Think your way to better health

It's widely known our thoughts and, more specifically our beliefs about those thoughts, determine our actions.

We've all heard sayings like, “As the mind goes, the body follows,” “As a man thinketh, so is he” and “What you think about you bring about.” Even science has been able to show through the discovery of epigenetics that whatever our brain believes to be true – whether it is or not – sets the body to work in making a way for that to happen.

Bruce Lipton has done a lot of work in this area. If you're a bit “sciencey,” you'll appreciate his book, The Biology of Belief.

Think about those times you've said, or heard someone else say, “I just knew I was going get sick. I mean, that's just what happens when it's flu season.” Next thing you know, you're home from work and flat out on the couch for the rest of the week.

When the thought that there's nothing you can do to prevent sickness because it's flu season becomes a belief, you may not take care of yourself as well as you usually do.

Sometimes it's those long-held incorrect thoughts and beliefs that has us telling ourselves to do or not do things that serve our body. Getting more sleep, drinking more water, increasing vitamins, avoiding sugar and processed foods – all things that would be prudent to do – seem futile when holding the belief that you're going to come down with the flu anyway.

So, instead of being proactive, you do nothing. Or worse, do the opposite and end up staying up late, drinking less water and making poor food choices. All of which actually increases your chances of getting sick.

Our thoughts, words and the actions they bring about ring true in all areas of our life and health. All six components – nutrition, exercise, water, sleep, stress and supplements. Let's talk about our nutrition, since food really is the foundation to optimizing health.

I've found that people who struggle with weight almost always have some sort of belief associated with the amount of food they think they should be eating. It's a commonly held belief that in order to lose weight, you just need to eat less or stop eating until you see the right number on the scale.

Most of the time the opposite is actually true but it's those false beliefs that have people jumping from one diet to the next, fostering disordered eating in the process. Of course you'll notice a drop in weight at the beginning, but almost never in the long-term.

Statistics say that less than one percent of people can actually maintain a diet for life. Why? Because thinking you can only lose weight by removing, depriving, counting calories, etc., is an incorrect belief, likely held from way back, which manifests in chronic dieting and disordered eating.

The same can also be said for those who believe eating a massive portion for one meal, will carry them through the day right up until dinner time. They too will get some results at the beginning, which again, will likely be short-lived because it's a belief that doesn't align with the way the body was designed to function.

Our bodies love balance. And understanding that when you eat the foods you love in the right combinations, in the right portions and in the right frequencies, your body too comes into, and stays in, balance.

It's in this place where hormones are balanced and blood sugar is stabilized. It's also the place where your body will naturally release stored fat, protect muscle, fire up metabolism and increase energy.

Education about these simple truths can go a long way to help change your thoughts around what really is needed to create health in your body and to lose that extra weight.

As the mind goes, the body follows.

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This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.