Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A recovered sugar addict on a mission. What side are you on?

Maybe it is because I am now a mother and I get to try and make "right' something that I feel was "wrong" with how I grew up but I am on a mission.  To do what? To educate and stretch my daughter's palate. I feel like I am guarding her mouth like a protective mother bear because I know how hard it is to be addicted to junk food, sugar, fast food and too much food by the age of 5. By the time I was in 3rd grade I remember making my own lunch which was a bag of ding dongs, corn chips, baloney on white bread with mayonnaise and potato chips smashed inside of it for a little extra crunch.  Oh, maybe a diet TAB to go with it.  Then I would take the change out of my dad's pant pockets so that I could buy ice cream at school. I was like a drug addict always looking for my next fix. The good and the bad news was, I didn't have to look very far. The cupboards in my house were loaded with junk food.  We would start our day off with hot fresh donuts. My dad would drive to Peter's bakery every single morning and bring home large pink boxes closed with the white string that we would tear open hoping to get first pick of the warm breakfast treats. There really wasn't any need to fight for what we wanted because there was always more than enough and some left over just in case we wanted to feast more after we came home from school.
I am the one in the middle at the age of 12 my sister Sylvia behind me and my cousin.

There were no rules about food in my home. My dad grew up poor. He would tell the story of being so poor that he would have 10 cents and it could either buy him a donut or a coffee but not both. I guess he was celebrating every day that now he could make sure we had all the donuts we could ever want.
Our home was filled with real food too. My mom was a great cook. She had mexican restaurants that we grew up working. Food was everywhere all the time and in mass quantities with no rules whatsoever. If I had a headache my dad would say, go eat something. If I was tired or didn't feel well, "go eat something"
I remember being living with such a feeling of being out of control unable to stop myself from overloading on food. I was like an alcoholic living in a bar, a cocaine addict living with a dealer, a girl trapped in a nightmare wishing she could get out of the hell she was living and yet not really wanting to.
Now as my daughter is growing up, she is 8 months and we have started to introduce her to food. I want to do it "right" and already it is not easy.  How many boxes of baby cookies or baby yogurt or baby cereal has sugar in it and we unknowingly start them young developing the taste buds for sugary foods. Of course they are going to put sugar in the kid's foods, that way "fussy" children will eat. Who doesn't like sweet food. Our palate jumps for joy when that white crystal dances on our taste buds. It is euphoric but it doesn't mean it's harmless.
I only have a few years to develop my daughters taste for a variety of things and make sure she doesn't get addicted like I did to sweets, junk food, or the typical America toddler food, chicken fingers, french fries, soda, jello, cheese fish, cheerios, pizza, cupcakes, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, hamburgers, happy meals or by old time favorites of ding dongs and twinkies! I know that at least in these first few years while she is at home with us she won't eat these things because we don't eat these things but soon enough she will be having play dates and sleep overs and school parties and birthday parties and there will be the "normal" excessive amounts of candy and junk food all around.
I feel like my sister who worries about her teenage son drinking because everyone else does it and it's a "normal' part of your teenage years to drink too much.  I know how she feels now.
I just want to get her off to a good start and just like probably every other parent in the world, we want to do it better for our kids.
I remember when I was pregnant sitting in Starbucks and overhearing a conversation between a couple talking about how ridiculous it was that a "friend" of theirs had never given their child sugar and how ridiculous they thought she was as they fed their daughter some sweet treat from the new all American breakfast stop, Starbucks.

This is not going to be easy. Mothers are going to think I am obsessive. Her classmates might laugh when I bring a healthy snack to school parties or pack her lunch with untraditional goodies that won't look like the candy bar, potato chip, white bread box lunch everyone else is eating. There will be peer pressure to go to fast food, Chucky cheese or who know's what other foods are out there or maybe I will have made friends with other revolutionary mothers like me who don't want to load their kids up with sugar, fast food and processed meats for meals.  I know I may seem extreme but It just seems that way because the average American diet is extremely unhealthy so I am the one that will most likely look like the crazy health nut mother.

I am intending that by the time my daughter is old enough to choose her own food she will have developed a palate that yearns for fresh, real, alive, nutritious and life enhancing foods simply because she grew up with it. For now all I can do is give those little tiny taste buds as much good stuff as I can and pray that good wins over processed in the end!

It is a revolutionary act to be healthy in this day and age and I am willing to be a revolutionary!

I hope you join me!
Love
Patricia

Friday, May 20, 2011

Once again, the lesson is HONOR YOUR FEELINGS!

I was thinking today about all the people in my life who help me in so many ways and thought of calling them my dream team. They are people who are experts in their field and in some way help me achieve my dreams, help me evolve, grow, develop and take action in my life.  My dream team changes over the years but I always one.  
A couple of weeks ago I called Kat,(She is an empath and energy worker) definitely a member of the dream team, to get some insight as to why I kept repeating an issue around money.  Her message was very clear. She said "You have to honor your feelings, honor your knowing and say no when you need to. You can be empathetic but be more detached".  These were the key messages. It was a short phone call but it was exactly what I needed to hear.  Since then I have been looking back at my day and making a mental list of any place I didn't honor my feelings.  A few days after I had this call with Kat I was watching Oprah, (Oh yeah, Oprah is on my dream team too.)  She was interviewing Fergie and showing a clip of her talking to Dr. Phil and he said to her, 'you are addicted to approval", gulp...I am too.  That is the reason I don't speak up, I don't always say what I need, or really want. I get scared that someone won't like me. It is so childish when I think about it yet no matter how childish it sound when I say it, I do it.  So in an effort to evolve, mature and change I am going to keep a daily list.  I eventually won't have to keep a list because instead of not honoring my feelings I will eventually honor them and speak up.  In an effort to stay conscious and aware of where I am and am not I am making a daily list.

I will be fairly vague because It is not about the other person, it is about me.
My baby sister was doing something I didn't like and I didn't say and mentally said I was going to drop it and ended up telling Kellen about it anyway.
Someone I do business with asked me to do something I didn't think was fair and I did it and ended up holding it against them.
Someone lied to me and I let it slide and didn't tell them I knew they were lying
I didn't speak up when I needed to in regards to needing personal time


I did have some breakthroughs
I did ask for everything I wanted in a business deal ( not sure yet if I got it)
I reached out for help on a project to two people and was ok with getting a No. I got 1 no but 1 YES!
I wrote an email to someone who I was upset with and told the whole truth
I said no to some people who asked for my time and I simply said I didn't have the time

These are just a few things that recently happened and I am being general but as they come up I will share with you what they are in more details as an exercise to stay present and get that it is way too often that I don't trust my feelings, honor my feelings or speak up when I need something because I am addicted to approval.  I ready to be done with that. I know I have said it before, in fact it was the very first blog post.  One thing I have learned that has been so beneficial from my dream team member Lauren Zander is getting your negative traits and outing them is the way to get rid of them.  I will be more specific in the future but this is a good start for now.

The other day before class a student said that she was realizing that she loses weight for other people. When she is going to do something like a photo shoot or an appearance she gets strict and then afterwards she is not as careful and it made her sad to think that she was losing the weight for others and not for herself. I spent so many years doing that! 

We hired a new babysitter and she begins on Monday.  Kellen and I were talking about the things that are really important to us that we learned from babysitter number 1 that we have to be specific and clear about what is important to us.  Here we go again! This time I will speak up! 

Hope you are honoring your feelings! If not, practice doing your own list for the next month or so. If you need coaching reach out to www.handelgroup.com for some coaching. 

If you want to reach out to anyone on my dream team the ones I am working with now
Lauren Zander www.Handelgroup.com
Michael Moschel, working on my body and especially my knee, www.painandinjuryresolution.com 

Have a great weekend!
Love
Patricia


Sunday, May 15, 2011

The most important thing you must do before you die...

"The most important thing to do before you die is live!" Simon Sinek author of It starts with Why

Yesterday I kicked off the Workin it Out event with this quote as a reminder that so many of us after the age of 30 are already dying.  How many of you believe that it is downhill from where you are, that you could never look better, feel better or enjoy life more than you did when you were younger? How many of you are upgrading your thinking, eating and exercise habits and challenging yourself to get better with age?  There is no amount of money, success, beautiful clothes or nice cars that will replace a healthy body.  Our body knows how to heal and regenerate itself but you have to treat it well, feed it well and exercise it regularly.  We all know it is not easy to make changes but when we do we feel in control of our destiny. Illness and disease is NOT a normal part of aging, it is a normal part of abusive habits and indulging in harmful thoughts and food.  I hope you will be inspired to join the Sati Life community detox this month. Whether you choose to do Dr. Lipman's REMOVE detox or anything else, I encourage you to focus on removing harmful foods from your diet habits. Here is the update from yesterday's event.



Yesterday at the Workin it out event Dr. Lipman inspired us all to be a part of the wellness revolution. He reminded us how hard it is to be healthy when everything around us, from TV commercials to magazines are promoting either drugs or unhealthy products. He started by letting us know what we should focus on removing from our diets:
1. "Sugar is the devil" Avoid it. It is more addicting than heroine
2. Gluten. It causes inflammation in most people
3. Factory meat. Choose only organic, farm raised
4. Dairy. Calcium is over promoted. Greens have enough calcium
5. Caffeine
6. Alcohol
(Get more info at www.elevenelevenwellness.com )

The first few days you will not feel good. Most of us are addicted to to these drugs and it is part of the process.  it only takes a few days to get to the other side and just stick with it.

What we eat, think and do is what determines the experience of our life.  We have complete control over what goes in and comes out of our mouth and by being conscious and taking responsibility and making conscious choices we can effect positive change in our own lives and inspire those around us to do the same.

If you are not feeling good, if you have not been taking control of your own health, mood, attitude and life, this is a great place to start. If you have been, why not raise the bar. You can't stay the same. You are either moving forward or backwards. Keep making positive changes and you will keep getting better with age instead of worse.

Dr. Lipman says nothing ages us more than sugar and it is the first thing to eliminate from your diet.  At one point he took questions and someone asked about Agave as a sugar substitute and to my surprise he said Agave is basically high fructose corn syrup and no, it is not a good replacement for sugar. Gulp! Ok out it goes. He recommends stevia and xylitol if you want to sweeten something.

What is unique about the REMOVE detox is not only what it requires you take out of  your diet but what he has you add back in. The supplements that come with the REMOVE package help the body eliminate the toxins and helps restore health.  I just finished the two week REMOVE detox and now I am about to begin doing the next level REVIVE.  My personal goal is to do all three levels of his detox system and take the next 6 weeks to reignite my body's ability to heal and restore itself to radiant health.


I encourage you to take this month as an entry point to healthier living and encourage others to do the same.  Many of us are doing Dr. LIpman"s REMOVE detox and you can purchase it on elevenelevenwellness.com.  Dr. Lipman, his wellness coach Kerry and I will be leading a weekly conference call on Wednesday nights at 8pmET.  You can ask questions and get any support you need.  Please also join Dr. Lipman's facebook page and for daily support you can join "workin it out with Patricia Moreno" and post your questions and brag about your success so you inspire others to stay in the game. With community support anything is possible. Be a part of the Sati community wellness revolution and radiate health!

Anyone can join the call, it is free and highly recommended. Whether you have already started the detox or considering it, please participate. The call in number for Wednesday night calls is 218-936-4700/ access code 42016

Revolutionaries Join together!
with love,




Patricia

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Are you willing to do WHATEVER it takes to feel great?

How do you choose what to eat each day? Are you a calorie counter, a "eat whatever is convenient'? A vegetarian? A raw foodie? A "on a diet, off a diet" person?

When you eat something do you ask yourself, "Will this make me fat"?  "How will I feel afterwards? "Is this good for me"?

I used to be a "WHATEVER make me lose weight" person. And I do mean "WHATEVER".  The problem with that was the "WHATEVER" was usually a quick fix, unsustainable way and it eventually meant I had to stop it. Then what happened what since I hadn't changed my habits of overeating or bingeing or over exercising, eventually I was back to feeling miserable and out of control.

Once I changed my goal from WHATEVER it takes to loose weight to WHATEVER it takes to feel great then my old ways no longer worked.  Bingeing, purging, extreme over exercising and diets of any kind may have led to short term weight loss but it also has the downside of depression and a feeling of lack of control, just to name a few.

Feeling great is, a healthy weight, a healthy body and a healthy mind by eliminating harmful thoughts, harmful food and over or under exercising as well as adding beneficial thoughts, beneficial food and beneficial exercise.

After hearing Dr. Frank lipman speak I reached out to him and told him I wanted to do a Sati community detox to inspire people to change their focus from simply losing weight to improving over all health and well-being and reminding them they can have it all this way. He enthusiastically said yes and I enthusiastically invite you to participate. You have the rare opportunity to be supported for 4 weeks by Dr. Lipman and myself with a weekly call on Wednesday nights, Dr. Lipman’s community website at elevenelevenwellness.com and on facebook on my “Workin it Out with Patricia Moreno” community page.

I know so many people who are constantly going up and down in their weight, feel sluggish and tired, have a hard time breaking old habits, go up in down in their weight or can’t achieve their desired weight.  By changing the way you think about food, your health and your body you can achieve long-term health and weight-loss, really feel great and live a life you love in a body you love.

I just finished my first week of the REMOVE detox and except for a headache the first couple of days it has been easy.  I love that along with 3 shakes a day you eat two light meals. I lost 4 lbs the first week and after 4 days I felt amazing.

If you are in the area I encourage you to join us on May 14th for the kick off event at Equinox 19th from 2-4 pm. We will begin with an intenSati workout led by me followed by an inspiring talk by Dr. Lipman. Whether or not you want to do the REMOVE detox it will certainly inspire you to make some positive changes.
If you are not in the area I encourage you to participate anyway and join the community pages for support.
You will have our support for one month so even if you start the REMOVE detox afterwards you will still have a couple of weeks of support from us to keep you in the game.

If you are going to invest your time, your energy, your money and your attention on losing weight, invest it in something sustainable. Take this opportunity to benefit from the power of a united community and feed your health, your wellness and a healthy mind. Yes! You can have it all.  Will you do whatever it takes to feel great?

Go to Satilife.com/events to register for the May 14th event and  purchase the REMOVE detox on elevenelevenwellness.com.

Together we can!
Patricia

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Just feel the feelings and don't eat the cupcake!


Day 7 REMOVE detox cleanse, halfway there! I lost 4lbs and feeling better than before!

I haven't had a cupcake in a very long time but today it was all I wanted. I was sad this morning. I woke up and all was well and then after a discussion with someone, I won't share the details because it involves another person, I was left feeling sad, disappointed and uncertain about what to do.  I was on my vespa, driving into the city to go and teach my class and as I drove down 9th avenue all I wanted to do was to stop at Billy's bakery and buy a cupcake.  I was so present to how the sadness I was feeling was calling for a cupcake. If I wasn't present I would have been certain I needed to have a cupcake. It didn't make the wanting it any less, I was just present to it.  

I made it past Billy's but the challenge didn't end there. I got to the gym early and decided to go in and get a tea at the bakery next door, yeah right! First I reached for a banana, I had it in my hand then remembered that bananas are on the "not allowed" list. I was getting out and then started asking about the cupcakes.  Ugh I actually bought it and then threw it in the garbage after I sat down to answer emails and got an email from one of the leaders saying she had been sad and depressed last night and had to battle not eating sugar and felt proud she had won! Gulp! Phew. I wrote her back and thanked her for being strong and actually helping me!  

What was really interesting today was how clear it was to me that the sad wanted the cupcake. Hunger doesn't ask for a cupcake it asks for real food and since I hadn't had that feeling in a while, being on the detox has actually really helped with the sugar cravings but this was so not a physical craving but an emotional craving.

It led me to remember how sad I used to be as a little girl and how I kept trying to stuff my sadness with junk food. I didn't know it then but looking back it is all very clear to me. 

It turns out this REMOVE detox is much more than a physical detoxing but an emotional one as well. Even though I am so different from who I was years ago there are clearly still some emotions in the fabric of my being.  Between Dr. Lipman and Michael Moschel I am sure my physical, emotional and spiritual cleansing will have a deep impact and positive impact on me in so many ways. I can feel it already.

One of my goals career wise it to inspire people to think right, eat right and exercise right which leads to living right. Right meaning causing no harm to oneself or anyone else. When we stop causing harm we are present to the love, peace and joy that is always there. I am on a mission to cause a happy wellness revolution so that as a society we are not so obsessed with simply getting thin at any cost but instead establishing sustainable habits. 

I hope you will join me and Dr. Lipman and do the 14 day REMOVE detox. We are kicking it off on May 14th at the next "Workin it Out with Patricia Moreno" event. 1 hour workout 1 hour lecture by Dr. Lipman.  If you are unsure you want to do the detox come and hear him speak then decide. If you are already sure make sure you purchase the REMOVE detox asap. You can buy it at a reduced price on Gilt.com until midnight 5/5.  Dr. Lipman, his staff and I will also be supporting your with a weekly 30 minute call just in case you have any questions.

In the meantime, join my page on facebook called "Workin it out with Patricia Moreno" Post your goals and get support in taking radical action.  This month Lauren Zander creator of the Handel Method will be with me coaching you to stay in action. Top 3 action takers will get a free coaching session with either Lauren or myself, your choice!

Think right, eat right, exercise right and live right!
No cupcakes for me today!
Love,
Patricia