How to Make It Through the Thanksgiving Feast – Unscathed

November 21, 2014January 10, 2015 | Robynn Coates

Do the holidays stress you out in the area of eating? Do you feel panic set in with Thanksgiving just around the corner?

If that describes you, take a deep breath, relax, and imagine making it through the holidays relaxed and calm, thankful for the many blessings you have been given rather than being focused on the mistakes you made and the pounds you gained.

You can make it through the holidays unscathed. How? Here’s how we plan to do just that.

Sure, we are going to do everything on the front end to set our selves up for success. We’ll have a plan – one that includes enjoying (in moderation) our favorite dishes of sweet potatoes with brown sugar & pecans, dressing, green bean casserole, and of course, pumpkin pie. Then we will try to cut out any unnecessary calories that we might consume just because those foods are available – you know, those tempting appetizers and sweets that sit out hours before and after the feast. And we will even probably try to get in a run or two if at all possible.

These are just a few of the strategies we will employ to help us stay on course.

And although these things are all good, in our opinion, they aren’t the primary factor ensuring victory. We think there is something even better to guarantee success during these challenging eating occasions and it is this:

Reframe your definition of failure.

Remember that famous Thomas Edison quote that says, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Would you take the Thomas Edison approach this Thanksgiving and be your own scientist – experimenting with what works and what doesn’t regarding Peace with Food?

Regardless of whether or not we stick to our plan, (and let’s all admit it, there are times where the best-laid plans get tossed to the wayside in the heat of the moment) we can learn what works and what doesn’t and then do it better next time.

Sure, we will do our best to follow peace this Thanksgiving and be wise, but if things don’t go exactly as we had planned, we will come out with data regarding what worked and what didn’t.

And in our mind, that is not failure, it is just one step further down the path of Peace with Food.

Have a Happy (And Peaceful) Thanksgiving!!

Take-Home Message:

Take the Thomas Edison approach and see every mistake not as a failure, but just one more way that doesn’t work. When you make failure impossible you can move on wiser and smarter!

Lara’s Story

November 18, 2014November 22, 2014 | Lara

As Robynn said, we all have a different story which is compiled of dreams, hopes and fears. Each of us is unique, making every individual like no other…which brings you to my story…

I don’t remember how much I weighed back in late elementary school, but the way my body felt and looked is still vivid in my mind. I remember countless times staring at my reflection in the mirror and telling myself in disgust that I was–(I hate to use this word but this is how I “felt”)– fat. It pains me to this day even recalling that time in my life, because the ache it caused me was deep. I was unhappy and felt trapped in my own body.

When I hit eighth grade, I became more active in sports and hit a growth spurt. The combination of those two things allowed me to thin down, but that didn’t mean my eating habits improved. I was lucky enough to stay thin throughout high school due to being tall and active, but deep down I never had peace with food and the memories of my childhood food struggle continued to haunt me.

I gained some weight when I went to college and remember trying to diet–here and there–to shed a few quick pounds. Everyone may have looked at me and thought I was thin, but I had them fooled in regards to how I felt. Food, and my obsession to have an “ideal” body, secretly controlled my life. As a college freshman I remember buying a huge bag of kettle corn from Sam’s Club. I told myself I could eat only popcorn and water, in hopes to lose five pounds. I would even pass up eating dinner with my friends because I had promised myself to stick with my plan—only to throw my hands up in defeat a week later after a couple pound gain. Not to mention, I missed out on those fun outings I had passed up.

The saga continued after college and into my marriage. I had such a love/hate relationship with food. Loved how it tasted but hated how it made me feel after eating too much of it and the control it had over my life. I would frantically read any new diet fad on a magazine–in hopes to put an end to this madness–but it wasn’t until years later that I found the answer.

When I met Robynn, and our friendship grew, we began to openly discuss our secret struggles with food. It wasn’t until then that I realized I wasn’t alone. And the more we talked about our frustrations, the more we were determined to stop the food insanity that had taken over our lives.

That is where our peace with food journey began. And since it would be too difficult to try and share our experiences all in one post, we will share it in smaller segments as we continue to blog. We hope you’ll stay with us and invite others to join the discussion as we share how to live in PEACE with food.

More to come!

This is My Story . . .

November 17, 2014January 10, 2015 | Robynn

We all have a story that defines who we are.

In this story are woven the threads of our dreams, hopes, fears, disappointments, circumstances, and our past – uniquely making us a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Part of my story includes my struggle with food beginning in high school. I vividly remember weighing in at 98 lbs. during gymnastics in junior high. But by the end of my sophomore year of high school I was up to 143 lbs – a whopping 45-lb. weight gain on my 5’4 medium size frame. I had to do something and I had to do it fast!

That was when I began my career of dieting.

Being athletic and participating in a whole lot of sports and activities allowed me to get back down to a normal weight but I was never quite satisfied with my body. This led to the perpetual chase of the “ideal weight” carrot. Know what I’m talking about? It is crazy, but that is how I lived for so many years of my life.

It was my normal, my landscape.

But I can actually say that it all changed when I began living with peace with food. That is not to say I don’t have an ideal weight, because I do, but this time it is more of an optimal weight range than an unrealistic all-time-low number. No more of this all-or-nothing mindset. Enough of the obsession!

How did I get this peace? Here it is in a nutshell. I began believing that I could do it and I changed the way I thought about my situation. That was step one. It was a big step that took me years. But even in believing that I could have peace with food (and peace with my body) didn’t result in it magically appearing. After years of failed attempts, saying I was frustrated with my situation is putting it mildly. I needed practical steps to take and the skills to carry it out. I needed to find the answer to my dilemma, the combination to the lock. Enter Peace with Food.

As I began writing on this blog I really had to ask myself, “What is my purpose for this blog? Is it to inspire, motivate, entertain?” I think it can be all of these, but more than that, I feel a calling to help others in their journey to Peace with Food. That’s my mission, my assignment – to share with others what I have learned in the decades I’ve spent struggling with food and help them experience peace and freedom.

When I was in college, my Biochem instructor would always say in his Indian accent, “Take-home-message.” We knew that when he uttered these three choppy words we needed to take note because the point he was about to make was of utmost importance. That is what Lara and I hope to leave in every post. A take-home message. A nugget that will help you live at greater Peace with Food.

So here’s the Take-Home Message:

No matter what your story is, you can have Peace with Food. No matter what your beginning is, you can rewrite the end.