We discovered many years ago that the hardest part of restoring health and losing weight naturally wasn't leaning the diet and lifestyle changes that work, but how to stay with those healthy changes when we're feeling pressure, stress or anxiety.

When we started doing this work 30 years ago, helping people restore their health and lose weight naturally, we had great success. Heck, our bodies are designed to restore health... when we give them what they need.

So, we were surprised when, some months or years later, we would see one of our clients who had great results, and they had gained the weight back or the condition was back.

What we found out was that, it wasn't the diet and lifestyle changes that didn't work any more, but that they were no longer making those changes because of the stress and pressure that had come up in their lives. They had gone back to their old habits around food as a way to relieve some of the pressure and stress.

Another term for the pressure, stress and anxiety that can arise in life is "suffering". The feeling of hardship or distress. The kind of feeling we want to get rid of.

Join us to hear more.

What creates the feeling of pressure or stress, what we might call "suffering", isn't what has occurred (or we think will occur), like losing our job or going through a divorce. These things are real events, but the suffering part comes from our resistance to them.

The pain of the suffering, the feeling that we so dislike and don't want to experience, comes from the belief that something else could have or should have happened. It comes from arguing with the reality of what is.

And haven't we all tried everything to get rid of that feeling? We've eaten things, drank things, smoked things and bought things. But none ever provide a lasting solution.

What Gangaji is suggesting in the quote we shared in the video is that the way out is through. Rather than trying to avoid the feeling, face it, go into it, actually experience the feeling we so want to get rid of. And find out what's really there when we don't try to get rid of it.

Much to our surprise, when Connie and I have opened to experience the feeling fully, without all the thinking we've attached to it, that feeling turns out not to be the demon we thought it was.

When we've gone into the feeling fully, like diving into a swimming pool, what's there is what is always there, the peace and the calm of who we truly are.

Here's the quote again:

“We have tried everything to get rid of suffering. We have gone everywhere to get rid of suffering. We have bought everything to get rid of it. We have ingested everything to get rid of it. Finally, when one has tried enough, there arises the possibility of spiritual maturity with the willingness to stop the futile attempt to get rid of it and, instead, to actually experience suffering. In that momentous instant, there is the realization of that which is beyond suffering, of that which is untouched by suffering. There is the realization of who one truly is."
       -Gangaji” 

What if the difficulties in our lives that create a sense of discomfort or suffering are doorways to the deeper wisdom that we have? The love, the joy and well being that we all are?

And these difficulties that come up can be the doorway to making healthier food choices too. When we can decouple our association with food as a way to feel better, i.e. get rid of a feeling we don't like, we can find an end to the seemingly endless cycle of turning to food, or any other distraction, to try to end the suffering.

The recipe this week is a Mexican Rice Casserole. It's great as a side dish and can also work as a complete meal.

To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill

Mexican Rice Casserole (Serves 4) from Mary McDougall

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 3 cups frozen corn
• 15 ounce can black beans
• 8 ounce can tomato sauce or 6 ounces tomato paste
• 1 bunch green onions, slice in diagonals or 1 small onion minced
• 1 small can (4 oz) green chopped chilies
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Place rice in a large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Ladle into a 9” x 13” casserole dish and bake covered for 30 minutes.

Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

Serving Suggestions:

• Top with avocado