The Last Chocolate on Earth

There you have it. Sitting there on the table in front of you. The last chocolate on earth. A rare disease has wiped out the cocoa plant, there's been panic buying of chocolate the world over, shelves are empty. And you, you own the very last chocolate on earth. And you're just about to eat it.

Now given it is the last chocolate on earth, the question is not if you're going to eat it, it's how are you going to eat it? Are you going to whoof it down, texting with one hand, flicking through a magazine with the other, barely registering that it's passed your lips, is now in your mouth, now swallowed. Gone forever. Or are you going to savour every moment, the taste, the texture, the smell, the emotions it induces, the sugar rush, the endorphin high? Will you allow your senses to revel and luxuriate in this amazing thing that is chocolate or are you going to let the opportunity pass you by, your mind too distracted to fully appreciate that after your last swallow, chocolate is history.

Why I'm hypothesising about the extinction of chocolate will be made clear in just a moment.  Because how we eat has a lot to do with our weight, much more than we realise. It's arguably as important as what we eat.

If you're trying to lose weight, you'll no doubt be very conscious of cutting out so-called "bad foods". That means avoiding sugary snacks and fatty foods and sticking to a low-fat, low-sugar diet. But the reason so many diets fail is because we create that list of forbidden food in the first place. We're human. And that means, generally speaking, if something is forbidden we want it even more.

But just look at the dietary make-up of an average block of milk chocolate. One square has 27 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. One row has 132 calories and 7.5 grams of fat. Neither of those are going to do too much damage to your diet. However, if you're going to eat the whole block - that's 1,320 calories and 75 grams of fat. Now that's diet-busting stuff.

So, if the key to a successful weight-loss programme means eating healthily, cutting down on fat and sugar and allowing ourselves little treats here and there, how do we draw the line under what starts out as a little treat and ends up as a major chocolate blow-out? Well, let's go back to how we eat.

If you eat without really tasting or appreciating your food, you are robbing your senses of real and necessary pleasure. Your stomach may be full but your senses are starving. So you'll keep on eating. You won't stop at just that one square of chocolate, you'll keep going until it's all gone. And even then you won't feel satisfied. You'll keep eating to fill a black hole without ever realising the black hole exists.

It's not just about eating and losing weight, either. Being fully conscious, with no distractions, whatever you're doing, gives your senses a chance to be fully satisfied, to feel fully alive.

So - some tips to help you fully appreciate your food if you're currently trying to lose weight and struggling:

1. Sit down to eat. 


2. Don't have any other distractions - don't watch TV, read a newspaper, talk on the phone, work at your computer.


3. Eat slowly. If you eat a sandwich in 3 minutes flat you won't give your brain a chance to register whether you're full or not. Give your body and your brain time to catch up with your mouth!


4. Fully taste and experience the texture and sensation of every bite of your food.


5. If you're going to eat chocolate, enjoy it!


Best wishes,


Dawn

Sticking to those New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again - the prospect of a New Year, a blank sheet to be better, do better - gets us making our list of resolutions.  But how many times have we set off purposefully and diligently, determined to stick to that list this time.. only to see all resolve disappear come March (or earlier). How many of us are actually too scared to make a New Year's resolution in case we fail? Or is that just me?


Well, this year, I invite you to forget making New Year’s Resolutions once a year. Try making them every day.


The road to achieving your New Year’s Resolutions is marked out in days. So, you want to lose 10 pounds in two months? That’s roughly 60 days of eating fewer calories than you burn. Want to get out of debt in six months? That’s 180 days of spending less than you earn and putting that money towards paying off your debts. Need to generate more clients and income in the next month? That's 30 days of generating leads, working on your marketing and building your network.

But forget for a moment how many days you have to reach your goal. In reality, all you need to focus on is one day. Today.

Tomorrow’s successes or failures all depend on what you do today. When tomorrow comes it will simply be another “today”. So, it’s what you do today that counts. And, for that matter, it’s also what you don’t do.

Let's take an example. One of the most common New Year’s Resolutions is to lose weight. The only way to lose weight healthily is to eat fewer calories than you burn off. Or burn more calories than you eat. So if this is your goal, the only way you’re going to achieve it is by eating less, moving more or a mixture of the two.

Many of our goals are long-term. The results we want to achieve are a month or more down the line. Keeping momentum and motivation high can be a real challenge. So, using the example above, think about shifting the way you look at what you want to achieve. Rather than your goal being to lose ten pounds in two months, shift your thinking to the present: Today I want to healthily eat fewer calories than I burn. Today I want to spend 15 minutes doing some exercise.

It's easier to narrow your thinking to the next 24 hours than it is to consider the next three or more months. Being narrow-minded can sometimes be a good thing! When tomorrow comes, start all over again - make your goals anew. String all those todays together, and eventually you reach your goal as a natural and logical consequence of sticking to your daily targets.

So you’ve made your New Year’s Resolutions. Now what? Here’s your 4-step daily action plan to keeping them going:

1. Refresh. Every morning remind yourself of your goal. Make your New Year’s Resolutions all over again, every morning when you wake up. This keeps your momentum and motivation high.

2. Focus. Focus on achieving that goal today. Think only of today. Don’t beat yourself up about the mistakes you made yesterday and don’t overwhelm yourself with the long list of things you have to do tomorrow, next week, next month.

3. Move towards your goal. Make every action today one that moves you towards that goal. If your goal is to lose weight, eating chocolate cake moves you away from your goal. If your goal is to save money, blowing cash on a PS3 or new dress moves you away from that goal. Make a point of asking the question: does this move me towards or away from my goal? Always be moving towards your goal.

4. Reward yourself. Make a list of small rewards: a new book, a lipstick, 30 minutes of “me” time, a bubble bath. Allow yourself a small reward at the end of every day, even if you didn’t meet your daily target. As long as you’re still trying you’re still on the road to achieving your goal and that's worth feeling good about.

In the words of Winston Churchill: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. In other words, you only ever fail when you give up.

Think of your New Year’s Resolutions as a plant that needs a little watering and TLC every day. If you take care of today, tomorrow takes care of itself.

Best wishes,

Dawn