This is part 3 in a series of posts about daily disciplines, inspired by Jim Rohn.
I stepped on the scale this morning. 209.8 was the result. It’s not a bad weight for me, but my ideal weight is around 200 pounds. For the last 6 months (ever since my lower back surgery), I haven’t been able to get down the last 10 pounds. That can be frustrating can’t it? You want to lose 10 – 15 pounds, but can’t seem to make it happen. Let’s take a look at the root of the problem together.
I’m a firm believer that healthy eating daily is a crucial step to maximizing your value to the world. Healthy eating is like filling up your car with a full tank of gasoline and giving it a clean car wash. Unhealthy eating is like driving on an empty tank and letting your car get dirty without any care. You tell me which you’d rather have.
How To Not Eat Healthy
The easiest way to not eat healthy is to simply not care what you eat and when you eat. Just eat on instinct. I’m pretty good at this – instinctual eating. Often times, I’m like the dog that will just eat as long as something is in front of it. This is animal instinct eating. You just eat because the food is there.
Or I’ll eat because I let myself get ‘bored’. When you are bored, you want some variety – something to do. Food is one of the easiest and quickest ways to change your physical state of being. It makes you feel good to eat that ice cream sundae. It feels good to eat that buttery bag of popcorn. It feels good to order that pizza and bread sticks.
There are plenty of other reasons for not eating healthy. But these two are the most common and easiest to understand. If you can master and understand these two reasons for not eating healthy, you will be armed with most of the tools you need to kick in the daily discipline of healthy eating. Here’s what I’m going to do to ramp up my healthy eating daily discipline. The result will be increased health and energy and reaching my ideal weight. Let’s do it together shall we?
The Two Step Process To Healthy Eating
Give yourself a reason for eating healthy. For me it is simply this, “I want to live as long as possible, as happy as possible, and able to bring as much energy and value to others as possible.” This compelling reason is the driving force for why you are doing this. It’s like the compass that tells you which direction to go. Follow this reason and think about it daily.
The second process is simply this: anytime you are about to eat something, ask yourself this question, “Is eating this going to take my health where I want it to go?” If the answer is no, throw it away or put it away. Do not eat when the answer is NO to this question. You are a smart person. Your body knows when it really needs to eat and when you are just eating for pleasure.
Do I need to mention what foods to eat? Nope. You already know that vegetables, fruits, grains, lean meats, and more are good to eat. You know to drink plenty of water and avoid soda. The problem is not in the knowledge of what to eat. That is readily available and I’m not giving much value to you if I just spout out a bunch of foods. The value is in the mastery of your psychology – the daily changes of simplicity that will get this habit going. It starts like the small snowball in winter. It’s hard to get going and gathering snow. But after a short time, it gathers tremendous amounts of snow and is unstoppable.
By focusing on your compelling reason and asking yourself the right question every time you eat, you’ll begin to rid yourself of damaging practices. It’s like removing the weeds from your garden. By doing this, you now have an environment to thrive in. You can grow, prosper, and flourish. Here’s a simple recap:
- Avoid eating on instinct.
- Avoid eating from boredom.
- Create a compelling reason for eating healthy and recite it daily.
- Always ask yourself, “Is eating this going to take my health where I want it to go?”
The Daily Disciplines
- How To Get To Bed On Time
- Daily Discipline - Exercise
- Daily Discipline - Healthy Eating
- Daily Discipline - Prepare For Rest
- A Few Daily Disciplines - Arise Early
3 Responses to Daily Discipline – Healthy Eating
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I'm Jeremy N. Johnson. I'm one man looking to make a difference. What can you expect here? A look at my research, results, and journaling as I strive to advance at a public Internet company and work on side businesses in writing, game development, and niche websites. If you have a philosophy of success, let's connect. GFree Updates
Hi Jeremy,
This is a great daily discipline series. I take up the challeege. Thank you so much for the valuable information. I think there’s nothing more worse than someone who has all the intelligent in the world in his/her mind yet is physically bankrupt or emotionally run down. I love integrating holistic health into every aspect of my life which is I have decided to raise my son Jeroen with Holistic parenting. We need to integrate physical, nutrition, mental, spiritual, and emotional health together. My husband Jeff used to work with mentally ill population for a while and they had so many scars from the past. I think once you take of yourself wholly in totality then you can move onto feeling exuberance full of energy, light, and happiness. Thanks for your daily Discipline Series!
I appreciate it ;)
Therese Miu´s last [type] ..Communication Breakdown- Is your FILTER Clogged
This is great advice that I have used too. The trick is to have the self-discipline to actually NOT eat the food after you tell yourself it’s unhealthy.
I don’t think this kind of self-discipline can be taught. It’s just the natural byproduct for someone who is really serious about their health.
Jonathan´s last [type] ..Funny Old Sega Ads Adults Only
@Therese Thanks for you insights. Glad to see you are raising your son in such a wonderful manner. He’s lucky to have you as a mother.
@Jonathan You are very right about the self-discipline not being able to be taught. Persuasion through information and techniques is about all you can do. Then it is up to someone to make it happen.