Practicing the Paradigm
This month you’ll have a chance to check out my friend Jorge Cruise’s new book The Belly Fat Cure. I had a chance to test the Excuses Begone! paradigm in my own life by applying some of Jorge’s wisdom. I had been carrying an extra 15 to 17 pounds around my waist for about ten years, using the excuse that “this is what happens when you get old.” It’s called “man weight,” I told myself. Then I had an interview with Jorge and he told me some startling figures about sugar consumption. In the 19th century, people consumed an average of about 13 grams of sugar a day. Today we consume an incredible 285 grams per person per day. Doesn’t it look like there’s a connection between that huge increase and the increasing waistlines of our nation? According to Jorge, reducing your waist circumference can add years to your life. Jorge recommends cutting sugar intake back to between 25 and 30 grams a day.
I had been harboring the notion, the excuse, that my 17 pounds of belly fat would be very difficult if not impossible to get rid of. After all, time had put it there! I decided to test my excuse by reducing my sugar intake down to about 20 grams a day. In 30 days, that 17 pounds had melted off my waist. And it wasn’t all that hard to do.
The fact is we can do this with anything—from belly fat to any excuse-bound situation that is blocking our health and/or happiness. Once I decided to believe that I could release the weight that had accumulated around my middle, I let it go. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.” Why not believe you can?