Is “being busy” your badge of honor? Is self-care the last thing to be scheduled on your calendar (or are you saying, “Self-care? What’s that?”). If these things are true of you, don’t wait for serious health problems and a scary medical diagnosis to be the catalyst for change. If you take Kimberly’s advice and support right now, you can likely avoid all of that. So break up with dieting, take a time out, invest in your health, and share your courageous action!

How I had the courage to fire my doctor and live a life free from illness

by Kimberly Ficklin Have you ever received news that rocked your entire world? Years ago, I had a health struggle that was destroying my life. For many years I was sick and misdiagnosed. Placed on 11 medications and given a LIFE sentence of illness.  I longed for someone to give me an answer, a reason for my sickness, and I remember being in the doctors’ office when anxiously awaiting the results when I was finally diagnosed with Gastroparesis. I thought it was the answer to my prayers to finally have some answers to the questions I had been asking through all the pain and struggle, but it wasn’t. After receiving the diagnosis, I was told by my doctor there was no cure and no hope.  At first I felt shock and fear wash over me but then I remember saying “Hell no!” I would not accept this as my fate.  I gathered every bit of courage I had and fired my doctors, quit my job, and went on a quest to find the knowledge I needed to heal myself. It was a journey but I found that I had a strength within me that I would have never known was there if it weren’t for this wakeup call with my health; it truly became something I couldn’t ignore that guided me back to myself.  Here I am now on my journey to total health, no longer suffering from the symptoms of my condition, with a burning passion to help other women overcome professional burnout and live the life they deserve! Whether you are “just stressed,” feeling on the verge of burnout, or have been suffering in silence – now is the time to take your health seriously and make YOU a priority.   I would like to share with you a few things that helped me to make dramatic shifts in my health and live a life free from illness and I know will help you start your journey back to health.  

Break Up with Dieting

Dieting was killing me. Fad diets were giving me bad information. I was eating poorly because of what I thought I knew or what other people taught me. By far the most common misconception for anyone who needs help with making healthier choices around food, shape, and weight is that they need to “go on a diet”. This is easily the most common weight loss myth in society today; the notion that dieting is going to solve the problem. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there will inevitably come a day when the diet fails – commonly at about six months. There may be many reasons for this, not least of which are the unrealistic expectations so many of us bring to the dieting process. However, there is another, perhaps more important reason that diets fail – they are designed to fail.  After all, implicit in the very concept of “a diet” is the notion that there will be a beginning – and an end. For a problematic eater, this inevitably leads to the ongoing, vicious cycle of defeat. With that in mind, the Big Mistake made by dieters is to weigh yourself daily. It’s that simple. For me and my clients, a scale is nothing but a tool that is used to ensure you never feel quite “good enough”. A scale is the perpetual link to yo-yo dieting and failure. A scale is the way you measure whether you are “doing good” or “doing bad”, making you feel good or bad about yourself. It locks you in to black and white, rigid thinking, and destroys your self-worth, your sense of hope, and your self-esteem. Being attached to a number on a scale reinforces the idea that you are not good enough, that you must “do better” and you must “be better”. Once I recognized these important points, it changed my mentality around what healthy is and I broke up with dieting for good. One thing that helps me is keeping a daily “health/food/mood” journal. Each day keep track of what you have eaten and how it made you feel (physically and connected to your mood), this will help to ensure a nourishing relationship with your food leaving no need for dieting.  

Take A Time Out

In my healing journey I started to take timeout for myself. I used to skip breakfast, run out the door, take care of the kids, work full-time, do the laundry, cook the meals, and the list goes on. What I was missing in my life were massages, days at the beach, meditation, breakfast, BREATHING! Realizing my belief that “busy is a badge of honour” was complete nonsense was the catalyst for the stress in my life and guess what the doc said when he diagnosed me? Yep! Too much stress! Now, I add my self-care and “personal” days to my calendar FIRST. THEN and ONLY THEN, do I begin to schedule in the “other” stuff. I used to hate my calendar, now I LOVE it!  

Invest in Your Health

Far too often, when it comes to investing in holistic care, I hear women say, “I wish I could but I can’t afford it.” The truth is, what you really can’t afford is emergency room visits, constant lab work, countless medications, and sick days away from your business and your family. Keep in mind that I wasn’t sick the day before I got sick, so it can happen to anyone and it can come on full force even without warning. Invest in your health, it pays great dividends! With great health, you don’t waste time being sick, so you can spend more time doing what you love, delivering better results to your clients, enjoying time with your family and friends. When I need someone to help me with my nutrition, (yep, everyone needs a coach!) my fitness,s or some accountability to my total health, I find them and invest in myself. It is the single most important thing that you can do for yourself to ensure that you live the long, healthy, vibrant life that you deserve! I challenge you today to take #CourageousAction and be proactive, not reactive, about your health!  

Courageous Action:

1.  Ditch the idea of dieting and instead journal about your connection to food and how it makes you feel to then build a better relationship that is lasting with food and your health. 2.  Schedule self-care and prioritize YOU on your calendar and to-do list FIRST.  Try this out and watch the difference it will make in all areas of your life and the positive impact it will have on your work. 3.  How will you choose to invest in your health? Whether it is eating organic food, investing in an exercise program, investing in your self-care or hiring someone to help you through this transition, find a way to say YES and invest because that will help you keep your health as your #1 priority. As you take courageous action we invite you to share your Story of Courage, whatever that may be, using the hashtag #storiesofcourage. Want more support in getting your brave on and sharing your story, check out The Courage Collective.

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Kimberly is a former stressed-out corporate salesperson turned recognized Nutrition Coach and Public Speaker.  An Anti-Diet genius who transforms sick and tired women into healthy, confident, vibrant bad-asses! She empowers her clients to break-up with dieting forever by learning how to intuitively eat while creating a new, badass mindset to meet their lifestyle/nutritional goals. Her personal mission is to help you live an inspired life fully engaged in taking care of yourself. She specializes in helping busy professionals navigate nutrition and self-care easily and effectively. You can find Kimberly at Kimberly Ficklin, The Anti~Diet Coach aka Dieting’s Worst Nightmare, Ficklin Coaching, and The Anti Diet Sisterhood.