Archive | January 2010

Forget About Your Food Addiction for a Moment

Jan31

When we are troubled about something, especially something like a food addiction or an emotional eating problem like binge eating, it’s hard not to focus our attention on it.

However, since we attract to ourselves that which we place the most attention on, it’s a good idea to forget about our food addictions for as many moments as possible throughout the day.

The best way I’ve found to do this is to focus your thoughts and attention on the good things in your life and the things you like about yourself.

Let those things you like about yourself and your life overshadow the dread of measuring up to what society or your friends think you should look like. That only makes the food addiction worse.

We are who we are. And when we can become whatever we want to be, we will still be who we are. The best parts of ourselves are always with us, even when we forget about them.

We can’t change the past, so let it go and concentrate on the present. Forget about your food addictions and use food to change your life and your body to the way you want it to be.

We can have a simple win every day by focusing our attention on those things that will bring us what we desire. It’s hard at first, but it gets easier with practice.

Speak kindly to yourself, with respect and honor, and most of all, with love. The love energy of the heart will help to alleviate the emotional pain the fear energy of the mind can cause.

Create your own life anew each and every moment and you will have enough good memories to make you forget about your food addiction and enjoy your own beautiful self in your own new beautiful life.

Eat Your Way Out of Your Food Addiction

Jan26

Just a little reminder that what, when, and how much matters when it comes to eating. If you’re trying to overcome food addiction, binge eating, or a similar eating disorder, it matters even more.

This is a replay of a YouTube video with some simple tips you can follow to get your eating and your weight back on track. I tried them and they work great.

Fight Your Food Addiction With Friendship

Jan23

I was talking with a young woman today, younger than me at least, about friendship.  Marisa told me  how she had dreamed about being a nurse, falling in love and having a family.

She laughed about how she and her two best friends had their lives all planned out as she ate a bag of Doritos and drink half of a two liter bottle of Pepsi.

“I was one hot Mama then” she said sadly. “Look at me now”. Tears filled her eyes and her voice trailed off.  Marisa supports herself and her two children by working two jobs.  She hasn’t heard from her friends in four years.

“It seems like all I do is eat. I used to talk to my friends when I was lonely, or sad, or tired. We talked all the time, and now all I do is eat. I feel so ashamed. This is my life.”

Food addiction is often the result of life circumstances we cannot control. Food is the mother of all comforts and can be quite irresistible when it is always available when you need to feel comforted and supported.

In Marisa’s case, her boyfriend left and she had to drop out of college to support her children. With no support system and too ashamed to talk to her friends after she gained the first 25 pounds, she went to work and took care of the kids.

Too tired and discouraged to think about anything but the wolves at her door, Marisa eats. She doesn’t deny it. She says it’s her only comfort now, but she does hope to go to nursing school one day.

Although she is involved in her daughters’ lives, she says she misses her friends most of all. Not necessarily the ones she palled around with in college but just friends in general, those special people around whom you can always be yourself without fear of being judged.

Marisa joined a women’s health club two weeks ago. She said she is looking for something to replace the need to eat when the shame surfaces.

We hear a lot about the necessity of support systems when dealing with emotional overeating, compulsive eating and food addiction, but the word “friendship” doesn’t always turn up in the conversation.

The impersonality of this high-tech world sometimes overshadows the need for and the value of friendship. In a perfect world, every one would have a friend.

Marisa hopes to make new friends at the health club. She wants to be an better role model for her teenage children who are already experiencing the consequences of being overweight. She wants to see her dream of being a nurse come true.

Most of all, she wants to feel like a loved, appreciated and valued human being whether she is fat or slim. In her own words, “I want to be comfortable in my own skin regardless of my size, and I want to have friends again who accept me as I am.”

Friendship trumps overeating in every category. If you can talk to a friend about your feelings instead of stuffing them down with food and hiding behind the shame, chances are you will find a way to overcome your fears and your food addictions.

It’s Not Your Fault That You’re Fat

Jan18

Removing the blame from gaining excess weight due to overeating or emotional eating binges may sound good in the short run, but what do you do when reality sets back in?

If it’s only a few pounds and you’re disciplined enough to stick to an eating plan for a couple of months, you can blame your weight gain on the holidays, or breaking up with your lover, or short-term stress.

You hit the gym a couple of times a week, get back on track and no real harm done. In a few weeks, your weight returns to normal in a seamless transition, and life goes on.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case for millions of people who substitute food for affection, companionship, and love. Eating in order to avoid facing your fears is a symptom of a deeper issue.

Blame is not the concern here. Responsibility is what counts. No matter who or what got you into the mess that caused you to gain thirty pounds, or however much you gained, the only one who can change your situation is you.

If you’re ready to accept responsibility for making the changes in your life, then you should also know that your reality is the only one that matters.

It isn’t your fault because no judgment is necessary. You can assess your situation without judging yourself or blaming yourself for being weak. We are what we are, and that can change at any time.

We change when we experience something that makes us see the world and ourselves differently than we did before we had this new information. We can aid this process with affirmations that help put new ideas into our hearts.

One of the things I use and have used for more than two decades are Prosperity Cards, specifically HarMoney. Of course you can write your own affirmations too, but if you’d like a little help with them, click here.

Whatever happens, whatever you choose, responsibility grows on you. Feeling in charge of your life gives you a greater sense of freedom, which seems to become enhanced as we are willing and able to take on greater responsibility for our being.