Let Freedom Fly

We are born into this world with free will.  We choose how to live our lives, we are free to perceive our life as one of growth or a life of struggle, we are free to shift our lives at any second in time.

By practicing and exercising our independence to choose how we care for ourselves, we develop habits.  We are free to shift our thinking, our eating habits, drinking habits, stress levels, drama or exercise routines at any moment in time.   Every choice we make will either be regenerating our cells or degenerating our cells.

I’m writing this from a dear friend’s house in Florida, we’ve been friends for years and started our relationship as boat friends, dining on fried foods, cheese & crackers, dishes with creamy rich sauces, antipasto salads and fabulous bottles of wine.   By stretching and practicing new habits based on independent choices, I have become comfortable eating clean foods and maintaining self-care no matter who I am with or where I am located.  Self-care is simply a habit.  I am free of eating and drinking to keep everyone else comfortable.

As a previous people pleaser, I didn’t want anyone uncomfortable so I would act, eat and drink in a fashion that made others comfortable with my behavior.  My happiness was dependent on everyone else’s happiness.  As I shifted my thinking, I was able to shift my behaviors from dependent to independent.   My behaviors became value driven vs. circumstance driven.  By regaining independence and not doing what makes others comfortable & myself UNcomfortable, I was able to make some “unpopular” choices or “abnormal” decisions time after time, until these choices became my new norm.

Slowly, I started changing my actions from making others comfortable to making choices that support my health.   Just as I became comfortable over time with these changes, so did others.  In fact, others became curious.  My Floridian friends are not only LOVING the food I made this week, they also support and accept the way I now care for myself and choices I make. Whereas before, they offered the advice of exercising more, everything in moderation and labeled my eating as a freak (all in good fun of course).  By me staying true to my health and independently choosing regeneration, I simply have a new way of living and it feels fabulous!  We all have the freedom to think and act just as we choose.  I choose to make my actions work for me rather than against me.

I do have to say it’s really funny to be called a freak for drinking water & eating beef, peppers, asparagus, fish, zucchini, roasted chicken, squash, avocado, lettuce, oil, balsamic, spinach, cucumber, eggs, apples and berries.   This makes me curious about our thinking around food. When did manufactured food become real and real food become weird or a “freakish” way of eating?  Some food for thought next time we think self-care is not normal, compare a home cooked chicken meal vs. fast food grilled chicken.

The ingredients for a GT dinner of roasted chicken & potatoes with a side salad:

Whole chicken, potatoes, garlic, olive oil, shallots, lettuce, avocado, cucumber, balsamic

Ingredients for a grilled chicken fillet from McDonald’s:

GRILLED CHICKEN FILLET:

Ingredients: Chicken Breast Fillet with Rib Meat, Water, Seasoning (Rice Starch, Salt, Sugar, Yeast Extract, Canola Oil, Onion Powder, Maltodextrin, Chicken Skin,Paprika, Flavor, Sunflower Oil, Chicken, Garlic Powder, Chicken Fat, Spices), Sodium Phosphates.

Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid Soybean Oil and Hydrogenated Cottonseed and Soybean Oils, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin,Mono-and Diglycerides, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate (Preservatives), Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene (Color).

BAKERY STYLE BUN:

Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Whole Wheat Flour, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Honey, Wheat Gluten, Contains 2% or Less of: Yeast, Soybean Oil, Maltodextrin (Dietary Fiber), Salt, Calcium Sulfate, Dough Conditioners (Wheat Flour, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzymes, Calcium Peroxide), Ammonium Sulfate, Natural Flavor (Botanical Source), Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Vitamin D3, Rolled Wheat (Topping).

MAYONNAISE DRESSING:

Ingredients: Water, Soybean Oil, Distilled Vinegar, Maltodextrin, Modified Food Starch, Enzyme Modified Egg Yolk, Salt, Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Mustard Flour,Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Lemon Juice Concentrate, Polysorbate 80, Natural Flavor (Animal Source), Calcium Disodium EDTA to Protect Flavor, BetaCarotene (Color)

If we exercise our freedom to choose what feels good and keeps us on our path towards increased health, we won’t have to succumb to pleasing other’s in their discomfort around someone who cares for themselves.  We won’t end up with disease, obesity, lack of self esteem, lack of self worth and regret.  We’ll end up with pure health, happiness and empowerment!

So enjoy that freedom you have, exercise it, use it and make choices that work for you! Listen to that inner voice, be the leader in your circle.  We are all free to choose, if others choose to call unknown and inflammatory ingredients real food, that’s perfectly OK, you go ahead and eat real food and let that freak flag fly!

Happy 4^th of July to all – let freedom fly!!

Coach Katie Surjan

katie@genesistransformation.com