NEW LESSON: WINTER 2006

For you next New Year’s resolution, promise yourself never to diet again. 

How many times have you resolved to lose weight? This popular New Year’s resolution is made by millions of people at the start of each year. Diet companies seize upon this opportunity to promote their products and bombard the airwaves with commercials. With hope and determination, new diets are started and some pounds are shed. Yet within a month or two, these diets are broken for the vast majority of people, and weight is regained.

As a diet survivor, you now understand that the failure of diets is not your fault. You are learning that the shame you’ve experienced is familiar to practically all dieters because that is how the cycle works. You were made to feel there was something wrong with your body. You did your best to correct this by going on a diet. However, since the flaw was in the product or plan itself, no matter how hard you tried, you were all but guaranteed not to succeed. You felt bad and eventually tried another diet.

Now that you understand how diets compromise your physical and emotional well-being, you are in a position to make a very different kind of New Year’s resolution. You are a diet survivor. Promise yourself never to diet again. Refuse to put yourself at risk from the harmful effects that occur from weight loss plans. Learning to normalize your eating and make peace with you body are the ultimate acts of self-care.

Activity:  Happy New Year!

This year, begin a tradition of making a New Year’s resolution that truly reflects your commitment to self-care. Make a list of ideas for a New Year’s resolution that celebrates positive changes in your life. Perhaps the resolution will be about a way to take care of your health and well-being, learn a new hobby, or practice more compassion. And remember, you don’t have to wait until January 1st to begin!

Ideas for New Year’s Resolutions:

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For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
-T.S. Eliot  (Little Gidding)