Shifting Mindsets With Pancakes And Life

Yesterday I made pancakes for the first time without any wheat.  Not only was it a delicious culinary adventure, but it was also mentally freeing.

I have been experimenting with different flours in baking the past year as I have been reducing wheat in my diet.  No, I’m not gluten intolerant.  My body simply does better with smaller amounts of wheat.

Adding new flours in wasn’t really that hard.  I still kept one third to one half of the total flour wheat then played with what other flours would be like in the mix.  All were tasty.  Some changed the texture more than others.  And even though it felt easy, something kept me from cutting the wheat completely.  This something that kept me from fully shifting was an expectation.  An expectation that said, “baked goods must have wheat”. 

With the plethora of gluten free foods on the market today, I knew this wasn’t true.  However, deep down I didn’t feel like I knew what I needed to do to change the recipe so that I could cut the wheat.  I thought I had to add special ingredients to compensate for whatever it is that “wheatiness” brings to a food.  And I didn’t know what those special ingredients were – or if I did, I didn’t necessarily have them on hand.  So I kept putting it off.

But yesterday I just decided to take the plunge and try it.  Who cares if I didn’t know the “right” way to do it.  I mean, what was the worst that could happen?  Maybe the pancakes wouldn’t be as light or fluffy or rise as much.  I already knew they would still taste good. 

So I mixed up my batch with my normal recipe and used barley flour, brown rice flour and cornmeal.  And…they were fabulous!  Yes, there were a little drier and less doughy than regular wheat buttermilk pancakes, but that’s part of what I’m looking for so it was fine.  I still plan on playing around with the amount of oil and liquids as I continue to make my bi-monthly pancakes wheat free, but even if I changed nothing, the recipe left me satisfied. 

Aside from having a great recipe modification, my experience gave me a couple key inner self pieces.

• A burst of self-confidence.   Anytime you step into a space of expansion, of doing something that you didn’t think you could or seemed out of bounds, you expand your sense of self power.  This spreads and you feel greater confidence in making other changes.
•  A new mindset.  By taking the plunge, I challenged my existing mindset or belief and have now opened the door to all sorts of new possibilities.  No longer is it the nameless “they” who can baked wheat-free.  No longer do I hold the belief that I “have to” have any special ingredient.  No longer am I using wheat as a figurative crutch.  And these “no-longers” penetrate deeper than just the cakes – if you know what I mean.
•  An excitement to play more with shifting.  Success acts like a fuel.  A fuel for further exploration.  And that’s what I feel now – a desire to see what else I can modify to fit my life and my needs better.  It’s freeing, it’s fun, it’s simulating!

Whatever area of life your adventure shows up to expand you, seize the opportunity.   Know that while on the surface the change may seem minor – like pancakes seeming small in the scope of life -  the waves of change will be felt throughout your entire body, mind and soul and shift you on a deeper level.

Got a shifting story of your own?  Do share!

Exercise, Weight and Mindset

While waiting at my hairdresser’s last month, I read an article in the August 17, 2009 “Time” magazine on exercise and losing weight which highlighted an element that I find is missing in many equations for change…one’s mindset. 

The article basically states that despite urgings from health professionals to add exercise into one’s routine in order to lose weight effectively, as a culture we are exercising much more and still aren’t losing weight.  The reason?  The author states two issues.  One is that exercise actually increases the appetite so although you are burning more energy, your body then gives you a cue to eat more to make sure you have enough fuel for these higher energy activites.   And the second is that after exercising, many people feel like they’ve done such a good job that they think deserve a treat and give themselves permission to eat a bigger meal, a gooey piece of dessert, or indulge in whatever dream food item they’ve been putting off in their efforts to lose weight.

The problem is that exercise, while great for the body and an important part of whole health, doesn’t burn as many calories as one thinks.  Therefore, that twenty mile bike ride may feel like you’ve achieved a lot, but it has only burned maybe 700-1000 calories depending on how fast you’re riding.   Couple that reality with the fact that much of the food we eat today is quite calorie dense (lots of calories in small amounts) and it becomes clearer why treating oneself after exercise doesn’t work to lose weight.

I even had a client comment about this very fact yesterday.  He had completed a 100 mile bike ride on Wednesday and noted that according to his bike computer, he had only burned 5900 calories…not even two pounds worth of energy.  This is a man who doesn’t need to lose weight and wasn’t overly concerned about the exercise for such a reason; yet I could still hear a slight amount of disbelief and annoyance that so much work didn’t get as much as he was hoping for.

Mindset, or how one perceives a situation, is a critical element in this example of weight and exercise as well as in most other situations of change because your beliefs are the container in which you are creating your reality.  Trying to adjust or alter the outward behaviors without understanding the underlying beliefs, usually won’t get the job done because it’s only one piece of the puzzle.  And this is why in my coaching, much time is spend exploring the unconscious beliefs and patterns in order to really see where the behaviors are coming from.  And once you understand the underlying thought process and try out and expand the beliefs, changing the behaviors actually becomes easier.

Bringing this example back to the article, if you are now armed with the knowledge about eating after exercise, you can pause the next time you go to eat your “well deserved treat” and ask whether your goal is weight loss or whether the exercise is a good outlet to allow you to eat your treats while keeping your weight in check.   If the goal is still weight loss, then you might find a different way to treat yourself that is more aligned with your goal yet still gives you the reward satisfaction you’re looking for.  By changing your mindset about your treats and getting clarity on your goals, your success will be greater.

Kapha Reducing Diet As A Gateway to Expand My Focus

I had my first Ayurvedic consultation this week.  I had a couple physical symptoms like excess mucous and erratic energy levels I wanted to explore, plus I wanted to weed out the root of my old eating disorder mental patterning. Although I stopped the excessive eating behavior many years ago, I felt like there was a mental strand that still remained sucking up energy and creating distractions.  And since I’m studying Ayurveda myself, I wanted to experience a treatment.

From my training, I knew that my physical symptoms were connected with having too much Kapha energy.  In Ayuveda, there are three constitutions or body types: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.  These energies exist in everything in life  - food, seasons, ourselves.  And while people have all three of these energies, there is usually one or two that are  dominant.  I am a Pitta-Kapha meaning I have the most Pitta energy followed close behind by Kapha.  That is my constitutional type.  However, I can get thrown off balance in any one of the three energies through external factors such as seasonal changes, activities I do, and especially through the foods I eat.  

The tastes associated with Kaphic foods are sweet, salty and sour.  And our American diet is full of these foods.  Part of my treatment was to do a Kapha Reducing Diet.  The aim is simple.  Avoid foods with the sweet, salty and sour Kaphic qualities and favor foods that have more astringent, pungent and bitter flavors.  I also am to do head and feet massages with a specific type of oil, take specially mixed herbs, burn sandlewood, and use a special mantra (sound) when my mind starts to slip into the space of it’s old mental patterning.

Initially I went right to the “to avoid” side on my list of foods and started to tap into the lack of all I needed to cut.  I was pleasantly surprised to feel less impacted by needing to have no wheat and dairy which I had once dreaded doing without.  My bigger hits came from needing to cull nuts, avocados, watermelon, cucumber, sweet potatoes and zucchini.  No, these foods aren’t inherently bad.  I’m just reducing them for a short period to bring back balance.  But still, doing without, especially the nuts and avocado felt like a blow.

Once I got over my initial resistance I was able to see how easy it can be to get locked into certain patterns…eating, thinking, attachment.  But that the focus could also be shifted.  Yes, there are things I will be eating less of for awhile, but there is also a whole lists of foods I can enjoy and explore deeper.   I also affirmed that for myself food is more than just nutrition.  It is a sensual experience and does have social and emotional components that are important.  There are times I need my food to nourish more than just my body.  And that’s OK.  But I can expand my definition of what those “comfort foods” are.  My comfort or treat foods used to always be heavy on the wheat, sugar and/or dairy.  Over time I still enjoyed some of those foods but in smaller amounts but also added in nuts and avocados.  I am now discovering the joy of millet baked with blueberries and strawberries with a dash of honey and cinnamon as a comfort food.

Instead of focusing on my lack, I have covered up the “avoid foods” and have highlighted the foods to favor.  I have stepped into the space of curious explorer to see what new taste sensations I can discover.  And I am finding the fast foods that work in a pinch (couscous with refried beans and nutritional yeast; 3 seed corn chips; frozen grapes).  It’s great to explore but that can take time so it’s really helpful to have some quick and satisfying recipes at my fingertips.

And this process has made me aware again of how much of life comes down to focus and attitude.  Yes, our thoughts and beliefs really do make all the difference.  But if my unfocused or unhealthily focused thoughts can bring me out of balance, then shifting them can help bring me back.  Which is why in Ayurvedic medicine most illness or imbalance is thought to be mental at the core root.

Perception Management

I was recently reading a David Baldacci book in which part of the theme was around percpetion management.  In the book, there was a perceptioin managanemtn (PM) firm whose sole job was to create a “truth” that fit the clients need to be broadcast out to the world.  According to Mr. Baldacci, these such firms do exist and governments use them to control not only the information the public receives but the “truth” of situations, like what is really happening around war.

Although I have no doubt that this happens on a societal level, I would also posit that it happens within companies, families and individuals even without the assistance of an actual PM firm.  Just think about the “truths” that get held and perpetuated in society such as if you are thin, beautiful and rich, life will be good.  On one level, we know this isn’t true and see that evidence in the traumatic and dramatic lives of movie stars.  Yet, even with the contradictory evidence, many individuals, with the help on continued marketing for products, continue to buy into this belief on some deep level.

Families can also perpetuate certain “truths” about such things as gender roles, self worth, cover ups, and archetypes.  These beliefs or truths that get “sold” to individual by families or cultures, form a foundation for beliefs and patterns which shape individuals.  Often this buy in is on a unconscious level and many of these beliefs are not fully recognized.

The good news is that you can become your own PM company and re-create the truths that serve who you are and who you want to be.  It may take some detective work to root out the old “truths” that aren’t yours or no longer apply to who you are but that in itself can be a freeing process.  Then the real fun begins as you craft your own strategy and marketing plan to put in place the reality that you wish to hold for yourself.

Of course, all of this does bring up the interesting question of, “What is truth and with different perceptions is there ever an absolute truth?“  What are your thoughts on this question?