My Favorite Self-Help Stuff

I hope you had wonderful holidays, and got all the gifts and presents you were hoping for, along with some quality time with your loved ones.

Now, the year is rapidly coming to a close, and it’s time to reflect on the year that’s almost over and think about the year ahead and how you’d for things to be different.

One of the classic New Year’s Resolutions is the one about losing weight. And all too frequently it’s filled with self-abuse — painful diets and punishing exercise, to force the body to lose weight.

And not surprisingly, it won’t work.

Your body is smarter than that. It protects you from yourself. You have to convince your body that it’s safe to lose weight and that it’s a good idea to do so.

And I first learned that from Jon Gabriel. I believe I first came across one of his ads, like this one:

Pretty impressive, isn’t it. And yet, doesn’t it look surreal?

Well, I investigated and discovered that this really was for real. The man lost 220 pounds!

So I got my hands on the book and the CD with the evening meditation and started using it. And my weight started to go down. Not as fast as I wanted it to, nor as low, but it was really impressive how well it worked and how little effort it took. It was as if my brain had reprogrammed itself, and I guess in a way it had.

And then, well, life got in the way. I stopped listening to the CD and the old habits came back

But not until after I got his morning meditation too since I liked his evening one so much. I just LOVE the man’s voice! It’s the most soothing and calming voice I’ve ever listened to .

And the evening audio usually makes me fall asleep long before he’s finished, but he says that’s okay.

And so now that the new year is rolling around again, I’ll put both of them back into my daily rotation or routine!

That, and Gabriel Method style eating and exercise (nothing like what you read about elsewhere).

It’s all about treating your body well, eating the right kind of healthy foods, and visualizing yourself in your body of your dreams. That’s it in a nutshell.

Of course, the book is really good too. You can find out more about The Gabriel Method by clicking on the link. I highly recommend it.

And about those other New Year’s Resolutions? More about those next time

I’m going to go for a walk now while it’s still light outside! Starting to take action NOW.

Elisabeth

Halloween is coming up FAST. And I just set up my little freebie for people who want to get on my Halloween tips, deals, and recipe list (and get an ebook with tips for spooky and yummy Halloween Treats).

What they’ll also get as part of the follow-up will be another report — on how to NOT put on weight during Halloween!

I’m still working on that one, so you may have to wait a day or two before you get it. But it’ll be worth it since you may find it helpful for not just Halloween but for the entire holiday season.

Here are just a few highlights…

How to handle the candy and treats situation — especially if you have kids and you don’t have the heart to tell them that there’s not going to be any candy in the house.

How to handle parties so the host won’t be offended if you won’t partake in their specially made pumpkin pie (if you choose to say “no”).

How to indulge yourself without putting your long-term goal at risk.

How to help your metabolism stay strong.

How to make yummy goodies that won’t kill your efforts at weight control (I’ve got a yummy secret recipe that tastes great and is VERY good for you).

And, of course, my old stand-by — sugarfree spiced hot chocolate. Try to avoid aspartame if at all possible though.

You can make your own (by buying the cocoa powder and then using stevia (or one of the new stevia products you can find in the grocery store) to sweeten it. You can even use the Agave syrup — it has a much less intense effect on your blood sugar, meaning that it won’t make your body bring out the insulin, your fat-storing hormone.

About the spices? Experiment. You can try a combination of curry and garam masala, or a dose of Chinese 5 Spice (my current favorite), or just cinnamon and clove, or some pumpkin spice mix, or…

And, here’s another tip: get as much sunlight as possible — and sleep at least 7 to 8 hours a night.

Where to find my Halloween goodies, i.e., the free ebook, the Halloween tips, and also my recommendations for where to buy halloween costumes for less? Here:

http://www.buyhalloweencostumesforless.com

There’s not a HUGE amount of stuff there, but I will add to it over the next few days! So please do come back!

Happy Autumn!

Elisabeth

Just in case you haven’t noticed… I really like the Gabriel Method.

Every night, lately, I fall asleep listening to Jon Gabriel’s soothing voice. Aww, that man has the most amazing voice. I feel almost as if I’m being hugged just listening to him.

I do have to admit that I have yet to hear the second half of that audio, and it’s only about 15 or 20 minutes long. To my (and his) credit, this is how it is supposed to work.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about today.

Enamored as I am with the Gabriel Method, I had been feeling guilty because I was still reading other diet books, and experimenting with cobbling together a diet plan along the lines of a low carbish version of the Every Other Day Diet.

More on that in a bit.

But as I said, I felt guilty. And then, I heard Jon on his radio show where he talks about that exact issue, and I feel guilty no more.

Here’s what he said, approximately:

If you’ve been on any diet for a while, and habe been keeping your weight down with great effort, you’re going to put on weight if you just switch over to the Gabriel method.

Now we don’t really want that. So it’s helpful to find a way to ease into it, and finding a way to control intake of food/calories, but preferably a way that is relatively non-stressful.

And so I’m right back where I started — experimenting with various diets to find an approach that feels low-stress, won’t leave me feel hungry, and helps me lose weight.

And so that’s what I’ve found.

Here are a few ingredients:

The Gabriel Method:

1) listening to Jon’s magic audio each night (waiting for the morning audio to finally become available)

2) realizing that stress is hugely contributing to weight issues and therefore making it a priority to reduce stress,

3) adding healthy nurturing food stuffs (enough protein, live foods, veggies, and flax seed and/or fish oil.

Other Method(s)

1) Every Other Day Diet (it’s part of what finally got me unstuck), which involves eating a fairly low number of calories one day, and relatively normally the next, alternating one high day and one low day. How to deal with the hunger challenge will be discussed in a future blog post.

2) Learning from other sources about supplements and other tricks and in many cases using what knowledge I have accumulated over the years (much of it actually during the heyday of low carb and Atkins, learning much of it from the unfortunately now defunct maker of Keto products. I still miss Keto mac and cheese.

3) Using some of those helpful things that make the lower calorie days less stressful (i.e., by keeping hunger in check), to be discussed in upcoming post.

The thing is that between the Gabriel visualization exercises and the various dietary tweaks I’ve been making, it works very nicely together. It has actually lead to my weight moving in the desired direction, and is a lot less stressful than almost any other plan I’ve ever attempted.

More coming soon, along with some info on better sleep and stress relief.

Ellisabeth

It’s been a while, and I’m still listening to Jon Gabriel every night as I drift off to sleep. His Gabriel Method really rocks.

One of the various reasons I like it is this:

He shows us how stress is largely responsible for installing the Fat Program in our system, and how ratcheting down the stress can uninstall it (or at least weaken its power). His audio is one of the most de-stressing things I’ve listened to in ages.

It’s worth getting the Gabriel Method just for that alone!

He also promised a companion program — to be played in the morning. I can hardly wait and keep checking his website.

Now another new interest of mine is how stress relates to high blood pressure, and of course high blood pressure is also affected by weight, so it all goes together.

Here’s a special offer for any fellow fans of Jon Gabriel:

I do have a free stress tips report and you can get it by going here:

Free Stress Management Tips

Just sign up and you’ll get my free stress tips report. Plus my self-help newsletter.

And then, here’s what I want you to do: click “return” on one of the first emails you get and Put “Gabriel Method” in the title, and I will send you the link for my easy introduction to EFT how-to special report.

It will help you reduce stress even further.

BTW, if you don’t know yet, Jon Gabriel also has a blog talk radio show which is pretty cool. It’s on Thursday evenings, EST, and you can subscribe to it too.

Find the link for it here: The Gabriel Method

Want updates? Just follow me on Twitter:

If you like this twitter badge, you’ll find more of them and where I found them on my other blog:

http://www.myfavoritewebstuff.com/talkspot/twitter-badges/twitter-badges-for-your-blog/

I’ve been guilty of neglecting it for a long time, but i’ve finally updated the WordPress version, so now it’s fully up to speed, and I’m going to put it to use, sharing my favorite web stuff, just like the name says.

I’m also going to post a quick “how to” for those of you who love those badges but wish they could figure out how to actually put them on their blog

Meanwhile, back to The Gabriel Method:

1) Sign up for my Free Stress Tips

2) Send me an email with Gabriel Method in the title for my EFT How to Report

3) Follow Jon Gabriel on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/GabrielMethod

4) Follow ME on Twitter

5) Optional: Go to my other blog for the Twitter badges info:
http://www.myfavoritewebstuff.com/talkspot/twitter-badges/twitter-badges-for-your-blog/

6) Have a fantastic day!

Elisabeth

My newest discovery I HAVE to put on my self help blog is the Gabriel Method. I came across a banner ad and clicked on it, expecting just another diet program or ebook (that probably wouldn’t work).

But it was VERY different. I immediately went and bought the book, and read it practically in one sitting. Whoa! A whole new appraoch to weight management — without diets per se, though it does have a definite eating appraoch — but it works by adding the kinds of foods that your body needs and so eventually you no longer crave junk food.

Jon Gabriel, the author, lost more than 200 pounds with his method and totally transformed himself from a 400 pounds plus guy to a very athletic and muscular version of himself.

Check out the photos at Gabriel Method — and no, this is not an affiliate link (though I need to see if I can get one — now this is an approach to weightloss that I can completely stand behind).

Anyway, his stuff makes so much sense. He also has started doing blogtalk radio shows. Just go to his Gabriel Method site and you’ll be able to find out when his next radio show takes place. He also has a forum you can join!

I’m too tired now to write much more, so I’ll continue this post soon with some more specifics about his method, or you can just check it out for yourself right here:
The Gabriel Method

Just one thing. You can also get just the book at Amazon.com, and if you do, he also offers a downloadable audio CD to those who have his book! And that CD is amazing. It’s in the book somewhere, and with a link to a web page where you can either buy the CD or get it free if you have the book.

The stunning thing is to discover just how big the role is that stress plays. I’ve known that for a long time, but it’s even worse than I thought.

More on that later. Now it’s time to catch some zzzzzzz

P.S.: If you’d like my FREE stress tips report, just click here.

Which fat loss plan is the better one? There are so many variations, but I’m definitely a low carb person — the other stuff simply won’t work for me.

And now that I’m self-employed, working for myself, trying to keep up with my deadlines, I often find myself in front of my computer up to 14 to 16 hours a DAY.

I’m grateful for the work and for my amazing clients who are making this possible, but the hours will have to change. Along with the side-effects of that sedentary lifestyle.

So over the last few weeks, I have decided to get serious about getting rid of that accumulated extra fat — and so a few days ago I finally got that “Day Off Diet” program that I had been eyeing.

And I like it. I started easing myself into it, and last night, while shopping, I actually put the sugar-free chocolate back at check-out. And that was my favorite — and the store where I was is the only one that carries it. So that’s progress.

Well, this morning, I found an email in my inbox — from Kimkins. Seems that they had an essay contest, and the essays were so inspiring that I went straight to their site, which I had joined a couple of years back.

I discovered that it had been two years TO THE DAY that I last left a message. I never did quite get started with it properly back then, regrettably. But now, I discovered that they have a NEW plan option: It’s kind of a flex plan. One week Kimkins, one week another plan of my choice.

So I’ve decided to alternate between One Day Off plan and Kimkins Original version.

Why am I telling you? Because, well, going public with it will keep me accountable… I’m sure someone will ask me what happened…

In fact, I might start a new blog just for that…

In a nutshell, in case you want to know:

Kimkins is kind of Atkins on Steroids. It’s been quite controversial, and I got a flurry of angry comments when I last promoted it.

Well, the Kimkins plan has mellowed some, and I really don’t care whether or not Kimmer actually has or has not lost the weight herself. It clearly works for quite a lot of people, and I like their plan and the community, Can’t wait to find out how things pan out for me this time around.

Their plans range from the drastic (no carbs) to an Atkins-style low-carb plan to a low carb shakes plan to the fairly mellow (one week Kimkins, one week another low carb OR low calory plan of your choice). One plan, called bootcamp, includes portion control and exercise.

They have a vegetarian plan too, though I’m a hardcore carnivore, which is probably why I like low-carb so much. The thing I like best is their forum and support stuff, the recipes, and their cool customizable weightloss trackers (although it was painful to update it today).

The One Day Off plan, on the other hand, is really quite compatible, though a bit more lenient. Well, considerably more lenient if you consider that once a week you’re supposed to basically eat anything you like.

While it suggests that you can practically pig out on that day, their examples indicate that they really have something a lot more reasonable in mind. But it does give you great flexibility. And you can eat whatever type of food makes you happy that day.

Oh, and unlike Kimkins, the Day Off Diet’s regular plan is a “slow carb” plan, which allows small amounts of berries, more veggies, and also beans and such. And I just stocked up on beans, in anticipation of creating beans & salsa concoctions.

So one week with beans, and one week without them. Plus an “off” day either every other week, or once a week. I’ll have to experiment to see what works best.

I hope that between the Day Off Diet and Kimkins, they’ll allow me to release that extra weight at a pace that will hopefully be comfortable but not so slow that I lose interest…

And no, I won’t tell you how much I weigh right now. I’ll wait until I have reached a significant milestone or two before I disclose that, if ever. For now, I’ll call it point 0, the starting weight. The idea is to go down from there…

Stay tuned

Oh dear! Looks like I should do more research before posting. Thanks for all the imput on the Kimkins diet. Clearly there were things going on I didn’t know about, not the least of which was that not everything was what it seemed.

I still believe that for me and many others a low-carb lifestyle is a good choice (and personally, I prefer a version that’s quite a bit more moderate than the Kimkins version).

And I’ll be eternally grateful to Dr. Atkins for inspiring me to cut out the carbs. I’m so glad he was finally vindicated and wish he could have been around to experience it. But then he knew already that he had been right all along.

Is sugar addiction making your weight creep in the wrong direction?  Does it slow down a weight loss plan you’re on, or is it even making it a complete joke?

Here’s the way I have weaned myself off sugar…  Actually several ways. It was a multi-step process.

First of all, for some of us (and maybe many of us), sugar is addictive.  Period. You eat it, you want more.  That’s what it’s been like for me.

Sooo, hard as it may seem, the easiest way to get off that roller coaster is quitting cold turkey.  But you knew that and you didn’t want to read THAT here, so I’m not going to stop there.

The reason why sugar needs to go is because it triggers addiction. But there’s no need to quit sweet stuff right there.

Here’s what I did instead…  I experimented with “sugar-free” goodies.  In moderate doses.

Now how would this help?  First of all, the selection isn’t quite as big as that of sugar-containing sweets, so temptation is reduced a bit. Just make a real commitment to forego actual sugar and it becomes surprisingly easy. You know you can still indulge, after all, just not then and there (unless you came prepared, which I actually recommend).

Secondly, most of these sugar-free goodies don’t quite trigger the physiological addiction the way sugar does.  For me anyway, I was able to stop at a couple of candies when they were sugar-free, while sugar would have triggered the vicious cycle of eating more of it, and eating it more frequently too.

This is different for different sugar substitutes though, so you may want to experiment. Stevia is by far the best, and you may want to go easy or avoid Nutrasweet. Also, try to reduce the sweetness gradually when you have control, for example in coffee or tea. Learn to like it without.

Third, depending on which sweetener you picked, you may find that you don’t WANT to eat more than a small portion because eating too much leads to major gastro-intestinal distress.  What kind?  Gas, bloating, and the runs, depending on how much you eat.  Who needs that?  So you eat just a little…  That’s what’s called “self-limiting” in medicine, and it works for sugar addiction as well.

So far so good.  You may find that you still don’t make as much progress in your weight loss efforts as you’d like.  And there might be a reason related to the sweet stuff.

So here’s another step:  Once you’ve weaned yourself off the sugar addiction, cut down on the sugar-free goodies too.  In fact, all but eliminate them.

How does that help?  I came across this very cool diet (can’t remember book title right now, but will add that if it comes back to me, and if you recognize it, please add it in the comments section).

Anyway, this plan talked about how sweet stuff signals to our bodies that it’s time to fatten up for winter.  Uh-oh!  Not the message we want to send.

For me, that piece of information just about killed any desire for sugar, and finally, my weight is slowly moving into the direction I want it to move… down!  Yippie.

And it wasn’t hard.  I had been off sugar for years at that point, but was still liberally ingesting the artificially sweetened stuff.  No more.

One occasional cup of spiced hot cocoa (which isn’t all that sweet actually), and sugar-free chocolate on only very rare occasions (and I go for the dark kind, which is less sweet too.  Then some fruit.  That’s it.  And it wasn’t that hard.

So if sugar addiction is getting you down, try this two-step plan.  Get off sugar and wean yourself with the sugar-free stuff (in small doses), and eventually face those out too.

If the going gets challenging, just think “Fatten up for winter?  No thanks!”

Have a fabulous and sugar-free day!

P.S.: If you’re interested in one of my FREE exploratory coaching sessions, just send me an email at coaching AT myfavoriteselfhelpstuff.com and I’ll get back to you to arrange it.

I just finished reading the newest book by Abraham-Hicks, i.e., Abraham channelled by Esther Hicks, and it’s a real winner!

I’ve been to a couple of their live events, and always feel like I can’t take notes fast enough — plus the note-taking distracts from the experience. Of course, I can also get the CDs, which I do, but still — it takes weeks for them to arrive.

So it’s wonderful that this new book actually provides an excellent written-down version of Abraham’s current teachings — about the amazing power our emotions have about what is going on in our lives — and how to best manage that power to make our lives work well. If you prefer audio, the book is also available on CD, of course.

As in the previous books, Abraham provides a series of step-by-step processes. Here they all deal with various emotional states, selected to cover issues very close to most people’s hearts.

Whether it’s quarrelling children, too many bills, frustration about too much weight or too much stuff, Abraham has a section that helps us improve our emotional state — which brings us that much closer to the desired outcome.

After all, so much depends on the statements (and ensuing emotions) we create about the issue at hand. A particularly intriguing (and amusing) example is a sequence featuring a “chat” with a cookie in the weightloss section.

I love that book! And I’m sure you will too. You can get additional information about it right here:

And, by the way, if you haven’t signed up for my email list yet, you can still get in on my freebie thank-you deal by simply going to my special freebie offer website.

Have an amazing day!

Elisabeth, the self-help guru

P.S.: Here are a few more Abraham-Hicks resources you might enjoy:

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I just have to tell you about Jim Katsoulis and his very cool program for weightloss, excess weight release, addictive slimness or whatever you want to call it. He calls it the Thin Formula, and it’s a comprehensive program that changes one’s entire mindset and is also fun, entertaining and attitude changing beyond just the thin thing. Also great for “simply” maintaining one’s goal weight without that constant struggle. Highly recommended.

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Well, actually, the thin formula, while excellent, is just the short version of his program. There’s also a bigger version, which involves mini talks, teleconference lessons and interactive Q & A, some hypnosis, mediations, visualizations, daily motivational emails, and lot more. The program is HUGE, and anyone who has a medical condition that could be helped by weightloss (diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.) can even get their flexible spending plan to pay for it, maybe even their insurance).

Have I lost a lot of weight on this program? Not a huge amount yet, I have to admit, but I have lost a few pounds, and without much of an effort. Even better, my attitudes towards food and exercise etc. have changed a lot, so I look forward to losing a lot more as time goes on. Especially over the holidays, where every pound lost actually counts double because normally I’d put on weight over the holidays, and so now…

I basically feel much more optimistic about the future state/shape of my physical self. Of course, it would also help if I listened to the mp3’s a lot more often. Which isn’t exactly a chore because…

…the man has a VERY nice voice. He’s kind of cute too

So do yourself and/or someone you love a favor and check it out and/or pass it on to someone who would benefit. You can sign up for a free e-zine (and I promise you — Jim’s e-zines are very cool) plus a free hypnosis session, so you get to check it out and actually benefit from Jim’s program before there’s any need to buy anything. I think that’s how I ended up getting mine.

Enjoy the free hypnosis session which you can get here.