Enjoy this week’s tips and topics in the Substantial Sample!

Featured Weekly Tips

MENTAL WELLNESS: “Soul Food” by Golda

Stop Stopping the Flow of Change

Take a deep breath, and close your eyes. Picture, imagine, or feel the flow of love in your body (use things and people that you love in order to channel the emotion). Do you feel the way the love moves through you, into you and out of you? Can you feel its energy, and that feeling of possibility that it holds? Good. Now, feel the energy of hatred. How does that feel? Does it feel heavy? Solid? Miserable? Burning? Cold? Now, open your eyes. Did you notice anything about that hateful feeling? Did it feel like the way you feel about the areas of your life that you want to change but that feel stuck? Want to learn more about where this hate comes from and why it’s such an impediment to positive change? Then check out Soul Food.

NUTRITION: “Feed Your Life” by Sara

Three Steps to Break Free of the Diet Mentality

1. Listen:  Pay attention to your self-talk when it comes to food.  Awareness is the key to making peace with food.
2. Experiment:  Try eating your ‘forbidden foods’ as often as they appeal to you - and eat as much as you want, until you feel satisfied.  If you do this, make the exercise more effective by really focusing on your food – its appearance, taste, texture, temperature – and your experience eating it.
3. Support:  Don’t go it alone!  Get support from other like-minded individuals.  It only takes one well-intentioned, but insensitive, comment to throw you back into diet mentality in the early weeks. Find a partner and support each other.

FITNESS: “Fitness For All” by Sue

Save Your Time and Money: Say No to Weight Loss Schemes

Diet and weight loss plans, they cost money and they’re everywhere. This week, make an effort to note every time you’re asked to pay someone or for some program to lose weight. This will help you understand the degree to which we’re bombarded with dieting and weight-loss messages. Save your time and money. Dr. Jon Robison says, “Don’t spend another minute or another dime on anything (book, clinic, TV show, etc.) or anybody (doctor, dietitian, relative, etc.) that even remotely suggests it or they will help you lose weight permanently.”

Blog Topics, Resources and Forums

• Please join us in welcoming Melissa Freer-Smith to MOMTL! Read her first post:  The Hidden Diet
• NAAFA Challenges the First Lady
• New Study Shows that 70+ Year-Olds Live Longer when Fat
• 10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Ease Concerns about Your Weight and Improve Your Health - brought to us as a Special Report by Dr. Jon Robison through the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA)

Word of the Week: Moderation, by Jay

Moderation - try some today! And read about Jay's love of moderation.

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