“My philosophy on eating right is to allow rather than deprive, because deprivation leads to bingeing. Learn how to have half a piece of cake because you really want it. You are not “fat” if you ate, and you are not “good” if you didn’t.” -Janine Rayford Rubenstein

One of the most important changes we have to make when teaching ourselves to live a healthy style is to stop letting the scale or the foods we eat define us. You are not a number on the scale. You are not a bad person if you ate pizza over the weekend and didn’t stop at one piece.

Food does not have any power of it’s own. The only power it possesses comes from the thought we give it. So often in traditional dieting, we have lived in a state of deprivation that we make food into way more than it really is. We say some foods “call to us” but of course they don’t really! It’s our thought that gets hung up on wanting it…searching for satisfaction and mistakenly thinking more food is the answer.

Our thoughts sound something like this: “How come ‘those thin people’ don’t clean their plates? How can they leave a few bites just sitting there? If I was that thin, I’d eat it all and more.”

The answer is because many “naturally thin people” are not living with a scarcity mentality. They are not afraid of not getting enough. Food has less control over them because they don’t give it control!!! It’s not about being good or bad to them and it shouldn’t be to us either.

Be kind to yourself. Start to focus on portion control. It will allow you to have the foods you love AND stay on a healthy track! We have to eliminate the all or nothing mentality…or at least work to keep it at bay. Finding moderation in the foods we love and searching for the true meaning of satisfaction in life is what’s going to bring us lasting happiness.

It all boils down to LOVE. Love yourself today the way you love others and express true joy!

See you soon 🙂

-Terra