In our world, “diet” has become a four-letter word, a dirty word connected to deprivation and starvation.  But did you know that the word “diet” comes from the Greek word, diaita, which means “way of living?”

Hhhmmmm….something to think about!

What if you believed, “healthy body healthy mind” and diet didn’t just refer to losing weight?  What if, it wasn’t a go-to plan that was implemented only when pants fits too snugly or the scale began its upward creep?  What if, instead of deprivation, you began to embrace diet from its true meaning…a way of living…a way of life….a way to live?  What if, you could use your mind to support your goals?

Hhhmmmm….yet more to think about.

How are you currently living?  Are you:

• Eating for fuel or for comfort?
• Sleeping enough to rest and restore your body?
• Relaxing deeply and creating moments of self-care?
• Moving your body to increase its strength and flexibility?
• Drinking water to hydrate and allow your systems to flow?
• Having fun and laughing often?

If not, why not?

If you focused on just one of these questions and changed your way of living around that one thing, how would your life be different?  How would your world be different if you changed your perception of food and thought of it as fuel?
What would happen to your body if you planned your meals based on the nutritional value of the foods you prepared?  Looking deeper, how would your family look, feel and act differently if the food you fed them nourished their body and mind?

For one week, would you commit to looking at food as a way of living and only eat the things your great-grandparents would recognize as food?

Take the one week challenge and eliminate foods with a bar-code or that are delivered through a fast food window.  Instead:

• Eat only those foods that could have been gathered, hunted, fished or plucked (don’t worry – the good thing about our society is that the plucking is done for you!)
• Run screaming from processed foods.
• Shop only the outer perimeter of the supermarket, where the vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy and eggs are located.
• Don’t eat anything you can’t pronounce.
• Drink water and plenty of it.
• Pay attention to calories. If you are wanting to lose weight, a good rule of thumb is multiply your goal weight times 10.  For example… if your goal weight is 140, that means you should eat 1,400 calories.  And remember, you can eat a bit more, IF you exercise that day.

Now…tap your forehead three times to reset your brain about the word “diet”.  Click your heels together three times to cement in the promise that there is “no place like home-made”. And, remember that it isn’t about the food. It’s about YOU.  It’s about your life, your existence, your number of years on this planet.

Why weight?