Written by Dr. Leone Elliott
FOOD, meet Leone. Leone, meet FOOD.
The struggle with food is real .
One of the most difficult things I’ve had to do as I’ve gotten older is to edit my diet. This change was necessary as I started to understand the effect that food had on my body as the years piled on.
As someone who did not grow up in Louisiana but grew up eating white rice daily as the typical Louisianan, sometimes several times a day, I very rarely eat white rice now and frankly, I don’t miss it very much.
I have become accustomed to replacing it with bulgur, couscous, quinoa, milled rice, brown rice, etc. or none at all. I know, I know, everybody’s going to jump on me about the taste, cost, etc. and the fact that not everyone can afford that.
I understand that but what I am trying to say is that even if I gave some of these people the bulgur, they will be less likely to cook it because “the dish would not taste the same way as they grew up eating it”. And therein lies the problem. FOOD IS COMFORT!
I believe that for a real breakthrough to happen, I had to fundamentally change my relationship with food. I had to think of FOOD AS MEDICINE!…and as a primary source of nourishment for my body.
That does not mean that I don’t enjoy food. I DO!..but I had to reintroduce myself to Food, like this. “Hi Food, my name is Leone. It’s a pleasure meeting you and forgive me if I have to redirect our relationship”.
I promise I don’t have this all figured out myself but I work on it everyday. I’ve had to reprogram my brain to make purposeful, intentional food selections and chip away at it every single day and I can admit to you that I don’t always make the best choices.
I fall off the bandwagon just like you but I get up the next day and try again. Why, because I know that this is what is best for me as far as self-care and self-preservation goes.
In fact, because this is such an important aspect of our wellness, our 6-week weight loss program and 12-week wellness transformation programs are built on this foundation of re-learning how to eat. How to eat to nourish our bodies but in a sustainable way.
I did not make this up! Hippocrates (known as the Father of Medicine) said this way back in 400 BC, “Let Food Be Thy Medicine”. Would you make a better food choice today if you knew you could eat your way out of certain ailments or circumvent a heart attack?
Understand that I am not coming from a place of judgement. Rather, I am just looking for solutions to share with you. I am not saying don’t eat the things you enjoy eating ever again.
What I am saying is, “How can we help you make better choices so you can get the most out of life?” “How can we help you make those food choices so you can lose that weight you have been wanting to lose forever?”
I want to help guide and teach you how to eat so you never have to be on a weight loss diet ever again. My wish for you is that you will thrive, succeed and get off some of those meds that you have been relegated to. My wish is that you will rise up from the ashes and live a productive and fulfilling life.
Until then…
Go out and slay!
