Our Lady of Weight Loss

I just received in the mail yesterday the wackiest weight-loss book I have ever seen: Our Lady of Weight Loss: Miraculous and Motivational Musings from the Patron Saint of Permanent Fat Removal by Janice Taylor. She had a weight problem all her life until one day she was sitting in a weight loss class thinking, “I'm never going to make it.” That's when she heard The Voice. She said, “If you think you're never going to make it, you never will.” From what I gather, this was a rather unusual experience for Janice. It did not seem from the way she had written this passage that she was in the habit of hearing voices. But she decided later that night to ask The Voice what she could do about her weight problem. The Voice said, “You're an artist. Make weight loss an art project.” So that is what Janice did. Instead of eating cake, she made art out of it, and she lost weight. The Voice became Our Lady of Weight Loss. The book is illustrated with wacky images of the art she made while she lost the weight. There are also projects that the reader can do. The first is an altar to Our Lady of Weight Loss made out of a macaroni box and decorated with macaroni and glitter glue. There are Motivational Musings, Tasty Tidbits, Righteous Recipes, Weighty Confessions, and Prickly Prayers. Janice's inspired ideas have the potential for making weight loss a lot of fun. The book is certainly visually appealing. It also includes sound dietary advice. If one is going to be obsessed with food, then making art out of it would certainly be better than eating it.

Making Peace with Where You Are

I've been listening to Think and Get Slim: Natural Weight Loss by Esther and Jerry Hicks, the Teachings of Abraham. In one segment, it talks about making peace with where you are. “You don't go to the gas station with your gas gauge on empty and just lay your head down on the steering wheel and sob. ‘It’s over. Look what I've come to.’ You do something about it. You just fill up your tank.”

As I was listening to this, I thought about how my children and I dealt with their bouts of leukemia. When my son was first diagnosed in 2000, I was upset for a few days. Then I decided that this was a situation that just was, and I made peace with it. From that point forward, my mindset was that this was something that we just do. We follow the directions that the doctor has given, and I would say, “my son is recovering from leukemia.” I made a point of not saying that my son “had” leukemia. I didn't want him to own it. And so we went, day by day, following directions and saying he was recovering, and he did recover.

When my daughter was diagnosed last year, making peace with it came much more quickly for me. The problem this time was that her case for so unusual that it took a bit of time to find a doctor who had a plan for her. I told her that I wanted her to get to a point where she could say, “I am recovering from leukemia.” As soon as we found a doctor who had a plan for her, I told her, “Now you can say, ‘I am recovering from leukemia.’” She recovered, too.

I think this attitude of acceptance and expecting recovery helped my children to stay calm as they recovered. And this in turn helped them to recover.

While being overweight or obese is not so immediately life-threatening as leukemia, the same idea of making peace with where you are applies. There really is no need to panic or berate yourself if you are heavy. It's just a matter of knowing where you are and having a plan for what to do to get where you want to go. This includes having a plan for the way you will eat and the type of activity you will do. Since you want to make peace with where you are, it is also important to be able to look in the mirror and see the best you. For this reason, it is important to dress in becoming clothes and groom yourself appropriately. Don't wait until you have achieved your goal!

The 9-Inch "Diet"

I had a few minutes before a meeting last week. As I got off the freeway, I spotted a Barnes and Noble bookstore. I went in and browsed. Since it was January and New Year's resolution season, diet books were prominently displayed in the middle of the store. One of these caught my eye, The 9-Inch "Diet": Exposing the Big Conspiracy in America by Alex Bogusky and Chuck Porter. The book was written by a man who bought a lake house built in the 1940s. He was putting things away in the kitchen and discovered that his plates would not fit into the cupboard. He did some research and found out that the average size of a dinner plate in the 1940s was 9 inches. These days, the size of an average dinner plate is closer to 12 inches. Using this fact as his inspiration, he decided to try using 9 inch dinner plates himself. He discovered that he was satisfied with much less food when he ate off of these 9 inch plates. He soon found himself losing weight, and that was the inspiration for the book.

This information about the 9 inch plates is not new to me. Brian Wansink wrote about it in his book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Brian Wansink researches the eating habits of average Americans. His research led to the discovery that people will eat less when food is served in smaller dishes or containers.

We Americans seem to be in love with the idea that bigger is better. Americans eat out more than people in other countries with the exception of Japan. Restaurants have accustomed us to expecting large servings. Our plates have grown over the years, and so have our appetites and waistlines.

Large dishes seem to be a uniquely American phenomenon. I went to a Chinese house goods store in Los Angeles some time ago and noticed that the dishes that they sold were much smaller than I was used to seeing in a typical American store. I don't often see Chinese people with a weight problem. After seeing their dishes, it's no wonder why.

I've been using smaller dishes more and more myself. I have a large set of Corelle, much of which was purchased open stock. My set includes what they call luncheon plates. I measured them, and discovered that they are just about 9 inches wide. They are perfect for following a 9 inch plate diet. I also have in my set the small 10 ounce bowls. I find that the smaller size is perfect for the smaller portions I prefer. Of course, even the dinner plates in my set aren't terribly big. They measure 10 1/4 inches across. That is quite a bit smaller than the 12 inches commonly found in stores today. In addition to my Corelle, I also have little sauce dishes. These work well for serving out nuts and dried fruit. I can vouch for the fact that eating from smaller dishes leads to eating less. It's certainly working out that way for me.

Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

Your boss asks you to give an oral report in a meeting. You have been asked to speak at your church. How does that feel to you? Are you excited about sharing what you know or are you petrified at the very idea?

It is said that at a funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. In fact, public speaking or glossophobia is the number one fear. It affects 75% of the population.

People with fear of public speaking may experience a wide variety of symptoms while giving a speech or even thinking about it. They may sweat. They may experience muscle tension, particularly in the neck and shoulders. They may also find that they are breathing with the upper chest rather than using the whole of their lungs. They may feel butterflies in their stomach. Nervousness may cause them to use a lot of ahs and ums while speaking.

So what causes fear of public speaking? There may be a number of factors involved.

Unfamiliarity of situation. For many people, public speaking is simply not something they do. The mind likes familiarity. Familiarity is pleasure to the brain. When a situation is unfamiliar, the fight/flight mechanism can become engaged. The extra adrenaline in the body then creates the physical symptoms often experienced when speaking.

Early experiences. Perhaps you had a bad experience as a child when asked to speak in front of the class. Maybe you witnessed someone else have problems while speaking. Messages you received as a child can also influence public speaking. Maybe you were told as a child not to talk. Maybe you were told that your ideas were stupid.

Lack of confidence. The speaker may feel that he is not good enough, or that other speakers are better than he is. Maybe the speaker does not feel that he knows his material well.

Hypoglycemic incidents. Symptoms of low blood sugar can mimic fear, causing palpitations and sweating. If someone experiences low blood sugar while speaking, he may conclude that that it is because he is afraid of public speaking. He associates the physical symptoms with the situation. He could then be fearful in similar situations from that point on due to this experience.

Sense of isolation. The speaker is in front of the group and the focal point of the group. The speaker is doing most if not all of the talking. This is what makes public speaking different from other forms of conversation.

So what can you do to feel better?

Think of the audience as your friends. The feeling some speakers have when approaching a speaking situation is almost adversarial. They think of the audience as critical and judgmental. But what if you turned that situation around and thought of the audience as your friends? How easily do you engage in conversations with your friends? They are familiar to you, and you are comfortable around them. If you think of the audience as your friends, you will feel more comfortable speaking to them.

Imagine being your role model. Who do you know who gives great speeches? Imagine that you are that person and that you have their confidence. Imagine how they would approach the assignment. Get into the feeling of the emotions they might experience. When you are in that feeling of confidence, what you can do is …

Anchor in those good feelings. While feeling those good feelings, press your thumb and middle finger together to anchor in those feelings. You can also anchor in the feeling of being in a relaxing place or a time when you yourself felt confident. Use a finger touch to anchor those in. Then when you want to recall that feeling of confidence, press your thumb and middle finger together again.

Use visuals. One way to get the focus off you is to give your audience something else to look at. Just be sure to practice with your visuals so you are comfortable with them and know how to manipulate them.

Practice in your mind – feelings as well as content. Now practice in your mind all the various steps of giving a speech from finding out that you will speak to writing the speech and practicing and giving the speech in front of your audience. Rehearse the feelings you want to have at each step. Use the anchor where needed to bring in that good feeling by pressing your thumb and middle finger together.

Practice physically. Now that you’ve gone through your mental rehearsals, it’s time to practice your speech physically. Stand up and give your speech using any visuals you have prepared. Become familiar with any equipment you will use. Practice reduces the feeling of unfamiliarity, thus disengaging the fight/flight mechanism. Participating in Toastmasters is a great way to get practice opportunities in front of an audience.

Eat something. Before giving a speech, be sure to eat something, preferably with some protein in it. This will help prevent a low blood sugar incident.

Take deep breaths before speaking. Before speaking, take a few deep breaths. This will help bring you into a state of greater relaxation.

You don’t have to go it alone! Ask family members to sit in as an audience for you. Toastmasters is a great program that will give you opportunities to speak in front of an audience. You may also want to consider hypnotherapy. The use of hypnosis can speed progress in calming nerves and feeling confident. Your hypnotherapist can help you with practicing the feelings of confidence and relaxation. Individual sessions are best because they can be tailored to your own specific needs. You may also want to consider self-hypnosis recordings. Roxann Higuera has prepared an MP3 recording that you can use in your own home. You can download it at Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking.

Green Up Your Cleanup

I was swishing toilets this morning with caustic cleaners. The fumes were getting to me. I thought, "There's got to be a better way. How can I clean up my home effectively without killing us off?" So I went online for answers. I eventually found my way to Amazon and found a great book: Green Up Your Cleanup by Jill Schoff.

Not wanting to wait, I checked with Borders to see if they had it, and they did! I gathered up the Amazon listing and a 30% off coupon I had from Borders and went and got it. I love it! It is colorful and engaging and easy to read. It has recipes for environmentally friendly cleaning solutions that you can make from inexpensive ingredients. It has suggestions and tips for cleaning tools. It has room by room sections detailing how to deal with specific cleaning chores, including ideas for regular cleaning and dealing with the build-up from neglect. It is spiral bound, so it will lie flat while you're mixing up the recipes.

Enhancing Positive Thinking with Card Decks

I love card decks. I'm developing quite a collection of them. I've got some of them in a little bag under my desk. When I'm fishing around for positive thoughts, I look through the decks. These cards are all 3.5" x 5". I was shopping at Aaron Bros. not too long ago and spotted acrylic display "frames" just the right size for these cards. I have a couple of them that stand on my desk and a couple more with magnetic backs that I have posted on my refrigerator. When I find a card with a thought that I want to work with and incorporate, I put it in one of these displays so that I can see it regularly in my environment. Doing this helps remind me to focus my thoughts in positive ways.

Here's a list of the ones in the bag:

Ask and It Is Given Cards by Esther and Jerry Hicks (The Teachings of Abraham). I did not take to these cards right away; but now that I am studying Abraham writings in a classroom setting, I have developed more of an appreciation for them. I have two stand-up frames on my desk, and both have cards from this deck in them. There's a statement on one side and an explanation of it on the other, which is the case with all of these decks of cards. You can find out more about the Abraham classes here at Mastering the Law of Attraction.

10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace Cards by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. These cards list one of the ten secrets at the top of the card and a thought related to that secret on the bottom. The back side explains it further.

Healing Cards by Carolyn Myss and Peter Occhiogrosso. I gave a deck of these to my daughter while she was recovering from leukemia. She loved them, too. They made her wonder, "Did my thoughts create the leukemia?" I told her it was possible. I then said, "The good news is that you can choose again."

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind Cards by T. Harv Eker. These cards are based on the book and seminar. If you get a chance to go to the Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar, I highly recommend it. I've got one of the cards posted on the refrigerator.

Success Cards by Deepak Chopra. I had one of these cards on my desk for a while, too. The back of the box says, "Creating money has to do with developing a 'wealth consciousness,' the ability to know that whatever you need is available to you."

Wisdom for Healing Cards by Carolyn Myss. This is a very beautiful deck, too. The "Eat Healthful Foods" card is on my refrigerator.

and my latest addition, The Law of Attraction Cards by Esther and Jerry Hicks (The Teachings of Abraham). I'm really enjoying this deck. The cards haven't made it into the displays yet, but I'm sure they will soon.

Surgery Free Gastric Bands

Here's an interesting article that came down the wire: Now We Have Surgery Free Gastric Band’s. It's an interesting idea, but I kind of wonder about the "reality check" problem. If the client goes around telling people that he had surgery, wouldn't someone call him on it?