Let's Eat

If you are new to the blog/workshop, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/ Here we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series is actually a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes.

Your Unbalanced Self has introduced us to the playground, where the emotional children can be found. You now realize that you are not your emotions, but that they play out in your mind & body with the beliefs & DVD programs that they carry in their backpacks. Some are helpful, but others are not. Your Therapeutic or Balanced Self suggests that the children go to the school house where they can be disciplined with love & compassion, teaching them to carry DVD's of what you do want, so they can participate in a healthy manner. But, before heading to that area on your Goal-den Path, it's been decided to go back to the MindBody Health Garden & to eat.

As we approach the garden, you can image, imagine or think the huge buffet. There are three main picnic tables set up, as well as two snack tables. You already know that the biggest inner stressor for the mind & body is food stress. Few people consume what the body systems need & unfortunately, the body systems can't go out & get their own. This is your responsibility. Many people who are over-weight, or addicted to substances, including sugar, junk food, tobacco & alcohol think of food as the enemy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here's what's true. If you are to have a healthy mind & body you must consume high level nutrition, in the sufficient amounts that your body requires. If there is a secret to weight loss & maintenance, it's written in that last sentence.

Why is this so difficult for many people? I think you already know, especially if you've been following the blog/workshop based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" Yes, you've met up with the Unbalanced Self, the emotional children & have been able to look deeper into the issues of Disorderly Eating, for these are not just surface issues. They are like an octupus; many tentacles reaching out underneath the water. Now we'll reach under the water & pull up the octupus, so we can examine more of the tentacles. Awareness & knowledge are key to rehabilitating lifestyle behaviors.

The Unbalanced Self has re-entered, showing a willingness to provide more information. This happens when there is no threat to the self-image or self-esteem. Notice this part of the Self unzipping what appears to be a coat & now stepping out of it. This is the fat coat. Underneath is the lean body mass, consisting of muscles & bones. The majority of Unbalanced Selves have fat coats that are too big & lean body mass index that is too small. This doesn't always depend on the scale weight. There are individuals who have what appears to be a healthy scale weight, but the body fat percentage may still be too big. Sometimes in people who have yo-yo'd, the lean body mass has shrunk because of the malnutrition caused by excessive, unhealthy & imbalanced dieting. What's especially interesting is how small the lean body mass can be in someone who is obese. This is important to understand because the lean body mass is the "fat burning machine" & if it is too small, then the body cannot burn fat until this is corrected. This is accomplished by practicing high level nutrition & eating in a timely fashion. We'll be visiting the picnic tables in a moment & will find out more about this. Just one other comment here about people who are truly under-weight, with small body fat percentage. This is seen in those with chronic dieting or anorexia. Once again, balance needs to be returned to the body. If not, the body systems, including the mind are at risk.

Since the fat coat has been removed from the Unbalanced Self, this is a good opportunity to have a look at some of the body systems, as they are easily visible with the right glasses. Here's a pair for you to put on. Go closer & have a look at what poor nutrition has done to the various systems of this particular Unbalanced Self. Look to the circulatory & heart systems. Notice the changes. And now, scan through the body& look closely. Remember, no one gets away without paying the Piper. Perhaps you can see the beginning of chronic diseases, maybe killer diseases. Even children are developing high cholesterol, blood pressure & adult onset diabetes....all because of poor nutrition, lack of exercise & stress.

You are being asked to have a look at the picnic tables. You noticed earlier that there are three meal tables & two or three snack tables. They are beautifully appointed with linens, stemware, china & silver. This is no ordinary picnic, but one that honors the body systems. In the middle of each picnic table is a clock that gives the appointed hour for the appropriate meal; breakfast, lunch & dinner. The smaller snack tables have a similar look, but are a bit more informal. The Therapeutic Self is setting the clocks at 3.5 hour intervals. No clock goes more than 4 hours.

This Self knows the importance of making systematic deliveries to the body systems who are busy waiting for their needed nutrition. This is easy to understand because you know that you expect your systems to go about their business. Your heart is expected to keep beating, the blood to keep flowing, the liver to keep filtering, the endocrine systems to keep the hormones balanced, the immune system to keep the body safe, the muscles & bones to support & move the body, the neurological system to keep all of it's systems up & running. Imagine being one of these systems & having nutrition time roll around & then "no deliveries", or a delivery of junk food, sugar, coffee, or empty carbohydrates. What would you think?? No suppose that the deliveries never stop OR they are so gigantic that the systems cannot manage them & have to involve the fat-storing departments? Imagine that your body & mind were a corporation & you were the CEO. What kind of outcomes would you expect to find here & what would happen to the bottom line? Case in point.

Look to the path & notice that some of the child-emotions are coming towards the buffet & picnic area. Some are helpful, but others are not. More than likely, you are familiar with some of these & may even balk at their presence because they are so very negative. But, not so fast. Some of these emotions have gotten a bad rap because you have not eaten regularly at the picnic tables, nor as the food been sufficient for the needs of the body systems. When this happens, the body & mind enter food stress & this super-excites the negative emotional states who are always willing to push in the unhealthy direction. But you are here now & that is in the past. You are already in rehabilitation & understand much more than before.

In the next mini-chapter your Therapeutic Self will bring the emotions forward & present a balanced & sufficient way of eating that will make it easier for appetite control, as well as emotional management.

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Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.com

Meeting & Disciplining the Emotional Kids

In a nutshell, "manage your emotions or they will manage you." Most of us do know that, but exactly how does one go about doing this? Well, since I'm a Clinical Hypnotherapist, we'll do this with specific designed imagery & imaginology that entertains the creative or subconscious mind. The creative mind loves to be entertained & we can provide plenty of that, certainly enough to manage the emotions & then some. In my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy", we come to understand not just our emotions, but their energy & how it can be released, then transmuted or changed to foster any goals we may have lined up.

If you are new to this blog/workshop then you might like to read the earlier mini-chapters. You can find them on FaceBook or on PublishersMarketPlace. Older postings can be found on http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/

It's time to return to the previous imagery. You have met up with many parts of you including your Therapeutic Self, your Unbalanced Self & your Higher Self. You know where to find your MindBody Health Garden & do understand about the underground root system that feeds the other Garden areas of your life including your relationship with yourSelf, your significant others, your work, spiritual life, home & future. You have come to accept that "you were born alone & will die alone" & that the time-line between those two points belongs to you & you alone. You are now much more aware of any issues with co-dependency & have unhooked many of those tendencies.

Your Unbalanced Self is grateful for your warmth & acceptance & is now ready to open some new growth areas for you. You are being invited to visit the path of this part of yourSelf & so let's go to where we're being led. After a short walk this part of you is indicating where the "playground" is located, right over there. You can see it ( or think it ) & it is much clearer now. Perhaps you can see the many children that are at play. Those are your "emotional kids". You met them briefly before, in the beginning of this workshop/blog. They basically fall into two groups; those that are helpful & those that are not helpful. You may also know them as positive & negative emotional states. Your observation tells you much more. Noticing that some are much bigger than others, you also can pick up the bullies, as well as the super-helpful ones, so you now understand that there are "degrees" of both positive & negative. Looking closer, the negative emotions tend to be a bit dirty & unkept. Their names are on their tee shirts which further helps in identifying who is who. The positive emotions tend to be cleaner & better groomed, as well as being better behaved.

Over there on the bench you can see their backpacks, one for each emotional kid. Your Unbalanced Self has permission to show us what's inside. Each backpack has a selection of DVD's. Some of these are old mind programs in the genres of negative or positive experiences. Besides the past experiences, the DVD's are filled with related thoughts & affirmations, each supporting the specific mind program. In addition to the old mind programs, you will find future-paced, or new mind programs, things that haven't happened yet. Again, some of these are in negative genres & other positive.

At this point you may wonder what these are for & why the emotional kids carry them around. It's really quite simple. You may not be aware, but you have a DVD slot in the middle of your forehead. The particular emotion that is in charge in any given moment, gets to place their specific DVD in that slot, thereby feeding your very own thought process. In this very moment, if you pay attention, you will find one or several of these programs playing for you. You didn't request them, but they are there nevertheless. And that's not all. Let me explain something about your personal DVD player. It acts like radar & is known as a servo-mechanism, attracting more of the same from your own subconscious mind library, as well as from the outside world. Now this would be fine if the DVD represented something that you want, but on most occasions it is involved in doing just the opposite.

Think about this for a moment. Your mind is busy, often super-busy, playing mind programs that are attracting experiences towards you, many of which you don't want. On the other hand, there are DVD programs that represent what you truly want & they may be sitting idle in the backpack of an emotional kid who is out of the loop.

It's now clear why your Unbalanced Self brought you here. You already know that this part of you cannot change things by itself. It needs you, the Balanced or Therapeutic Self to accomplish this. The Unbalanced Self knows that one of the reasons you are reading this book is because you have some issues with Disorderly Eating & if this is to be corrected in order to save the body systems from serious threat, then the emotional kids need to become disciplined.

But the playground isn't the best place to do this work. Your Therapeutic or Balanced Self is suggesting that we head for the schoolhouse, but before that, we're going to stop back at the MindBody Health Garden for some great nutrition.

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Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is the author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It, as well as over 350 Interactive Self-Hypnotic mp3/CD programs in the area of health, disease prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & kids.

Meeting Your Unbalanced Self

Let me begin by saying that you are not your emotions, nor are you your unbalanced Self, but indeed, an unbalanced Self does exist in all of us. It's OK. You are not alone in this, no matter what others have told you. Here's the good news. The sooner you accept this part, the easier it will be to move towards balance. Notice that I didn't say "the sooner you will be in balance", because we are "emotionally fluid", moving back & forth between the two positions. As your awareness heightens, you will become more emotionally stable & be able to practice behaviors that will enhance your health & performance.

In my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?", we are working inside imagery, practicing original Interactive Self-Hypnosis. The written word is similar to the spoken word & so here we are practicing "talking or reading hypnosis." There is nothing special you have to do, other than to read like you would any other book, allowing your own subconscious mind to form the images it chooses, already knowing that you are looking to make some important & perhaps life-saving Lifestyle Changes. This blog/workshop is an introduction to my book & if you are a new reader, you might like to catch up by reading some of the earlier posts. While you can read some of these on FaceBook or the PublishersMarketPlace site, you will find all of them at this link. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/

The book is written as if the reader were in my office for hypnotherapy. In this instance, the focus is on Disorderly Eating, although the imagery & suggestions are applicable for all Lifestyle Change. You may wonder why this is & so let me explain. A healthy mind & body needs a balanced Self in charge. This balanced Self needs to provide high level nutrition, emotional & thought management, as well as positive-framed images to take the mind & body towards the desired goals. The body & mind know this as homeostasis. Again, this state is fluid. The balanced Self, staying in heightened awareness, observes what's going on inside the mind & body, making adjustments when needed. As the balanced Self becomes more practiced in maintaining homeostasis, the healthier the mind & body & certainly, the easier to reach the desired goals.

Being out of balance is synonymous with being "in stress." Stress can be internal or external. While it may be more difficult to manage external stress, an example being workplace or family stress, it is always possible to manage internal stress. Internal stress is how the body reacts or responds to external stress. All of this is within one's control & this is very good news because as I've already shared with you, 60-90 % of chronic diseases are caused or enhanced by internal stress.

Let's touch base with some huge internal stressors. What's interesting is that some of these stress-deliverers are actually employed as stress-releasers. These include smoking, alcohol & disorderly eating or poor delivery of nutrition. All of these are delivered by your Unbalanced Self & this is now the time to meet that part of you. In the theater of your mind, more commonly known as your thoughts or internal images, let's return to the MindBody Health Garden. You aleady have set images for this vital area. You can see or think the flower gardens that represent the many working systems of your body.

Notice that there is a path that comes from the back of the garden & now your Unbalanced Self is coming forward. Pay close attention, perhaps noticing some details about that part of you. If you like, make some written notes. I always suggest that my patients work with a journal that is specifically for Lifestyle Change & nothing else. This tells the subconscious mind that this work is very important & actually encourages the inner mind to assist with the rehabilitation. Now, as this part of yourSelf comes forward, welcome her or him. Perhaps in the past you didn't want to know this part of yourSelf, causing the Unbalanced Self to stay in hiding, guilty or ashamed of not being perfect. But that was the past & now is now. This is a part of you & a very important part. This part, like all parts, understands the problems & actually has the answers. You might wonder how this could be & if this is true, then why is the part Unbalanced. The truth is that something is missing here & that is the "leadership" of the balanced Self; the healthy Self that is in charge of taking care of your body systems. You do remember my sharing that with you when we were last in the MindBody Health Garden viewing the plants.

Let's work inside some rehabilitative imagery now. Take the Unbalanced Self gently by the arm & go over to the bench that is next to the Garden. As you do, notice that the Unbalanced Self is wearing leg braces, so that part is limping along, obviously needing your assistance. You might also notice that this part of you is child-like. It's very clear that this is not the Leadership you & so you feel compassion towards this Self. As you both sit down, go ahead & remove the leg braces. It's easy to do. You will find buckles on each brace. Just snap them open & the braces will fall away. Take a few moments & massage the legs of the Self, bringing back some healthy circulation while sharing your love for this part of yourSelf. Now help that part of you to stand up tall & to go forward with you.

There are several things that you will need from your Unbalanced Self & so this is the time to discuss these. First, you need to be aware when this part of you is present. Perhaps in the past you were on auto-pilot or sleep-walking in the unhealthy behaviors. Simply ask this Self to wake you to it's presence. Next, through the lense or frame of self-love, compassion & forgiveness, ask the Self to tell you what it needs in order to return to "balance." Find out what's missing in your Self-care. This part of you does know this & once you know, then you are in the position to swing the pedulum back to a balanced Self.

One more healing image.....notice the change in the body & mind system flowers when the Unbalaned Self transmutes or changes to the Balanced Self. If you could travel inside your body during this transformation, you would be able to observe the negative stress chemicals diminishing, while healing chemicals are being produced. This is the body returning to homeostasis.

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Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is the author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs for health, disease prevention, self-development & sports performance.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.com

Working the MindBody Health Garden

As we explore deeper into our issues with Disorderly Eating, we can locate the chapter in my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?", where we find ourselves ready to enter the most important garden on the Goal-den or Therapeutic Path. This garden is not only important for those looking to lose weight. It's name tells the whole story... MindBody Health. It's the most important garden on the Path, for it contains flowers representing all body cells & their systems. In other words...Life.

Everything is connected. Remember my telling you that all gardens are fed by a powerful, underground root system?These roots feed your work & prosperity, your relationships including your relationship with yourSelf,your spirituality, even your future. Cheat in the MindBody Health Garden & feel the cheating in all areas of your life, not only now, but down your Future Path as well. Keep in mind that The Piper always has to be paid. No one gets away free.

If you've been following along, you know that we are working utilizing the power of specialized imagery that is so welcomed by your subconscious mind. This is a form of interactive self-hypnosis known as "speaking hypnosis." Here we are taking that one step further & practicing "reading hypnosis." Reading this blog or the book is just like reading any other book, only here the suggestions or word images are designed to evoke changes in your own Lifestyle Behaviors. You are currently on the journey to high level health & performance. So, it's not just about losing weight. It's much more than that. This journey can change the way you live & experience your Life.

It's time now. Rested & with Intention in hand, we enter the MindBody Health Garden over here. See the sign? Your name is also on the sign, because this is your garden & not anyone else's. Rememberabout self-ownership. Your garden is filled with flowers, one for each cell in your body. The array of flowers is staggering. Perhaps you didn't realize how many cells you have, each one of them needing care if they are to do their job. You are the only caregiver, for the cells cannot provide this to themselves.

The "cell flowers" are divided into sectors representing the systems of your body. You are familiar with some of these systems. Notice the signs that mark these; circulatory, neurological, endocrine, skeletal, muscular, digestive, immune, lymphatic, reproductive, respiratory, excretory & integumentary. These systems work separately, but also support each other; the stronger often supporting the weaker. The body always looks for balance or homeostasis. This is much easier to achieve when you, the caregiver, is involved with helping, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. Lots of times we simply don't pay attention. When's the last time you thought about any of your systems? When our body systems are working well we often take them for granted, but ask anyone who is having a system breakdown how they feel about this & you will hear a very different story.

As you might guess, there are many reasons for system breakdowns. A major reason is abuse & chronic ignoring by the chief caregiver. Sad, but true. 60-90% of chronic disease is linked to stress. That means that 60-90% of chronic disease could be erased by high level caregiving. Think about that for a moment. It's really quite astounding. Keep in mind that chronic diseases are built over a period of time. Look carefully at some of your systems here in the Garden. If you look closely you can see the stress on some sectors of the plants. Perhaps those wilted leaves in the heart or circulatory system are closely connected to your choice of food in the past few months. How about the digestive system? What might have caused those leaves to drop? Later on we'll be invited to visit your actual systems. From that perspective we can observe as you, the caregiver, actually deliver your level of care & formulate the body system outcomes. Then you will be able to evaluate where you might need to improve.

Since stress plays such a big part in the MindBody Health Garden, it's important to become more familiar with it. Remember, if you are going to take care of something, you need to be able to identify it & then make a plan. While stress is an over-used word, few people truly work to manage it in ways that make a difference to the body systems. In fact, they actually do just the opposite, delivering more toxins to the plants in the form of smoking, sugar, junk food, alcohol or other behaviors that encourage more stress chemicals to be produced by the body. And the stress-cycle continues to build on itself. More stress. More negative chemical interaction. The body systems begin to deteriorate, perhaps going towards the diagnoses of heart & circulatory disease, diabetes, chronic inflammatory diseases & even cancer. Remember that the mind & body are connected & so there is also immediate & long term deterioration of the mind functions. If this weren't enough, negative emotions are triggered, making daily life experiences more difficult to take. Of course, this stress-cycle also has a great impact on relationships, not only with others, but with the Self as well.

Earlier on we fell upon the explanation of the importance of being aware & bringing things to the light. This is what we are doing here. If we can't see something, we can't fix it & if we don't own it, then we tend to just put it down & ignore it. Perhaps in the past you called this by the name of "procrastination", maybe even laughed at it. If you listen, you'll hear others practicing this dangerous behavior, perhaps waiting to improve their eating & drinking behaviors for "some other time when there isn't so much stress." Should you over-hear anything like this, think about the body systems that belong to that individual. Think about what's going on in their MindBody Garden. Think about the outcomes they are building. Now, ask yourself if you have done the same. Have you laughed or made excuses in the face of your own body systems? Yes, it's time for apologizing & for seriously improving your caregiver status.

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Copyrighted 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is the author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She has written & produced +350 mp3/CD programs in the area of health, prevention, self-development & sports performance for adults & children.