Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sorry, I lied....
Ha Ha, well I decided to make one more post today but I'm going to make it more personal. So, I have been trying really hard to stick to Weight Watchers and go to the gym consistently but I didn't do that great last week and this week is going better but still not perfect. I'm really hoping that combining what I'm already doing and what I'm going to learn from this book will finally help me become healthy emotionally and physically and finally hit my goal weight! But, I decided to talk about a realization I had about portion size. So, last night I was helping my mom make spaghetti for the family and I was being really good and measuring everything out so that I could count my WW points, and I was really surprised to find out that the noodles were three points for two ounces, which when reading the box seemed like plenty but when I actually put the noodles on the scale I realized that it was smaller than I would have ever guessed, so I decided to put a little more in there and just add some points. Then I found as I was eating the spaghetti when I had the meat and the sauce on there I couldn't eat all of it....I remembered back to the time when I would have eaten about 4 or more times then what I had portioned for myself and then just keep on going back for more. It made me realize that I really need to be careful about portion sizes. After reading in my book about how my brain really doesn't know when to tell me to stop I need to make sure that i have the right amount on my plate to begin with and I think that simple little action will help a lot :D I hope you are all enjoying my posts and if not I'm enjoying writing them so that's all that matters ha ha!
Chapter 6 How Healing Happens
WOW!!! 3 Posts in one day? I'm pretty sure this will be the last one today...but you never know, I really am loving this book.
So, this chapter is leading into Chapter 7 which I believe is the first Chapter about how to really start getting off this food addiction!
She explains that there are nerve fibers in our brain that show the pattern of habit...again I'm not way scientific so I don't understand it enough to explain it without directly quoting her..." New synapses are formed and new connections made with each new experience. If an experience is repeated, the connection is confirmed. Through practice, one route becomes a major throughway. Through neglect, another route becomes a country road. here we have a possible physiological explanation for the effectiveness of habit or compulsion. This research present a possibility. If we want to change our lives and try something very different, perhaps our new effort, repeated often enough, will cause a rerouting in our brains and the old throughway to fall in to disuse." She goes on to say that through her own experience this is exactly what has happened and her new habits are easier to do and repeat then her old habits, I sure this happens to me!
She also goes on to say how to truly overcome an addiction you have to do it from inside out, such as understanding everything that is going on inside of your brain and body to be able to change whats happening on the outside. She outlines the following steps of healing....
*We become abstinent from the drug foods that could our thinking and that perpetuate cravings and the need to eat.
*By reconnecting with our feelings and needs, we stop neglecting ourselves.
*We get the support needed to break survival rules that limit us from getting our needs met.
*By ceasing to give what we cannot afford to give we stop abusing ourselves.
*We attend to our insides, no longer sacrificing our inside self for outside impressions, and stop abandoning ourselves.
She also talks about how we really need to understand and act on our feelings and we can really not do this process alone. It's going to be hard but I'm glad that I have a good support system that is going to help me get through this!
So, this chapter is leading into Chapter 7 which I believe is the first Chapter about how to really start getting off this food addiction!
She explains that there are nerve fibers in our brain that show the pattern of habit...again I'm not way scientific so I don't understand it enough to explain it without directly quoting her..." New synapses are formed and new connections made with each new experience. If an experience is repeated, the connection is confirmed. Through practice, one route becomes a major throughway. Through neglect, another route becomes a country road. here we have a possible physiological explanation for the effectiveness of habit or compulsion. This research present a possibility. If we want to change our lives and try something very different, perhaps our new effort, repeated often enough, will cause a rerouting in our brains and the old throughway to fall in to disuse." She goes on to say that through her own experience this is exactly what has happened and her new habits are easier to do and repeat then her old habits, I sure this happens to me!
She also goes on to say how to truly overcome an addiction you have to do it from inside out, such as understanding everything that is going on inside of your brain and body to be able to change whats happening on the outside. She outlines the following steps of healing....
*We become abstinent from the drug foods that could our thinking and that perpetuate cravings and the need to eat.
*By reconnecting with our feelings and needs, we stop neglecting ourselves.
*We get the support needed to break survival rules that limit us from getting our needs met.
*By ceasing to give what we cannot afford to give we stop abusing ourselves.
*We attend to our insides, no longer sacrificing our inside self for outside impressions, and stop abandoning ourselves.
She also talks about how we really need to understand and act on our feelings and we can really not do this process alone. It's going to be hard but I'm glad that I have a good support system that is going to help me get through this!
Chapter 5 Nature's Telegram
Oh my goodness! I can't believe I'm updating my blog twice in one day! I really am loving this book and I'm getting to the point that I can't put it down, which is good because that means that I'll finish it soon. So here's what I'd like to share about this chapter....
This chapter was a little bit hard for me to understand and comprehend but that's probably normal. It is a lot about feelings and how to interpret those feelings in the correct way. She says that you're feelings are like a telegram being sent to you and you need to make sure to open it and read into all the emotions that are there. She said that it's very hard to do this and it will take a while to warm up to the process, but when you do it will help you a lot.
She also talks about how important it is to share these feelings with someone that you can trust and that is going to make you feel worthwhile and not inadequate. In this chapter there is an assignment to make a list of two different groups of people. The first list is of people you feel are healthy and can be a good listener, they don't even have to understand what you're going through, or have anything to say about how to help. The other group is people that make you feel inadequate or don't have healthy emotions either. Then you are suppose to talk to someone on your healthy list for 10 minutes and explain that you are reading this book and just explain some of the feelings that you have read from this. And it's funny because I was just talking to Luke last night how I feel some people are talking to me to be able to talk about themselves, so then I don't feel like my feelings are acknowledged properly.
She goes on to say how important it is to actually talk about these feelings. You can do it yourself to a point by drawing, writing in a journal or sculpting, but when you talk and share these feelings with another person it creates a picture in your mind and you talk faster than you can really think about it so you learn a lot more than if you were to just write your thoughts down. This is very hard for me because I feel like my emotions and feelings have been put on the back burner and I think naturally I surround myself with people that tend to do the same thing. So, wish me luck in learning to express my feelings better!
This chapter was a little bit hard for me to understand and comprehend but that's probably normal. It is a lot about feelings and how to interpret those feelings in the correct way. She says that you're feelings are like a telegram being sent to you and you need to make sure to open it and read into all the emotions that are there. She said that it's very hard to do this and it will take a while to warm up to the process, but when you do it will help you a lot.
She also talks about how important it is to share these feelings with someone that you can trust and that is going to make you feel worthwhile and not inadequate. In this chapter there is an assignment to make a list of two different groups of people. The first list is of people you feel are healthy and can be a good listener, they don't even have to understand what you're going through, or have anything to say about how to help. The other group is people that make you feel inadequate or don't have healthy emotions either. Then you are suppose to talk to someone on your healthy list for 10 minutes and explain that you are reading this book and just explain some of the feelings that you have read from this. And it's funny because I was just talking to Luke last night how I feel some people are talking to me to be able to talk about themselves, so then I don't feel like my feelings are acknowledged properly.
She goes on to say how important it is to actually talk about these feelings. You can do it yourself to a point by drawing, writing in a journal or sculpting, but when you talk and share these feelings with another person it creates a picture in your mind and you talk faster than you can really think about it so you learn a lot more than if you were to just write your thoughts down. This is very hard for me because I feel like my emotions and feelings have been put on the back burner and I think naturally I surround myself with people that tend to do the same thing. So, wish me luck in learning to express my feelings better!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Chapter 4 The Great Escape
Again, a few things I want to share.....
First, she says that if you put someone in a hard or painful situation without giving healthy ways to handle it then it causes her to experience pain and you have an overwhelmed, frightened person who will either want to fight or flee. She goes on to explain this is why she thinks that more girls than boys have eating disorders because society encourages boys to fight through sports and physical play when girls are taught more to be nice and helpful. So, she is required to find escape within the situation and food will do that. She gives a great example that I'm going to share...."A friend of mine used to keep his cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He had not smoked for ten years on the evening when he dropped into a convenience store for a carton of milk. A kid came into the store waving a gun. Steve froze while the clerk emptied the cash register and the kid ran out of the store. Then Steve reached into his pocket for a cigarette. It had been yen years since he'd smoked one, but his hand went for the drug that would help him cope with such extreme fear." She explains that the body automatically goes for something for solace when confronted with a situation, and it normally goes for something that it knows has worked before. It's amazing what she talks about what research has shown that our body does, on a constant basis. She talks about how we know that eating is not going to help us lose weight, or wear the clothes that we want or feel the way we want but the need to lessen any pain that you are feeling is more than the need to look good. She explains that it makes sense in terms of our priorities. She uses Maslow's ranking of needs as this:
1.Body needs---air, water, food, temperature
2. Safety and protection from harm
3. Status, approval, love acceptance, belonging
4.Competence, adequacy, security, self-esteem
5. Curiosity, to know and understand
6.Order, structure, system
7. Self-actualization, exploration, newness, values, artistic expression, self-fulfillment, meaning
This list makes complete sense, other than in food addiction as well. She also mentions if a woman is in an abusive relationship she would rather have security then to leave and have self-fulfillment and meaning in her life. That is the exact reason why diets don't stand a chance, in our minds we really want to have appearance be more important than food, but our instincts are different and we always go for the food. So, it's very important to understand that it's not because you're weak or a bad person that you have failed so many diets, it's simply the way we're programmed.
First, she says that if you put someone in a hard or painful situation without giving healthy ways to handle it then it causes her to experience pain and you have an overwhelmed, frightened person who will either want to fight or flee. She goes on to explain this is why she thinks that more girls than boys have eating disorders because society encourages boys to fight through sports and physical play when girls are taught more to be nice and helpful. So, she is required to find escape within the situation and food will do that. She gives a great example that I'm going to share...."A friend of mine used to keep his cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He had not smoked for ten years on the evening when he dropped into a convenience store for a carton of milk. A kid came into the store waving a gun. Steve froze while the clerk emptied the cash register and the kid ran out of the store. Then Steve reached into his pocket for a cigarette. It had been yen years since he'd smoked one, but his hand went for the drug that would help him cope with such extreme fear." She explains that the body automatically goes for something for solace when confronted with a situation, and it normally goes for something that it knows has worked before. It's amazing what she talks about what research has shown that our body does, on a constant basis. She talks about how we know that eating is not going to help us lose weight, or wear the clothes that we want or feel the way we want but the need to lessen any pain that you are feeling is more than the need to look good. She explains that it makes sense in terms of our priorities. She uses Maslow's ranking of needs as this:
1.Body needs---air, water, food, temperature
2. Safety and protection from harm
3. Status, approval, love acceptance, belonging
4.Competence, adequacy, security, self-esteem
5. Curiosity, to know and understand
6.Order, structure, system
7. Self-actualization, exploration, newness, values, artistic expression, self-fulfillment, meaning
This list makes complete sense, other than in food addiction as well. She also mentions if a woman is in an abusive relationship she would rather have security then to leave and have self-fulfillment and meaning in her life. That is the exact reason why diets don't stand a chance, in our minds we really want to have appearance be more important than food, but our instincts are different and we always go for the food. So, it's very important to understand that it's not because you're weak or a bad person that you have failed so many diets, it's simply the way we're programmed.
Chapter 3 Deprivation
Hello there!
Sorry for the delay in this post, I finally found some more time to be able to read! I'm really glad that I did because I am still loving what I'm reading. Anyway, this chapter is on deprivation and there was quite a few things that I liked about this chapter. It talks about how food addicts are use to getting the minimum. But, we can't go without anything, she uses this as an example: "When an emotional need goes unmet, we may try novel approaches. We may try to get it from other people. We may try to persuade ourselves we never really needed it anyway. If it continues to be unmet, does it go away? Let's look at the body. If it gets insufficient oxygen, does it say, 'oh, well, not today. Maybe I can get some oxygen tomorrow?' No, the need for oxygen is not related to the supply. Oxygen is needed whether its is supplied or not. Affection, trust, safety, and honesty are needed whether they are supplied or not. Emotional needs don't go way. But we can learn to shut them down or to substitute something else for the true need. Food addicts substitute food." I think this is an excellent way of explaining how I feel, because this is emotionally eating, and I do it constantly. She also talks about how when you eat sugar or refines starch it triggers your appetite and your obsession with food, that is the reason most diets don't work with people because even if you eat just a little bit it triggers that need and you can't stop yourself. She said that trying to go off sugar is just like trying to go off any other drug, it is very uncomfortable and hard and you need a very strong support system to be able to do it, but just like any addict they don't want help or don't know if they can handle help.
She goes on to explain some characteristics that food addicts share are, and I won't list all of them, but I will list the ones that I think apply directly with me.....
"We are impulsive: We sometimes make important decisions with very little thought or research.
We are secretive: We prefer that no one know all about what we're doing. We may cloak this by being too open about other things.
We are often in a care taking role. We see the pain of others and reach out. The problem with this is that we often end up caring for others when we need someone to care for us. We tend to give when we need to receive."
She goes on to talk about how we haven't learned to communicate and really talk about a situation we just automatically say yes or no, instead of talking about it. Even with situations with ourselves, such as pushing yourself to get a task done instead of getting what you really need such as rest.
Sorry for the delay in this post, I finally found some more time to be able to read! I'm really glad that I did because I am still loving what I'm reading. Anyway, this chapter is on deprivation and there was quite a few things that I liked about this chapter. It talks about how food addicts are use to getting the minimum. But, we can't go without anything, she uses this as an example: "When an emotional need goes unmet, we may try novel approaches. We may try to get it from other people. We may try to persuade ourselves we never really needed it anyway. If it continues to be unmet, does it go away? Let's look at the body. If it gets insufficient oxygen, does it say, 'oh, well, not today. Maybe I can get some oxygen tomorrow?' No, the need for oxygen is not related to the supply. Oxygen is needed whether its is supplied or not. Affection, trust, safety, and honesty are needed whether they are supplied or not. Emotional needs don't go way. But we can learn to shut them down or to substitute something else for the true need. Food addicts substitute food." I think this is an excellent way of explaining how I feel, because this is emotionally eating, and I do it constantly. She also talks about how when you eat sugar or refines starch it triggers your appetite and your obsession with food, that is the reason most diets don't work with people because even if you eat just a little bit it triggers that need and you can't stop yourself. She said that trying to go off sugar is just like trying to go off any other drug, it is very uncomfortable and hard and you need a very strong support system to be able to do it, but just like any addict they don't want help or don't know if they can handle help.
She goes on to explain some characteristics that food addicts share are, and I won't list all of them, but I will list the ones that I think apply directly with me.....
"We are impulsive: We sometimes make important decisions with very little thought or research.
We are secretive: We prefer that no one know all about what we're doing. We may cloak this by being too open about other things.
We are often in a care taking role. We see the pain of others and reach out. The problem with this is that we often end up caring for others when we need someone to care for us. We tend to give when we need to receive."
She goes on to talk about how we haven't learned to communicate and really talk about a situation we just automatically say yes or no, instead of talking about it. Even with situations with ourselves, such as pushing yourself to get a task done instead of getting what you really need such as rest.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Slacker!
Oh man, I just had to put in a post today saying I'm so sorry that I haven't written a new post, and I'm apologizing to you and also to myself. I have done horrible this weekend and the last couple of days. A huge part of it, I think is that I haven't had time to read much of the book since the last time I wrote on here. So my goal is to read some more either tonight (which may be hard depending on my work schedule at Applebee's) or tomorrow! I really need to keep up my motivation so I can do this! Thanks for the support and I'll be talking to you soon, I promise!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Chapter 2
Well there was a few things from this chapter that are really interesting that I want to share with you. First, this chapter was mainly about the science behind the food addiction so I really didn't understand a lot of it but some of it made sense. For example, she discusses how we are sometimes missing the part of the brain system that tells us to stop eating. For instance, my husband can order a hamburger and fries and only eat part of the hamburger and a few fries and stop because his stomach is telling his brain to stop. However, I can order that same meal and eat the whole hamburger and fries and even want to eat the rest of his! Simply because my stomach wasn't communicating with my brain telling it to stop! I've always wondered about this and it has always frustrated me to no end to watch someone simply stop eating! I always feel it after a while and my tummy feels like it's going to explode because I ate too much. Also, another interesting point that she makes is in the following paragraph: "Most compulsive eaters are impulsive. You probably want to put this book down right now and stop eating sugar. Most of us hope we can fine the solution and then this whole mess will be over with. If you quit reading and quit eating sugar, you will still be addicted to eating, you will still feel pain more painfully than others, and it will be only a matter of time before the stresses of life will send you thrashing through your pantry." I can't tell you how true this statement is! Whenever I'm reading a motivational story, this book or just talking to someone about the changes I want to make it makes me want to do it right then. But most of the time that elation lasts a day and then I'm back at square one. I did however make a good step forward yesterday, I went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse and if you have been there you know they have the most delicious rolls that they will keep bringing you if you want them! Also, their portions are huge! Well, I had heard that the correct portion of a steak is about the size of your fist. So, I measured my steak against my fist, and cut off the rest, cut my baked potato in half and kept all of my broccoli on my plate. Everything else went on a plate over by Luke so I wasn't even tempted to eat more and it actually worked really well. I always sit down with promises to myself that I'll only eat half of what's on my plate, but if it is there then I'll eat it, there's no fooling myself. So, I was very proud of myself and obviously will be portioning all of my meals ahead of time and off my plate from now on! Well, back to reading and I hope you are learning something!
Monday, May 10, 2010
First Chapter
Well, I have officially gotten through the first chapter of the book, and I have to say it knows me well. The last part of the chapter hit me hard! It was talking about setting rules for yourself and then breaking them. The example she gave was you go to the store and promise yourself you aren't going to buy your favorite binge snack. But you do, then you promise yourself you won't open the bag until you get home, but then you put it on your lap in the car, but promise yourself you'll only have 3, but then you stop at a light, and have four more and continue until they are gone. Then you see your favorite fast food drive thru and decide to get something for yourself since you are so disappointed in failing to follow your rules. But you promise yourself that you are only going to get a quarter pound burger nothing else, by the time you order you've changed it to a half pounder, large fries, coke and a shake. This just continues until you get so depressed that you continue eating and eating. I can't say that this exact thing at the store has happened, but I do know plenty about setting rules for myself and then breaking them. Especially when eating out! I always promise myself that I'll only get something that is healthy, but by the time I'm actually ordering I don't even know what happens but I'm ordering a combo meal and a shake or something similar. It is craziness that I don't have control over what is coming out of my mouth when 2 minutes ago I had promised myself that I wouldn't order the usual crap. The assignment that I'm excited to do during this chapter is about cravings. She says to keep a small notebook on you or a piece of paper and just record your cravings using the following-time of day that it happened-length of time that it lasted-strength of the craving on a scale of 1-10, what happened to trigger the craving and what feeling you had during the craving. You are suppose to record this information for the next 24 hours.....so here we go!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Introduction
Okay, so I'm scared to have this as a public blog but I need to put myself out there and admit to more than just myself that I have a problem. So, recently I have been trying everything under the sun to lose weight and become more self confident. Unfortunately, nothing has worked, I just crave food so much and of course it's not healthy food that I'm craving. So I was thinking about it and decided to do a little bit of research on food addictions. I found a book called Anatomy of a Food Addiction by Anne Katherine. I am very excited but also saddened at the same time. I have to come to realize that to a point that food is controlling me! I look at people that are addicted to smoking, or other habits that are harmful to you and I've said to myself before, why can't they just stop? They see the facts they know that it's killing them so why don't they just stop. Well, I have a whole new respect for any kind of addict because I know it is harder than HECK to "just stop" as I so simply put it. In the book it talks about how some foods have chemicals in them that are just like drugs. They cloud your judgement, they give you hangovers and huge mood swings. So, throughout this blog I'm going to take you on my journey of overcoming this addiction. I know I have hurt myself and loved ones and even my future family by having this addiction and I plan on kicking it in the but and never looking back.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)