Your Diet, It’s Not What You Eat

Most of you know I’ve been on this journey to health for quite some time now. I have had good times and bad, just like all of you. I cleaned my eating, I exercised endlessly and still went up and down in weight. Up much easier than down always. I blamed stress, my job, no time, etc. Even when I retired and began once again, I still had the same results. At that time, I blamed age and decided to just accept that this is where I was at this point in my life. But, something about that finality of thought kept nagging at me.

When I was training for running, there was a saying that stuck with me – You can’t outrun a bad diet. That led me to really reflect and be very careful about what I put into my body, as food was the driving force behind being successful in running. Trouble came when I wasn’t training for running anymore and decided it didn’t matter what foods I ate. Another of my favorite sayings – What get’s measured, gets improved. True, until you stop measuring because you just don’t want to see the results, or decide they don’t matter.

When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron, has long been a favorite book of mine. There are so many quotes to be found here and if I really reflect now, perhaps the reason for my falling back time and again. Pema says,  “The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. ” Perhaps my constant ability to not make room for healing, make room for grief, relief, misery and joy was the wall I just couldn’t get past.

My trainer Stephanie spoke with me about my mindset when we first met. How ironic, as that is something I’ve studied and worked hard on for years. The issue is I never gave myself the grace I gave others and my focus was always through the lens of leadership. I have had a steady stream of holding myself to high standards and pushing myself constantly to do more, often at the expense of my emotional and physical health. This quote about diet, truly captures the piece that I’ve been missing. My constant putting other people’s needs before my own, helping them navigate life’s challenges, sharing their grief and joy, left little emotional energy to devote to my own needs. I could help others become more mindful, express gratitude and engage in self love. I knew the importance of it and took joy in the work. But, the work never fully extended to myself as I was too exhausted, busy and just trying to get it all done.

I’ve been retired for 8 months and feel busier than when I worked. There are so many things to do each day. For 5 months, I worked hard at cleaning up my nutrition. I was cooking for my dad who has kidney issues and my husband, so it was truly important to cook healing foods. I finally had time to exercise every day and was excited to be back at it. But, the scale was moving so slowly it was ridiculous. When my trainer kept saying, do less, do yoga, take self care days; I kept saying I can’t, I don’t have time.

Fast forward to today. I have been doing a lot of journaling, reflecting and self reflection. I have slowed down on the daily workout grind. I still am active every day, but I am approaching it with a different mindset. I walk, I do yoga, I swim, I play pickleball, I journal and I most definitely have turned a corner. The scale started moving consistently, which I never would have thought possible doing less intense workouts. The quote posted about your diet really captured what I’ve experienced. Focus on diet alone will not work. Focus on exercise alone will not work. Focus on mindset alone will not work. But, put the three together and you’ll be on a path to success. Everything that goes in your body and I mean everything, will impact your health in one way or another.

As you cleanse for the fall, consider cleansing your mindset. Reflect on – What is cluttering your mind and time? How is that impacting your overall health? Are you sleeping well? Eating well? Moving your body? Engaging in self care routines? If not, where can you add this in? It may just be the missing link in your health journey.