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Organize Your Life for Success

Sep26

One of the most frustrating things about having a food addiction is never seeming to get what you want out of life. Too much emphasis on food and too little emphasis on you can create a vicious cycle.

Too much nothing, as the Peter, Paul & Mary song referred to it, can really mess with your head. It’s hard to get what you want if you don’t know what you want or how to get it.

Getting over a food addiction or losing weight can be a goal, but it doesn’t have to consume all your energy. And it doesn’t deserve to be your only goal.

If you want to overcome a food addiction, you have to have something that is important enough to you to choose it over your panic and helplessness when the food addiction threatens to sabotage your best efforts.

Emotional eating and food addictions are default behaviors we engage in when stress levels increase to the point that we don’t know what else to do but eat. At those times, no other choice matters.

To ensure our success, we need a plan of action that is already in place so that we can see that we have other choices and we know what those choices are in advance. Goals are the first step in that plan.

If you write down your goals and have a written plan to achieve them, then you are in good shape. However, if you are in the majority, you probably live day to day, without any real plan for getting the things you want out of life.

Most parents don’t teach their children about goal-setting and achievement strategies because they never learned it themselves. That can make for a very stressful lifestyle.

But fear not! Here is something that can really help you get your goals straight, and organize your life for success. It’s one of the best things I’ve found to simplify your life.

You learn how to focus on what you truly want to achieve, once you figure out what that is. And it teaches you how to figure it out.

I know from personal experience that most food addicts and emotional eaters have a problem with goal strategies. You have to set a goal before you can put a plan together. And you have to have a plan to reach your goals.

You just have to know how to set goals and achieve them, and you have to know what they mean to you in terms of priority. Not so easy for most people.

There are all kinds of successes, but they happen in stages, not all at once. Everything has its season. Only when the proper steps are taken in the proper order will success arrive at your doorstep.

So here’s something that will make you put that candy or cake or ice cream or red hot Cheetos back where you got them and take a break from your food addiction. This one’s for you.

Visit this website when you get a chance: www.simpleology.com . It’s awesome, and you’ll think you’re pretty awesome too when you see what you can do for yourself in just a few days.

And guess what?! Simpleology 101 is free. You’re going to love it! That’s today’s rescue remedy.

Good luck! And let me know how it goes.

Food For Thought From a Food Addict

Sep17

Today I had an interesting food shopping experience. Well, not all that interesting, but it was notable.

I get Honeysuckle White boneless turkey breast from Sam’s Club. It’s the only place I can find this particular item unless it’s a holiday and then they are hidden away until after all the traditional birds are sold.

There are certain food items that I eat regularly, like most people including those with food addictions. Not all the foods we eat are junk, after all.

So I go to Sam’s Club to get the turkey breast, knowing I will find it in the frozen food section so I don’t have to search all over the store for it. It’s an easy buy, in and out.

Since I was due to eat in about 30 minutes–I have to eat every 2 hours to keep my body on an even keel so I won’t be craving junk–I figured I would be back at my home office in plenty of time. Sam’s is only 5 minutes from my house, after all. It was a no brainer.

Well, food addictions being what they are, there are certain foods food addicts need to avoid. When stress strikes, forget about avoidance. It’s too late for that.

When I’m hungry, I get a little edgy. You know how it is, you’re blood sugar drops and the cravings are close by. But still, you can write it down and stick to your list and, most of the time, avoid the triggers. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, today was not that day.

I knew there was a big remodeling project going on at Sam’s Club. I knew to take my umbrella with me in case one of the daily Florida rains got to me before I got to my car. And I had my list. One item.

After walking a block (literally) from my car to the frozen food section inside the store, I located the prize bird. As planned, I went directly to the frozen food area where all the fish, chicken, lean meats and other healthy frozen foods are kept.

In and out and home to eat my healthy lunch, that’s the goal. Or it was until a lady walked past me and I spied the gigantic can of Contadina whole canned tomatoes in tomato sauce in her cart. I had to have one, too. Still only two items, still an easy in and out, food addiction well in hand.

And what a stroke of luck! The canned vegetables were in the aisle right in the front of me. Get the tomatoes and head for home. And it wasn’t even raining yet. I was a little edgy, but I was happy to have it so easy.

Corn, peas, beans, other canned vegetables, but no tomatoes. I must have passed them. But, no. There were no canned tomatoes in the canned vegetable aisle.

I searched the adjacent aisles. Feeling stupid, I thought “Well, technically tomatoes are fruit, not vegetables”, so I tried that aisle. Fool! Nothing. Now I’m really hungry.

Ten minutes have passed and I am getting hungrier by the minute and very stressed out. Not a good sign. I would just ask someone. So I did, and it went something like this:

“Excuse me, Sir. I’m loooking for Contadina whole canned tomatoes. They aren’t with the other canned vegetables. Do you still carry them?”

“Oh yes, Miss, we have everything in sections now, Mexican food, Italian food, and so on”, he said helpfully. Then he directed me to the new ethnic home of the Contadina tomatoes.

I was so mystified that my hunger disappeared momentarily. The stress, on the other hand, was mounting.

By the time I left the store 35 minutes had passed. I had spent 15 of them searching for a can of tomatoes that had been segregated from the rest of the canned vegetables.

Every food addict has a pet peave. Making things harder than they need to be is one of mine.

It may sound crazy, but when I go shopping, I don’t want to browse. I have my list and my mission is to simply buy what’s on the list and then take it home to dispose of at will.

While it may seem silly to some to get upset over having to wander aimlessly from aisle to aisle looking for products that have been moved since your last visit, it is nevertheless a source of stress for me.

I face my food addictions every day, as do many of you. If merchants really want to serve their customers, why don’t they do things that will lessen the stress of shopping rather than add to it? It would benefit everyone, not just edgy food addicts.

Lest I risk beating a dead horse, let me close by saying that the best thing about working through a food addiction is how you come to regard stress and your overall health and well-being.

I have learned more life lessons through my food addiction than any of my other challenges. For that I am very grateful.

And wonder of wonders. I was so ticked off that I forgot to buy junk food and ate what I had pre-planned to eat when I got home. Things have a way of working out.

Are We There Yet?

Sep15

Patience is a friend to anyone living with a food addiction. Patience doesn’t mean waiting for somebody else to do something. It’s the secret ingredient in life’s great recipe for happiness.

One of the reasons food addiction, or compulsive eating, has become such a problem, and obesity along with it, is this idea of having to have everything now.

It reminds me of how children like to ask, “Are we there yet?” as if by saying it, they would be instantly transported to their destination without further adieu.

It’s like that with goals of any kind. Who would think of food addiction or obesity as a goal? And yet the frenzy with which so many Americans live their lives drives us to behaviors that reinforce the very negative behaviors we seek to avoid.

By asking yourself this simple question, “Are we there yet?” you can gain insight into where you are on your path to recovery or change. It’s a yes or no question, and that means you have to do some work.

Are we there yet? Are you where you want to be? Are you willing to do what it takes to get to where you want to be?

Since stress is unavoidable in some cases and self-inflicted in many others, it is up to us to work through it without endangering ourselves in the process.

Food addiction isn’t just about being fat. It’s about endangering ourselves by taking something we need to survive and turning it into a tool for self-destruction.

Food is very powerful. It’s purpose is to provide fuel for the  body. Without it, our survival would be greatly threatened. For the food addict, food is a double-edged sword.

Patience is like moderation. Both are states of balance. Moderation is not too much and not too little. Patience is not being worried about how things will turn out because you are doing what you need to be doing and are on target.

Patience is willing to wait for the result that you have deemed worth waiting for. There is no need to force a flower to bloom before it is ready.

When a person is suffering from a food addiction, they are suffering. Patience can help the recovery process and reinforce new behaviors.

Healing takes time and yes, there is frustration, and panic, and even despair.

Some journeys take a long time and lead us into uncharted waters. Sometimes it is hard to know how far we’ve come on the journey.

So be patient, and stop every so often and ask, “Are we there yet?” Soon or later the answer is bound to be “yes”.

3 Ways for Food Addicts to Avoid Stress

Sep13

It’s common knowledge that stress causes people to behave in ways we otherwise might not if we were feeling calm and comfortable. For people with food addictions, stress can easily lead to emotional eating.

Of course, negative stress can trigger anger, fear, panic, and even physical pain. In any of those states, it’s easy for a food addiction to kick in.

How can you deal with negative stress?

1. You can avoid it sometimes, but not always.

2. You can do something that relieves the stress.

3. You can resolve the problem that is causing the stress, which is the best possible outcome.

Today, I would like to share with you some ways you can avoid stress. We can explore the other two ways of dealing with stress in a future blog.

Do these three things to help you avoid situations that might trigger your food addiction.

1. Only take on projects that are meaningful to you. Of course, you have to do things at work that you may not like and you have responsibilities at home that must be honored.

I am talking about choosing to do things that you don’t really care about just to impress or please someone else who doesn’t really care about you. If your heart’s not in it, don’t do it.

2. Plan and prepare your meals in advance and follow your plan. This will help set you up for success.  Eat when you need to eat. Don’t let others pull you away from your goal. Respect your health. It is more precious than you may realize.

3. Practice self-love and self-acceptance. Pamper yourself once every week. It can be something simple and free, like a bubble bath, a walk in the park, enjoying a sports outing, or spending time with a cherished friend.

You are the most important person in your life. Accepting yourself without putting conditions on that acceptance will cause you to feel loved, safe, and happy.

Food addictions are no match for a happy heart. As Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 Grammy-winning song suggests, “Don’t worry. Be happy”.