The hamster wheel Part 2.

Your high stress life is what's causing your weight gain. Our bodies respond to our negative thoughts at the cellular level.

Why can one person with a high stress life be fit, when another one can't? It's all in the words they say to themselves about life. When your think negative thoughts, the mitochondria in your neurons release cortisol. Cortisol applies belly fat to your body. These negative thoughts slow your metabolism by ruining the mitochondria itself. It becomes less capable of turning fat and sugar into energy. Then, because you feel lousy, you eat some more, producing the same result over and over again.

Our chronic disease comes from this chronic metabolic dysfunction. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disorders to name a few.

To fix it you need: cardio training, weight training, NAC + Glycine, and a new narrative in your head. The physical stuff is much easier to change than the mental, which is more critical than the physical. Chronic negativity will still produce more chronic disease. All the good lifestyle habits in the world can't overcome a negative mind.

The good news is that when you make lifestyle changes, it starts to change your thinking. It's like CBT for your mind. When you're aware of changing your mindset, you can use that as a cue to reinforce a new thought pattern. I won't get into how to do that here, because it’s lengthy. That's a process that goes in a different order for everyone. Suffice it to say, there is a process, and it's critical to long term success.

Ever see a runner drop dead from a heart attack, while Bob Hope smoked and drank and lived to over 100? Attitude is everything, they say. Well, now it's not some woo-woo anecdote anymore, there's science that explains it.

Anger that's stuffed down, becomes heart disease and cancer. Fear that's ever-present becomes another chronic disease. Your mindset dictates your body's response and will halt your metabolism. Yes, it IS "hormones", and your mind has a lot do with producing them.

Those anxious thoughts are producing cortisol right from the mitochondria itself. The mitochondria will dump their DNA from those thoughts, kinda like they're being suicidal.

I woke up from such an experience in the last couple of weeks myself. I was so anxious about an up coming stressful event, that I was shoving everything I could in my mouth to soothe my mind. It didn't work, by the way, but it did provide me with the awareness to share with you.

Today, I chose to be mindful of my thoughts, and feelings. I approached my whole existence with curiosity. I decided I would wait until I was hungry to eat, and see how long that took. I then made a salad with slow, deliberate moves. That was very unlike me, since I tend to go Mach 2 with my hair on fire. I measured my salad dressing to see how much 2 tablespoons looked like. Then, when I sat down to eat it, I was very slow in chewing, so I could feel every part of the food in my mouth.

I felt the weight of the fork in my hand and the feeling of the tines on my lips as I pulled it out, bite after bite. It took me 45 minutes to complete the task from beginning to end, which is usually a race against time. The whole time I focused on feeling my food, being mindful for the whole experience. It was then that I realized it's been a long time since I've paid attention to the mundane parts of life. I've been so quick to move past as much as possible in my race to my goal that I've forgotten to be alive.

In my desperation to avoid feeling the fear of making a big mistake, I stuffed down my food, and drink, so I didn't have to feel. Once I remembered that I make great decisions, I allowed myself to let go of the fear. Doing so stopped the over consumption. Now, it needs to be said that I remembered I make great decisions, I was not processing this for the first time. I’ve already done the big work necessary to make this a quick skip through, so I’m not saying it goes this quickly the first time.

Racing through life so as not to feel, caused me to over consume and forget what I am doing all this for to begin with. I slowed down to feel my heart beat, to feel my full tummy, and hear my own thoughts. I slowed down, to speed up.

I encourage you to slow down a little so you can feel your body, and appreciate it for all that it does for you. Allow yourself a moment of reflection of not how far you have to go, but on how far you've come. Appreciate yourself and your body for all it's done for you. Love it, and you.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, please reply and let me know what resonated and how I can help.