Essential Oils: Essential Oils (The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Uncovering the Healing Benefits of Aromatherapy) (21 page)

ACTION PLAN

Choosing an accountability partner has become relatively easy in today’s online world. The person need not even be in your own locality or even country. They can even be in a different time zone and still keep tabs on you, if they are committed to you. Here are a few tips to find the ideal accountability partner.

• Discuss your strategies and goals and gain consent from your accountability partner.
  Even if he or she is your best friend, if the person does not agree with your weight-loss strategies, then it won’t work. It has to be someone who believes in you and in what you are doing.
  
• Find someone online.
  If you can’t find an appropriate accountability partner among people you know then look for one online. It need not even be someone you know but just needs to be someone who shares your goals and understands them. You can search for a suitable partner on online forums.
  
• Advertise or look for likeminded people in online forums.
  This is another collaborative way to partner with someone. You may find someone who is interested in implementing the same strategies that you are and you can support one another.
  
• Join or form a social networking group.
  Whether online or in person, stay in touch with your partner on a regular basis using digital networking tools or by meeting them from time to time and exchanging notes and ideas.
  
• Have a daily dialogue.
  Schedule a communication, whether it is via chat or phone or in person. Make this daily dialogue a part of your morning ritual.
  

• Chapter 8: Meditate to find your rhythm
  

Is it possible to meditate and lose weight? Though the simple answer is yes it is very difficult to acknowledge this is possible. Isn’t it?

After all, weight-loss involves the body and meditation involves the mind and therefore you immediately see no connection between the two. Meditation also enjoys an airy-fairy reputation. That is to say that in the popular context at least, meditation is associated with something that is either spiritual, or requires a certain level of concentration.

Then there is the general perception that meditation involves a lot of inactivity. Sitting still and doing nothing. How on earth can this help one lose weight?

Open your mind.

First of all, let’s clear the air and establish what meditation exactly is. Though there are many different types of meditations, especially coming from the Eastern traditions such as Zazen and Vipassana, we will avoid any specific definitions and try to look at meditation from an unbiased and fresh perspective.

Meditation is nothing but spending time alone and concentrating or contemplating on a subject consistently, regularly and without any disturbance or interruptions. In other words, meditation is cultivating mindfulness.

Take for instance when you are running, you focus on the act of moving your legs and hands, one after the other. You don’t think of anything else or anyone, whether it’s a race or just a morning practice, you are focused and in the zone. This could be an example of meditation.

Alternatively consider something that you enjoy doing such as a hobby whether it is gardening or skateboarding. Your presence with all your mind and intent is in doing what you are doing, nothing else matters. So when you cultivate this form of mindfulness then every act that you do with full presence of mind, however trivial, whether it is washing dishes or cooking, becomes a form of meditative act.

What’s the connection between mind and body?

Do you know that stress causes you to gain weight? When you are stressed, it stimulates the production of cortisol. Now, cortisol, on its own is not bad because it actually helps your body to deal with a crisis or a stressful situation. That is it helps regulate your blood pressure and activate your immune system. In other words, it is a natural reaction, a coping mechanism to stress.

However, cortisol also causes sleep disturbances, interferes with your normal appetite making you eat so-called ‘comfort food’ when you are stressed and contributes to fat gain especially around the midriff. So regular exposure to stressful situations will trigger cortisol and cause you to gain weight despite regular exercise and carefully watching your diet. This is where meditation comes in.

Stress is caused in the mind. If you can will your mind to relax, if you are less prone to panic, if you can keep your cool when everyone else around you is losing their heads, then you are in control. How can you do this? There is enough evidence to show that regular meditation can create a sense of calm and equanimity in a person.

Jon Gabriel lost 220 lbs without surgery or dieting. How? The best-selling author and coach, who claims to melt fat using his mind, teaches a 21-day meditation program that shaves inches of your belly and sheds fat just by meditating 10 minutes a day.

There is a connection between the mind and the body and if you are willing to explore this connection by trying meditation, then there is no better time to do it than in the morning. As soon as you wake up, set aside some time to stay calm and focused on your mind.

You will find plenty of online tools such as audios and videos to help you start a daily meditation practice. Alternatively, you can enroll for a meditation program in a yoga studio or a health club near you.

ACTION PLAN

Meditating requires your conviction and commitment. If you make it a part of your morning ritual, then in addition to weight-loss, you will soon start seeing multiple benefits.

• Set aside a time and place.
  You need to give meditation its due because it requires peace and quiet. Find a quiet place in the early morning when you can remain undisturbed and uninterrupted to focus on your mind and thoughts.
  
• Get comfortable.
  Usually
  meditation requires you to sit in a comfortable position. While, traditionally it is recommended that you sit cross-legged, in what is known in Yoga as the lotus position, you may choose to sit in a chair if that makes you comfortable. Eventually, when you have made it a habit, you will be able to do it anywhere, anytime and even while doing anything.
  
• Keep an open mind.
  It is said that the first step towards enlightenment is to keep an open mind. Though this may sound spiritual, it is also practical. You can harbor scepticism only if you have an open mind. A closed mind prevents you from having new experiences and exploring new possibilities.
  

Chapter 9: Smile to let the happy emotions flow

Depression and weight-gain go hand in hand. When you are sad or even bored, you tend to eat indiscriminately leading to weight gain.

Unhappiness also triggers cortisol, the stress hormone, which interferes with your metabolism, packing those pounds around your belly region. Weight around the waist, as the doctor will tell you, is not a good sign. It can lead to diabetes and heart problems, not to mention low self-esteem issues.

According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, people who suffer from depression tend to gain weight faster than people who are not. So, there you have your reason to smile more often.

Research also shows that if you begin your day with a smile, then you are more likely to be happy throughout the day. So, you’ve got nothing to lose but some extra pounds by starting your morning with a smile, when you wake up.

Smile your way to slim.

Here’s a simple method to determine what kind of a person you want to be. Take a look at photographs of different people in the media.

Take for instance, people who are sitting in an office typing away at a computer, or people who are shopping or people who are eating. The predominant expression on their faces will be of boredom or even worry. Of course, a few of them may appear happy but the majority of them will look sad.

Now, take a look at people who are singing or dancing or even running. You will find joy on their face. Even if they are not specifically smiling, you will be able to discern the happiness on their faces.

Now go back and take a look at their bodies. You will notice that the majority of the people who smile are slim and those who frown are fat.

Laughter is really the best medicine.

When you laugh, a series of physiological changes happen within your body. Whether it is an open hearted laugh or a demure smile, your body releases endorphins when you are happy. Endorphins are hormones that make you feel good and safe.

The peculiar thing about endorphins is that while it is associated with pleasure, they also help the brain to combat pain. In addition to happiness, the release of endorphins is also stimulated when you perform physical activities such as exercise or sex and even when you eat certain types of spicy food.

The feeling of wellbeing or content that comes with the release of endorphins can actually help you lose weight. Now is there a better way to lose weight than feeling good about it?

ACTION PLAN

We often forget to smile. In fact, the best way to find out how often we smile is to ask someone to take candid shots of you without being aware you are photographed. You’ll realize how much more you need to smile.

• Count your blessings.
  This will make you thankful for what you have and you will find more reasons to smile more often.
  
• Ask yourself, “Will this matter in a year?”
  When we worry or are sad, we are thinking short-term and casting a shadow over our own future. As Erma Bombeck says, “Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”
  
• Be around happy people.
  Happiness is infectious. So is sadness. If you hang with negative people, then their negativity rubs off on you. On the other hand, if you interact with positive people, you will be motivated to look at life optimistically.
  

Chapter 10: Plan what you will eat the rest of the day

Typically, people plan these three meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner—when they go on a diet.

The trouble with this is that most people, especially if they are trying to lose weight, find that they feel hungry in between meals because these three meals are generally not enough to get them through the day.

So, they snack in between meals. Since it is just a snack, most people think that it doesn’t count or they chose to ignore what they eat as a snack. This is how the weight-loss program starts crumbling and the calories start creeping in without your even realizing it.

So, the other option is to eat more often, say six smaller meals in a day. This also has its drawbacks, if you don’t plan exactly what you are going to eat.

Meticulously plan your meals every morning.

When people have a weight-loss objective in mind, the most important thing that they focus when it comes to food is quantity. That is they think that the best option is to eat smaller portions.

Logically speaking, this should work because if you eat less, you should lose weight, isn’t it? However, practically, it doesn’t work. Why? Whether you eat more or less, if you eat the wrong things you will not lose weight and may even gain some.

Take for instance food with processed sugar. It may just be a glass of soda or a cookie but those calories count and they add up.

You know that processed sugar is not good for you but when you are hungry, it’s not easy to say no to temptation. If you don’t have a healthy snack available, then you settle for what’s there right in front of you. So, while the quantity of your meal is important but not as much as the quality of what you are eating.

Keep that snack ready.

This is why it is important to not only plan your meals but prepare your snacks so you eat healthy. There are many online sources which will help you plan and prepare all your meals including your snacks for a whole meal.

The first thing you should do is get rid of the ingredients or food that you wish to avoid. This is so that you are not tempted to consume them or do so without realizing it.

The next thing is to keep healthy snacks handy. These include snacks that you can easily carry around with you and munch on when you feel hungry or when you think you need the energy.

So carry an apple, an orange or bananas. These are not only healthy for you because they are low in calories but they are also high in healthy carbohydrates that provide energy.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are also ideal to eat in between meals. More often, the body confuses thirst signals with hunger. So, eating cucumbers make sense because they have a high water content to quench your thirst while satisfying your physiological need to bite into something crunchy.

As a rule of thumb, it is best to stick to natural food such as fruits and vegetables and avoid packaged food such as yoghurt, fruit juice or even energy bars. Unless you are running a marathon, you won’t be burning the calories you get from these.

ACTION PLAN

• Pack your snack in the morning.
  You never know when you will feel hungry. Therefore it is better to have a snack you know is good than eat something you are doubtful about.
  
• Eat a heavy breakfast.
  There’s a whole chapter devoted to this in this book but there’s no harm in repeating it again. When you eat a hearty breakfast that is healthy, then you will be less likely to feel hungry during the day.
  
• Stay hydrated.
  Drinking water in between meals keeps you hydrated and regulates your appetite. It also helps you in flushing out the toxins that build up in your system during the day.
  
• Drink water or green tea.
  In our busy schedules, we tend to drink soda, coffee, tea and juices without realizing that they are laden with sugar which directly contributes to your weight. Instead take a sip of plain water or drink green tea without milk or sugar to stay healthy and hydrated.