There are so many reasons as to why we can all experience a lack of confidence from time to time, be this from having a new baby, serious illness, a traumatic past event, financial challenges, or relationship break up’s to unemployment bouts, and bullying. However, whatever the reason a lack of confidence can prove so limiting as to the life we lead and the things we could otherwise achieve.
When we speak of confidence we’re not just talking about looking confident or being the loudest, most extroverted person in the room; because actually that kind of character isn’t necessarily that confident at all – it can often be a front.
Although we do want to look confident and project this to the outside world, it all starts from internal confidence, our deep rooted belief system.
If we’re then confident on the inside the rest will follow, providing us with the unstoppable ability to make real decisions and choices that we’d ultimately prefer; choices that are completely free of limitation and allow us to really go full throttle for everything we want!
So here are Ten practical tips in how to help achieve this, stating from NOW…
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What we believe, we become!
On that note it’s important to begin questioning any limiting feelings you have about yourself and begin to focus on all the attributes YOU DO have and CAN OFFER, along with the things YOU DO enjoy; especially in light of any circumstances that may have knocked your confidence in the first place.
Everything (no matter how good or bad it may seem at the time) happens for a reason, usually to give us a realisation or lesson about something, so make sure you focus on the new skills and resources you have learnt from past events. If it helps, make a list of all the great attributes about yourself and the unique skills you have… seeing these in black and white or even reading them aloud or getting someone else to read them to you (or even get a person you trust to write down the attributes they think you have) – can really help you to realise and believe this, because after all, what you believe, you actualise and become.
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Focus on what you deem to be confident (in a positive way) and the type of people who are positively confident (NOT putting on a front!) rather than what you feel you are not.
Whatever you give your focus, energy and attention to, you attract more of back to you (the scientific law of attraction). Therefore, if you focus on not being confident and feeling vulnerable, unfortunately you will be. Instead, direct your attention to who you want to be – what would make you confident? Or focus on others you feel are genuinely confident, watch their characteristics and model (positively imitate) what they do – In a positive way pretend to be that character with the addition of your own great individualism.
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Have an awareness of the root behind your lack of confidence & address this.
If you are aware of this you can make pro-active changes to make a positive difference. For instance, if you are surrounded by an individual or an organisation that results in you feeling a lack of confidence, make changes to take yourself out of the situation. Or perhaps if you uncounted bullying when you were younger, or had an aggressive/moody/overpowering/demanding teacher/parent – explore this and discuss it with a professional even to ensure you release any root cause issues that need releasing and reframing.
Our daily environment is important because who you are around, you also become because the energy rubs off as it projects onto you. Just as if you are in an isolated situation, you’ll soon feel and become isolated, potentially leading to a lack of confidence; so make small changes to reverse any such situation. This will then help to release the reason for exacerbating a lack of confidence – there’s always something you can positively do to be proactive!
If you are still struggling with the root cause behind a lack of confidence, get a good therapist to assist you in letting this go – it will change your life so much (even if a little daunting at first, you’ll be surprised how gentle, relaxed, well intentioned, and fun we are 
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Practise Visualisation
If you visualise something with enough detail and clarity so it is really specific – as real life as you can get it using all your five senses, the part of your mind that runs your entire body on auto pilot doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what is not real. This is a huge piece of knowledge because it means that you can program into your mind exactly how you want to be.
So imagine a really confident person… this may be someone you know, a celebrity you admire, or even yourself when you were at your most confident.
Either way, get a picture of this image in your mind and ensure it is clear, bright and precise. Now imagine stepping into this picture and allow yourself to be consumed by the confidence – really feel it consume you – perhaps you may depict this as a positive warm yellow/golden glow encasing your entire body. Now see an even more confident person in front of you and step into that person, again becoming consumed in all this confidence and really absorb it. -use all your senses… sight, sound, smell, feeling, taste … make this as vivid and real as you can!
Do this process four to five times until you feel an internal shift. Then keep practising this and being that confident person.
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Question yourself to deduce the situation in order to think differently and see that there’s little point in letting a lack of confidence limit you…
- What HAS to happen for you to feel more confident and let your inhibitions go?
- What would happen if you were more confident? And what would happen if you weren’t? So what is really stopping you?
- What’s really preventing you from being more confident?
- What can you do/need to do now, to change these things?
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Hold a Physiology of Excellence
The mind and body are inextricably linked. If you try thinking of something really sad whilst attempting to smile, it’s near on impossible to do because our thoughts affect our feelings which ultimately affect the way we look and how we behave. On that note, all of the above should help with keeping more positive and confident thoughts, but we can also help this by the way we hold ourselves too…
Hold your head upright, smile, put your shoulders back, and take some deep breathes in through your nose and out through your mouth to positively oxygenate and energise your body.
It can also help to put yourself into a pleasant relaxed state when you do this too. This state prevents the feelings of any negative emotion. Basically, pick a spot on the wall above eye level to focus on. Whilst remaining focussed on the spot, begin to expand your vision to 180 degrees either side of you and notice what is in your peripheral vision at the same time (whilst still focussed on the spot above eye level too). Now bring your eyes back down to eye level and carry on about your business in a relaxed manner.
It can also help with confidence to dress smarter, do your hair. and pay yourself some external TLC. Sometimes the simplest changes can help to make a big difference – if you feel you look great, you will naturally feel and act more confident. Do you need to address your weight and overall health as all these are factors that can affect confidence; either way take positive actions to make sure you look and feel as good as possible!
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If others have a problem, it’s often actually with them (a projection of what they feel about themselves) – so focus on yourself and being the person you want to be – reject other people’s insecurities.
For example, if a person tried to knock your confidence by laughing at what you are wearing, it’s highly likely that they themselves would not have the confidence to wear that particular item (or be able to pull it off) or that they may be envious and want to be able to wear what you are wearing, but for whatever they can’t so they ‘try’ to pull you down. Alternatively, it could be that they don’t actually have the deep inner confidence to have their own individual style – I think you can probably begin to spot the pattern here!
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No one is indestructible or any better than anyone else – they are often just more experienced at something or had different opportunities in life.
If you cut us we all bleed, just as we all pee, poo, and pro-create… AND what one person can do, so can another. On that note there’s no point in ever feeling intimidated by certain people, which can often be all too easy, so be yourself and appreciate who you are. It’s an old one but it can help… Worse case imagine people without their clothes on, or the fact they get nervous too, get ill too, go to the toilet etc… you get the point – really we’re all very similar so there really is no point in regarding anyone as being particularly superior to you! We’re all just human at the end of the day.
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Avoid comparing yourself to others.
Set your own standards for you. Do what’s right for you and always appreciate, enjoy, and embrace it; we’re all unique and brilliant in our own way – it’s what makes the world so interesting!
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Remember a time when you were at your height of confidence and use this as a resource.
Remember that time – really see what you saw, hear what you heard, and feel the feelings of exuberating confidence… use all your senses to associate back into this memory.
Then at the height of those great feelings of confidence, clasp you thumb and index finger together. Then as the feelings begin to disappear unclasp your fingers.
Now in the future when you need a confidence boost you can snap your thumb and index finger together in the same way to trigger and stimulate those same feelings of confidence as your neurology and body connect this together.
Although there are many other things we could talk about, if you apply most of the above, you’ll experience a shift in your confidence; but also keep practicing these because if you practice something enough, you also become it!
The only person every stopping any of us, is ourselves. So you can be more confident, learn to value yourself and make those positive changes to live the life you really want and go for it at any time you choose!
WARNING – This article may cause offence, it may also take a fraction of your time, could possibly cause eye strain, have various typo’s, may cause you to think, and probably a whole world of other obvious and remote possibilities that I of course take no responsibility for, just in case you thought otherwise!
Through my work I get to hear about all kinds of things that affect people’s lives, as well as noticing general social patterns; all of which has led me to write this article. Ultimately, it’s about the growing need for individual responsibility and how certain sectors of society need to lighten up a little and get a grip.
Certainly, there comes a point when the government needs to intervene and the PC Police have a point; Health regulations etc. in an age of childhood obesity and T2 diabetes or ‘pussy grabbing’ presidents perhaps. However, some of the stories I’ve heard of late just beg the question of when it’s time to start drawing the line.
A small and quite apt example to start with is the lady who got banned from LinkedIn for writing an article that included, brace yourselves because you’ll never have heard this one before… The F*ck word! Maybe it’s me again, but aren’t we capable of making up our own minds whether we want to read an article with the ‘F’ word in the title or not? It was posted on a business forum for professionals, not tots, after all.
Following on with forums, I’ve even been banned from diabetes one’s for being too positive and explaining how T2 diabetes can be reversed – just in case it gave false hope to those who couldn’t pursue it. The point being, that although this was and is a true evidenced statement and certainly not of an indoctrinating nature (unlike some negative posts); I got banned. Should I have
been the one held accountable if some people choose not to engage in reversal or believe it to be possible? – Surely, I have a right to correctly inform people and be entitled to share my experiences. But no I had to be banned!
My partner even gets banned every month from a local city forum for instigating harmless sporting banter because opposing fans report him – Grown men in the playground! Seriously, in this context is it not time to man up and just banter back or, here’s an idea, choose not to read the comments?
On a more sensitive subject matter, l was recently discussing the prospect of a guy being sued over him having wolf whistled at a group of female joggers! Now I’m the first to support woman and equal rights, but legal action! Perhaps a roll your eyes up moment at worst, but dare I say it, was it not once considered a compliment to be whistled at, harmless banter? After all, there’s nothing to stop woman doing it/or something else back – isn’t that the true sign of girl power and inner female confidence, not to be bothered or intimidated by it!
Perhaps if we’re going to go down this route we should ban the diet coke advert of woman leering after the topless model type guy. We talk about equal rights, so perhaps it’s time to lighten up and exert some inner personal power in dealing with things differently – male or female.
There’s even the groups who make an issue out of erotic fiction; The 50 Shades of Grey Book, claiming it encourages and provides an excuse for domestic violence … Does it really? Or has the concept of BDSM eroticism and the fact there’s a root cause for anything been taken out of context. Having a choice is what makes the difference, empowerment even – just maybe it’s also about enjoyment or sexual experimentation, pushing boundaries or the phenomenon of the mind and what makes us tick and why etc., there wouldn’t be a safe word otherwise – that’s the difference!
Whilst domestic violence or abuse of any sort is categorically wrong on every level, and to whichever gender, it is a totally different issue, and if any abuser is of that nature, trust me as a professional, they won’t need any encouragement or ideas from something like 50 Shades of Grey. Perhaps instead we need to look at what people can learn from an early age about the traits of abuses, self-belief systems, and other critical issues to help avoid the complexities of such relationships.
On a separate issue of things going too far, it seems society is increasingly forced to have warning disclosures on absolutely everything. Even before TV programs are about to be aired, we’re warned ‘just in case’ there’s something upsetting portrayed – flashing lights, yes of course, but upsetting scenes? When isn’t there some emotive issue, something controversial or dramatised real life issues – isn’t that the point of TV? Even the news has constant warnings of distressing images – but isn’t the entire news distressing in one form or another, surely that one goes without saying. Perhaps it’s our responsibility of what we choose to watch in the knowledge of what we’re actually watching?
I also can’t believe the need for a current government advert telling us that if there’s a red cross above a motorway lane, it means that the lane is closed. Ok, safety first, but really! Surely if we possess a driving licence we should know this one! And I’m not even going there with unnecessary pedantic parking fines – The fact I’ve successfully appealed the majority gives some indication of how ridiculous they’ve become, not to mention the complexity of some parking metres and interpreting parking rules – though quite deliberate I’m sure!
I could literally go on with crazy examples of things like restaurants changing their name from ‘Fatty Arbuckle’s’ to ‘Arbuckle’s’ just in case it causes offense! I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t if you’re eating there anyway. However, aside from the ‘roll your eyes up’ examples, there are actually some serious cases whereby we really do need to draw the line and choose to take personal responsibility! Things where the freedom of choice is taken away or rules and procedure’s result in the difference between life and death.
I’m really getting to a harrowing example that caused serious implications and distress to all concerned! In this case, a gentleman with T1 diabetes who lived alone sadly lapsed into a hypoglycaemic state – meaning his blood sugar levels crashed dangerously low causing him to eventually pass out. Fortunately, one of his neighbours saw him through the window and called the Paramedics ASAP as they knew he had diabetes.
When the Paramedics arrived, because the door was locked they said they couldn’t enter his property because it was their ambulance services policy. Yet there was a man literally dying in front of them who they could see clearly through the window.
I’m sure most people know that when anyone is unconscious, the brain is being starved of oxygen which can have serious implications. Coupled with dropping blood sugar levels; time is critical to save a person’s life…
By this point the man’s neighbours were pleading with the paramedics to break in and save him, explaining that they ordinarily have a key but he recently had a new door fitted.
However, both Paramedics persisted to refuse to enter and help the man. The younger neighbour then gave them the perfect loop hole to their policy, telling them to go and look for something in the ambulance while they break in the property, so upon their return the door would already be open for them to enter – A great logical solution you’d think. Yet they still refused and as the neighbour attempted all he could to break in nevertheless, the Paramedics stood in front of the door to prevent him from doing so.
What happened to a person’s life being more important than superfluous procedure, not to mention, any paramedics primary role is to save lives not hinder them! Where was the personal responsibility of these two paramedics as individual, compassionate human beings? Is this not becoming a more serious issue in criminal law, and I don’t mean braking an entry!
Eventually the police arrived to break in and the man was taken to hospital, by which time it was too late – he was in a coma, woke up with brain damage, required specialist expensive 24/7 care, then sadly sometime afterwards he passed away. All severely distressing for his neighbours to have witnessed and of course his family to handle and process. Moreover, this was an absolutely absurd and unnecessary situation that didn’t need to happen should pragmatism have prevailed! The sanctity of life was seriously overlooked in favour of ad hoc procedure on this occasion!
I use the term ad hoc because many ambulance trusts do in fact carry tools with them to break in, in such situations. Other trusts also find this incident unthinkable, as they told the family concerned. However, aside from the horrific nature of the event itself, the point is how we really need to draw the line with certain pedantic thinking and behaviour in today’s society.
Certainly from the things I see and hear, especially regarding social services and the like; It’s time to take more personal responsibility and rationality in order to live better, more fulfilled lives. Therefore allowing us to focus on the really important things rather than things that serve no constructive or positive purpose – Bring back common sense and pragmatism please!
When it comes to veganism (a diet and/or lifestyle not eating or using products derived from animals whatsoever) there tends to be a lot of mixed opinion. This usually ranges from people having convinced themselves that a purely vegan diet will cause them to miss out on vital nutrients or that veganism consists of a boring, dull, tasteless diet. Conversely there’s a growing number of people enjoying a super healthy, tasty, enjoyable, and ethical regime who are benefiting from some amazing powerful healing benefits.
In the end, it’s really quite simple – any diet is capable of being boring and missing out on vital nutrients – especially when it comes to a western diet of so many convenience foods. However, with balance and creativity there’s no reason for this to ever be the case when it comes to eating vegan. Plus, from a psychological perspective most negativity surrounding this regime tends to be born out of mis-understanding the diet, a lack of imagination, or some personal justification to eat meat.
Personally I’ve eaten vegetarian for a long time, and as I’ve progressed with varied diabetes research to seriously improve and reverse the condition, I have spent the last few months eating a vegan diet and exploring how this can also fit with a lower carb regime – the latter reason being something that had always deterred me in the past from going completely vegan. However, in the name of research and belief that anything is possible if you want it enough; I made the decision and have never looked back!
Moreover, I have also found how adopting a vegan lifestyle has so many overall benefits in helping to prevent and heal many conditions from colds and allergies to diabetes and cancer – the benefits are amazing. Amidst the inevitable tendency to eat a lot fresher, natural, nutrient dense foods, you can check out the more detailed reasons for this on the ‘Super Dietary Acceleration Plan’ page.
In this blog however, I’d just like to share with you the healing power of adopting a vegan diet.
On a personal note veganism has significantly contributed to a great progression in my personal research in exploring and working toward reversing T1 diabetes. In addition, we already know that by adopting a vegan regime, T2 diabetes can be and indeed has been reversed! So what are you waiting for?…
Veganism is also known to have a positive and powerful impact on;
- Diabetes Complications
- Allergies
- Cancer
- Weight loss
- Heart conditions
- Colds
- Asthma
- IBS
- Minor ailments and irritations to many other chronic conditions
The following are amazing success cases when it comes to health and healing through adopting a vegan diet, found courtesy of the great guy’s at www.gentleworld.org .
Please also remember that in order to adopt this regime in the first place, any individual has to have the right mind-set in the first place for the rest to follow. So if this is something you’d like to engage in but for whatever reason don’t feel that you can – get in touch and through working together we can soon get you to where you want to be!
Sue: My asthma – which I thought would kill me by the time I was 40 – disappeared completely in just a few weeks. From the constant use of two kinds of inhaler and being threatened with steroid injections I went to wheeze-free and I haven’t needed meds for 17 years. I also stopped having colds. I get the occasional sniffle but never anything serious. I get what I call colds but they only last 24 or 48 hours and are nothing like the ones I used to get before I went vegan.
Julie: I switched to a vegan diet for the animals. Nothing else. I had no idea the health benefits that would follow! My goodness. IBS: gone! Migraines: gone! What I thought were allergy symptoms: gone!
David: I used to get sick a lot. Since becoming Vegan I don’t… ever. And this is also because the mind is now cleansed of confusing internal debate. Going Vegan is like a breath of fresh air and life just makes sense!
Robin: My husband thinks it has relieved his arthritis. He mentioned this in passing and I googled it and found out veganism has often been cited as a contributing factor in alleviating arthritis.
Billy: Many! Indigestion, gas, bloating, constipation (I was lucky if I went to the bathroom twice a week), hemorrhoids, depression, skin problems, aching joints, tooth decay, bad breath, and that’s just a few caused by dairy products. Since I ditched that killer, I am a new man! I never ate meat anyway so I know dairy was the culprit.
Stacie: I have a family history of IBS. Everyone on my Mom’s side of the family has severe bouts of it. As a vegetarian, my symptoms were mild, but when it was bad it was really bad. Since going vegan – no more symptoms!
Barbara: My genetically high cholesterol went down 100 points and has stayed down. I am able to eat whatever I want for the first time in my life.
Elizabeth: My lifelong horrible acne got cured… I stopped getting colds and flu. I am not exaggerating. STOPPED. However it took over a year after switching the diet for this to come about. The first year or so I reckon I was still detoxing the animal products out of my body, so I still had acne and got my yearly flu and cold. But only that first year. Since then, nothing. And that is after 20 years of acne, and many many years of getting at least one horrible flu bug (usually around Christmas for some reason) plus one or two colds every year.
Diane: I’ve had bouts of depression most of my life, but not once since becoming vegan almost 6 months ago. Also, I no longer have mid-afternoon energy slumps, and I’ve lost most of the stubborn excess pounds I never was able to lose before!
Julie: Acid reflux disease. Migraines. IBS. Those are gone. I also have arthritis…though it is not gone, what used to be extreme pain in my hands and knees is very minimal now. It amazes me every day.
Laura: I used to have an unexplained skin problem, I used to get groups of sores that wouldn’t heal on my arms, chest and upper back, had it for years and years. After I became vegan they cleared up. I’m assuming it was either an allergy or a hormone imbalance caused by dairy. I’m also no longer anaemic. I never passed the iron test at blood donations before I was vegan.
Don: Lower back pain and sinus infections have virtually disappeared. I used to get 2-3 bad sinus problems a year, and have had just one in the last 21 dairy-free years.
Alexa: My post-traumatic arthritis doesn’t hurt as much; or for as long. Also, I feel like my reflexes got better. I catch myself in a skid and I’m able to stop it rather than landing painfully on the ground.
John: I lost about twenty pounds of body fat. Also, since I began drinking green smoothies two years ago, I have not been sick. I’ve also had more energy and been more passionate about life since I became a vegan.
Dianne: Headaches and migraines. I still get them but not as often and not so severe.
Billy: I had a headache all the time too! Another thing – I always had that fungus thing with my toenails. Gone now! I also seldom ever get sinus infections or even colds or flu. Veganism is the way to go! Not just for better health, but for the animals, that’s all I really care about. But feeling better is nice too…
Tierra: When I went vegetarian 31 yrs ago, my monthly migraines decreased by 95% – they are rare and are stress induced rather than due to hormonal imbalances brought on by meat and dairy. And even though I was 90% vegan for the past 10 years, I didn’t realize even that much dairy was giving me wretched indigestion! After going 100% vegan, that’s gone! Antacids are a thing of the past for me and for my husband who no longer needs medication for that.
Emma: I don’t get all the normal bugs and infections that the mass population gets. I haven’t had a cold or flu for at least five years.
Marilyn: My Multiple Sclerosis SHUT UP!!!!
Amanda: Chronic eczema and irritable bowel syndrome disappeared within a month of going vegan. Numerous specialists had never once suggested I try giving up dairy. 27 years later still as healthy as ever.
Selena: I don’t have upset stomachs anymore!!! I don’t give my digestive system such a hard time! I love being vegan!
Rex: 30 years ago I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Well… I am still here.
Robin: I used to have terrible Rosacea! And now I literally have that porcelain skin that I always dreamt about!! Clear skin and a clear conscience. My doctor put me on some pills to help it (go figure) and of course they never did… once I went totally vegan, BAM. Gone. Pills: Gone. Doctor: Gone. Now I see these commercials for those pills and it drives me crazy! I just want to jump in the TV, push all those silly actors out of the way & scream just GO VEGAN!! Btw, I didn’t go vegan to help my skin. I went vegan for the animals and environment. I’ve just always looked at my skin problem being gone (and just feeling wonderful in general) as a little thank you from the planet and animals for doing the right thing!
Robert: There`s a whole bunch of health benefits I experienced. I also lost 35 lbs without even trying – all I did was go vegan. I feel really light now, and have energy like I never had.
Suzanne: I had a terrible skin condition for about two years and tried all creams and potions etc… Nothing really did any good, but within two weeks of a vegan diet it went away.
Christine: I used to have some pretty intense joint pain in my fingers if I squeezed them; that’s now gone. I had acid reflux for about six years, and that went away too. I’ve lost almost 30 lbs and my skin is clear. Gotta love that! Oh… and I also had a problem with mucous in my head. That’s gone away too! I guess it was in my lungs and worked its way throughout the body.
Paul: A curious one: I lost a lifelong allergy to peanuts. And a more common one: weight loss and more immunity to flus and colds.
Martina: I stopped needing my reading glasses. Same for my mom, who became vegan in her eighties.
Alexa: I stopped getting Charlie horses in my calves and calcium spots on my fingernails.
Deborah: 30 lbs of fat!!! Very nice side benefit. OH… Gout – I had that bad in my big toes. No more! I became Vegan for the animals without a thought to the health benefits which just seem to be never ending!!
Jenn: I have been healed from IBS since going vegan. Every day I am grateful and amazed! It was a miracle for my life.
Rat: IBS and I never get colds or flu I lost weight too changing from just veggie to vegan as did my girlfriend. PMT is nowhere near as bad either when you’re vegan also, as you are not consuming extra hormones in your food! But I also did it for ethical reasons not health. But I always am aware of the health of being vegan; it is the best for your body and mind!
Sue: I rarely get a cold (twice in 17 years in case you’re interested) and when I do it’s barely noticeable. The big thing for me was that my asthma, which was simply getting worse and worse on the drugs I was on, disappeared completely.
Kathleen: Asthma and allergies! and all the horrible meds that went with them.
Heidi: High Blood Pressure! No more meds!!!!
Chandra: Asthma flare-ups from dairy
Harold: Chronic fatigue syndrome/Epstein Barr Syndrome, and heart disease.
Philippa: I lost weight, going from Vegetarian to Vegan, cutting out cheese and other dairy was a big change on my body… But health had nothing to do with it for me; I would still be doing it if it was hard on my health.
Jennifer: Since giving up dairy I’ve had only a few sore throats (vs getting them every month or two). They only last a few days instead of weeks. So wonderful!
Stephanie: I haven’t gotten any food poisoning in the past four years. I used to throw up at least once a year after eating at a restaurant but it hasn’t happened since.
Jay: Spare tires… and aches in leg joints caused by carrying excess weight.
Nick: My Hyperthyroidism.
Chris: A chemical imbalance in my brain that made me stupid But seriously, The worst “cold” I’ve had in four years since being vegan is a runny nose! I’m also running further than I ever could before.
Faye: I don’t get colds and flus, throat and chest infections any more.
Mandy: No colds since going veg and no allergies either!
Nick: Colds still happen but take care of themselves.
Liliya: To be honest, I feel lighter in my heart and soul, and that’s important to me…
So if you’re looking to vastly improve or heal your health, or accelerate recovery naturally, it’s pretty evident that adopting a vegan lifestyle has some very powerful benefits. In any case, you certainly have nothing to lose, and everything to gain! Plus, as I always say, the proof is really in the pudding, so why not see for yourself.
To get started and make positive change today, please feel free to check out the ‘Super Dietary Acceleration Plan’ page, get exploring, and enjoy! Also do get in touch with your own
Amidst all the hype and here say, type 2 diabetes can in truth, be completely reversed; and it doesn’t have to involve any expensive pills, surgery, or senseless diet fads. Nor does it have to be overwhelming or complicated, it just requires making some all-round positive changes in your life, starting from deep within.
If you apply the following 7 proven ways to reverse diabetes collectively as a multi-pronged approach, there is every reason you can fully and successfully reverse your condition, seeing vast improvements to your health very quickly.
Mind-Set
It has been profusely evidenced of how an overall positive out-look and attitude makes all the difference when it comes to taking control of our health, and has led patients to triumph over medical diagnoses.
This is because mind-set is everything; our thoughts affect our emotions and our emotions determine our behaviour, our health, and the results we get in life. Therefore, by mastering this cognitive cycle, the rest will always follow.
For example, if we look at some of the key factors for the on-set of type 2 diabetes; stress, diet, and sedentary lifestyle. But when we look beyond such factors as to why an individual might engage in such habits in the first place we arrive at factors that lie deep within our psychology like various pressures, trauma, sadness, depression, self-neglect and so on – quite literally and meta-physically, lacking sweetness in life (hence physically over compensating for this). Ultimately, everything pertains to mind-set, emotions, behaviour, and how our body’s respond physically.
In one major study of 400 spontaneous remissions of cancer, later interpreted by Elmer and Alyce Green of the Menninger Clinic, found that all patients had one thing in common: Every person had changed their attitudes before their remissions, changing their thinking to being hopeful, courageous, pro-active and positive.
When it comes to Successfully reversing type 2 diabetes and maintaining this for life it is no different. The right mind-set will always ensure the necessary determination and resourcefulness needed.
Here are some key characteristics observed in patients who have triumphed over medical diagnosis;
- An unshakable confidence and belief in the body’s ability to utilise its own wisdom to encourage and facilitate healing with the right guidance.
- Strong goals, focus on creativity, and sense of purpose – something worth fighting for and a life worth living.
- Good humour, positive and cheerful attitude.
- The absence of panic when things don’t always go according to plan (focussing on what can pro-actively and positively be done going forward)
- Taking a full share of responsibility for their own health and establishing a close ‘partner relationship’ with their physicians.
Establish clear, specific, and determined goals
In line with classic goal theory and research we know there is a clear relationship between goal setting and improved performance. It is also the case that very specific goals as opposed to vague or abstract ones make all the difference in attainment.
All successes start with a goal, but to turn these goals into a real outcome they need to be clearly defined, measured, and driven by a strong motivation and purpose, especially when reversing diabetes.
Here are some simple pointers you can apply in developing a solid goal.
- What is your motivation and for what purpose? Is this strong enough to ensure you take action?
- Take small daily steps toward your goal & make yourself accountable.
- Apply the process of SMART goals to make your goal specific, measurable, realistic, and achievable.
- Have bench marks along your journey, and reward yourself accordingly.
- Apply clear, detailed, and specific visualisation of your successful outcome using all your senses (see below for more specific details of this)
Emotional Well-Being
There is much evidence showing that it is only when there is a significant change in emotional well-being, that successful physical reversal ensues and remains. There are also widely documented cases of unexpected medical recoveries and healing only when the emotional root cause of any condition has been successfully addressed.
In this case, as the root cause of type 2 diabetes can ultimately be traced back to negative emotion, specifically a lack of sweetness in life leading to the physical changes that eventually manifest as type 2 diabetes; it’s essential to address these so as to avoid any future repeats and relapse, encourage excellent blood glucose control, and a strong immune system.
To make any permanent positive change to our physical health, having a good awareness that all health is indicative of our thought patterns and emotions, has proven key.
This is because every single thought and emotion we have, affects every single cell in our body. That’s the mind and body connection; everything we think and feel, scientifically affects us physically (whether we like it or not). This is because the same electro-chemicals that carry our thoughts and transmit information from one cell to another, also bathe every single cell throughout the body, so the mind and body are constantly communicating with one another.
Our thoughts and emotions affect the bio-chemistry of the brain which in turn sends specific signals to the body, subsequently causing it to make further bio-chemical changes, which ultimately transpire and manifest as various symptoms and physical health conditions.
For example, we know that stress is a major factor in developing diabetes. It contributes to poor control and directly raises blood glucose.
This is because when we begin to feel stressed the brain releases a chemical called corticotrophin which signals to the pituitary gland to produce adrenocorticotropic hormone which in turn signals to the adrenals in the body to produce adrenaline and cortisol.
Not only is cortisol a potent immune system suppressor causing host of undesirable physical effects that we commonly associate with stress, it also causes insulin resistance. Adrenaline and cortisol also work directly on the liver to break down stored glucose to be released back into the blood stream, therefore resulting in increased blood glucose.
It’s therefore vital that to successfully reverse diabetes, the initial emotional root cause is worked on, along with doing everything possible to ensure continued emotional well-being.
Dietary changes
We know that making changes to diet is a major key component in the reversal of T2 diabetes, but this doesn’t need to be complicated if we focus on the evidenced results and look at the big picture. You can then work out what is best for you to apply, given your preferences.
In one successful study conducted at Newcastle University (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21656330) it has been proved that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed quickly through dietary changes – in one to eight weeks.
This study was carefully designed to assess the results of a dramatic dietary change on Type 2 diabetes. Volunteers with Type 2 diabetes were asked to consume protein shakes and a low-glycaemic-load, plant-based, low-calorie dietbut not to exercise over the eight weeks of the study. After just one week, participants had reversed most features of their diabetes – and all features of their diabetes by the end of eight weeks.
In total, 11 people with diabetes (nine men and two women) were studied and compared with a control group. Through sophisticated techniques, including MRI imaging, they measured the participants’ blood sugar and insulin responses, cholesterol levels, and fat in the pancreas and liver (some of the hallmarks of diabetes) before and after dietary changes at one, four, and eight weeks.
What they found was quite astonishing. The beta cells (the pancreas’s insulin-producing cells) woke up, and the fat deposits in the pancreas and liver went away. Blood sugars normalised in just one week. Triglycerides dropped by half in one week, and reduced 10-fold in eight weeks. The body’s cells became more insulin sensitive and, essentially, in just eight weeks, all evidence of diabetes was gone and the once ‘patients with diabetes’ looked just like the normal controls on all the testing.
Further to this we know that there is plenty of empirical evidence that lower carbohydrate diets and vegan regimes can also result in the successful reversal of T2 diabetes.
From working successfully with people myself, other successful individuals I know of, several studies and cases across the globe, and having made strides with my own T1 diabetes (and I know of one case where I am actually on less insulin than an individual with T2 diabetes); a lower carbohydrate regime, combined with a vegan lifestyle has proven to have extremely successful. Equally I have tested both regimes in isolation and they still generate powerful results.
In any case, regarding diet, any healthy regime that allows the body to rest and regenerate as a consequence of not having to process excess sugars and have its precision hindered and blocked by excess fat, as well as including majorly beneficial nutrients that can actually assist in repairing the body naturally, and function to help with the processing of carbohydrates (derived from specific fruits, vegetables, and plant sources); is a major factor in reversing type 2 diabetes.
Some other good authorities that you can research for specific diets for T2 reversal are:
Dr Neal Barnard MD – Vegan Diet Advocate, researcher, and regime
Dr Cheng Ruan MD – www.ruanMD.com – Reversal cases and regime
Dr Em Mardlin PhD – www.dr-em.co.uk – The Acceleration Plan
Lifestyle Adjustments
In one particular study we see how the positive impact of lifestyle interventions on Type 2 diabetes make a significant difference, and can greatly accelerate the reversal process.
This study randomly assigned patients with Type 2 diabetes in groups to receive either 10 sessions of biofeedback and relaxation or three sessions of diabetes education. All sessions were individual, and a total of 39 participants was enrolled, of which 30 completed the three-month study. HbA1c (average three-monthly blood glucose), forehead muscle tension, and peripheral skin temperature were measured, and participants were also scored for depression and anxiety, before and after the study.
This study showed that biofeedback (instrumentally measured awareness of manipulated physiological functions using natural techniques) and relaxation significantly decreased blood glucose levels and muscle tension, compared with the control group (those receiving diabetes education). At the three-month follow-up, the biofeedback group continued to show a decreased blood sugar level and decreased their scores on the depression and anxiety inventories.
Research has also shown that meditation can significantly reduce stress and blood glucose levels, and improve self-care to better manage and accelerate reversing T2 diabetes. This, in turn, was found to motivate people to exercise more and therefore led to better sugar-level control.
Such research shows that making this type of adaptation to an individual’s lifestyle can assist dramatically in improving, stopping, and reversing diabetes.
Below are important proven factors to greatly assist in the reversal process of T2 diabetes.
Activity
Although it’s actually been proven that type 2 diabetes can be reversed through dietary changes alone, if we look at the reasons why this is so, we conversely see how increased activity and exercise has the same potential. More over activity has the power to accelerate T2 reversal and improve general health overall, which is key to ensuring permanent reversal.
Being active helps the body to burn fat, calories, and sugar.
Increased activity generates endorphins (feel good chemicals) therefore warding off emotional eating and excessive stress.
Being active also improves general health and fitness levels, helping to support a stronger immune system to repair and maintain the body.
So the more active you can become, the better all round to take this condition in hand and get it reversed sooner rather than later.
Reducing Stress
We discussed above the direct impact of stress increasing blood glucose levels and supressing the immune system, so applying affective techniques, strategies, and coping methods for stress and anxiety reduction is imperative if you are to successfully reverse type 2 diabetes.
Good Sleep
Aim for a good 7–8 hours of sleep every night to invigorate and refresh health. Sleep is the body’s natural healing time. This is because during deep sleep, the production of growth hormone is at its peak. Aside from maintaining glucose levels during sleep, growth hormone speeds up the absorption of nutrients and amino acids into the cells and aids the healing of tissues throughout the entire nervous system. Growth hormone also stimulates bone marrow, where the immune system cells are born, and these naturally protect us against illness as well as aiding healing.
Melatonin, often called the sleep hormone, is produced by the pineal gland in our brain at dusk to help us get to sleep and then throughout the night while we sleep deeply. This is important because this hormone inhibits tumours from growing, stimulates the immune system, increases antibodies in saliva, prevents viral infections, has antioxidant properties, and enhances the quality of sleep. Sleep is therefore crucial to dramatically improve and stop diabetes.
Studies show the value of maintaining a steady and natural rhythm in sleep patterns. Researchers at the University of Toronto Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology (Moldofsky et al, 1975) reveal important insights into how sleep heals.
Dr. Moldofsky conducted a study examining how the immune system reacts to sleep deprivation. Researchers examined natural killer cells, a component of the immune system that attacks bacteria, viruses, and tumours. During the study, 23 men slept about eight hours for the first four nights. On the fifth night, researchers woke up the men at 3 a.m., giving them four hours less sleep than usual. This one interruption to their sleep pattern caused the activity of the natural killer cells to decrease by more than a quarter the next day.
It is important to note here that general research suggests that just three hours’ sleep loss leads to a 50 percent reduction in immune system efficiency. Melatonin reaches its maximum potential about an hour after we fall into a deep sleep, so after this time, the body’s repair systems go into full swing. We must capitalize on this to achieve full health, healing, and well-being.
Meditation
Scientific studies show regular meditation can:
- Lower blood glucose levels
- Lower blood pressure and improve circulation
- Increase energy and creativity
- Strengthen the immune system
- Release stress, fatigue, and toxins
- Extend our life by approximately 10 years
- Aid in looking and feeling more youthful
- Provides more psychological rest than a full night’s sleep from just thirty minutes meditation.
- Aids decision making and productivity.
Such pointers will intrinsically help with the reversal of diabetes, given all the former points discussed. Body scan meditation and Kundalini meditation are particularly powerful, see Mind Body Diabetes Ch.5 or visit www.dr-em.co.ukfor blogs and guides.
Visualisation
Visualisation is an incredibly powerful technique, and when it is properly understood and applied it has fantastic results. As the mind generally thinks in pictures and uses all our senses to create memory, using strong imagery can engrave positive messages deep into our neurology and effect physical changes. This is primarily because the part of the mind responsible for running and maintaining our body 24/7 on autopilot is unable to recognise the difference between what is real and what is not real, if we visualise something with enough clarity and detail. But this must be very clear and specific, using all our senses.
Through using PET scan technology, it is known that the same parts of the brain are activated whether subjects are vividly imagining something or experiencing the reality of it. The nerve firing and chemical release is so similar, powerful neurotransmitters allow the mind to influence the body in the same way.
If you’ve ever had a very realistic, vivid dream and woken up either crying, laughing, or perhaps disturbed, or unsettled by it, then you have experienced this. Although it is ‘just a dream’, it stimulated a physical response because your body believed it to be real and responded accordingly. You may even have had to question if something has really happened or not, when you have simply dreamt about it.
There are numerous well documented clinical and medical case studies where patients have successfully used visualisation to shrink tumours and rid the body of cancer, through to visualising away arthritis.
Similarly, we can use visualisation to assist in the process of reversing type 2 diabetes in two ways. The first being clinically, to activate positive physical changes within the body such as encouraging the natural stimulation of insulin producing beta cells and storage of glucose. The second being the visualisation of achieving your end goal in order to embed this into your neurology so you are wholly focussed, engaged, and expecting of full reversal.
This is important because if we see something with enough detail and clarity, our minds will instruct our bodies to physically respond accordingly and make the necessary changes. Speaking personally and professionally by way of empirical evidence, visualisation has a very powerful and positive affect in improving diabetes and accelerating the reversal of type 2 diabetes.
Establishing an encouraging and positive support network
The link between health management and support networks has been researched extensively in the social and behavioral sciences, suggesting that overall positive and pro-active family, social, and professional support can benefit patients’ health by buffering stress, changing affective states, increasing self-efficacy, and influencing change in negative health behaviors.
Research found that practical and emotional support received by both family and friends had a positive influence on global measures of diabetes management and a meta-analytic review of 122 empirical studies found that adherence to their health regimes was 27% higher when patients had practical support available to them.
As we often naturally mirror similar traits to those who we regularly interact with; it is key to ensure this is as positive, pro-active and encouraging as possible. It’s well known that negativity breeds and de-motivates individuals, and the reversal of type 2 diabetes takes dedication, positivity, and a pro-active attitude toward health. Therefore, a positive environment and support network is known to make a significant difference to the successful reversal of this condition.
Further to this a positive, forward thinking health care team is also known to make a positive difference regarding motivation.
Empirical evidence also suggests that when engaging in any dedicated health regime, being surrounded by like-minded peers engaging in the same process is of great benefit to help with feeling able to openly confide and having an external source to compare and measure personal progress with.
Dr Emma Mardlin, Psychotherapist & lecturer, Clinical Practitioner in Mind Body Medicine at The Pinnacle Practice & Author of Mind Body Diabetes, a positive, powerful and proven way to stop diabetes once and for all, Type 1 and Type 2.
www.dr-em.co.uk
Aside from the predictability year on year, we’re generally bombarded with scare mongering tactics and cringe worthy (though sometimes good comedy value!), often ill-informed dramas depicting diabetes amidst the same old conventional rhetoric in documentaries and news items…
Not to mention the perpetual labelling of being a walking health condition as opposed to being a person, the automatic ‘vulnerable group’ status or just becoming a special case when it comes to food, party season, and living…
And if you’re not bored already, there’s the drilled in emphasis of ‘managing’ an arduous condition that requires the burden of a lifelong laboured routine of treatment – just in case those living with the condition 24/7 needed a bit of encouragement there!…
Yep it continues – The reported expediential crippling cost of diabetes to the NHS, the new (or not) ‘hope’ of a cure in conventional science, or mass groupie patronisation from the profoundly obsessed diabetic squad… ‘how to survive Halloween and the festive season when you’re a diabetic’ – just in case a kid might have been looking forward to their Halloween party or trick or treating this year, Or this that and the bloody other when YOU HAVE DIABETES…
It seems there’s increasing and constant negative or unnecessary suggestions and installations regarding diabetes – making mountains out of mole hills when things don’t need to be an issue – people have diabetes, they’re not overwhelmingly dumb struck!
When I was a kid thankfully I wasn’t bombarded with all this obsession surrounding everything diabetes, so I loved Halloween and Christmas, I always manged my diabetes well and accordingly so I never thought anything of it, it was never an issue – My focus was just on enjoying the event in the best way possible, not on how many sugar free popsicles will there be and what can’t I have or what if blah blah happens; I just adapted accordingly and had fun; So Yes we need to raise awareness of the condition and give people the recognition they deserve managing diabetes 24/7 – BUT, and it’s a big BUT, it’s how we go about it!
So, one question …
Where does diabetes month primarily draw your focus- consciously, subconsciously, and even unconsciously – totally out of your awareness? It may even be something you’ve not even thought about, it’s that unconscious.
Well if your answer is that diabetes month prompts you to make a real difference and start looking at how you can reverse or dramatically improve your condition or help someone else to do this, creating real positive change – Then excellent, great stuff – I love diabetes month for this, a positive awareness and prompt! It also means you’ve bucked the trend, found your higher consciousness, and you’ll find some incredibly pertinent resources to help you achieve this throughout this article.
However…
Whether you consciously realise it or not, diabetes month is essentially a fantastic opportunity to turn diabetes into ‘an issue’ for people who already know they have it, while simultaneously scaring the living daylights (I’m being polite!) out of those who might have it and realise they need to get tested. Which all leads to a pretty negative consumption of energy, attention and focus!
Come November the number of people who contact me or my practice because they feel depressed and despondent when it comes to their diabetes is exceptionally indicative of the sub/unconscious programming we get subjected to…
People contact me because my job in practice is to work with the mind and body, facilitating individuals in resolving psychological or physical challenges or conditions, or often both generally (as the two are inextricably linked). So when people contact me they generally know what is wrong or that something isn’t quite right, but they are often unaware as to why exactly this may be, or how to resolve the problem.
What’s interesting here is that when it comes to this serge in diabetes month, the reason people feel so down always pertains to the constant magnification of negative suggestion surrounding this condition – it’s basically negative hypnosis, so of course people don’t immediately realise why they so often feel the way they do, yet it has a significant effect both emotionally and physically!
So my real, critical point here is that we really do (in line with scientific principles) become and manifest what we deep down believe and are surrounded by; Unless we are consciously aware of this in order to wholeheartedly refute such negative suggestions.
And further food for thought on this matter is a fantastic point first made by Albert Einstein – and one which I love because it backs up my work and philosophy when it comes to diabetes and health in general… “We cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking in which it was created”
Meaning that we must start thinking differently- in this case, above and beyond the normal rhetoric surrounding diabetes; seeing this condition as much more than just the physical manifestation we only ever hear about … Rather we need to turn our attention to what can we do about it ourselves? What is the other level of thinking that we need to be aware of and be working on to positively make a difference and therefore experience different results?
Forget worrying about the complications of diabetes and all the ‘what if’s’ or what can’t I have, or how my life is restricted or riddled in routine and responsibility, or whatever else we’re negatively programmed to think about…
Forget all that because we get what we focus on and become consumed in it, in which case anyone would be depressed, and depression never helps diabetes management or reversal – that’s for sure!
On that note, we must therefore think beyond diabetes per se … creating a far greater focus and purpose in life than the ‘daily content of diabetes’, and turn our attention to thinking what CAN we do to STOP and reverse this condition? What’s our real purpose and intention in life that will give us ultimate fulfilment (restoring the deep sweetness in life as opposed to manifesting it metaphysically in the body) – Where is the place our focus needs to be to create positive change and how can we go about properly achieving this?
There’s seriously so much out there that society is unaware of – especially when it comes to health and healing! So much so that diabetes never need be a problem!
As ‘knowledge is power’ my job is to share with you one of the most powerful pieces of information known to man when it is properly understood and applied, and therefore help change the global perception and thinking around diabetes; Ultimately leading to the reversal of this condition, such that it becomes a problem of the past.
However, it seems a real, positive solutions approach to diabetes is seldom projected or reported – as noted above and no doubt magnified all month!
So, although I liken diabetes to running a company with umpteen different departments that all need to be harmoniously well managed to keep the company prospering – And of course this is an exceptionally important and responsible job; believe it or not, there are some very successful directors and CEO’s out there who need positive recognition and encouragement to keep prospering with diabetes ltd.!
In no uncertain terms, do they need subjecting to the mass generalisations that diabetes is soooooo dreadful to live with and therefore can only ever live in hope of a conventional cure – unless of course they subconsciously want to for reasons of secondary gain (like special attention, sympathy, being part of something etc.), in which case all this negative talk only exacerbates such a psychological barrier to full health and healing – which means either way this mass negative hypnotism surrounding diabetes serves no positive purpose at all!
It is therefore high time we put a stop to this and make diabetes month about creating ‘real’ positive change right now, especially in terms of what we can do as individuals – because that is where it all starts and ends – with ourselves, how we think – our personal mind-set, what we know and believe, and moreover what we do with this.
So, regarding diabetes month and any negative focus you witness – Please, please, please be aware of it and know that you can instead focus on the positive, pro-active, exciting approach; crucial because we do ultimately get what we focus on and deep down believe…
One small example to keep in mind, though I won’t get into the ‘vulnerable group flu jab’ circulars!! (You can read about that in my free sample chapters of mind body diabetes, chapter 1, p.29-30 if you’re interested).
But all I’m saying is 21+ years with no flu jab and 21+ years with no flu yet 23 years managing type 1 diabetes – is worth exploring!
Avoid being victim to the negative suggestions and learn a different way of thinking to get very different, positive and exciting results.
So, if any of this resonates and you seriously want to make a difference in diabetes month… DO something different… don’t just donate, do something yourself and make a difference personally right now…
Simply recommend, or visit www.dr-em.co.uk and read or give a gift of the book “Mind Body Diabetes, A positive, powerful, and proven solution to stop diabetes once and for all – type 1 and type 2” to start thinking differently to get different results – emotionally and physically. Alternatively, you can find the book online at Amazon or in Waterstones and other good book stores throughout the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and Europe.
It’s all out there for you already, if you want it – in which case it’s time to break free from the mould, break through boundaries, and go for it – just because you can and it’s far more fun than the alternative! Plus, you have wholly positive support and energy here when you need or want it
Best Wishes & Enjoy the Season,
Dr Em x
