One with the Earth and this is why it is pertinent to bring her back to the planet now. Not through some external force, but from deep within ourselves because we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. It is time to hear the alarm clock and wake her up from the slumber deep within our heart. Women must lead the way and become fully awakened, fully empowered Goddesses, letting go of all the fear-based conditioning that has been impregnated into our psyche for centuries and lifetimes. It is only then, that men can awaken their Goddess within themselves. For like with Yin and Yang, we each need both aspects fully realised to become whole.

Love is a feminine principal based on acceptance, inclusion and collaboration. It means that everyone is equal but different, everyone is empowered, no one is kept at bay and everyone can be the best they can be without stepping on someone else’s toes or being a threat, because there is no comparison and everyone is accepted just the way they are.

Can you imagine a society like that? How much easier it would be? There would be no emotional wreckages, no depression, no insecurities; just fully self-realised individuals.

Goddess in Ancient Times

This is how society was a very long time ago, such as in the times of ancient Egypt. It was a time when we lived in communities not nuclear families. Children were able to stay with their mothers and this strong bond gave security and safety, creating a strong foundation for emotionally healthy, secure individuals. Women knew how to harvest natural remedies to cure and prevent ailments. Women were revered for their mystical power, their wisdom, intuition and their connection to Mother Earth.

Everyone lived in harmony with nature. There was a natural exchange, not the reckless, selfish and ignorant taking that has brought the planet to where it is today.

The harmonious relationship between men and nature was further reflected in the rhythmical female cycle that fell on the Full Moon when women retreated into the temples to honour themselves during this time of letting go and renewal.

Rites of passage into womanhood were celebrated in the temples where the girls were initiated into sexual practices by the priestesses and shown how to pleasure themselves as part of knowing who they are as fully empowered sexual and creative beings. There was no humiliation, no guilt, no shame, no accidental coercion into sexuality, but conscious empowered practice.

People were strong and healthy, living in harmony with each other and nature.

Bringing the Ancient into the Present

It is time now to bring harmony and love fully back to the planet. This change needs to be initiated firstly by women, through tapping into their flowing, creative, loving, sacred feminine essence and pure power, tapping into their Goddess self. Men cannot activate and remember this part of themselves until the women in their life do so first. We are the mirrors, and for too long have not just mirrored masculine energies, we have absorbed and enacted them. So we have a responsibility to show them the way, not from within the masculine principals of abusive power but from love and truth.

Men cannot become whole as fully empowered beings until women embrace Goddess. For each human has the masculine feminine dynamic inherent in their nature, like Yin and Yang. Women have more than learnt to awaken and embody their masculinity. We have been conditioned to believe it is the only way we have been able to survive in this patriarchal world that has existed for thousands of years.

It happened in early Egyptian times when the power was taken away from the priestesses and may have even began in Sumerian times before that. Can you imagine a time when women once ruled the planet? It did exist, and there was no hunger and no war.