DAY 4 – Week of Food

January 4, 2015January 11, 2015 | Robynn Coates

This week we are talking about FOOD. Yes, food! So to get started, I am going to share with you my #1 favorite and most helpful tool (a.k.a. skill) when it comes to food. I call it Don’t Waste Your Calories.

Initially you may be thinking that I’m meaning you need to count your calories and stay within a very specific calorie intake. Well, not so fast. Not wasting your calories, to me, is actually only eating foods that 1) Absolutely love OR 2)Benefit me nutritionally–that’s right, healthy foods!

You may be asking, “People only eat food they love, don’t they?” (Unless, of course, they are on a diet.) Well that’s what I used to think! But once I started asking myself the following questions after I put something in my mouth, my perspective changed a bit: Do I really LOVE how this tastes? Do I just like it? Or am I just eating it because it is available?

Let me give you some examples of ways I used to waste my calories:
-Eating leftover food from my kids’ plates as I cleaned off the table.
-Grabbing a few cold french fries as I get up from the table at a restaurant.
-Pizza crust (I never really realized how much I don’t LOVE pizza crust!)
-Random candy I found in the house or that kids left on the counter.
-An unopened bag of chips while I was cooking dinner.
-I am not hungry, but I head to the kitchen to try to “find” something that sounds good.
-Eating food that is easily available (food that is right there), not because I actually love it.

I have actually gone so far as to spit stuff out if I taste it and realize I didn’t love it. For example, I might take a bite of a cookie and notice it is stale as soon as it hits my tongue. There is no need to consume 50 calories of a stale cookie–that would be 50 calories I could use on something I actually enjoy!–so in that instance I would usually spit it out in a napkin and throw it away. 50 calories here and there could really add up. Over the course of a month, look how many calories you could avoid simply by cutting out the foods that don’t meet your love expectations!

Obviously there will be situations where you need to eat certain foods that you may not love, such as at a dinner party when it would be rude to spit it out. But majority of the time you have the ability to stop or throw away what you are eating if it isn’t meeting your qualifications 😉 And remember, only you can decide what your taste buds desire the most.

So there you have it! To utilize the Don’t Waste Your Calories tool, make every calorie count by either making sure you love how it tastes or it provides nutrition for your body (or adjust this tool by defining it in a way that gives you peace!).

Posse Discussion:

Part 1: Name one food item that you have been wasting your calories on because you mindlessly eat it.
Part 2: If you were to eliminate this food item, what #peace would it give you (Use Peace Chart below)? If completely eliminating this item brings no peace, what can you do that would give you peace?

Click Here for Day 5!

DAY 3- You Deserve This

January 3, 2015January 11, 2015 | Robynn Coates

A couple days ago we talked about rating your peace. To some it may seem like too simple of a concept, but let me warn you, don’t underestimate its power. When I began taking a deeper look at my life in regards to food, and honestly rating my level of peace before, during, and after I ate, I noticed a shift in my life. I would be like a kid on Christmas morning, rubbing my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing before me–something special, something magical–a change for the better.

For once, it wasn’t a diet or rule telling me how or what to eat. This time, it was my inner self that suddenly started making different choices. And surprisingly, the decision to continue trying various PWF Tools wasn’t very difficult either. I actually wanted to give them a try, because I knew the results may give me even greater levels of peace. To this day, some tools work better for me than others, but that is the beauty of trying them. You get to tweak and adjust them, based of the level of peace they give you, and you can alter them to work to your advantage. You deserve this

Now as great as all of this sounds, it is important to address that some of you may still be a little timid to keep trying Peace with Food…because you are scared. Scared…to see a change. I want you to know that those feelings are completely normal. I was there at one time too. You feel vulnerable because you don’t know what the outcome will be and you’ve tried so many things over the years that have let you down. Failure after failure with weight-loss attempts continue to haunt you, so why try this?

All I can say, dear friend, is I am taking the time to write you today because this has changed my life. And it’s not like I’ve only lived it out for a short couple of weeks. It’s actually coming upon 4 years that I’ve lived this way and I am still so “awed” by it that I have to share it with you. So for what it is worth, please, come join me, and invite others to come along too. Give it a chance. I want to do this with you because I know it can improve your life too…

Posse Discussion: What reservations do you have about trying the 30-Day Peace with Food challenge? Why? Share with your group.

Click here for Day 4!

DAY 2 – Know Yourself To Improve Yourself

January 2, 2015January 13, 2015 | Robynn Coates

There is a quote by Auguste Comte that says,

“Know yourself to improve yourself.”

Socrates said it this way,

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Great advice.

But something we don’t always do. Especially in our hectic life.

Besides, it can be a bit messy and inconvenient. After all, maybe we will find something we don’t like. Maybe we will be faced with a character trait that we would rather not acknowledge. Or maybe we just don’t have the time to really delve into the deepest part of us: our hopes, ours fears, our dreams.

Maybe we don’t want to take the time to know ourselves because then we will be forced to speak up and perhaps rock the boat. Maybe we will have to confront or challenge the status quo.

That may be the down-side, but there is an up-side to knowing yourself and it is this:

Knowing yourself gives you direction and clarity. It acts as a compass, pointing you in the direction that you should go. Knowing yourself also makes life easier in that it eliminates options and makes your choices clearer. And that is a good thing. know yourself

In living with peace, whether that be with food, finances, relationships, or whatever it may be. . . you need to know yourself. What are your preferences? Your likes? Dislikes? What gives you peace? What leaves you with that pit in your stomach? What do you value most?

How well do you know yourself?

In this blog we will be discussing peace in the many different aspects of your life such as food, exercise, the scale, habits, finance, parenting, and relationships. To have direction in each of these areas, self-knowledge will be not only helpful, but necessary.

Here’s a list of questions to help you “know yourself” in these areas. They may not all be appropriate for each scenario, but consider using them to learn more about yourself in an area you are wanting to improve. (Sample answers are in italics)

What is your greatest heart’s desire regarding _(ex. Your Career) ? A job that allows me to use my artistic talents.
What makes your heart sing regarding ___________?
What is your greatest fear regarding __(ex. Relationships)____? My lack of trust.
What discourages you or defeats you regarding ___________?
What one thing would you change about ___(ex. Your Attitude)_? Being able to “reset” after having a bad morning.
What do you value most in the area of ___(Relationship) __?
What are your gifts and talents regarding ________________?
What comes easy for you, but not necessarily for others in the area of ___________?
What is difficult for you, but not necessarily for others in the area of ____________?
What motivates you regarding __(ex. Eating Right)__? An accountability partner.
What do you like in regards to ________________?
What do you dislike in regards to ______________?
What would you do if you knew you were guaranteed success in regards to ________?
What would life look like if it were perfect in regards to _____________?

These questions got us started, but we didn’t stop there. We’re still asking ourselves questions and searching for ways we can be better and do better.

But there is one question we want to leave you with today. It is a question we think may be the most powerful question you can ask yourself when pursuing peace. And it is this:

What one habit, if you had it, would give you a quantum leap (giant boost) in achieving your goals?

Once you answer that question, begin focusing on developing that one habit. It may even mean letting go of all other goals and pursuing exclusively the development of that one habit.

Here’s an example of this from Robynn’s life: For years she would place on her list of New Year’s Resolutions things like drinking 8 glasses of water, eating a certain amount of fruits and vegetables, not eating sweets, etc. However, these were not the root of her eating and weight problem. Focusing on them only delayed her dealing with the heart of the matter: her all-or-nothing mindset which prevented her from resetting after a mess-up. Once she identified the problem (being able to “reset”), and put all her focus and energy on getting better at that one habit, it eventually resulted in huge gains.

Do you see how Robynn’s list went from being long (8 glasses of water, eating fruits/veggies, etc, etc.) to focusing on 1 thing, every day, and being committed to doing it well? Once she got the hang of it, she was seeing substantial results in her weight-loss and it never required her doing all the other little things that once filled her list. It is easy to write out a bunch of busy-work items, but they aren’t fixing the root of the problem. Consider utilizing the “edit” button and make some changes to your New Year’s Resolution by minimizing your goals and learning how to do them well.

Now it’s your turn…

Posse Discussion: What one habit it, if you had it, would give you a quantum (giant) leap in achieving your weight-loss goals?

*If you haven’t started a posse group yet, we encourage you to use the “Posse Discussion” green questions/topics at the bottom of our posts to help facilitate your group discussions. If you don’t have a posse group, please join our group! All you have to do is share your answer by commenting at the bottom of this post!

Click here for Day 3!

DAY 1- Rate Your Peace

January 1, 2015January 11, 2015 | Robynn Coates

Hey everyone–Happy 2015! Today begins our 30-day PWF challenge, so let’s get started!

If we were to sum up Peace with Food in a word or phrase it would be this:

But if you’re new to pursuing peace that may be too abstract. You may be wondering, “What exactly does Follow Peace mean? What does peace look like? What does it feel like?”

We’ve come up with a tool, a “peace gauge” if you will, to help you rate your level of peace. Our inspiration came from Lara taking her daughter to the ER where she was shown a chart consisting of different facial expressions, ranging from happy to sad, and numbers to rate her pain.

Below is a similar assessment to help identify your level of peace. Throughout the 30-Day PWF Challenge we will be asking you to rate your peace in different areas: food, exercise, your body, the scale, etc. At first it may be challenging to pin point where you fall on the chart, however, you will find that as you continue to practice, you will eventually master this skill.

We were thrilled to find the peace chart doesn’t just work in the area of food, exercise, and your body, but in other areas of life as well. For example, when Lara becomes overwhelmed with her schedule she stops and asks herself to rate her peace on each of her committments. By identifying what activities are lacking peace she may decide to decline them in the future, or make changes so her peace level goes up.

Believe it or not, learning to follow peace in the area of food will actually help you follow peace in other areas of your life too. That’s right, Peace with Food is transferable, which is why we continue to say that it has literally changed our lives in SO MANY ways!

So let’s begin by rating our peace today…

Posse Discussion: Using the chart above, what #peace would you rate your current relationship with food? (Write the date and your answer in a notebook b/c we will be referring back to this number later)

*If you haven’t started a posse group yet, we encourage you to use the “Posse Discussion” green questions/topics at the bottom of our posts to help facilitate your group discussions. If you don’t have a posse group, please join our group! All you have to do is share your answer by commenting at the bottom of this post or join our facebook page!