I am a week away from completion of my second Whole30 and I have been more diligent this time in the temporary elimination of food groups. Those of you that have completed one know that standard Whole30 involves discovering how your body operates without sugar, grains and dairy for a period of 30 days.
These foods are not bad they are just food and this is not a diet it's a reset. Think of it as an opportunity to discover how your body functions,  first without them and then again as you reintroduce them. It empowers you to take control and optimize your food choices in a way that only you can. Through direct input and feedback. Your body,your food, your choice!
As I noted in a previous blog, I was very please with the results of my first Whole30, in that I felt more energetic, cough improved, arthritis is better,  and I lost about 10 lbs. Though, the reset phase where I introduced these foods back into my daily diet, was less than stellar. Too many food groups reintroduced at once, prevented me from identifying the potential food issues. Live and learn!
This time I will be by the book on the reset phase which is so important. I also eliminated nuts and eggs this go round as my cough had not cleared up completely and I want to see if this makes a difference. The answer so far is not much, and I will witness the effects if any, of reintroducing them soon. I can say that the process of adjustment does get easier with each reset and for that I am thankful. Also worth noting, I did this on my own as Tammy decided to put hers on hold until we do the next one. She was ahead of me anyway and this way we can complete our 3rd round together.   

We all walk on our path each day and anyone who has walked over the same path daily for some time will observe that the path becomes well worn. The above title is the tag line for my company Intentional Hypnosis. Why did I choose this expression and what does it really mean?  This well worn path is evidence of where we have traveled and  clearly shows, that we rarely stray off of it. It is often a path that is walked on without thought or intention it's simply automatic. That's actually a good thing and makes it easy to find our way around without getting lost. I talked recently with a good friend of mine Debbie Taylor MA, CHt, a top notch hypnotherapist in Portland Oregon. She uses the well worn path as a metaphor to describe our neural networks. Our brain creates pathways through thought that active neurons and repeatedly firing the same neural networks.
The habits that we create each day are anchored by these thought patterns. If we want to change a habit or behavior we have to create new thought patterns. We do this by bringing conscious awareness to our thoughts and freeing ourselves from them. As you might suspect this is harder than it sounds. It takes strong intention to consciously create new paths. Have you moved to a new home and found yourself returning to your old house after a long day at work? I know that I have! This is a pretty common occurrence. 
It also helps us understand why behavior change feels so difficult. So, that said what can hypnosis do that effort alone cannot? While hypnosis cannot make us do anything that we are unwilling to do! It can assist us in pushing past the resistance that often stops us before we have walked the new path often enough to make it our new routine. With consistent effort over time, supported by hypnosis the new path more quickly becomes the go to instead of the old default. If you have want to create change in your life yet feel stuck contact me and I will help you get that fire of creativity started.