Client Experiences
Linda
Sometimes it is the small comments that can really influence my mindset. Do you know what I mean? For me it was something my Dad said recently that really struck a chord. He was going on about a book he had read and how it was all about not missing the cheese. For a cheese lover, he had me at the word cheese. But that's not really what he meant. "If you focus on the holes, you will miss the cheese . . . "
When he spoke about not missing the cheese, he was talking about so much more than simply enjoying food. But maybe I need to fill you in a little. The short of it is, my dad hasn't had it easy. In recent years he has been struggling with his health. It is something that affects him every day. What does he mean about not looking at the holes? He is talking about facing daily situations that are difficult but choosing his perspective to be a positive one. Keeping a positive mindset in the face of and despite the things that test us. Rather than focusing on the things he can't do, he is grateful for the things he can do. That's what he means when he says we need to 'look for the cheese' rather than the holes.
This challenged me. It challenged me to think about my own life and the areas where I am in danger of getting bogged down. I have found that it takes some conscious stopping and noticing for me to find out what those things are in my life. As with most things I write about, I was trying to look at this quote from the perspective of eating and eating well. What is the 'cheese' and what are the 'holes' when we look at loosing weight? How can we keep the focus positive rather than letting a change in eating cast a shadow over everything else?
I have asked myself whether it's possible to start focusing on all the things I can be eating, rather than feeling too restricted when trying to lose weight. Take the salad I had at lunch for example. I could have easily turned to envy my colleague eating the leftover Sunday roast next to me. Instead I chose to thoroughly enjoy the wide variety of lettuce and the taste of hummus and ham that was in my lunchbox. I savoured the crunch and all the different flavours. I came away smiling when another colleague commented on how nice it looked (some food envy after all, not just by me!).It can be so easy to just hone in on the "don'ts", the restrictions, the cost, the niggling cravings, the food envy of everything we are trying to eat less of, the apparent blandness of healthy food . . .
There are rather a lot of holes when you start looking. But what about the "cheese"? How about enjoying literally every mouthful of what we eat when we eat it, without feeling (or focusing on) that sense of restriction that we tend to associate with 'dieting'? Or how about embracing the feeling of gentle hunger in our stomach knowing that the next meal is soon to come, grateful for the plenty we have on offer? How about the cheese? If we were able to focus on "the cheese", I believe we would live so much happier and healthier. I am sure we would end up losing some weight in the process because we would view life/ and food from a baseline of quiet grateful appreciation rather than a baseline of unsatisfied void. So how about it? Would you care to join my Dad and I on our journey to "savouring the cheese", rather than getting bogged down by looking at the holes in it? I'd love to know how it goes . . .
