10 Ways to Increase the Release of Obsessive Eating

When I first started Dr. Lisa Weight Control Therapy Blog, I really didn’t have any goals or objectives. I just wanted a place to write my thoughts that didn’t fit the academic writing I’m trained for in addiction psychology. As such, I didn’t think I’d have too much of an audience in the beginning. I was wrong. From the start, my thoughts as a practitioner and as an individual in recovery from binge eating disorder and food addiction on topics that addressed obsessive eating, weight control, spiritual recovery, and emotional recovery pulled in interests from around the globe. I learned implementing goals and steps increases the success in the release of obsessive eating. I also learned sharing stories without the academia flare was more palatable.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I now consistently hear and see positive results in my practice and from my blog and/or emails from a wide population seeking to release obsessive eating. I found with the goal to contribute steps to build a strong recovery foundation successes increased. True, it didn’t all happen at once, patients and blog readers confessed there were some ups and downs along the way. I’ve found that the 10 steps below can help any food addict increase their ability to release weight and/or make peace with their obsessive eating—whether it’s a new issue or struggles long lived. 

 Here are my 10 ways to increase the release of obsessive eating:

1.    Remove all forms of sugar from your diet with the exception of fruit for breakfast and a fruit included in the metabolic boost later in the day. Sugar is not just an empty calorie; its effect on the food addict is much more insidious. Obese patients think it’s about the calories, but it has nothing to do with the calories. It’s a poison by itself.  Forget the fact that obesity and diabetes has skyrocketed in America in the past 30 year and it’s responsible for diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, and many common cancers, it also triggers obsessive eating and thinking.

2.    Exercise daily at least 30 minutes. It’s important to exercise because it helps maintain a healthy body, reduce stress, and improves blood circulation. More importantly, it’s important to exercise because exercising is healthy. It’s proven to help peoples overall moods, and their health, such as boosting their immune system. Exercise has also been known to keep your mind healthy as well. Get outside and connect with nature and your Higher Source while you move.

3.    Sleep seven to eight hours each night. Sleep is crucial for overall health. This is because sleep helps your body to recover and rejuvenate from your days stressors, ridding your body of fatigues. It’s your body’s chance to recharge and heal. The only way to rejuvenate all of our organs is to rest the body and sleep. Our brains need time to process all of the information it receives daily. Some even say it’s your time to clear your mind and connect with the Divine Source.

4.    Write a daily gratitude journal. Journal writing is very personal and very intimate. It allows you to tap into your inner feelings and figure out what’s going on for you in your life. Journal writing takes many forms. I, myself, especially enjoy “diary writing,” which for the most part involves the unstructured, chronological recording of the extent of a person’s life. With that, I write daily gratitude posts listing all the blessings and treasure that unfold in daily life.

5.    Meditate daily. Meditation is the act of embracing an open and inviting clear space in the mind. It’s the discovery of a corner of the mind, a quietness within the mind, a sanctuary, a resting place—paradise in the mind, a place of peace. Meditation is performed in quiet—with no agenda. Some individuals meditate by using one word to concentrate on, while others hum one note, and still others focus on something to look at, such as a cloud or flower or even a spot on the wall. Some will use a mantra, repeating it over and over again. In meditation, we spend some time in the spaciousness of not knowing.

6.    Pray throughout the day. The beauty of prayer is that it’s personal. There’s no right way to pray, and there’s no wrong way—just your way. You can talk, sing, sit in silence, dance, cry, run, embrace nature, hug a baby, kiss a puppy, and/or watch a butterfly swirl around a daffodil—all in the name of prayer. Prayer is powerful. Prayer can change your life anywhere, any time—alone in quiet or in the middle of a room full of people. You can be rich, poor, belong to a church, temple, synagogue, or mosque, or sit alone in a field that stretches out as far as the eye can see. Our higher source is everywhere—within us and around us.

7.    Drink at least eight glasses of water daily. Just as plants and animals need water to survive so do human beings need water to survive and function properly. In fact, humans can’t live without drinking for more than a few days before deterioration and death set in.  About 55% of the female body (60% of the male body) is made up of water with the muscles and the brain about 75% water. Although hydration for survival is of the utmost importance in drinking water, drinking water hydrates your skin and makes you look younger, helps fend off hunger, and helps to combat ailments.  All good reasons to include water in your daily ritual. Hmmm, seems it might be a good idea to add pure water to the system!

8.    Eat three balanced meals (breakfast, lunch, and snack) and one metabolic boost (snack) daily every four to five hours. The best way to begin your food recovery journey is to follow a simple formula of having four meals a day and breaking down each meal according to an easy structure of specific foods: fruit, protein, fat, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and whole grains (see weightcontroltherapy.com for detailed menu and food suggestions). I've found, too, that at the beginning, the most workable way to do this is to commit to your food plan prior to the start of your day, rather than merely hoping you'll arrive at this optimal arrangement by random eating.

9.    Hug an adult, child, baby, and/or your fury child several times a day every day. According to the famous family therapist, Virginia Satir, “We need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs a day for maintenance, and twelve hugs a day for growth.”  In the right setting and situation a hug is the best natural therapy for all kinds of conditions, a sign of approval and affection. It is such a simple uncomplicated gesture that speaks more to the other than actual words.  A simple hug—a universal cure available to all of us—is positive energy transmitted in its simplest and maybe oldest form.  

10.   Laugh, giggle, and smile. A simple smile goes a long way. It immediately puts a person at ease and often is returned spontaneously. Giggles and laughter, like a smile has medicinal benefits. When I think of the benefits of laughter Norman Cousins immediately comes to mind. About 30 years ago Cousins was diagnosed with an incurable and fatal spinal column illness with no known cause or cure. Against the advice of his doctors, he checked out of the hospital and secluded himself in his home reading humorous stories and watching movies that brought tears of laughter hour upon hour for a month only to return to the hospital with marked improvement—no sign of the disease whatsoever.

     Since then, research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-reaching including it can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness, and even increase immunity. So, laugh yourself to health—beat down compulsive eating with a good belly laugh. Think of little kids when they laugh so hard they fall down. Like smiling and kindness, laughter is contagious. Imagine if everyone partakes what kind of world we’d be in. Now go giggle....

Photos Taken by: Dr. Lisa
http://weightcontroltherapy.com/

Dieting on Empty: The Problem with Diet Mentality

I recently helped my patient Melinda sift through her New Year’s resolution, coaching her on diet mentality and how to make healthier food choices to quiet her binge eating. She is a voracious dieter, never trusting herself to put together an eating-for life formula to compliment her lifestyle. In short, she had all the makings of another New Year’s resolution diet fiasco—or so I thought.

Melinda didn’t stick with her diets, and after scrutinizing her timeline of expectation—lose two pounds a week on a 1300-a-day calorie diet—I can understand why.

It looked nothing like my own food-for-life formula, which offers a satisfying mix of balanced meals, exercise, meditation and prayer from an assortment of personal experience and quality recommendations from  patients I’ve spent years curating and tweaking for 23 years.

Melinda’s diet left her hungry, weak, and craving sugary and salty foods.

My patient could have groomed her assortment of diet rituals, but why should she? Like many patients, she was open to try a new diet with the promise of quick weight loss, but not especially determined to stay on it, and her initial experience failed to deliver the promised weight loss in a more efficient way.  The time and emotional energy she’d invested in it hadn’t convinced her on the positive results, and she wasn’t motivated on investing more time.

One of the greatest strengths of investing in balanced meals, exercise, meditation, and prayer is its ability to free the binge eater from diet mentality. For some it’s a way of making peace with years of on-and-off dieting and to release weight for once. For others, it’s a new full-proof formula encouraging food as fuel, exercise as energy booster, meditation and prayer to feed the spiritual hunger.

What  jumping off the diet-merry-go-around amounts to—weight loss, self empowerment, spiritual food, peace of mind—depends entirely on what lifestyle balance you prescribe.

Yes, embarking on clean eating and spiritual practice also poses problems for some. Learning to “feel” emotions rather than eat them requires a closer look at daily issues that were numbed by food. Jumping on a balance life  style formula is like winning the lotto—only instead of getting a pile of green cash—the winner pays taxes, learns of “family and friends” she didn’t know she had and the expectancy to clear everyone’s debt. The experience might be a pleasant one, but it takes work.

This initial flood of emotions and the effort required to address it stands between the dieter and the healthy formula it needs to make peace with diet mentality.

The list of successful patients continues to grow.

For dieters to turn over a new relationship with food, emotions, and experience a thriving, successful lifestyle, they must do the legwork. They must begin with a balanced breakfast, lunch, metabolic boost, and dinner; incorporate with daily exercise, meditation and prayer.

But no doubt people will lack the perseverance to trust that their body and emotions will respond. People lose patience when rapid weight loss doesn’t come, instead a slow and steady change of body, mind and spirit evolves over time.

Next New Year there will be no need of a New Year’s resolution promising to eat a meager 1300 calories only to give up due to starvation. Instead, Melinda will ring in the New Year with a svelte body and a clear mind and have no need to make a resolution at all because she adopted a lifelong plan that she can live with one day at a time.

Photo Taken By: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego

Chemical Reactions To Food

I’m often asked how I went from 234 pounds to 139 pounds after years of bouncing up and down with my weight. Let’s be clear, I was the yo yo dieter of the year from early adolescents through my thirties. My weight and my relationship with food were a constant struggle for me until I began to understand my chemical reaction to certain foods.

After years of trial and error, research, clinical knowledge, weight loss, and stability of weight, I became a gentler spirit once I accepted sugar, flour and wheat caused me great distress. I learned highly processed, high fat, high sugar foods immediately produced a massive headache, irritability, and an all out food binge.

These days, I follow a simple formula breaking down each meal with structure (four meals a day each consisting of specific foods: fruit, protein, fat, vegetables, low fat dairy, and whole grains) and commitment rather than eating randomly. I also include daily exercise such as walking or biking along the ocean and try and live my life as a prayer.

No, I am certainly not perfect (and realize I sound as if this is so easy), and life is not always bliss. I would love to eat any food I want, but I realize the consequences aren’t worth the indulgence. I do get mad at life when I’m tired and work too many hours, or when I have to turn down an invitation to an event because the atmosphere won’t be conducive to my bringing my own foods, or when everyone will be eating a delectable piece of chocolate cake and I’ll be stuck eating a piece of fruit with yogurt.

But, no matter what life struggles present themselves, I know that binge eating simply isn’t an option—nor are sugar, flour, or wheat on my food list, because I understand that the sleeping giant of addiction within will wake, and chaos will return with a vengeance if I ingest any of these. I compare my situation to that of a heroin addict, who can't have just a smidgen of heroin; he must abstain completely to stay clean.

When I began to follow these specific guidelines—even when I didn’t want to—my negative mind chatter quieted, and for the first time I could become still, and hear God’s whispers. I connected to my inner strengths, and a spiritual understanding emerged in me. I found inner peace, God, and love. Love for myself, others, and the universe evolved inside me.

Not only was I calmer, kinder, and less self-centered, but I began to perceive a bigger picture. I saw food as real and not real: God’s food and man’s food. I chose food of the earth, sea, and air rather than processed and boxed. I turned to God, and the "noise" in my head ceased, and the addiction flattened. These days, I eat to live rather than live to eat. Healthful foods and a refreshed faith are now my fuel to retain optimal health and weight.


Photo Taken By:  Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego



Revising Your Path to Releasing Your Obsession with Food…

Don’t you wish someone could tell you how close you are to finally resolving your weight issues and food obsession? Don’t you wish someone could say, “If you just keep at it and understand why you eat you’re certain to stop binge eating?”

Or even if it would be heartbreaking, wouldn’t it be nice to be told that you’re wasting your time going on yet another diet, so that you could move on, try another tack, or simply eat foods that bring you personal pleasure and release your obsession from food, with no other aim in mind?

I’ve counseled thousands of patients and spoke to large groups over the years. Even though I may not able to personally work with each of them, I can usually say something definitive about what their next steps should be. I often see when their diet is wasting their time.

No matter where you are on your own food path, it’s smart to periodically take stock of where you’re headed, and revise your eating plan as necessary. Here are some steps you can take to do just that.

Recognizing Yo Yo Dieting Isn’t Working

I’m often asked how I went from overweight to normal weight after years of bouncing up and down with my weight. Let’s be clear, I was the yo yo dieter of the year from early adolescents through my thirties. My weight and my relationship with food were a constant struggle for me until I began to understand my chemical reaction to certain foods. After years of trial and error, research, clinical knowledge, weight loss, and stability of weight, I recognized eating whole, natural foods free of sugar, flour, and wheat restored my moods and I instantly became calm and centered.

Eat Three Meals and One Half-Meal Daily

These days, I follow a simple formula breaking down each meal with structure (four meals a day each consisting of specific foods: fruit, protein, fat, vegetables, low fat dairy, and whole grains) and commitment rather than eating randomly. I also include daily exercise such as walking or biking along the ocean and try and live my life as a prayer.

Progress Not Perfection

No, I am certainly not perfect (and realize I sound as if this is so easy), and life is not always bliss. I would love to eat any food I want, but I realize the consequences aren’t worth the indulgence. I do get mad at life when I’m tired and work too many hours, or when I have to turn down an invitation to an event because the atmosphere won’t be conducive to my bringing my own foods, or when everyone will be eating a delectable piece of chocolate cake and I’ll be stuck eating a piece of fruit with yogurt. But, no matter what life struggles present themselves, I know that binge eating simply isn’t an option—nor are sugar, flour, or wheat on my food list, because I understand that the sleeping giant of addiction within will wake, and chaos will return with a vengeance if I ingest any of these. I compare my situation to that of a heroin addict, who can't have just a smidgeon of heroin; he must abstain completely to stay clean.

Make Room—A Higher Source Is Present

When I began to follow these specific guidelines—even when I didn’t want to—my negative mind chatter quieted, and for the first time I could become still, and hear God’s whispers. I connected to my inner strengths, and a spiritual understanding emerged in me. I found inner peace, God, and love. Love for myself, others, and the universe evolved inside me.

Not only was I calmer, kinder, and less self-centered, but I began to perceive a bigger picture. I saw food as real and not real: God’s food and man’s food. I chose food of the earth, sea, and air rather than processed and boxed. I turned to God, and the "noise" in my head ceased, and the addiction flattened. These days, I eat to live rather than live to eat. Healthful foods and a refreshed faith are now my fuel to retain optimal health and weight.

Last Thoughts

At the very beginning of this blog, I suggested it’s possible to release your obsession from food addiction when you let go of diet mentality if someone can lead the journey or point you in the right direction.

Here’s a little piece of hope: If your immediate thought was, I can’t live with obsessive eating any longer, then you are much closer to making peace with your food addiction than you might think. The battle is much more chemically imbalanced than you might think. Those who can’t be dissuaded are much more likely to reach their goals, regardless of the path they originally chose.


Photo by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego