Attitude is a feeling about a person or thing.
It is a tendency or orientation of the mind.

I frequently address the issue of Attitude
because I've found it to be extremely important in my own life.
Whether my own attitude is positive or negative
makes a big difference in how I feel, and what I accomplish.

I don't see any purpose in feeling bad about myself,
if feeling good about myself is possible,
so I continually work toward that goal.
I also work to feel good about others,
and about the things and events in my life. 

I use the term "work" because that is exactly what it is.
I wasn't born with a "pollyanna" personality,
or taught as a child to focus on the positive.

This is a skill I've had to learn,
and for me, it is a deliberate choice
...one that takes conscious effort...
to sustain an attitude that is primarily positive.

                                
                       Happy 4th of July

  
Dieting is a common practice among those
who want to remove excess pounds from their bodies.

The term "Dieting" means:

to eat sparingly
or
to eat according to prescribed rules.

There are many different weight-loss Diets in existence,
and many people adopt a weight-loss Diet
without really understanding the methodology behind it. 

Many popular Diets allow people to indulge in their favorite foods at least once a week,
and incorparate structured periods of unrestricted eating
calling them  "cheat" meals or "exception" days

The logic behind this is that if people completely avoid their favorite foods,
the temptation to have them would prove irresistible and lead to binge eating.
The belief here is that it is better for a person to indulge one day a week 
than to jeopardize their entire dieting regimen.

Some people also consider their weekend indulgence
to be a treat or reward for following their diets throughout the week.
In any case, most dieters who indulge in weekend binges
...or unrestricted eating... believe that it does them no harm.

  Whatever Diet each of us may choose to follow is an individual choice.

Some bodies appear to thrive on larger amounts of carbohydrates than others.
We, also, don't all have the same biological clocks.  
Some of us are "morning" people, others are not.
Some of us do best when eating small amounts frequently,
Others do best when eating one to three large meals daily.

One purpose of dieting is to get one's body used to a daily pattern of low food intake,
and making that low food intake pattern into a lifelong habit,
and many dieting experts believe that weekend binges tend to defeat this purpose.

Unfortunately,.....despite the specific Diet chosen.......
Dieting is a 24/7 commitment, with no off days.
Every calore consumed counts, irrespective of the day of the week.

While the specific Diet or food plan chosen can contribute to one's weight-loss;
what is important is one's commitment to a daily eating pattern
which results in an overall reduced food intake over long periods of time,
as that food intake is averaged out over weeks and months
including weekends, and vacations, and holidays,
and other special or stressful occasions.

 A contribution and a commitment are not the same thing.
A contribution means "to play a significant part in bringing about a result".
A commitment means "to carry into action deliberately".

One example of contribution vs. commitment is:
although genetic factors make a contribution to my weight and weight-loss issues,
the process of weight management requires a lifelong commitment from me,
a commitment that involves my personal eating behavior. 

There are days when  I seem to lack inspiration.
Today my plan is to address the issues of Habitual Behavior,
in order to carry out the theme of my Words of Wisdom video,
and I'm just not in the mood.

 My HABIT, however, is to write here each morning,
so I'm working to follow through with my plan,
Perhaps in a "reduced capacity"
but as much as I find it possible at the moment.

Those of you who are familiar with the No S Diet principles
are also very familiar with the concept of Habit,
but I think the Habit concept is still worthy of additional thought.

A Habit is simply an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed
until it has become almost involuntary, or automatic.

Features of an automatic behavior can include:
efficiency, lack of awareness, unintentionality, and uncontrollability.

A "bad" habit is a negative behavior pattern,
and a "good" habit is a positive behavior pattern.
Ultimately Good and Bad are personal  value Judgments,
even when one is talking about Habits.

So...we don't ALL agree on whether a Habit is good or bad
....allthough, as a society in general, many people who 
have values differing from what is considered the norm,
tend to "pretend" they possess those "shared" values in order to "fit in",
and thereby make their lives less confrontational.

Most of life is habitual.
Each of us tends to do the same things we did yesterday,
the day before, and every day for the past month.
It is estimated that out of every 11,000 signals we receive
from our senses, our brains only process about 40.

 Habits, good or bad, make us who we are.
The key is in controlling them.
If we know how to change our habits,
then even a small effort can create big changes.

But before making such an effort,
each of us needs to determine for ourselves
if a change is REALLY something WE want,
or if it is something we think we SHOULD want.

Here is where our personal morality or ethics comes into play.
What makes a Habit good?
Will it really benefit me in a positive way?
And how will it do that?

It is unlikely that we will be successful in either
implementing or overturning Habits 
in order to accomplish things like an overhaul of our diet,
cutting down on TV viewing, or exercising regularly,
unless we truly believe it will result in an improved quality of life.

Re the Question: "How Do I Form A Good Habit?"
The answer is the same for both good and bad habits.
Making a good habit is the same as making a bad habit.
The brain is amoral when it comes to habits.
It does not care if it is good or bad.  All it knows is that
the habit action is routinely performed so it would benefit
from an improved neurological pathway for more efficient processing.

Creating a habit is actually easy.
All you need do to form a habit is to repeat the activity.
With enough repetitions it becomes a habit.
The more you do it after the habit is formed,
the more reinforcement you give to that habit.
and the stronger it becomes.

Scientists have come up with the following reasons
why humans stick to bad habits....
Among these reasons are:

• Innate human defiance
• Need for social acceptance
• Inability to truly understand the nature of risk
• Individualistic view of the world
• The ability to rationalize unhealthy habits
• Genetic predisposition to addiction.
  

 However....remember...
it is important to determine WHO is defining the habit as bad...or unhealthy.
Frequently it the person defining the habit is NOT the human WITH the "bad" habit.
Which, of course, IS an important issue which is often overlooked.

I've found that the less committed I am to the VALUE of a particular behavior
the less likely it is that I will ever be successful in making that behavior into a habit,
or in eliminating it as a habit. It all starts with: 
DO I REALLY WANT TO DO ... (OR NOT DO) ... THIS SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR.

The definition of Greed is an excessive desire
for more of something than is needed.
so clearly, Greed is a major issue in my life.

Greed seems to be one of my personality traits,
because it manifests itself in most of the areas in my life.

I am not a minimalist.
Rather than less, I want more.
I like my things. I like being surrounded by them.
What some people call clutter, I find delightful
Space, to me, is an empty place to put something.

I want more food than my body needs,
and I want my food to be delicious, attractive,
entertaining, and comforting, as well as nutritious.

This particular Greed for food is a long-term problem of mine,
because while I don't want to be fat,
at the same time,
I also want to eat a large variety of foods;
I want to eat as frequently as possible;
and my preference is to eat as much as my body will hold
...rather than just what my body will use.

I am also Greedy for experiences and activities and knowledge.
New experiences and activities are welcome,
but I want to add the new ones without limiting those I already enjoy.
This, also, creates an obvious problem.

  Even this website is an example of this.
There are so many things I want to say here.
There are so many recipes I want to share.
There are so many "words of wisdom" I want to video.

Now, making these videos at YouTube
has evolved into me also becoming a video "YouTube Grandma".
While only in it's third week this is generating a great deal of interest
which is resulting in additional input of personal time and work.
I'm not willing to eliminate anything....(there's that Greed again}
so right now, it's all just one-day-at-a-time.

Still, Life is Good.
..and perhaps....Greed for more of it is okay.
Greed is simply another one of my many imperfections.
One to be Acknowledged, Accepted, and Lived with.

Another personal Life Example shared, here at DietHobby.

On Fridays, I'm posting my Ask Grandma weekly video for YouTube,
if you are interested, it is posted HERE under RESOURCES, Videos, Ask Grandma.

To fall on your face means
 to fail or make a mistake in an embarrasing way.

The ony things in this world we can keep
are our thoughts and our actions.
Sometimes, to take action,
what we need is a change in our thoughts.
It can help to look at things in a new way.
Remember, when we fall short of our goals, it's okay.
No amount of personal mistakes will cause us to fall off the earth,
and no matter how stupid we look, we will still survive.

We are human.
We want approval for our actions.
We want shiny things, money, fame, a lean body, good health.

 But these rewards are not guaranteed,
AND they do not have the importance we give them.
Because none of them will ultimately hold off death,
not even good health.
Failing teaches us to accept ourselves more deeply.
When we fail, we can pick ourselves up again.

Realizing that we will always ultimately fail can free us.
It can make us free of the need to prove our ability;
free of the need to earn and hold on to rewards from others;
and free from everyone's definition of success but our own.