Addiction and Nutrition – Part IV
"Boy am I tired," as I get out of the car after coming home from work, "Mmmm I remember X from last night"
"Oh oh here I go again I can't seem to put down X !"
"Oh well might as well keep going until ….."
"Crap I did it again Why can't I stop this darn overeating of X? What a miserable excuse I am for a human"
This internal dialogue has gone on in one form or another for all of us
And I would submit that there are three levels going on in any aberrant eating behavior
1 Desire for food borne out of many many different fears(in the case above, not ever having enough)
2 Some degree of witnessing of the event happening (from almost nonexistent to acute awareness)
3 Self deprecation (self judgment criticism)
So fear becomes the driving reason for the eating behavior to begin with Hey that's OK Every one of us has fears if we're human
Some understanding that we are doing the aberrant behavior is healthy that is witnessing
BUT what is not healthy in this sequence is the self judgment
Why? First of all it's not self loving Secondly self judgment is dangerous because it's the beginning of addictive behavior The reason we keep going back over and over again to overeating or any aberrant eating behavior is due to this last piece Criticism of ourselves
Wayne Dyer uses the quote "We can't get enough of what we don't want in the first place"
So guilt from the damaging criticism that we do to ourselves leaves us no satisfaction and we HAVE to do the behavior again so we can get it right the next time But there will never ever be satisfaction until we stop the criticism
Have you ever had these experiences? Do you think that using this format can help you see your way through this problem of nutrition behaviors? Are there other patterns that you see yourself doing?
Until tomorrow To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Overeating – Part III
We take on the energies around us according to an energy science view If we are a bountiful society, full of abundance, then we take on bountiful, abundant bodies, ie an obese society
Today we going to dialogue about a common emotional eating behavior, near and dear to my heart, namely overeating or if done periodically binging
From an energy science view, overeating can be defined in many different ways but the bottom line is that more calories are consumed than needed Here are a few characteristics of overeating
1 Eating more than 2 handfuls at any one meal to include a small amount of fluid
2 Snacking between meals
3 Eating at the wrong times of the day energetically
4 Eating foods not correct for an individual's mindbody energetic constitution
The latter two seem strange but are part of overeating because in the end anything that abuses digestive fire is overeating from an energy science view
And abusing our physiology is unhealthy and imbalancing
What to do about overeating?
1 Feel the sense of pleasure that overeating brings
2 Witness the process of overeating
3 Journal about how overeating occurs
4 Make no judgments about yourself in overeating Merely observe
5 Have the intention not to overeat but totally allow overeating to occur
In this process there will come empowerment and the ability to change
Have you ever had an experience of witnessing yourself do something? Did it seem to distance yourself from what was happening? Did it separate you from the event?
Tomorrow addiction and nutrition To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Energy Patterns and Emotional Processing – Part II
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell
"Hey Mary, what's bothering you You seem upset and distracted"
"Oh I just got news that my mom passed away and I've got a million things going on in my head"
"I'm sorry to hear about that Let me know if I can do anything to lighten the load"
Moments such as these bring about our brush with our own mortality and our big fear of loss
And from an energy view the energy patterns deal with fear differently Vata flight Pitta fight(anger) and Kapha inertia The latter looks like equanimity at times but it's different since even with equanimity there is mobility
The energy patterns of VPK are psychophysiologic biological patterns, that is, they are true depictions of the mindbody connection The matter science medical model cannot give us such an insight into the human biology
If I meet a Pitta Vata then I know how they like to spend money, what they value in life, how they respond to fear, what sensory channels they like to use among many other things
And we know how we respond to fears such as loss Vata will have future tripping Pitta and Kapha will usually reside in the past "How could I have done things differently?"
What do the energy patterns do with food and emotions?
Vata predominant will often not eat Little food
Pitta predominant will binge eat More food
Kapha predominant will stuff Lots of food
Do you see yourself in this spectrum? Would it be valuable to know this about yourself? How else could you use this information?
Overeating tomorrow To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Nourishing Emotions With Food – Part I
He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
In retrospect I think I have always been what I would now term a "celebratory eater" perhaps better known as a binge eater
You know, the week is finished and I've worked hard and it's now time to "party on down" The phrase "Go ahead, you deserve it" creates the visual of eat, drink, and be merry
But now as I've watched this process and understand the phrase "Eat to live not live to eat" I'm beginning to realize that my celebratory eating is actually another term for processing emotions with food
Somewhere in inner space unresolved conflicts and pent up emotions are in some way soothed by the taste whether it came in the form of wine, food, or both Am I hungry? Sure Do I need so much? No
But in extending this line of thought a bit, more uncomfortable social settings might allow for the same triggering for the need for food at times when we need to calm those screaming fears of survival Even though it seems totally irrational(whoever said the mind was rational especially with its fears) these fears bring us back to when we were confronted by a sabertooth cat on the savanna
Why is it that mixers have food around?
Although we all know this to be true, we talk very little about it because it's not chic to express our fears outwardly or even inwardly But in the end emotions are borne of our fears even love I'm not talking here about love on the cosmic level but at individual levels
The issue is this We will never "get real" with our fears unless we can acknowledge them Otherwise they own us and keep us captive
Soooooo……here are some tips for dealing with food and emotional eating
1 Always ask ourselves why we are eating especially when we are not hungry
2 Ask ourselves why we are overeating
3 Never expect an answer from the first two questions but wait and listen
4 Freely be willing to admit to yourself or to someone you're talking to that you're eating because you are scared(interesting ice breaker-turns cold into hot)
In other words these tips are to make us better witnesses to our own individual eating behavior patterns and not to be impatient in the process
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Wansink is a another source of information suggesting that witnessing or being mindful is an important step in emotional and addictive eating
Have you noticed patterns of eating that are emotionally driven?
Until tomorrow Part II To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Hard of Hearing
Mary had suddenly lost her hearing She could at times hear things but most of the time she either couldn't hear or discern what was being said The reason was unknown and she was on for doing a cochlear implant in one ear
Initially she had came in to talk to me about all bladder symptoms She had had pain in the bladder area with burning on urination, frequency and urgency for about 3 years After her evaluation I felt she had interstitial cystitis
We gave her the nutritional information for PV and she returned two weeks later with about a 60% improvement in symptoms and was thrilled I explained that she would continue to see improvement and gradually all her symptoms would resolve
Not unexpectedly her acid indigestion had improved by about the same measure
Well if you can do so well with my bladder and stomach that has been driving me crazy for 3 years, how about tackling my colon problems," she challenged
Being up for a challenge I began getting more information about her constipation Since Vata is localized most prominently in the colon and produces constipation due to the light dry and rough qualities I felt that reducing this energy pattern in the colon would be the first step
But then there is this relationship to increased Vata in the colon disseminating to other areas of the body and her pulse showed Vata in the nervous system
"Mary, it may be that treating your constipation could help your hearing loss," I said
I went on, "You might not have anything to lose if you do the work with the colon and postpone the surgery until you see what happens"
"Well I'm all for it Nothing to lose," she said Her husband agreed and we will see
Stay tuned in the next 6 weeks and I'll report back Will Mary get her hearing back? Will her bowl function turn the corner? Or is the energy science woo woo?
I'll keep you posted!
Until tomorrow To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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