Sounds crazy, right? Well it’s true. And believe me, I know guilt. Here’s a little background on my guilt trip.
I was raised Catholic. Enough said on that front.
I have a Jewish mother-in-law. Oy vey…
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It’s no wonder I was overweight with all that guilt. My problem was that I accepted it. I let the guilt get to me. It stressed me out. It made me feel bad. When I felt bad, I sought comfort in food.
Then I had an epiphany.
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Lent was approaching and I had to give up something.
Yep, I gave up guilt for Lent. And I never looked back.
How does guilt make you fat? Here’s a bit of science but stay with me – it’ll be quick and painless. Guilt stresses you out. When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands release adrenaline. This is great when you’re being chased by a saber-tooth tiger. You get a sudden burst of energy, your heart beats faster and your blood pressure goes up. Your adrenal glands also release cortisol which inhibits things like digestion. Once the danger passes, these hormone levels drop and the body processes return to normal.
Fast forward a few thousand years. The tigers are gone but everybody suffers from guilt and stress – and it’s chronic. Your body is in a constant state of alarm. What do you think that does to your bodily processes? Well it’s not good. Besides weight gain, you can add to the list things like anxiety, memory issues, depression, insomnia, digestive problems and heart disease.
And it gets worse. Studies have shown that stress and elevated cortisol levels make you store belly fat. That’s the worst kind because belly fat is related to heart attacks and strokes.
Who knew guilt could be so toxic?
So stop already. Don’t let guilt get to you. This will take a bit of practice but you can do it. You’ll never be able to please everybody and feeling guilty about it won’t make it better. And if you feel guilty about how you look or how you feed yourself, give it up. Remember, guilt makes you fat.
Love yourself. Enjoy your life. Applaud yourself for who you are and what you do. You deserve happiness. As a friend used to say, “who better?”
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