Why Adding In is the Only Theory That Works Long Term
Baby Steps
Happy new year to all! Once again, here we are at the start of a new year, the clean slate before us [ *YAY* ] and everything we put off until January is now staring us in the face. [ahhh!!]
It's action time, which can be super motivating, or intensely scary, depending on where you are with your goals. I have good news, though! No matter where you are physically, mentally, or emotionally, the best way to make long-term changes is to baby-step your way there.
Why adding in works
How is it possible that that my former number one grocery item is no longer a part of my life? How can it be that my (toxic) daily staple one day just fell off my radar?
If you've been listening to me for any period of time, you know that when it comes to making healthy changes, my secret to long term success isnt depriving yourself from the very thing you know is harming you - it's actually the opposite : I encourage my clients to add in before ever trying to take anything out.
Diet Coke was my water. It was a part of every supermarket trip, filling the base of my cart, my fridge, my car trunk. I had a can on my desk at all times - it is was "my thing," an extension of my right arm, part of my identity, and no one was taking that away from me.
Even when the science teacher told me it would turn to formaldehyde in my body, I could not have cared less. No one was taking away my life blood.
Early on in my new career as a health coach, someone at a workshop I was giving asked me how I kicked the diet soda habit. I had to think about it. I didn't try to give it up. I certainly didn't go cold turkey or will power my way out of it. So how did it happen that what was once my right arm is no longer part of my life?
I thought back to a picnic I was at while I was still addicted, when, in a highly unusual case, I didn't have a soda with me. We were far from a store, and so I was forced to drink water or go thirsty. A friend had brought a bottle of flavored seltzer and offered it to me. Although I had never tried it, I confidently declared that I didn't like it, (I had pulled the same crazy move with avocado for years, claiming guacamole was gross, but never having actually tasted it - boy did I miss out!) but was desperate enough to pour a cup to wash down my picnic lunch.
To my absolute shock, I liked it, and I remember looking for it in the supermarket some time later on. I must have added it in to the point that it crowded out the Diet Coke, because the day finally came when I didn't enter the grocery store and robotically plop down two cases of soda cans into my shopping cart before even hitting the first aisle.
This is the beauty of the adding in theory - the choice came from somewhere inside of ME - not outside from a diet, or a book I was reading, or the science teacher, but from the real and true me. Adding in helps you listen to her. And she has all the answers.
Stay tuned this year for the launch of my exciting new 28-Day Live It program, the radically simple approach to healthy living, weight loss and reclaiming your energy. In the meantime, keep adding in the good stuff, and be sure to visit feedingyourlife.com for more info, recipes and motivation.
To a peaceful, productive year,
Jennifer