Empowering Resolutions: Weight Loss and Emotional Response

[Guest guest]

Good Morning!

 

This month we will be keeping tabs on your New Years Resolutions, in

order to empower you, help you to stay on track and give you some

great tips for keeping your promise to yourself.

 

 

Empowering Resolutions: Weight Loss and Emotional Response

 

There is an emotional aspect to every illness. Often times, it is the

emotional thoughts or " excess emotions " that will lead to illness.

Weight gain is often caused by " emotional eating " due to stress,

anxiety or social habits. There is often a " hole " in our character,

personality or mentality that we tend to " fill-up " with food. We need

to look for something else to fill that void. A passion or hobby can

bring us " back to our center " . For whatever reason we have low self

esteem, a lack of security or the need to please others instead of

taking care of ourselves, we need to take back our power and do for

ourselves.

 

 

Unhealthy Emotions!

 

" Overweight conditions, like all imbalances, are supported by

unhealthy attitudes " says Paul Pitchford, author of " Healing with

Whole Foods " .

 

Make a commitment to fundamental change toward... emotional clarity,

physical vigor and or spiritual awareness.

 

 

Commit to a balanced diet of unprocessed food that... limits or

eliminates animal products.

 

 

We associate food with rewarding ourselves. Learn to nourish your

soul rather than fill your stomach. What need are you trying to

satisfy?

 

Find healthy rewards. Reward yourself with a piece of delicious

fruit, a hot bath or glass of wine.

 

One of the biggest culprits in weight control issues is how we look

at ourselves. Our distortion of our body image is one of the most

destructive behaviors we can harbor and must be conquered in order to

win over this self abuse! Consider these great tips:

 

Self-esteem is a confidence in yourself and your capabilities. Self-

esteem is important because if allows you to enjoy a happier, more

joy-filled life. Most importantly, self-esteem helps you feel

connected with the " true spirit " within yourself. This enables you to

take responsibility for your own happiness. You MUST make positive

thinking a habit, and this allows you to build self-esteem!

 

Now answer these questions. Rate each answer on a scale of 1-3 one,

if you feel this way sometimes, but infrequently; two , if you

usually feel this way; or three, if you always feel this way

 

1...I appreciate all the things I can do.

2...I understand the importance of being my own best friend.

3...I appreciate my own uniqueness.

4...I pay attention to my feelings.

5...I am comfortable expressing my feelings to others.

6...I am sensitive and concerned for the feelings of others.

7...I let go of unhappy thoughts.

8...I understand that mistakes are only " misses. "

9...I take responsibility for my actions.

10..I allow myself to be different from others.

 

 

If you have a perfect score of 30, you are in great shape!

20-30 means you probably like yourself most of the time.

20-10 means you need to start lifting some " positive mental weights, "

and if you scored below 10, you need 10 self affirmations to let you

know you are alright and you are ready for improvement.

 

Whether you already think positively or need to start practicing some

positive mental habits, you can have great fun exploring the issues

of self-esteem.

 

Self-esteem and The Learning Process

 

Self-esteem is closely linked to the learning process. Learning

something successfully makes you feel good about yourself and creates

positive attitudes. A life-student with self-esteem is an active

rather than passive learner and is eager to try new things without

fear of failure.

 

A life-student afraid to risk failure inevitably stops learning. You

won't develop self-esteem overnight because it's a building process,

but each small step to improved confidence will ultimately, impact

all your future choices.

 

Learn to praise yourself at each step you take towards a goal and

encourage your persistence to keep trying! You know that you have

self-esteem when your " can do " attitude reflects an understanding

that a mistake is just a " miss, " and that's how you learn!

 

 

 

Make an Emotional Food Diary

 

1. For two weeks, make notations whenever you have a mood swing,

emotional upheaval or change in energy (such as hyperactivity or

lethargy).

 

2. Note the date and time of the event.

 

3. Note what actions you take to bring yourself back to balance. Do

you sit down and do yoga, stretch, meditate. Do you binge eat, have a

drink or do other actions revolving around food?

 

4. If you react with food, what do you eat? Find comfort in?

 

5. Note the volume of food you consume at that time. Don't lie. Write

the truth in your journal.

 

6. The Emotional Food Dairy is NOT a judgement tool. It is a way for

you to go back to it, AFTER a week is done and look at habits you may

not even realize you are doing in response to change.

 

7. After committing to two weeks of journaling, take a look at the

overall process. Was it somehow helpful to you? In retrospect, did

you gain valuable information from it?

 

8. If so, consider writing in it for another week.

 

9. You can use this diary to write down " positive progress " as well.

Did you make any changes after your first two weeks?

 

10. Your Emotional Food Diary can just be the tool you need to take

you to a new plateau of understanding your emotional connection to

food and how you can actually take control and do something about it!

 

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac

http://peacefulmind.com/weight_loss.htm

Therapies for healing

mind, body, spirit