Welcome to the ongoing blog/workshop, based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to this area, 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.
LEARNING CIRCLES
The Therapeutic Self has invited the Unbalanced Self & the emotional children to form a "learning circle." While most learning is accomplished in the "schoolhouse", on occasion "learning circles" are performed on-site & this is one of these occasions. It's not uncommon to find lots of unbalanced emotional children around food or drink. There are many reasons for this, some going back to the infancy of the Self. In the future you will be invited to explore these early subconscious mind programs & will be given the opportunity to edit these with the tools of "interactive self-hypnosis", thereby changing old, disorderly patterns, into healthy behaviors. But for now, we can listen in as the Therapeutic Self speaks to the group who are eager to learn.
SLEEP EATING
"The world is filled with food choices, some healthy & some not. It will be very important for you to learn what to choose & what to avoid. If you stay asleep while making choices, or if you eat too much, or if you don't eat sufficiently, or don't discipline eating times, you may get into lots of trouble. While eating & drinking can be enjoyable, they do have a primary purpose & that is to deliver nutrition to the body systems & connected mind activities. It's important to remember that everything you put in your mouth causes a chemical reaction within your body. If you make good choices & in the proper portion sizes, then the chemical reaction will be a healthy one. If not, then the body will experience food stress that can lead to medical conditions, some very serious, even leading to death. Perhaps in the past you were "sleep eating", not even thinking about the seriousness of what you were doing, but from now on forward, that will not be the case. It's quite simple to stop. Right now, I'd like you to ask your own Therapeutic Self or subconscious mind to wake you up whenever you are in an eating environment, be it at home, at work, in a restaurant, while visiting friends, or anywhere else. Once you are awake, you can evaluate the situation, decide if eating or drinking at this time is what is needed & then make appropriate choices.
Perhaps you have found yourself experiencing high level hunger or the desire to eat compulsively, even bingeing. More than likely this has been both physiological & psychological. It's good for you to know that when you practice high level eating behaviors, your appetite will be controlled & the desire to over-eat, or even make poor choices will be diminished. This may be hard for you to believe, but this is so.
When the body is in food stress, the appetite is also stressed, or out of control. There is usually a strong desire for sugars, refined carbohydrates, often accompanied by unhealthy fats. If you were able to examine your food-stress blood levels, most likely you would find a low blood sugar & other hormone imbalances. This is known as hyperinsulinemia. That means that your pancreas is over-producing insulin & over-time, the cell borders have become resistant to it. This is the metabolic pre-cursor of adult onset diabetes, also connected to building high cholesterol, heart & circulatory issues, as well as many other serious medical conditions. You sense it as "I could eat the wallpaper off the walls hunger" & may think that you are just an emotional or compulsive eater, but in reality, you have a physiological problem that can be solved by eating correctly.
AWAKE EATING
The food & beverage choices on this buffet are designed to provide high level health to all body systems & to keep the body/mind in physiological balance. This is also called homeostasis. As you look at the healthy buffet you will notice protein foods, healthy carbohydrates & fats. The protein foods have lower fat contents & include chicken, lean meat, fish & vegetable proteins. Healthy carbohydrates include lower-sugar or glycemic choices that are vegetables. The word "glycemic" is an indicator name, explaining how quickly the food breaks down into sugar. Some choices include salad greens, string beans, zucchini, mushrooms, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. The other carbohydrates on the buffet are of a higher glycemic classification, but have a slower break-down rate in the body. These include root vegetables, legumes, whole grains & some fruits. All fruits are not the same & so it will be important for you to learn more about these later on in the schoolhouse. There are also healthy fats on the buffet, as well as some dairy choices. Healthy fats include nuts, olive & canola oils. Dairy choices have different levels of fat & sugar. Again, you will be learning more about these. The beverage on the healthy buffet is water.
Perhaps most of the foods you have enjoyed over the years aren't anywhere around here & this may have set your heart on fire. You may be asking yourself how you can survive without these, maybe even doubting your ability to get & stay healthy. As you become healthier, you will be able to integrate some of them, but certainly not every day. As you learn to stay awake & eat regularly & in a disciplined fashion at the healthy buffet, you will find yourself craving these less & less. This may be impossible to believe, but you will find it to be true. In addition, emotions that are connected to these foods, will be re-educated & motivated in the schoolhouse. Once these new mind programs are in place, your life will find a more comfortable balance, perhaps something you've never experienced before.
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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
