‘Planet Plentiful’, that’s where we live these days, surrounded by an abundance of food like no other! So how on earth do we survive without gaining weight, when, for most of us, diets and many healthy eating programs just make us want to eat?

First of all, let’s get one thing clear: a diet mindset where we label food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, really is a …

Dumb

Moron

Eating

Trap

The reality is that living with such a mindset establishes a pattern of behavior that ranges from food obsession to comfort, guilt and shame. You are definitely NOT weak-willed, undisciplined, or unsuccessful if you haven’t managed to lose weight permanently with this mindset. It is part of human nature to yearn for whatever you skimp on in your mind or life and therefore as a means of survival on the ‘Abundant Planet’ this ‘Scarcity Mentality’ is failing us!

Therefore, this ‘scarcity mentality’ is clearly not working as a means of preventing or reducing long-term weight gain problems. A complete mental change is needed that links the mind, body and spirit in balance with nature and food: a mentality of “abundance”; in other words, a return to healthy eating patterns; the way we viewed and used food before the days of ‘Planet Plentiful’ and the rise of the ‘Scarcity Mindset’ diet.

Caught up in this negative ‘scarcity’ mentality, brought on by the way we view some foods as ‘bad’, we yearn for what we restrict and make scarce. We inevitably lose the ability to view food as a friend. After all, it is just the fuel our bodies run on! Surrounded by so much abundance, it’s easy to see why we’ve turned off our fuel gauges in favor of being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ with food, often allowing the tank to overflow.

When we are in a ‘scarcity mentality’, we actually give away much of our personal power. This is a power created from our own choices and decisions. We disconnect our link between mind and body. However, far more damaging than all this, we shift our focus away from the joy and beauty of living life to the fullest. By doing this, we replace our focus with fear, guilt and shame, the emotional turmoil of the dieter that further fuels stress and anxiety. Caught in this trap, we eventually rebel against control and criticism. This brings us to that familiar place of eating comfortably, where we try to dissipate the stress caused, most of the time, by the ‘Scarcity Mentality’ itself.

Some time ago I was on vacation with a friend who had never dieted in her life. While we were sitting in the hotel restaurant, some other guests stopped by our table to talk about the fantastic variety of food available to us. In extolling the virtues of the dessert section, they asked inquisitively “Aren’t you going to eat one?” To our response of “No, we are actually full.” They retorted with the widely used: “You’re not being good!” My friend was amazed because, believe it or not, this had never been said to her before. What was an interesting discussion about the differences in what food looks like between non-dieters and dieters?

So what do they do differently from us? First of all, they see food in all its abundance as a source of fuel. This gives them the edge over a dieting mindset, as they have no reason to want to eat. Because they can have whatever they want, any time they like desire is an anomaly for them.

Of course, there is more to it than that. They don’t use food as a comfort when they are stressed or unhappy. They don’t spend much of their day thinking about food, as they usually have much more interesting things to occupy their time. They generally don’t eat unless they are hungry. They don’t realize peer pressure on size, shape, or weight. They eat foods that are tailored to their body. They only eat until they are full and have the ability to put food on the plate. In fact, they see food in a totally different way than we do, from an ‘abundance mentality’. They have retained the ability to be in tune with their body: nurture and nature work together in harmony. How refreshing!

And what do we do when faced with this rare breed of people? We express our jealousy. Well, they how unfair it is. We defend our ‘corner’ by talking about how hard we have to try to lose weight. We avoid them because they make us feel bad. We then give up our diet or push ourselves even harder, only to rebel when the cravings finally hit us.

I really think it’s time to do things differently – toss that coin at your head – and learn from the “Abundance” mentality of a non-dieter; after all, isn’t it easier to go with the flow of nature than against it? When we open up our options, really listen to our body and eat without filling up too much or under our ‘tank’, we discover not only a love for food that is quite surprising. We also found out how easy it is to lose weight and maintain the loss, the more we practice ‘Living Abundantly’.

© Chrissie Webber 2008