Motivation
A large percentage of the country has absolutely no control when it comes to the foods they choose to put into their mouths. In a mental battle between right and wrong, the mind is a funny thing, and will almost always push you toward the wrong choice. Hence, you must master your mind, and direct it to “proper action. You must do what needs to be done in order to achieve your goals, for no other reason than “because that’s just how it has to be. You must do the right thing, “because it is the right thing to do, and because you made a conscious choice to do what is right. Then, and only then, will you be able to walk with the sheer, honest confidence that radiates from within the individual who sets inviolable standards for him or herself. If you can maintain these standards 90% of the time, then the remaining 10% of the time where you falter, will be attributed to human error. We are not God. We are only human, and will occasionally falter as humans do. But the true test is how you pick yourself up and recover from your mistakes, as well as what your attitude is both during the recovery process, and thereafter.
Food can be compared to a drug. It has an effect on chemicals in our brain, and throughout our bodies, thereby affecting our mood and behavior. If we constantly make poor and unhealthy food choices, it will almost always be evident in the way our body looks, as well as in our behavior and attitude as well. If, on the other hand, we curb our “addiction to unhealthy food, and “train our brains to desire to function off of healthy foods, we will look better, feel better, sleep better, and have a better mental disposition overall. Going back to the percentage analogy, if a healthy diet is in place 90% of the time, our bodies will be properly fueled to go through life the way they were designed to, and the remaining 10% of the time will have a nearly negligible impact on us.
As with cessation of drug or alcohol use, the decision to “quit eating unhealthy foods on a regular basis, begins in the mind. YOU have to make the conscious decision to change your eating habits, and YOU have to have a burning desire to do so, because you know that it will get you closer to your end result of having a fit-looking and healthy body. YOU must train your mind to eat for nutrition and NOT for taste 90% of the time. And YOU must UN-train your brain to desire junk food, except for 10% of the time, where it won’t matter. This is NOT an easy task, and may be even more difficult than quitting cigarettes. But the end result, is that you will change the “internal chemistry of your body. Eventually, you will desire only healthy, nutritious food, and so will your taste buds. Your brain will be re-wired to support eating habits conducive to maintaining a lean, healthy-looking physique. Finally, after changing the internal chemistry of your body, the most important thing to understand is that the 10% of the time that you DO eat garbage, you will know how bad it is for you, because you will literally feel SICK to your stomach when you indulge in such foods! It may take you a while to get to this point, but once you are there, you will be forever thankful that you made the change!
