Compulsive Eating Alternative: Learning to Eat With Pleasure
Compulsive Eating Alternative: Learning to Eat With Pleasure
Do you allow pleasure from food? Are your senses throughly engaged as you eat? Do you fuel your aliveness with each meal or eat to deaden and numb out? Do you eat foods that taste good in your mouth and feel good in your physical body - both now and later?Imagine eating in a manner that is passionate and filled with the pleasure of being alive. What exactly would pleasurable eating look like? It would vary by individual, and perhaps even by meal. But I imagine we can uncover some common themes and prototypes of pleasurable eating. I can think of lots of times pleasure eating would be done standing up: Enjoying an ice cream cone while exploring a new city while on vacation, mingling at a party while eating finger foods, and the pleasure of eating stadium food at sporting events. But let's narrow down our discussion to your everyday indoor eating experiences. What would "normal" pleasurable eating look like? I'll write down my vision and then invite yourself to write down yours.Indoor pleasurable dining would involve sitting down at a table. A table that is attractive, clean of clutter, and arranged for multi-sensory dining experience. Look through any formal dining magazine and you'll see many examples of elaborate table setting ideas. The tables are set with folded napkins, fancy china, decorative stem ware, and colorful table runners. Imagine treating yourself as an honored guest, deserving of special china, candles, and even some flowers. You sit down for a few minutes to enjoy your food, taking a moment to say grace because you realize how blessed you are to have this abundance in your life. Your eyes widen to accept the visual pleasure of the food. You inhale, bringing the aroma of the food deep into your body. As you eat your food, you chew slowly, swallowing each mouthful before taking the next. The food begins to pleasantly fill you up inside. You stop eating when the sensations become something other than pleasurable.This is just one idea of how a pleasurable eating experience might look. Take a few minutes and write down your idea of a satisfying eating experience:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CONSCIOUS RECEPTION OF FOOD
The purpose of this exercise is to learn to be mindful while eating. It is a method to enable us to get back in touch with our bodies. Allow yourself to try this exercise five times in a period of several weeks, and your relationship with food will begin to change.1. Set aside about 10-20 minutes during which you won't be interrupted. Make sure to start the experience at a point in your day when you are hungry, but not famished. Utilize this exercise at different meals.2. Choose a food (or foods) that appeals to you on all levels. A food that is visually appealing. It smells good as you inhale it. It feels good in your mouth. And it feels good in your body. This food may just be something from your forbidden food list. Perhaps it's bread or ice cream or cake. Then again maybe you'll choose a wonderfully appetizing casserole or even spinach. What matters is that this is a food you like. Prepare this food and sit down with it in front of you.3. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Let your body relax. Become aware of your thoughts and feelings. See whether you can tune in to the place in your lower belly where your food will land. Notice how empty that place feels.4. Become aware of you body and notice where you might be holding tension. Notice if you have shallow breathing, a tight belly, a tense back, tight jaws, or elevated shoulders. Breathe into these areas, tune into what you might be feeling there, and gradually allow yourself to relax, knowing you are safe and supported. Place both of your feet on the ground as you prepare to eat.5. Allow a moment of gratitude for the energy (life) you are about to receive. We deserve all of the good things life has to offer, without having to perform for any of them. We are deserving individuals by our very existence. Remember your place in the cycle of life. Remember that by eating you are giving yourself life. You have this right to have life, to have what you want, to be supported in your life, to receive pleasure, and to be connected to life. Connect with the life of the food you are eating and allow yourself to have a feeling of being grounded, of being connected to the earth, of being strong, vibrant, and stable.6. Utilize your senses. Before eating, use your sense of vision and smell to "connect" with the food. Take another moment to feel the life in the food.7. Allow yourself to accept the food. Take this life force into your own body so that it might grow strong and live and help you to fulfill your destiny. Swallow and notice if you can feel your stomach receiving the food? Notice if you want to rush and eat the next bite before you have even finished with this one. Inhibit this habitual response. Knowing that there is enough food, you may come to realize that you don't need to hold onto to energy or stored body fat. There is enough. You are worthy of having enough. You can let go and relax. Eat your food in freedom. For those of you eating in secret, allow yourself to be seen eating.8. Eating is a way to extract life sustaining energy from food. When you eat, you process and absorb the forces of nature stored in your food. For example, plants store light through photosynthesis. Eating food releases the energies and nutrients stored in food for your body to absorb. In assimilating your food, you transfer life into your body.An important part of exploring conscious eating is seeking balance. When you start connecting with food, without making any special effort to change your eating, a process naturally starts to take place. You'll start to desire foods that are abundant and alive, foods that give you what you really need on the deepest level. You begin to notice that food is more than just mouth pleasure . . . there is also physical body pleasure. You may recognize foods that drain you and better understand what nourishes, satisfies, and supports you. You learn to honor yourself and support your growth by choosing food, food experiences, thoughts, and behaviors that nourish and heal your body.Copyright 2005, Dr. Annette Colby, all rights reserved.Dr. Annette Colby, RD
Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Healer
"Opening Creative Portals to Success"
972.985.8750
Annette@AnnetteColby.comFor free inspirational newsletter, articles & info visit: http://www.LovingMiracles.com
Refrigerator Water Filters vs. Bottled Water: Round 1
Refrigerator Water Filters vs. Bottled Water: Round 1
Water is the single most important element for human existence, yet many people do not know much about water. Water comprises 60% of a human's body weight, counts for 80% of our blood, and comprises over 65% of our brain and muscles. Knowing this, one can see why choosing the best water to drink is of the impost importance. The two main types of water commonly chosen for their healthy properties are bottled water and water that has been filtered via a refrigerator water filter. Knowing the difference between these to types of water will surely help anyone make an educated choice as to what type of water they want to drink.One of the first differences between refrigerator water filter systems and bottled water is the cost. There is no doubt that refrigerator water filter systems are cheaper than buying bottled water. They are even cheaper than buying cheap store brand water in bulk. Bottled water has to be so expensive because of packaging, shipping and marketing. Refrigerator water filter systems do not have to deal with massive marketing campaigns or packaging, and so they can charge the consumer less.More important than the cost of one's water choice is the health factors involved. Many people believe that bottled water is the only healthy water, but this is not true. In fact, some studies have shown that bottled water is less healthy than a refrigerator water filter system. Bottled water suffers because there are often chemicals from the plastic in which the water is stored that become mixed in with the water. Sadly, some companies fill their bottled water with mere tap water. There are no federal regulations concerning the quality of bottled water, so many major companies go unchecked. Refrigerator water filter systems tell the user exactly what has been filtered out of the water, so the user knows the kinds of chemicals he or she is avoiding. The healthiest people are, more often than not, also the best informed. Knowing exactly what is in your water will help you to live healthier.It is essential to be conscious of the environment in which we live. Bottled water can be recycled, but how much of the plastic is re-used? Additionally, many avid water bottle drinkers do not recycle. The plastics used in water bottles may never fully decompose because of the nature of their chemical bonds. Refrigerator water filter systems are non-obtrusive to the environment. There is no plastic to throw out, and no harmful fumes.Bottled water versus refrigerator water filters is a heated debate. For consumers who are health conscious, cost savvy, and environmentally sound, the choice is obvious. Refrigerator water filter systems are cheaper, healthier, and better for the environment. Some may think that bottled water is a great new trend, but personal health is more important than any trend. For the best personal health, it is advisable to choose refrigerator water filter systems.Paul Stinson writes about water and other general health topics. Learn more about refrigerator water filter systems at http://www.filtersfast.com.
Facts About Virgin Coconut Oil
Facts About Virgin Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is less known compare to olive oil, corn oil, canola oil or any other vegetable oil. It is sad to hear that many terrified titles such as "fat contributor" or "cholesterol raiser" has been sticking on it for years. Do you want to know the facts?Before you go further, it is important to differentiate between coconut oil we are talking about and "frying oil" that crowds the market and mistakenly has been accepted as coconut oil. The frying oil is made from copra, that is coconut flesh dried by smoking, by spreading out under the sun, by drying machine, or by combination of them. After that, the copra will be processed to be oil.However, all the process to turn fresh coconut become oil is susceptible to dirt brought by insects or fungus. Therefore, purifying becomes critical session in RBD (Refined, Bleached, Deodorized) oil - this is such oil named. In this method, high heat and chemical additive are commonly used as well as hydrogenation. The hydrogenated oil is considered as cholesterol serum liver raiser and increase heart attack risk.While the virgin coconut oil in our interest is produced in such a totally different way. It is made from old fresh coconut without any of high heat process, chemical additive or hydrogenation process. The only process virgin coconut oil pass trough is fermentation.It is lauric acid makes coconut oil beneficial. Inside the body, lauric acid will be changed to monolaurine, a monoglycine compound that can damage lipid layer of virus such as HIV, hepatitis, influenza and other pathogenic bacteria. Lauric acid can also build body immune system, exactly the way mother's milk does.Besides, coconut oil also contains 6 % of capric acid. Inside the body capric acid will be transformed to monocaprine, that is beneficial element againts sexual disease such as HSV-2 and HSV-1 and neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria.Furthermore, coconut oil can also be an answer on weight loss problem by its lauric acid. Unlike any other nutrients, lauric acid does not need anzyme to pass through our body cells. As it comes to digestion system canal, intestines without hydrolysis process will absorb it. Afterwards, following blood stream, it reaches liver for metabolism process. This way, energy will be produced faster, just like ready to use fuel, without any chance to be heaped up as fat.It won't be happened on common fatty acid called long chain fatty acid. Because of the length, it has to be cut and be divided into lipoprotein before taken by blood stream to all over the body and enter the kiver. The long process increases the chance of problem such as fat level raising, cholesterol and fat piles.The opposite is medium chain fatty acid (lauric acid) needs short burning process. It can increase metabolism, too, as well as body immune and recovery process. Our cells will work more efficiently to produce new cells and to replace the broken cells.A study in Papua New Genea shows that community who consume virgin coconut oil are more slender and never had heart attack problem or stroke. Besides, the cholesterol and blood tension are also lower compare to those do not consume it.For more information about Vegetable Cooking Methods and Recipes visit http://www.vegetable-recipes-by-cooking-method.com/