CHANGE4GOOD

AuthorHouse

Contents

Foreword.......................................................................................................................................................xvMy Story.......................................................................................................................................................xiixIntroduction...................................................................................................................................................xxviiChapter ONE Mind your Body Cleanse your Mind; Live Purposefully...............................................................................................1Chapter TWO On your Mark, Get Set, Goal Set Goals; Keep a Journal.............................................................................................27Chapter THREE Obstacle Course: Life Lessons Identify Barriers;; Surmount Them.................................................................................59Chapter FOUR No Nonsense Nutrition: The Big Three, Plus Fibre Eat Well: Lean Protein, Natural Carbohydrates and Healthy Fats at Each Meal.....................91Chapter FIVE No Nonsense Nutrition - 2: The Other Five, Plus Digestion Eat Often: 4-6 Nutrient Dense Meals/Snacks Each Day....................................141Chapter SIX Our Kitchens/Ourselves – Demystifying Food Labels Read: Those Tricky Food Labels............................................................181Chapter SEVEN Ready, Set, Moderate Manage: Food and Beverage Portions.........................................................................................205Chapter EIGHT Out and About: Doing It on the Road Practice: Moderation; Follow the 90/10 Rule.................................................................227Chapter NINE Luxury Problems: Taking Nutrition and Health to the Next Level Drink: 1-2 Litres of Water Every Day..............................................247Chapter TEN Rev Up Your Metabolism (But Sanely) Move: Exercise at Least 30-60 Minutes Each Day................................................................299Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................349References.....................................................................................................................................................353About the Author...............................................................................................................................................355About the Co-Author............................................................................................................................................356Index..........................................................................................................................................................357

Chapter One

Mind Your Body

This chapter is about the nutrients you give your soul.

Principle 1 Cleanse your Mind; Live Purposefully

Change begins in the mind, the heart and the soul, mysterious quarters that clients and even some practitioners tend to ignore. In those areas reside the potential for change. Chapter ONE gives you the nudge you need to live not like you're waiting for your life to happen but as if it were – and is – happening. Dress rehearsal over. Curtains up. Live now.

"Change your thoughts and you change your world." ~Norman Vincent Peale, Minister and Author of, "The Power of Positive Thinking."

Welcome to the start of eating – and living – sanely. This chapter is about what needs to happen to your insides in order for your outsides to change for the better. Mostly, we'll center on your thoughts. It's a frightening concept but you actually do have the power to achieve a good deal of what you want - if you are willing to relinquish old beliefs that no longer serve you. After years of studying how people change – and experiencing extraordinary change in my own life as well – I've noted the emergence of certain key agents of change.

Be Crystal Clear About What You Want

Visualize it. See it. Focus on it in your mind.

For example: One summer I trained with an Olympic Gold Medalist athlete. One routine required me to jump hurdles. They weren't very high hurdles but they were hurdles. No matter what I did, I couldn't clear all the bars. On the night before one of our practice sessions, I lay in bed, envisioning myself clearing hurdle after hurdle. How glorious it felt. The next day, astonishing both the trainer and myself, I cleared every one. "Wow," he said, "yesterday you could hardly clear one and today, you're clearing all of them."

How did this happen? Although there are numerous theories as to the exact mechanism that causes visualization to work, a common explanation is that during visualization you physiologically create neural patterns in your brain as if you had physically performed an action and in so doing you train your mind to teach your muscles what to do. Virtually all studies provide sufficient reliable evidence that there is not only improved motor performance and therefore improved athletic performance but also greater mental toughness and confidence.

Visualization can also help you psychologically in the same way rehearsing does: it helps you manage the emotional stress that otherwise might "manage" you.

Take a situation involving food. Envision yourself at a high-powered business conference. My, those breakfast pastries look tempting – just the thing to soothe my anxiety. But if you rehearse reaching for the fruit basket, you might actually reach for it instead.

Visualization also works in more complicated situations.

After my mother died, I didn't see how I would get through her funeral. I'm the kind of person who cries even when saying goodbye to a friend. As the day approached, I pictured over and over again how it would unfold. The day unfolded as I had visualized it, this was no surprise as funerals were all conducted in the same way in Cape Town. What was astounding was that my emotions, under the circumstances, were remarkably controlled. It was as if I had been through this a hundred times before. My pain wasn't that raw. And in retrospect, I had been through it a hundred times before – in my head. I understood then how visualization can affect our response.

Our subconscious works in images. For this reason, I often recommend Vision Boards to clients. Even if you aren't especially visual, give it a shot. Take a poster board and fill it with pictures that accurately depict something that you want and that generates strong positive emotions in you (the front door of the lovely brownstone you'd like to buy; a gorgeous runner jogging over rough terrain). Place the mural where you'll see it every day.

A friend of mine pasted a picture of the Mini Cooper she longed for but couldn't afford, on a vision board in her bedroom. She even pasted a picture of her face on the windshield. After gazing at it long enough and taking action by making some changes in her lifestyle, she saved enough money to...