We rarely want to face the music. Unfortunately, if we choose to keep our heads in the sand, then life will teach us some new songs, many of them not very enjoyable. I this I know this from my own personal experience. Living a highly stressful life without paying attention to the things I needed to do to keep me healthy, nearly killed me. This is not an exaggeration, but pure truth. I never truly understood how sick a person could become just from eating the wrong foods & not eating the right ones. In my case, I finally ended up hospitalized, still with no diagnosis. I remember lying there thinking, "suppose this is all about my nasty eating habits?" And, this is exactly what it turned out to be & this is why I have great interest in people such as Claire. I came to understand that the number of people who are disorderly eaters is beyond belief. I finally decided to take a food history on every client who came to my private practice, no matter why they were there. Fear of flying? Tell me about your dietary habits. Want to enhance your self-confidence? First tell me what you eat for breakfast. Fear of public speaking? I understand, but let's talk about breakfast, lunch & dinner. Can't sleep? Let's start at breakfast. And next....let's talk about your Grandmother...
NOTE TO NEW READERS:
This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to my writing, 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/
A bit of background.... 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 of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.
THE FAMILY TREE
Unfortunately, in the practice of modern medicine, there is little help for understanding what sits underneath the addictive personality, or why people have compulsive, emotional or stress eating & especially the cravings for those sugary or high glycemic carbohydrate foods. During the time I was hospitalized I began to think a lot about this & intuitively knew that there was something more to this than just my being an out-of-control eater. It was difficult for me to visit most of my secret & bingeing activities & it took awhile before I was able to talk about them to anyone other than my most private Self. But, on the other hand, I'm grateful to them, because they opened the door of learning for me & it was on the other side of this door that I learned about how my Grandparents played a part in my then present problems.
There are certain genetic tendencies that cause the pancreas to over-produce a hormone called insulin. And these genetic tendencies add up. So, if one of more grandparents have had these certain diseases, it's more likely that they passed on these tendencies to you. When insulin is over-produced, there is a heightened physiological desire to eat something sweet....usually a refined carbohydrate or sugar. There's also a desire for other substances such as caffeine, alcohol or even a cigarette. Each time you go to satisfy these urges, more insulin is produced & blood sugars get out of balance. As time goes on, something called insulin resistance forms on the cell borders, making insulin less effective & so the pancreas produces more, eventually burning out. This is how adult onset diabetes develops.
In my case, both sets of grandparents had active disease states that caused insulin to be over-produced. These included heart & circulatory disease & late onset of adult diabetes. There were two smokers & one alcoholic grandparent. All of these diagnoses played a part in my seemingly crazy compulsive eating issues.
Knowing this was a real eye-opener & a tremendous help to me. I was no longer someone with "two personalities", for this is what I believed. I finally understood what was going on & realized that I could actually turn this around & get better. I didn't have to develop any of these diseases, even though I had the genetic tendencies. Yes, this was going to be a full-time job, but as I saw it, there was no choice, at least not for me. I had & still have no interest in developing any of the killer diseases. This knowledge served as a powerful "inner motivator" to me. I filter much of my eating & drinking life through this "filter." It doesn't matter if I'm in a restaurant, at a friend's home for dinner or shopping for groceries. I never forget about Grandma & Grandpa!
( continued in next blog/workshop)
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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
