What is Intuitive Eating?

Here is a summary of the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating, from the book, Intuitive Eating, 2nd ed, 2003.

"Intuitive eating is an approach that teaches you how to create a healthy relationship with your food, mind, and body--where you ultimately become the expert of your own body. You learn how to distinguish between physical and emotional feelings, and gain a sense of body wisdom. It's also a process of making peace with food, so that you no longer have constant "food worry" thoughts. It's knowing that your health and your worth as a person does not change because you ate a so-called "bad" or "fattening" food.

On the surface this may sound simplistic, but it is rather complex. For example one of the basic principles of Intuitive Eating is the ability to respond to inner body cues, “Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full”, which may sound like a no-brainer. But when you have history of chronic dieting or rigid “healthy” rules about eating it's quite difficult because a number of things need to be in place, including the ability to trust yourself! Intuitive Eating Principles

1. Reject the Diet Mentality

Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight. If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being free to rediscover Intuitive Eating.

2. Honor Your Hunger

Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for re-building trust with yourself and food.

3. Make Peace with Food

Call a truce, stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can't or shouldn't have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing When you finally “give-in” to your forbidden food, eating will be experienced with such intensity, it usually results in Last Supper overeating, and overwhelming guilt.

4. Challenge the Food Police

Scream a loud "NO" to thoughts in your head that declare you're "good" for eating under 1000 calories or "bad" because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. The Food Police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created . The police station is housed deep in your psyche, and its loud speaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments. Chasing the Food Police away is a critical step in returning to Intuitive Eating.

5. Respect Your Fullness

Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you're comfortably full. Pause in the middle of a meal or food and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what is your current fullness level?

6. Discover the Satisfaction

Factor The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy living In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence--the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you've had "enough".

7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food

Find ways to comfort , nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger are emotions we all experience throughout life. Each has its own trigger, and each has its own appeasement. Food won't fix any of these feelings. It may comfort for the short term, distract from the pain, or even numb you into a food hangover. But food won't solve the problem. If anything, eating for an emotional hunger will only make you feel worse in the long run. You'll ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion, as well as the discomfort of overeating.

8. Respect Your Body

Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It's hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.

9. Exercise--Feel the Difference

Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm. If when you wake up, your only goal is to lose weight, it's usually not a motivating factor in that moment of time.

10 Honor Your Health--Gentle Nutrition

Make food choices that honor your health and tastebuds while making you feel well. Remember that you don't have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It's what you eat consistently over time that matters, progress not perfection is what counts.

Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA.

Seven Keys to Success

BE AWARE

BE FREE

BE FOCUSED

BE HERE

BE HAPPY

BE CONFIDENT

BE POSITIVE

Weight loss is more than just physical.

Exerpts from Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via LEF:

"Losing weight and keeping it off might be as much about the psychological as the physical changes.

"Some people say losing weight is in the mind," said Judith Horvath, director of the psychotherapy training program at Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center.

"The HSC psychiatrist said giving yourself a mental workout can complement healthful eating and exercise regimens.

"I think they need to go hand-in-hand," she said.

"Food can be used as emotional nourishment and to calm anxieties," she said.

"If you look at the laundry list of failed diets that can't have a positive impact on someone's psyche."

"We are empowering people to take back their lives."

"It's about exchanging the reward of food for the reward of achieving their goals."

Please CLICK HERE to find more articles about weight loss and supplements at the Life Extension Foundation web site.

I love FRACTALS

Polar Dragons by Wynn Schaible

FRACTALS are beautiful, complex mathematical functions with hidden order

created from quantum physics chaos theory.

These intricate geometric patterns

are the result of positive feedback loops within the equation.

The basic shape repeats itself on every level to infinity.

Fractal equations are extremely sensitive

and any tiny change will produce greatly different results.

The closer you look the more detail you see.

Many Hypnotherapists use EFT

Karen Nauman C.Ht., P.Nlp - EFT Practitioner - Certified Hypnotherapist - Emotional Freedom and Law of Attraction Coach

Karen explains each EFT tapping point, what it releases, what it allows and which Meridian each point is connected to.


Hand Point
♦ ♦ KC (1) Karate Chop Point - The Karate Chop point is mainly used for; the EFT setup statement, psychological reversals and simple tapping techniques (STT). It is an alternative for the sore spot EFT point.

The karate chop point is located on the soft fleshy part of the non-dominant hand, between the base of the pinky finger and the wrist. We would use this is the part of the hand break a board... 'karate chop' style.

Releases: psychological reversal (feeling stuck or frozen), inability to let go, resistance to change, sorrow, feeling vulnerable, worry, obsession, compulsive behavior.

Allows: Ability to move forward, letting go of the old, healing from grief, finding happiness in and connecting to the present moment. (Small Intestine Meridian)

Head, Face and Body Tapping Points
♦ ♦ TH (2) Top of Head Point - This point (set of points) is located at the top of the head and was added several years ago at an EFT conference. Since then, it has been widely accepted by Gary Craig and many of the others in the EFT community.

This is an important energy center since many meridians meet at the top of the head. It is also in the area of the 7th. or Crown Chakra, which is a spiritual energy center. Some say that stimulating this area wakes up the entire energy system and encourages the body-mind to pay attention to what we are about to address. This point is highly sensitive and its important to be very gentle when tapping!

Releases: Inner critic, 'gerbil wheel' thinking, lack of focus.

Allows: Spiritual connection, insight, intuition, focus, wisdom, spiritual discernment, clarity. ('Hundred Meeting Points' Meridian)

♦ ♦ EB (3) Eyebrow Point - This point is located on the dominant side at the beginning of the eyebrow, just up and over from the bridge of the nose.

Releases: Trauma, hurt, sadness, restlessness, frustration, impatience, restlessness and dread.

Allows: Peace and emotional healing. (Bladder Meridian)

♦ ♦ SE (4) Side of Eye Point - Located on the dominant side at the end of the eyebrow, this point falls on the boney protrusion at the leading edge of the temple.

Releases: Rage, anger, resentment, fear of change and muddled thinking.

Allows: Clarity and compassion. (Gall Bladder Meridian)

♦ ♦ UE (5) Under Eye Point - Located on the bone underneath the eye, directly under the pupil.

Releases: Fear, anxiety, emptiness, worry, nervousness and disappointment.

Allows: Contentment, calmness, and feeling safe. "All is well'. (Stomach Meridian)

♦ ♦ UN (6) Under Nose Point - Located under the nose, in the little crevice above the upper lip.

Releases: Embarrassment, powerlessness, shame, guilt, grief, fear of ridicule, fear of failure and psychological reversals.

Allows: Self-acceptance, self-empowerment, and compassion for self and others. (Governing Meridian)

♦ ♦ CH (7) Chin Point - Located just under the bottom lip, in the depression between the lip and the chin.

Releases: Confusion, uncertainty, shame, embarrassment and second guessing decisions.

Allows: Clarity, certainty, confidence, and self-acceptance. (Central Meridian)

♦ ♦ CB (8) Collar Bone Point - Just below the knob of the collarbone and next to the depression below the Adam 's apple

Releases: Psychological reversal, feeling stuck, indecision, worry, and general stress.

Allows: Ease in moving forward, confidence, and clarity. (Kidney Meridian - Adrenal Gland Function)

♦ ♦ UA (9) Under Arm Point - About six inches directly below the arm pit (on the bra strap for the women).

Releases: Guilt, worry, obsessing, hopelessness, insecurity, and poor self esteem.

Allows: Clarity, confidence, relaxation, and compassion for self and others. (Spleen Meridian)


NOTE: For full instructions on how to do EFT, go to: LEARN EFT.

Energy Overcharge

HYPER? OVER-EXCITED? BATTERIES OVER-CHARGED?
"It's wonderful to feel high on life, but if you're so super-charged that you feel disorganized, scattered or out of control, you'll probably function better if you "get it together!"

Try "Cook's Hook-up" from Donna Eden's Energy Medicine and taught in Barbara Mallory's book, Feeling Free! (to see it illustrated CLICK HERE) It feels great! For frequent hyper-arousal, do it many times a day!

OVER-ENERGY CORRECTION
Cook's Hook-up with Energy Imagery

1. Sit supported comfortably in a chair, or you may do this exercise effectively lying on your back with knees comfortably up to relax your back.

2. Cross your left ankle over right. You might think of this as an Earth Lock.

3. Cross your right hand over left at the wrist. Reach down toward the earth (or toward your feet if lying down). Imagine reaching way, way down to the center of the earth. Clasp the sacred energy radiating from the earth's glowing core. Now lock in your connection to the radiant Heart of Mother Earth.

4. Slowly draw your clasped hands up, drawing radiant earth energy up to your body. As your elbows start to bend, tuck your clasped hands under and up.

5. Draw Mother Earth's radiant energy slowly up through the center core of your body to your mid-upper chest. This thymus area is known as the High Heart or Soul Seat. (If you are familiar with the chakra system of energy centers, sense yourself drawing this glowing cord of sacred earth energy up through root and sacral chakras, through solar and heart chakras, all the way to the High Heart.)

6. Rest your clasped hands quietly over the High Heart, creating a Heart Lock.

7. Then mentally draw the glowing energy line straight upward from High Heart through your throat, brow and crown-of-head energy centers, and even farther, far beyond your crown, all the way to your Divine Source, wherever that is for you. There you might visualize a Sky or Heaven Lock.

8. Notice now, the energy connection you have created - a secure and radiant cord from the glowing Heart of Mother Earth up through your own radiant High Heart and all the way to the Universal Source or Heart of Heaven.

9. For your breathing pattern, inhale slowly through your nose, tongue to the roof of your mouth, collecting energy (qi or ch'i or prana), and draw that energy down through your glowing center core, all the way down to Mother Earth.

10. Exhale through your mouth, tongue down, surrendering all the ch'i or prana your energy system no longer needs, releasing it to the Earth for recycling.

11. Now, gently, quietly hold this position, and continue breathing slowly and deeply, for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, or until you feel centered, calm and clear.

The Over-Energy Correction (Cook's Hook-up) can serve as an effective and peaceful preparation for meditation. Just relax your hands and slip easily into your usual meditation procedure, benefiting from your present calm and clarity.

Hypnotherapy can help support the treatment of eating disorders.

Hypnotherapy can work as an effective way to support the treatment of eating disorders because it helps people feel better about who they are, helping them stop using food as way to cope with emotional problems, as they start to treat their body in better ways.

The results of hypnotherapy depend on the person’s emotional state, ability to be hypnotized, personality, and willingness to overcome the eating disorder. Many personal, family, and emotional factors affect the potential hypnotherapy has as a successful treatment for eating disorders. Ultimately, establishing a healthy relationship with food is the goal.

Hypnosis is not meant as a substitute for standard medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment and consulting hypnotists are required to advise you to seek your doctor's approval for any medically or psychologically diagnosed conditions or disorders. Hypnosis techniques are a complementary alternative for self-healing, self-help, and behavior modification.