Are you ready to tidy up your diet?

Are you ready to tidy up your diet? I certainly was. And yet… 

Are you ready to give up cheese? She asked. Who me? Give up cheese. You’ve got to be kidding. Doesn’t she realize I’m a born and bred Wisconsin girl, the meat and dairy state? Cheese is like my lifeblood, a way of life; it was in almost everything I ate.

Surely she was kidding. Hadn’t I already given up so many other things?

I no longer ate gluten, drank milk, or ate ice cream or corn. I even gave up two of my favorite foods – bread and crackers. Two items I thought I’d never give up. But cheese, how would I ever be able to have pizza if I gave up cheese?

My answer, back then, was a resounding no! I am not ready to give up cheese.

Did I mention the “she” who asked me to give up cheese was someone I sought out to help me with my weight? I was the heaviest I’d ever been at 208 pounds. I had tried everything, or so I thought. Asking for her help seemed like a last-ditch effort to let go of the excess weight.

I kept a food journal on everything I ate during the day, what time, and what emotion I was feeling at the time. She had me listen to hypnotherapy meditation CDs morning and night. I slept with them, playing in the background.

The weight began to fall off me. I dropped 60 pounds within weeks. 

I didn’t starve myself. I hadn’t given up meat or potatoes. I still ate bacon and eggs. I consumed as many calories as before. I put my favorite thousand island dressing on salads. I drank my coffee with non-dairy-flavored creamer.

Eventually, with the subliminal suggestions in the CDs, I noticed that I no longer craved certain foods, like potato chips. So, I closed up a half-eaten bag of my favorite type, Lays, and put them in the cupboard. Six months later, I tossed them.

It sounds like a miracle, I know. And, honestly, it felt like one. I never gained that weight back again.

However, over the years, I began noticing other foods my body did not like. As a result, I would get indigestion, inflamed joints, raging migraines, constipation, and bloat. At first, I didn’t listen to my body, making up reasons all these symptoms appeared until I got a huge wake-up call.

What was that wake-up call? Two cancer diagnoses. I could no longer deny that what I ate was causing disease in my body.

It took me a while to understand what caused my cancer. But the connection now seems so obvious. Food wasn’t the only thing, yet it is the #1 thing that causes disease in the body.

How many of us totally “get” that putting water in your automobile’s gas tank would stop it dead in its tracks? Yet, we don’t make that same connection with our bodies and what we eat.

I’m not here to scare you into eating well or make you stop eating foods you enjoy. What I do wish to impart, with much love and kindness, is to start listening to your body. It does communicate with you. Most often after the fact, with all the aches and pains I mentioned above.

It’s not easy, I know, to listen to your body before you consume the food. You have spent years, like me, ignoring its messages or guidance. Don’t beat yourself up if you simply can’t or don’t hear the message the body is giving you. 

However, you can begin to notice how you physically and emotionally feel after you’ve eaten a particular food or meal. Your body will show you the result almost immediately.

The other areas it shows up over time are on the scale, with the blood pressure cuff, in blood tests, and in your therapist’s office – Yes, it shows up in your emotional well-being, too.

Don’t wait until you get diagnosed to tidy up your diet to motivate yourself. However, even after a diagnosis, it is never too late. Remind yourself that you are not a victim and are entirely responsible for what you eat. Take a deep breath and begin wherever you are able. That’s what I did. After the second diagnosis, I tidied up my diet and went entirely plant-based. And, yes, I finally said NO to cheese!

Article by Joan Silva published in the monthly Crockett Signal magazine.

Are you ready to tidy up your diet?

September 2022 Issue.