The Fat Factor

I have decided to ditch all diets and start eating well. I have a diploma in nutrition. I keep myself up to speed with all the latest and newest discoveries about food and it is working. However, before I start boasting about how wonderful I feel on certain foods and supplements, I want to share with you the sore part of what has seemed to be a constant seasaw, a conflict between wanting to be fit, and being unable to sticking to a regime. Is it just because we are lazy and unwilling? Mmm, don't think so.

Staying healthy and slim should not be such a struggle. So why is it? For I am sure I am not the only one who has been through first all the resolutions and then giving up at the first craving for sugar and eat what seems to be inappropriate.

We should not have to diet, we should just eat what we naturally drawn to eat, treat ourselves well, eating good nourishing food, knowing the danger of junk, additives, and all that is artificial and damaging.

Despite the knowledge though, when something disturbing happens and we go out of sync and we start to feel anxious, depressed, or other unpleasant emotions, we find ourselves wanting to eat what is damaging, not only to the weight but to our health too. In my book, in the chapter 'The Fat Factor' I explain the emotional reasons for having and keep the extra weight on in more details.

If we suddenly or not so suddenly, find ourselves in the self-sabotaging mode, this is not just with weight, but any area in our life,  we know we have to address the emotions behind it in the present that go back to past emotions.

When do we need to eat something suddenly? When we are in discomfort, we feel anxious, nervous, agitated, some emotion is making us feel edgy and we don't feel good about ourselves. So we seek something that will make us feel better; a mars bar, a doughnut, or anything that tastes nice and gives us a pick up is what we go for. It's cheap, it's quick and does the job nicely... in the short term. In the long term, we find that our thighs are not getting into the jeans and that the waistline gently but surely expands. People who struggle with their weight resort to food to calm themselves down.

For those people for whom the weight is not a problem, resorting to alchohol, smoke or drugs, or all of those at once is the way to cope with the emotional discomfort.

Now, if we have been eating well and suddenly we have cracked up,  we might feel that we have ruined all the chances. But that is not so. If we have made the decision to go healthy, the occasional let down can be easily resolved. No need to judge oneself, but definitely one must take the trouble to  delve and find out where the feelings of discomfort really come from. Any exaggerated reaction to a situation, like exploding with anger, is not always justified. Looking at what triggers a negative emotion is always the key to resolve what goes on in the present.

I have a lot on my plate right now and any added little stress can make things look much worse than what they are. But I never blame stress for my overreactions, I always know that if I feel hard done by, humiliated or disrespected, it might or might not be the other person's intention,  what it definitely is though, an unclean reaction to the situation. I have the same emotion stashed away somewhere that gets triggered because the situation brings it up. Looking at where that overreaction comes from, will always bring one back into balance to allow one to handle stress maturely and constructively. Now that's not a small achievement. (Pat on the back)

Astrologically speaking May has been the month of revisiting the past and putting closure on a lot of issues that have been hanging around for a while. I used this month to revisit the past and to release emotions and beliefs from events I did not even know needed looking into.

The body will give you amazing information if you know how to tap into it and how to interpret it.

Indeed I have had some revelations about decisions made with regards to my ability to be resourceful and capable to manifest what I wanted from life. A decision that has been stopping me, amongst other things to keep a desired weight and shape. So instead of running to the store, get a tab of ice cream to appease my uneasiness, I grabbed the emotion, 'I was feeling very hurt and rejected' and asked my body to give me the information. I went really deep and after about an hour of reinterpreting the experience, I was able to reprogram the brain and all the anguish I was in left me,  together with the desire for a binge.

Had I chosen to stuff my face first and then dig in my psyche I would have probably got a few extra pounds to deal with, but would have got the results nevertheless. It was probably better that I chose to do a healing first... (smile)

Struggling with extra weight can only be resolved if you address the reasons as to why you are in a state of discomfort and constant self-reproach. It does not have to be addressed all in one big chunk, but as and when the emotions come up.