What you will read on the blog pages will give you some insight into the motivation that drove me to write a book, "The Main Meal: The New Perspective on Weight Loss." Writing the book inspired me to write more, and so I started blogging in June of 2013. Looking back I found that most of my blogs fall into three main topics: Being Present, Loving Yourself, and Renewal, and that's what the Main Meal is all about. It's about being present to what is most important in my life, renewing my sense of self-worth and confidence in every moment, and loving myself just as I am.
PLease join me at the table as I find new and delicious items on the menu of living in joy and self-confidence. I invite you to explore this website, sign up for the newsletter, read the blogs, buy the book, and contact me with your stories and feedback. Together we make progress and together we find our way to joy.
An Excerpt from "The Main Meal: The New Perspective on Weight Loss"
The concept for this book came along with the title. I have known for over 20 years, on one level or another, that I would write this book. At different times over those 20 years, I have had different layers of understanding of what the title really means. First, I knew intellectually it was not about the food, but about emotion, self-esteem, self-image, and yet I still concentrated on eating the 'right' food and making healthy choices. I even wrote about those choices of food, thinking they would be included in the book. Later, I began to understand that food choices may be a good topic for discussion, but not for this book. The emphasis really is on how I live my life, how I interact with others, how I choose to live each day and what attitude I bring to my world. This book is about finding the truth of who I really am.
Most recently, I have had a deeper insight into the title. I was thinking about how the conventional diet gurus tell us we will always have to weigh and measure our food in order to maintain our weight. How unacceptable it was to me to have that be a life sentence! And how absurd that I would give 80 percent of my waking hours to the focus on food! I had to ask myself, isn't that how I got to this size in the first place? Didn't I focus on food instead of on my own emotions? Didn't I choose to anesthetize all of the discomfort and awkwardness of living by eating about it?
I missed the main course while I was so focused on food! I missed out on the love and growth and maturing that comes with honest interaction with those around me. I avoided situations where I didn’t feel completely confident, and thus, I am sure, missed out on knowing some wonderful people. I missed knowing that nearly everyone around me was just as unsure and insecure as I was. I missed seeing that some of the things I said and did were harsh and judgmental. I missed the daily give and take, ebb and flow, highs and lows of being aware and appreciative of every moment. I missed a lot of my life.
As I live and breathe today, it's not about the food. It's not about what I eat, how much I eat, when I eat or whether I eat. It's not about how much I weigh, what size clothes I wear, how I look in the mirror or how I look to someone else. It’s not about someone else's opinion of me, expressed through words or disapproving glares. It’s not about anyone else's perception of how my body size reflects on them as a parent, sibling, spouse, friend, mentor, doctor, nutritionist or spiritual adviser. It's about me being happy. It's about me feeling good about myself. It's about me smiling, laughing and loving.
So I have sentenced myself to life! I choose to accept my life, in every icky, messy, lovely, glorious, happy, sad, frustrated, content moment. In every 'now'. I choose to feel each now. I choose to live each now. I choose to be fully aware and present every now of my life. I am feasting at the main meal of life. And even if I still sample the side dishes of my life, I know how to find my way back to the main course.
