worried.
___ I’m having negative thoughts about my body.
___ I’m under stress.
___ I want to be comforted.
Rating Yourself
If all or most of the items you checked come from Group A, your triggers are the easiest to overcome. You need to pay more attention to your eating habits, but that should be relatively easy. You can catchyourself eating when you’re not hungry because your main problem is distraction. Once you focus on one thing at a time—the meal in front of you—you will bring inattentive eating under control.
If all or most of the items you checked come from Group B, you are hungry for something else besides food, and paying attention to those things will be your best way to lose weight. One important thing is not going on a diet. Your pathway isn’t deprivation; it’s to find satisfaction in things other than eating.
Action Step:
Notice Your Trigger Before You Eat.
Now that you know your triggers, you can monitor them. You don’t have to fight against your hunger, just give your brain enough time to make a choice. Instead of robotically reaching for food, which is a reaction that comes automatically, let yourself find a way to choose what you really want. At first, this involves a simple moment of mindfulness, or self-awareness, as follows:
Any time you are about to eat outside mealtime, go through the following simple steps:
1. Pause and take a deep breath.
2. Ask yourself if your hunger is being triggered by a familiar pattern, such as feeling bored, restless, or sad, or wanting a distraction. You now know some of your most common triggers, so see if any of them are involved.
3. Once you’ve identified a trigger, ask yourself if you really need to eat. Maybe you can find an alternative activity, one that simply postpones reacting to your trigger, such as:
Doing a household chore.
Calling a friend.
Checking your e-mails and answering some saved ones.
Reading a book.
Drinking a glass of water.
Any harmless diversion will do. Your goal is to insert a pause before you automatically react to a trigger. If you still feel hungry, go ahead and eat. But get in the habit of noticing your triggers this way—it’s a basic step toward overcoming them and giving yourself more freedom to choose.
I promised myself one thing before addressing the problem of overeating: The solution should work
here and now.
A great fault in dieting is that you make yourself unhappy today on the promise that you will be happier tomorrow. But desire doesn’t work that way. “What am I hungry for?” exists in the present moment. The impulse you feel can be simplified into a few basic categories:
You’re hungry for food.
You want to fill an emotional hole.
You want to fill a hole in your mind
(such as low self-esteem, bad body image, or a sense of failure and frustration).
To these I would add a fourth impulse, which is spiritual.
You want to fill a hole in your soul.
These are strong motivations, fueled by desire. Once you turn desire in the right direction, real transformation can take place. We all follow the path of desire every day. The impulse to get more out of life is natural and deep-seated. In this book we’ll find out exactly what you’re hungry for. Once you know, you will have a clear path that makes total sense in terms of mind, body, and spirit. Here’s how you’ll be transformed:
You will eat only when you are hungry for food.
You won’t eat when what you’re hungry for is emotional, in terms of comfort, security, love, bonding with others, or a feeling of joy.
You won’t eat when what you are hungry for is a life that is relevant and meaningful, where you have a purpose and can meet your goals. These are needs of the mind.
You won’t eat when what you’re hungry for is spiritual, such as lightness of being or a higher vision of the soul.
Dieting: A False Escape
Some readers will say to themselves, “This all sounds well and good, but frankly, I just want to know what to eat and
___ I’m having negative thoughts about my body.
___ I’m under stress.
___ I want to be comforted.
Rating Yourself
If all or most of the items you checked come from Group A, your triggers are the easiest to overcome. You need to pay more attention to your eating habits, but that should be relatively easy. You can catchyourself eating when you’re not hungry because your main problem is distraction. Once you focus on one thing at a time—the meal in front of you—you will bring inattentive eating under control.
If all or most of the items you checked come from Group B, you are hungry for something else besides food, and paying attention to those things will be your best way to lose weight. One important thing is not going on a diet. Your pathway isn’t deprivation; it’s to find satisfaction in things other than eating.
Action Step:
Notice Your Trigger Before You Eat.
Now that you know your triggers, you can monitor them. You don’t have to fight against your hunger, just give your brain enough time to make a choice. Instead of robotically reaching for food, which is a reaction that comes automatically, let yourself find a way to choose what you really want. At first, this involves a simple moment of mindfulness, or self-awareness, as follows:
Any time you are about to eat outside mealtime, go through the following simple steps:
1. Pause and take a deep breath.
2. Ask yourself if your hunger is being triggered by a familiar pattern, such as feeling bored, restless, or sad, or wanting a distraction. You now know some of your most common triggers, so see if any of them are involved.
3. Once you’ve identified a trigger, ask yourself if you really need to eat. Maybe you can find an alternative activity, one that simply postpones reacting to your trigger, such as:
Doing a household chore.
Calling a friend.
Checking your e-mails and answering some saved ones.
Reading a book.
Drinking a glass of water.
Any harmless diversion will do. Your goal is to insert a pause before you automatically react to a trigger. If you still feel hungry, go ahead and eat. But get in the habit of noticing your triggers this way—it’s a basic step toward overcoming them and giving yourself more freedom to choose.
I promised myself one thing before addressing the problem of overeating: The solution should work
here and now.
A great fault in dieting is that you make yourself unhappy today on the promise that you will be happier tomorrow. But desire doesn’t work that way. “What am I hungry for?” exists in the present moment. The impulse you feel can be simplified into a few basic categories:
You’re hungry for food.
You want to fill an emotional hole.
You want to fill a hole in your mind
(such as low self-esteem, bad body image, or a sense of failure and frustration).
To these I would add a fourth impulse, which is spiritual.
You want to fill a hole in your soul.
These are strong motivations, fueled by desire. Once you turn desire in the right direction, real transformation can take place. We all follow the path of desire every day. The impulse to get more out of life is natural and deep-seated. In this book we’ll find out exactly what you’re hungry for. Once you know, you will have a clear path that makes total sense in terms of mind, body, and spirit. Here’s how you’ll be transformed:
You will eat only when you are hungry for food.
You won’t eat when what you’re hungry for is emotional, in terms of comfort, security, love, bonding with others, or a feeling of joy.
You won’t eat when what you are hungry for is a life that is relevant and meaningful, where you have a purpose and can meet your goals. These are needs of the mind.
You won’t eat when what you’re hungry for is spiritual, such as lightness of being or a higher vision of the soul.
Dieting: A False Escape
Some readers will say to themselves, “This all sounds well and good, but frankly, I just want to know what to eat and
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