Affirmation of the Day: It’s Now Okay To See Myself At My Perfect and Ideal Weight

Stories abound about Anorexics looking in the mirror and seeing their skeletal frames as fat. That distorted view isn’t limited to people with clearly defined eating disorders – or perhaps more of us are at the effect of eating disorders than we think.

There is something radically wrong with a society in which the picture of the perfect body is set by anorexic teenagers when two thirds of the population is overweight; a society in which the national pastime, particularly for teenagers, flips between crash diets and junk food; a society in which children as young as four are turning up with Type II Diabetes – which used to be called “Adult Onset Diabetes,” which is a food-related disease. Most of the problem is that the food we are sold as not healthy. Some of the problem is in our vision.

Most of us might say that what you see is what is in the mirror. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not just “beauty” is in the eye of the beholder, everything is in that eye. Sex appeal is in the eye of the eye of the beholder. Acceptance into a group is in the eye of the beholder. Overweight is in the eye of the beholder. Your next raise is in the eye of the beholder.

How To Change Your Mind

How do you change that dynamic so that your life isn’t at the effect of a jaundiced eye (“All is yellow to the jaundiced eye”)? You change your mind about everything, including what you see when you look at yourself, by using affirmations. Affirmations are phrases that you repeat over and over to yourself. Affirmations can be negative (“I look awful!”) or positive (“The more I exercise the better I feel”).

To change your mind about something, create an affirmation, write it on a 3 x 5 card in red ink (red being the color of intention), and carry it with you in your pocket – not your purse where you’ll forget it in a heartbeat. Do not post it on the bathroom mirror because you will quickly reach a point where you don’t see it. Repeat that affirmation frequently through the day. Hook it to a behavior pattern. Every time you take a walk (and short frequent walks – particularly after meals – is recommended, repeat that affirmation. Every time you cross a street, repeat the affirmation. When you brush your teeth, repeat that affirmation. Make it part of your thinking, part of your every day habits and behavior patterns.

It’s Now Okay

In the affirmation that is the title of this piece, we have added the words “it’s now okay.” This is an affirmation addition developed by Suzy Prudden when she discovered that some of the affirmations she was giving to her clients didn’t work, because her clients didn’t believe them. If they said, “I now see myself at my perfect and ideal weight,” their mind might argue with them. “Yeah right!” If they added, “It’s now okay to see myself at my perfect and ideal weight,” most of the time their mind would accept the affirmation and allow them to change their view of themselves. Sometimes Suzy would have to add, “I am now willing for it to be okay to see myself at my perfect and ideal weight.” Ultimately, you have to begin where you are with your subconscious, not where you wish you were which is ultimately where you are working to go.

Why It’s Important

It’s important to see yourself at your ideal and perfect weight because that’s the goal. If your old habit is to see yourself as fat, then your subconscious mind will see fat as your goal. If your mind sees you as Twiggy when you are actually at an ideal weight, and you don’t like the half-starved Twiggy look, your subconscious mind will reject that picture and push you back toward your fat image. If you have a picture of a thinner, fitter you as your ideal and perfect weight, then your subconscious mind will help you achieve that picture and keep you at that picture.

Does that sound like “woo-woo?” It does and it works – don’t forget our minds are fairly primitive. Under any circumstances, I’m a big one for going with what works. The best news about strategically using Affirmations is that they don’t usually work fast. They work gradually and over time which is the best way to deal with weight. At Pounds Off Programs we suggest you lose a pound to a pound and a half a week. We offer lifestyle change – not yo-yo.

The Trouble With Sugar

The trouble with sugar is not simply that it adds empty calories to your diet and contributes to weight gain and Type II Diabetes. The trouble with sugar is that is REALLY harmful to your bones contributing seriously to osteoporosis – which is a killer of post-menopausal women.

Sugar is processed. In the processing of the sugar the minerals – particularly calcium – that the body would use to digest the sugar are removed. In order to digest the sugar your body has to rob from its own calcium supply – it takes from those places where calcium is plentiful – teeth and bones. Osteoporosis is a result of loss of calcium from the bones. One half of women over 65 run the risk of hip fractures because of osteoporosis.

There are a number of lifestyle activities that contribute to osteoporosis: alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, lack of weight bearing activity, lack of sunshine and vitamin D – are examples.

At the turn of the 19th century, sweeteners, like sugar were kept under lock and key and used only for VERY special purposes. The average American might have ingested a couple of tablespoons of sugar a year. Today, we consume over 150 pounds – that’s POUNDS – of sugar a year. So many things have sugar in them that absolutely don’t need it. Most processed foods have some form of sweetener in them – mostly high fructose corn syrup – which is a real contributor to Diabetes. Even something like vinaigrette salad dressing has 2 grams of sugar in each bottle. You can’t taste the sugar. It doesn’t do anything for the dressing. It’s just there making trouble for the body.

How do you avoid it? Don’t eat any processed food - period. Start by staying away from things you know contain sugar – soft drinks, fruit drinks, candy bars, cakes, pies and cookies. Read labels as if your life depended on it. Avoid things that say sugar, sucrose, lactose, fructose, dextrose and every other kind of -trose on it. Figure out how to cook from scratch. It takes a little doing but the food tastes better and you really can taste the flavor of the ingredients. It also saves money. When you buy processed anything you are paying for the cost of the cooking that you aren’t doing yourself.

Most processed foods are “Food Like Substances” in the words of Michael Pollen. You want to switch to food. You want to eat the way your ancestor’s ate – fresh, alive, whole foods. Your health and your quality of life depend on it.