Emotional Eating, Obesity, Bingeing: Do you believe you can change?

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."
- Henry Ford 

Sorry to give it all away in the first line, but it is worth reading on, believe me!

We often think that all we need to do is find the right diet, the right personal trainer, the right therapist and we will be able to overcome our unhealthy and unhelpful behaviours.  And, of course, that once we do we will be worthwhile and confident people.

However, so many of my clients say to me "is this going to work?" when we talk about making change in both thinking and behaviour.  In reality, the change agent is you, not the new method/diet/shrink.  When I first start hearing change talk emanating from a client, I do a little internal dance of glee - because that's a great indicator that they are on the path to success.  I would do an external dance of glee but that might scare people.

This article from The Age talks about how our beliefs influence us at a cellular level, the origin of these beliefs and how we can work towards changing them.

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/chemical-control-the-potent-power-of-beliefs-20130625-2ottb.html

The Gwinganna Believe and Be Well Program suggests:

-  Reappraising your circumstances and noticing how many of your thoughts are productive and pure versus unproductive and destructive. Notice that the levels may be different at home and at work.

- Ground yourself in your body with your breath. Diaphragmatic breathing takes us into the conscious pre-frontal lobe and out of the subconscious limbic brain.

- Respect where deeper beliefs originated and be gentle and kind to yourself.

- Weed out negative beliefs and cultivate nutritional thoughts and beliefs.

- Nurture yourself through stillness of body and mind, connection to nature and mindful living.

- Ask yourself what is the deepest longing of your heart.

REMEMBER:

"Whatever the mind of (wo)man can conceive and believe, it can achieve"
- Napoleon Hill.

AND

"I think I can - I think I can - I think I can.....I know I can - I know I can - I CAN - I CAN - I CAN!!!" - The Little Engine That Could.

As a follow up to yesterday's post, and Happy Friday!

Yesterday,  I posted about what we take for granted with our health, in our lives and how we often postpone positive, self-caring change.  You truly don't know what you've got 'til its gone.  So this is my more cheerful piece of encouragement for you to end the week, and perhaps start a new era in your life.....?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha04SVS3KMg

Doris Day singing "Enjoy Yourself:  Its Later Than You Think". And what a gorgeous '50's photo of her.

ENJOY YOURSELF.  And if you're not, do what you need to do to make that happen.

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"

I am quoting John Lennon in my title but not happy about doing so.  Last Wednesday I swerved on my stairs to avoid stepping on my dog, Charlie, and broke my ankle.  Surgery last Sunday, home on Monday to my two-storey place.  Can't put any weight on my right leg for six weeks and limited mobility for another six weeks.  

As a result, I am taking three weeks off from seeing clients until the pain settles (not much, surprisingly) and I get more mobile on crutches.  It was indeed a shock to the system.

What does any of this have to do with eating, weight and emotions you might ask?  I spent three days in hospital, surrounded by injured, sick and dying people.  My problems are small fry compared to much of what goes on in a large, public hospital every day. (By the way, kudos to The Alfred Hospital - they do a lot with not a lot of money.)  But think about this:

• We tend to coast along through life taking for granted the things that are so important to us - health, mobility, access to our own home and so on.  

• We are frequently careless with our health and well-being, or we postpone the changes that will improve these essentials in our life.  

• We often go through each day without feeling any gratitude for what we have, just misery about what we don't have. 

• We generally live in a state of self-hatred about our perceived flaws (excess weight, binge eating behaviour, flabby thighs etc) 

To those of you recognise that you do any of the above actions, STOP RIGHT NOW!  Life is too short and our health too fragile to take for granted.

If you need to act differently, do so.  Get help for the bingeing.  Find better ways to deal with your emotions accept the discomfort of changing to a BETTER way of eating.  Put yourself first.  Be as compassionate and kind to yourself as you are to other people.

When I told a good friend of mine about the broken ankle, she said to me that "everything happens for a reason".  I'm trying that on for size at the moment, don't know yet how I feel about it.  But if that is the case, perhaps the reason is to appreciate health, appreciate life, appreciate daily ordinary things that are often taken for granted, and appreciate myself more with compassion and kindness.

Why don't you try that on for size, too?