what’s happening. Is that the situation you find yourself in? Here are some common indicators.
You don’t feel secure unless you are dulled by eating too much. Dullness brings a kind of calm that lasts a short while.
You don’t feel nurtured except when your taste buds are over-stimulated with sugar, salt, and fat.
You don’t feel loved and appreciated, so you turn eating into “giving myself some love.”
Your life lacks meaning, but at least when you eat, the emptiness inside can be ignored for a little while.
If you stop focusing so hard on diet and calories, you can see that the story of overweight in America is the story of missed fulfillment. We have the best foods in the world at our disposal, but we gorge on the worst. We have blessed opportunities to grow and evolve, but instead we feel empty.
My goal is to bring you to a state of fulfillment. Once that begins to happen, you will stop eating for the wrong reasons. The solution is simple but profound: To lose weight, every step of the way must be satisfying. You don’t have to psychoanalyze yourself; you can stop obsessing about your body and dwelling in disappointment and frustration. There is only one principle that applies:
Life is about fulfillment.
If your life isn’t fulfilled, your stomach can never supply what’s missing.
“What Am I Hungry For?”
Everyone’s life story is complicated, and the best intentions go astray because people find it hard to change. Bad habits, like bad memories, stick around stubbornly when we wish they’d go away. But you have agreat motivation working for you, which is your desire for happiness. I define happiness as the state of fulfillment, and everyone wants to be fulfilled. If you keep your eye on this, your most basic motivation, then the choices you make come down to a single question: “What am I hungry for?” Your true desire will lead you in the right direction. False desires lead in the wrong direction. You can take a simple test to prove this to yourself: The next time you go to the refrigerator for something to eat, stop for a second. What’s making you reach for food? There are only two answers:
1. You’re hungry and need to eat.
2. You’re trying to fill a hole, and food has become the quickest way to do that.
Modern medicine has quite a lot of knowledge about the “triggers” that set off the impulse to eat. Your body secretes hormones and enzymes connecting the hunger center in your brain with the stomach and digestive tract. When you were a baby, this was the only kind of trigger you responded to. You cried because you were hungry. Now the reverse might be true: When you feel like crying, you get hungry.
Over a lifetime, we create new triggers that a baby could never anticipate. Depression is a well-known trigger for overeating. So are stress, sudden loss, grief, repressed anger—and there are many others. Which ones are you most vulnerable to? You probably have only a vague idea. Most people are unaware when their eating behavior is being triggered, because triggers are often unconscious—that’s what makes them so powerful. You respond automatically without thinking.
Quiz:
What Triggers You to Overeat?
The most common triggers for overeating appear in the following checklists. Some are easier to overcome than others. Look at the lists and check the most common causes that make you eat
even when you’re not hungry.
Mark as many items as you feel apply to you.
Group A: I tend to overeat if
___ I’m busy or distracted at work.
___ I’m rushed and on the go.
___ I’m tired. I haven’t had enough sleep.
___ I’m with other people who are eating.
___ I’m out at a restaurant.
___ I’m in front of the TV or computer and need something to do with my hands.
___ I have a plate of food in front of me, and I feel I must clean my plate.
Group B: I tend to overeat if
___ I’m depressed.
___ I’m lonely.
___ I’m feeling unattractive.
___ I’m feeling anxious or
You don’t feel secure unless you are dulled by eating too much. Dullness brings a kind of calm that lasts a short while.
You don’t feel nurtured except when your taste buds are over-stimulated with sugar, salt, and fat.
You don’t feel loved and appreciated, so you turn eating into “giving myself some love.”
Your life lacks meaning, but at least when you eat, the emptiness inside can be ignored for a little while.
If you stop focusing so hard on diet and calories, you can see that the story of overweight in America is the story of missed fulfillment. We have the best foods in the world at our disposal, but we gorge on the worst. We have blessed opportunities to grow and evolve, but instead we feel empty.
My goal is to bring you to a state of fulfillment. Once that begins to happen, you will stop eating for the wrong reasons. The solution is simple but profound: To lose weight, every step of the way must be satisfying. You don’t have to psychoanalyze yourself; you can stop obsessing about your body and dwelling in disappointment and frustration. There is only one principle that applies:
Life is about fulfillment.
If your life isn’t fulfilled, your stomach can never supply what’s missing.
“What Am I Hungry For?”
Everyone’s life story is complicated, and the best intentions go astray because people find it hard to change. Bad habits, like bad memories, stick around stubbornly when we wish they’d go away. But you have agreat motivation working for you, which is your desire for happiness. I define happiness as the state of fulfillment, and everyone wants to be fulfilled. If you keep your eye on this, your most basic motivation, then the choices you make come down to a single question: “What am I hungry for?” Your true desire will lead you in the right direction. False desires lead in the wrong direction. You can take a simple test to prove this to yourself: The next time you go to the refrigerator for something to eat, stop for a second. What’s making you reach for food? There are only two answers:
1. You’re hungry and need to eat.
2. You’re trying to fill a hole, and food has become the quickest way to do that.
Modern medicine has quite a lot of knowledge about the “triggers” that set off the impulse to eat. Your body secretes hormones and enzymes connecting the hunger center in your brain with the stomach and digestive tract. When you were a baby, this was the only kind of trigger you responded to. You cried because you were hungry. Now the reverse might be true: When you feel like crying, you get hungry.
Over a lifetime, we create new triggers that a baby could never anticipate. Depression is a well-known trigger for overeating. So are stress, sudden loss, grief, repressed anger—and there are many others. Which ones are you most vulnerable to? You probably have only a vague idea. Most people are unaware when their eating behavior is being triggered, because triggers are often unconscious—that’s what makes them so powerful. You respond automatically without thinking.
Quiz:
What Triggers You to Overeat?
The most common triggers for overeating appear in the following checklists. Some are easier to overcome than others. Look at the lists and check the most common causes that make you eat
even when you’re not hungry.
Mark as many items as you feel apply to you.
Group A: I tend to overeat if
___ I’m busy or distracted at work.
___ I’m rushed and on the go.
___ I’m tired. I haven’t had enough sleep.
___ I’m with other people who are eating.
___ I’m out at a restaurant.
___ I’m in front of the TV or computer and need something to do with my hands.
___ I have a plate of food in front of me, and I feel I must clean my plate.
Group B: I tend to overeat if
___ I’m depressed.
___ I’m lonely.
___ I’m feeling unattractive.
___ I’m feeling anxious or
Similar Books
Kaldean Chronicles: Kaldean Sunset (Book I)
Maxwell Bond
The Firefighter and the Virgin Princess
Jemma Harte
Heretic
Bernard Cornwell
When Madeline Was Young
Jane Hamilton
Murder in the Smithsonian
Margaret Truman
Dark Inside
Jeyn Roberts
Men in Green Faces
Gene Wentz, B. Abell Jurus
Cops 02 - Love on the Run
Kori Roberts
