That seemingly benign device that rests on your bathroom floor can dramatically affect the way you feel, your attitude and your self confidence. From elation and euphoria (as the needle drops) to the depths of despair (as the numbers tick up), the scale can totally do a number on your esteem.  But what you probably don’t know is how often your scale lies. If you’re one of those people who weighs themselves routinely, you probably have noticed that those numbers fluctuate…a lot. While the number is technically the truth, the story behind the number is often a lie. Especially if you’re trying to lose weight, you may obsess over the smallest changes the scale gives you, but what you may not realize, is that number sometimes has nothing to do with fat gained or fat lost. 

Just because it says organic doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy. I think we are often swept away by this notion that if we fill our bodies with organic foods (regardless of what those foods are), we live just a bit better. But here’s the reality. There are no long term studies to date which prove that eating organic foods will help us live longer, healthier or stronger. I know it’s hard to believe, but yes, you read it right! In fact…

Ah yes, the holy grail of dieters everywhere: the salad. Whether you love or dread the idea of it, there’s one thing I can tell you for sure; just because something is called a salad, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. In fact, most salads are the worst choice you can make. Potato Salad, Egg Salad, Caesar Salad, Taco Salad, Macaroni Salad, Buffalo Chicken Salad, Greek Salad, Cobb Salad…the list goes on and on; here’s some straight talk. Most of these “salads” have more calories, fat, sodium, and sugar than a Double Whopper with Cheese, French Fries and a Small Soda. Ugh.

I remember as a kid, my parents sometimes saying to me, You need an attitude adjustment. Uhg. I’m going to get a little parental here and say that you might just need one too. Sometimes our food attitude needs a major adjustment. I often wonder why people don’t get as excited about carrots as they do about cake. I mean really, while the cake might taste a little sweet, it could lead us down a sour road towards an unhealthy weight, diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. The naturally sweet carrot, on the other hand, can fill our bodies with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and lots of power punching prevention. The generally held attitude is that junk foods are fun foods and healthy foods are blah foods. Well, I think getting to a place of great health requires a change in attitude. Here’s how you’re going to do it.

Hunger is a sensation that exists only in our minds. Yup, it’s just a feeling. Just like you feel happy or tired or stress or pain, no one else can exactly identify with your feeling or fully appreciate it. What you experience as hunger is likely different than what your best friend experiences. Who really knows, right? But, like any of your feelings, it’s important to identify why you are experiencing it. If you’re touching a hot stove and feeling pain, it’s your body’s signal to you that you should probably move your hand. If you’re in a dark alley and feeling stressed, your feeling is a way that your body signals to you that you might want to turn down another street. If it’s your wedding day and you’re feeling excited, that feeling is probably your body’s way of saying hey, this is a good thing for you. Okay, in the same way, you’ve got to identify why you’re feeling hungry.

Yes. Yes, you do. Whether you’ve failed before, just never tried, feel discouraged or hear negative messages from days past in your head, you need to own this. You can make a lasting change that will radically transform the way your body looks and the way you look at your body. Let me tell you, you have what it takes, and now you’re going to have the three keys you need to succeed.

So, I’m not a big magazine girl; I don’t get any subscriptions, and I’m not generally tempted by the seductive cover stories that line the racks of the check-out line. But, for whatever reason, the other day I just felt like grabbing and buying a bunch. I left them on my kitchen counter as I quickly ran out the door to the office; when I got home, my (completely and totally fabulous) husband says to me, “honey, did you read those magazines?” I told him I hadn’t had a minute, and he’s tells me that he took a few to check them out. He’s like, “those are really worthless and completely superficial.” There you have it folks—worthless and superficial. Well, I bought ‘em so I figured I should at least skim them. Here’s the crazy part; most of the articles in all of the magazines (okay, I admit it my moment of weakness, I bought like 5) focused on ways you can get “bikini body” ready by summer. Here’s the start to one of my favorite (said with a snarky tone) cover stories which indicates that you too can be swim-suit-ready by month’s end. And I quote: “It may still be spring but we’ve got bikinis on our minds. And that’s fine, because if you kick your fitness routine into high gear now, you can avoid the last-minute panic come summer…”

I was scrolling through my Facebook News Feed the other morning, and I noticed that a friend of mine was in a relationship; but this isn’t just any relationship, it’s a “Complicated Relationship.” So, I scoped it out and sure enough, one of the options in the relationship status drop-down is (and I quote) “It’s Complicated.” I thought to myself how most of our relationships are complicated; we need them to survive and thrive, but sometimes they suck the life out of us. Then, I started thinking about our relationship with food; hey now, it’s complicated.

I hear you, and we’ve all been there. Why did I _____ (you fill in the blank). Regrets are so not fun, and face it, unless we’ve hit the point where we are ready to do something about them, they’re completely pointless. While it’s somewhat inevitable that you’ll face a regret, how you respond in the face of regret is what matters.

Okay, it’s time for you to learn how to eat clean to feel clean. Read a food label lately? And no, I’m not asking if you’ve read a food package lately; I want to know if you’ve checked out the labeled list of ingredients on the foods you’ve been eating. Before taking your next bite, you’ve got to know what exactly you’re putting into your body. Even if it looks healthy or comes from a “trusted” health food brand, chances are good that it’s junk. Smart marketers know how to sell you want you want. You WANT to think that the foods you are eating are healthy, and they know it; that’s why the packaging on your food favorites tout terms like healthy, low-fat and all natural. But hey, you also want your foods to 1. taste good, 2. be cheap and 3. have a long shelf life. I call this 1-2-3 fight to the finish and perfect storm, the Trifecta. Getting foods to taste “great,” be inexpensive and have the ability to sit in your pantry for months-on-end (trifecta) comes with a price. You’ve got to ask yourself right now, is that a price you’re willing to pay?!?