This story is not directly related to the topic of this blog, but it has some connections, and some lessons that we can learn from, about using our minds to change the way we think of ourselves.
I found this story on USA Today’s website, talking about a 52 year old mother of 5 kids, who lost 145 pounds starting in january 2006. What’s amazing about this story is that she also helped her husband, who is of the same age, to lose almost 100 pounds as well.
As Diane Reuter describes it in her own words, “My approach to food is different now. Instead of saying: ‘I can’t,’ as in I can’t have a piece of cake, burger or fries, it’s always, ‘I can.’ As in, I can have a beautiful green salad, a delicious piece of fruit, a comforting cup of green tea. In that way, I’ve never felt deprived.”
What Diane basically do was change her tought process, her attitude towards food. Instead of the thinking in a negative way about what she eats, she started looking at foods that were beneficial to her.
The mind is a very valuable resource in creating wholesome habits. In Diane’s own words,
“The most important tool in this process is your brain. I didn’t look at it as a situation where I was depriving myself but instead as a situation where I was feeding my body good food.”
So if you are trying to improve any facet of your life or want to accomplish something, you need to change your thinking and create a vision, in your mind first, before you go about completing the task. You will fare much better when you do so.
