Wildly Successful Lifestyle Heidi Dawson

I have been thinking a lot about health lately because I know for me how much I’ve struggled to be the size I want to be, how hard I work to maintain and optimize my health and so much of that has to do with weight.  



 I also see so many other women struggling the same but it always seems like an uphill battle. Like my sweet yoga instructor who is giving herself grace because the baby weight is not coming off as fast as she would like or an acquaintance who at 55 just can’t stop gaining weight and it’s really destroying her confidence. 



I understand the feeling of not wanting to look in the mirror with no clothes on.  I used to turn away from the mirror so I didn’t have to look. I don’t have to do that anymore and I turn 50 in June.  Yes I work out but I always have. I had a lot more fat on my body at 30 then I do now. I worked out then and I work out now. It’s all about the food I’m choosing. 



And let me just say before I get into my rant here. I love you guys.  I see you I am you.  honestly I never used to be I never used to think I could be a person that was super disciplined about what I eat and drink.  I would say I’m not that person.  I don’t want to be that disciplined, and then I realized I am that person I am disciplined I just had to shed the part of me that wasn’t. Deep down inside I believe you are too and maybe you can shed the part of you that isn’t. Food is a struggle for most people I know.  It’s either what the heck do I eat or I don’t even eat that much and Im still gaining weight.  It’s a common problem. Like I said on Fridays episode 70% of Americans are overweight.  And it has everything to do with our food.  



And everyone has an opinion on food. Some will tell you this diet works best or you should eat this way or that way or for only this long. There’s so much information out there, it’s almost impossible to decipher what’s true and what isn’t. 



But there is one thing that I think is especially damaging to us and it’s said in a well meaning way.  But its damage goes beyond word value.  And look I could get on board with that statement that it’s not our own fault if we are overweight because the food industry has manipulated our food into something that is no longer food. It looks like it and tastes like it but there’s no nutrition so it simply isn’t food.  And then on top of that they add ingredients that make you addicted so you want more and more. So yes,  if I didn’t know the deeper consequences of believing its not my fault then I would agree with it. But I can’t do that. You know why?



Because by saying it’s not my fault, it takes the power completely out of my hands to do anything about it.  When it’s not your fault then you are powerless to change it. That makes you a victim of an unseen monster that isn’t going away. I don’t want to be a victim and I don’t think you do either. And people will say well it’s kind to say it isn’t their fault because the big bad food companies have made it impossible to be healthy.  No!  The big bad food companies what they have done is create options that if we choose them make it impossible for us to be healthy. But as long as we get to decide what we buy at the grocery store or what we eat at a restaurant, all the still power lies in our hands. That’s the ugly truth.   That’s the truth no one wants to hear or say. Listen in to hear the entire manifesto!

Ive been doing a lot of design work lately and it’s been fun! The world feels right when I’m helping people create an environment that brings them joy whether it’s in their head space like I do with my podcast or their literal space like I do with design. And both have a lot to do with each other.

Your literal space is a good indicator of where your heads at and your head space is deeply affected by your literal space, like if you have a lot of clutter in your environment, its probably pretty hard for you to relax. Or if you have a lot of negative self talk, and feelings of low self worth, that’s more than likely portrayed in your environment as well, especially in your health and the way you present yourself. It’s all tied together.

I’ve talked about that before in episodes but it never hurts to remember that. If you want to see where you’re head is, take a look around at your environment and the way you present yourself. Not always 100% accurate of course, but it’s a good place to start. Your environment matters and so does the way you present yourself.

OK, there’s a different mindset when you’re in it for the long game. We take our time and we plan it out and we stick to the plan regardless.

There are times where a quick fix makes sense,  But for most of us in our day to day lives, we have to be in it for the long term gains. Be in it for the long game. If you’re always looking at things from a quick fix, you’re going to constantly struggle with long term gains.

There have been times when Ive been at the gym and my workout was sub par because I was tired but that didn’t stop me from showing up the next day to work out because I know my long term gains are more important than one bad workout. Think about that the next time you’re workout isn’t so great, just tell yourself, Im in it for the long game and I know tomorrow will be better. Keep going.

Same thing for nutrition! Ive been going to my sisters once a week. I was there this week and my mom had made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and her cinnamon rolls are out of this world yummy, she had half a pan left over just sitting there in front of me. I hadn’t had lunch and they had this big late breakfast so no-one was in a hurry to eat but me. So you can probably guess what happened. I ate a cinnamon roll. I don’t eat bread anymore and I try not to eat butter and sugar which those rolls were full of. But I ate it and I enjoyed it, my hands were itching like crazy later and I still say it was worth it. My functional dr would be appalled. Now I know one cinnamon roll isn’t going to kill my goals, but continuing to eat like that all day might, so I didn’t continue eating everything in sight which is what the old me would do, I would have said well Ive...listen to the entire episode to hear the rest!

Have you ever been in the car and someone is on your tail driving fast and they zoom around you in a hurry only to get to the stop light and there they are. Right beside you? Happens a lot. Or maybe you speed to work trying to take shortcuts or detours and it just takes longer?

Statistics show speeding if your on short trips like to work or school or grocery store isn’t very effective due to traffic lights and stops. We are talking like 10 seconds here. and when you consider the risks of accident and cost of a ticket the benefit of those 10 seconds disappears. I think it’s the same way for life.

I was rushing the other day to leave the house and I got in my car to see I had forgotten my phone in the house and my water bottle. So back up the drive I go into the house to find it. All my time saved rushing gone. And I was stressing myself on top of that. And we do this a lot. Whenever you rush something or take shortcuts it seems like it takes longer. How about when you’re speeding on a project and you make tons of mistakes so now you have to take the time to fix them? If you just slowed down and were intentional about what you’re doing, you would actually be ahead. Seems like the same goes for life.

I was busier than usual this week with design clients and visiting My sister Heather so a couple days I didn’t get in my morning routine of meditation and journaling. I just hit the ground running without doing it because my busy mind didn’t want me to slow down and take the time.

I’m actually glad it happened though because it taught me a valuable lesson. I get less done and distract myself so much more when I tell myself I’m too busy and I don’t do the things that take care of my mind. So, I allowed meditation and journaling to slack for a few days in a row.

Here’s what I found. I was less productive and had more moments of feeling a little down or just lethargic because I was being lazy with my mental space. I scrolled a little more on Instagram which is so interesting to me because if I start, it can be so addictive that I know it’s making me feel unproductive and not great but I can’t seem to stop. Kind of like if you’re not disciplined with chips or sugar. There have been times where I wasn’t even hungry but I just kept eating those cookies or chips because it tasted so good knowing I was going to feel bad later. That’s how I feel when I consume too much social media. That’s also why I try not to get on much anymore. It’s a time killer. My point is my brain said I was too busy to meditate and journal which I just went along with, but in return it was also very distracted and unfocused and a little overwhelmed and I realized it’s because I let my brain run me when I usually tell my brain how the day is going to go. when I meditate that’s me letting my brain know I’m in control. It starts the day with me being aware and in control of my thoughts. When I journal I always journal what I’m grateful for but also how I’m going to show up that day. So that starts my day looking for what’s good in my life and also being intentional about how I’m going to show up. When I didn’t do those things, I was just left to whatever my primitive brain wanted to do and it wants to be distracted and worry and think negative thoughts about pretty much everything, the Primitive brain is also looking for danger, not for what’s good. So when you live from that space, you’re looking out for how people are out to get you or in what ways you need to protect yourself from feeling pain of any sort which causes you to want to distract yourself by eating too much of the wrong things, drinking too much, scrolling, consuming. And these things slow us down in every way.  Find out what to do by listening to the entire episode!  I love you guys!

I was with a design client yesterday. This is one where we have worked together before so he knows he likes what I do and we have a common trust as far as our design client relationship goes. Now. We had attempted to start this project before the holidays but it sort of stalled for a few reasons, many of them being me. and it’s now March and we are picking it back up because he reached back out and asked if we could get together to move forward on it. I was relieved to get his message because I had been a little embarrassed that I had kind of dropped the ball there and was avoiding reaching back out thinking maybe he had finished it with someone else or even just done it himself. And it had been on my mind and kind of bothering me too. So why didn’t I just reach out instead of allowing it to be an unfinished, loose end hanging out in my brain that was giving me a low level of anxiety? After analyzing it, the project is a 30 min drive there and 30 min drive back. So it’s a little more inconvenient than most of my regular clients who are within a 10 or 15 minute drive.

So we finally set an appointment to meet and I confessed to him that I was glad he reached out because I was embarrassed so much time had gone by without my following up.

What I heard myself using as an excuse with him was the holidays, and that my brother in law had died suddenly and I’ve been very focused on my older sister, Heather.

But as I was saying it. It felt like an excuse. And it’s a good excuse. It’s very very true. But my gut feeling is that I was using that excuse because it wasn’t the most convenient job I have. I have been spending a day a week with Heather just helping her with life in general and that’s a big change But that’s one day out of my week. I had the time, it was just more convenient to not pick that project back up.

This last week my husband Eric asked me about Toastmasters. I again heard myself say well when Steve (that’s my brother in law) died toastmasters just fell off my radar.

So there I was again, using that same excuse for the reason I dropped off going to Toastmasters. Something that really brought me joy but also a lot of discomfort. Toastmasters is on Friday mornings at 7am. Zero reason for me not to be picking that back up.  Of course missing a few when my brother in law died was a must. At this point the excuse is no longer valid. I’m using it for convenience.

And look. I know some of you right now are thinking lighten up. Thats hard when you lose a family member. And it is. But it makes it a lot harder when you stop the things that bring you joy and fulfillment and make your life better. I think we have forgotten that there are always going to be hard things that happen in life. Life will be hard And then it’s going to be fun and easy and then it’s going to be hard again. That’s just what 100% of humans go through. So, If we drop good habits every time something hard happens in life, we will have no good habits left. And we will constantly feel like we are fighting an uphill battle because we stop and start good habits so they feel hard all the time.

.

Maybe you do this with the gym. Going to the gym used to be a chore for me. Now it’s just part of my life that I cannot live without because I’ve done it so consistently without stopping. Even through the hard times I don’t stop exercising, it’s a part of my life. A lot of times it still feels like a chore but it’s nonnegotiable for me. Sometimes we drop things when life gets hard because it’s convenient. Like me dropping toastmasters or a project that’s a little farther away then I prefer.

So I’m calling myself out for using an excuse, no matter how justifiable it is....don't forget to listen to hear the entire episode...love you guys!

Have you ever had something coming up, maybe a family dinner or a dinner with friends and there’s something that has been bothering you about someone that’s going to be there or maybe a bunch of someones that are going to be there and you create all this mind drama about this person or people only to get to the dinner and have a great time and maybe you find out the thing you were upset about was all created in your head? Maybe you thought they were all in on something and you were left out only to find out that wasn’t the case? I have, in fact I used to do it a lot. I thought my thoughts were just happening and I had no control of them, or rather I never even really thought about control, I just that that’s what made me “me”. So I didn’t think I could change it.

I remember I would have these periods of feeling really bad and being really bitter about things and I just thought that was life. I can’t control the way I feel. I guess I’m just destined to be on this roller coaster because I can’t control other people obviously and sometimes the decisions they make or things that happen in this world affects me and it makes me feel a certain way and that’s just life.

Ok. Sounds reasonable. Reasonable maybe but….is that how it has to be? Are we just a victim to any reaction we have to the things that go on around us that we can’t control?  Listen to find out how to show your brain who's boss....

Physician Payments Sunshine act  (the law that lets you see how cozy your DR is with the pharmaceutical companies)

Let’s just face the facts here. I’m an American. This country is amazing and the people are just the best. I truly believe that. But right now, we are in this really weird zone where the health of the people in this country has been hijacked. The people we trusted the most are literally killing us. Doctors prescribe medication like its candy, telling us our lack of health isn’t our fault it’s our genes. There’s nothing we can do. We are a victim to our hereditary genes. The politicians and the media are also controlled by companies like Pfizer. Literally we have the fox watching the hen house. And the result is what you see right now….66% of Americans are on one prescribed medication or another as opposed to 26% in the UK or 35% in Australia. I had trouble finding other numbers for Europe but I did find that European Drs said the US overprescribes drugs like statins when they should be prescribing a Mediterranean style diet. If a mediterranean style diet works, why wouldn’t they tell us that?

But we are each responsible for our own health and delegating it to someone who doesn't have your same agenda is not what we want to be doing..... Listen to the entire episode!