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/

Is It Time To  Clear Your Space?

I flicked on the light, plugged in my fountain and oil lamp, opened the blinds to let the natural light in and rolled up my sleeves prepared to dig into my chore ahead.  At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve I resolved to clear out clutter in my office and open my work space to rekindle the spiritual energy my office is known for. I spent an entire day dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing window ledges and shredding patient files older than seven years so I’d have space for the stack of files behind my chair, heaped on my desk and tucked in the credenza. I had my work cut out for me.

 
As I moved in silence, from one task to the next, memories of patients swirled in my mind. My heart ached as I came across several patients who died over the years. We bonded—swapped eating disorder war stories—and grew in spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery.
 

When I happened upon Martin’s file (anonymous name), caressing his folder as if he were still present, I remembered the first session of psychotherapy and hypnosis, how trapped he’d become in his body. Martin carried two hundred extra pounds on his 5’10” frame. Without opening his file, all our past conversations bubbled up within me. Like many of my patients, Martin believed therapy with me was his last strand of hope to release his obsession with food.

We began our session with the standard questions I ask during the collection of data phase when first working with a patient. Once I had gathered the medical, psychological, family, and work history I moved into personal belief systems to uncover hidden blocks and buried issues with regards to his eating disorder. I asked Martin, “Do you believe you are responsible for your own recovery? Is it the trigger food(s), or your lack of spiritual connection, or both, that prevent you from recovery? Can your recovery take precedence over an obsession with and addiction to the idea of weight loss? Are you ready to clear out the clutter in your thought process?

 
We discussed different approaches to treating his disordered eating and obesity. I suggested a program of recovery can include but need not be limited to: psychotherapy, a Twelve-Step program, an `anonymous’ support group, the advice of a nutritionist experienced in food addiction, and a prayer group—or a church, synagogue, or mosque group. And the list goes on. I asked, “Which components from this list attract your attention?” He opted for therapy, a nutritionist, and a prayer group affiliated with his church and Twelve-Step program addressing his compulsive eating.

It’s my belief if you’re not in peak condition, mentally, physically, spiritually—if you’re not “right” with your surroundings, and comfortable in your own skin, your full potential will be stunted. Martin believed this to be true, that in order to open his full potential he needed to tap into any and all help available and clear out the clutter in his thought process.

Many of us undergo serious health consequences as a result of food abuse. Initially Martin’s recovery from compulsive eating was out of a medical necessity—raging cholesterol—which led him to seek a doctor of addiction psychology for food addiction. 

 

Most of society doesn’t understand or accept food addiction as a real condition. In fact, people tend to be more understanding when an alcoholic doesn’t drink because so many people don’t drink today, either because they have a problem with alcohol, take medication, or they don’t want to drink and drive. Moreover, alcoholism is seen as an addiction; whereas, this isn't the case with food addiction.

Although Martin managed to reach and maintain a healthy weight, he died at 57 from congestive heart failure, which most likely resulted from lifelong poor lifestyle habits. Sometimes patients go past the point of no return and their bodies can’t repair. Perhaps this was the case for Martin.

Today, my office sparkles and the space I so needed is restored. Although I shredded a mountain of files, the stories will forever remain etched in my heart. As I closed the blinds, shut the lights, unplugged the fountain and oil lamp, I took one last look back at my now squeaky clean quaint space I so love to work in, and smiled at the thought of Martin so excited when he was able to once again tie his shoes, ride a bike, cross his legs, and button the bottom buttons of his shirt. Yes, he died perhaps earlier than his time, but he died after years of getting his life back—no longer imprisoned by his weight. It’s never too late to clear out the clutter and reach for the stars, even if you only touch the moon.

Photos by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego

The Law of Higher Potential Rather Than New Year's Resolution to Release Weight and Obsessions with Food

Are you starting another diet this year? Did you last year make a new year’s resolution to lose weight once and for all? How about committing to a healthier lifestyle? Did you promise yourself you would exercise or better yet you bought a fancy machine to work off excess weight starting January 1, 2012? We all make promises and  yet resolutions are soon forgotten. What can you do this New Year to make it different?

Every January my phone rings off the hook, patients want an appointment to discuss their eating and/ or weight issues—to make a permanent change once and for all. Although most start with the best of intentions, the most common thing people do is make New Year’s resolutions that fall to the wayside after a few short days or at best a few months. Perhaps the answer is to stop making New Year’s resolutions and tap into the law of Higher potential—and insist and demand the remedy from the Source in order to live your plan every day regardless of what time of the year it is.

How many times have you tried to let go of your excess weight and/or obsessions with food promising a New Year's resolution? I bet you can’t even count. If you tapped into this blog I'm guessing you had an urgent need to resolve a continuous battle with commitments for positive change.

Do you believe in the law of higher potential? Or were you raised not to ask for things from God (or whatever you call your Higher Source) but rather to serve; that it's selfish to think of yourself and ask for you rather than think of others first.

With Catholic upbringing l felt guilty if I asked and expected to receive—that instead it's better to give and serve. I still believe to serve is an ultimate goal but also that the law of my higher potential is my inheritance and I can have that too. My relationship with my Higher Source has evolved over the years. I ask, expect, and receive.

Ask God for what you want and expect to get it. Persistence, with a strong-held purpose for what you desire, is the path. If you want to be thin naturally and free from obsessing about your weight or certain foods then ask for it. As certain as the sun will rise and set I'm certain you can free yourself of compulsive eating and weight issues once and for all—if you ask and expect. Don’t just whine and cry about your misfortune in this life, how you've been saddled with obesity or eating issues. Poor me isn’t going to cut it. Rise above and turn it over to the hands of God—expect and believe—and you will be lifted from your misery.

Each January we're bombarded with diet and weight loss products and pummeled with magazines, billboards, movie stars, and the television pushing the message thin is in. Is it? Take Margareta, a beautiful girl who could easily have been a movie star. At one time, not so long ago, she had the body, looks, and intelligence, but today her lovely curves are replaced with extra pounds as a result of diet mentality and faulty thinking. When she was thin she thought she was fat and obsessed over food and her weight until this belief came to fruition.  She expected and believed she was fat. She binged mostly and restricted occasionally. She thought about foods she’d indulge in every wakened moment. Sometimes she refrained but mostly she downed sugary gooey foods followed by salty, fried carbohydrates. She over-exercised daily in hopes of losing weight. Although she wasn’t obese she was overweight by 30 pounds. In her mind she felt 100 pounds overweight. Why? Because she couldn't see herself as she was but only as she thought she was. And to her, she was fat, frumpy, and dumb.

Many who struggle with the obsession of food and weight are like Margarita suffocating by their own hands. She didn't believe in her beauty and that a Higher Energy would lift her burdens.  Like many of us, she white-knuckled her way to her current weight.

Margarita has a history of being either too thin or too heavy and rarely in the middle. She didn't trust the natural foods God provided to fuel her and give her strength. She feared foods. She feared eating. She feared a “normal” weight because her life revolved around bingeing and dieting. What would life be like if she had to live in the now and get off the diet merry-go-round? In her mind she found relief jumping on the diet wagon after a cycle of binge eating. To her, food represented fat. We discussed eating healthy meals every four to five hours and eliminate foods that triggered her negative thinking and prompted her cravings. We talked about the power of her mind to connect with her Higher Potential. At first, she was apprehensive at the thought of setting positive health intentions and trust in the law of higher potential, but something clicked and change took hold. Her body returned to a healthy weight and diet mentality was a thought of the past.

I don’t mean to simplify the answer. Coming to terms with compulsive eating takes work. Where do we put the trust first: God, self and then good food. What is good food? No doubt to eat real foods that don't trigger compulsive eating is an excellent start place. Simple carbohydrates may trigger obsessive thoughts about food. Should you remove these foods first or call upon God first? Can you reach a Higher Source—your law of higher potential—while in the throes of eating addictively? Turn to God first and let him carry you.

Think of the Footprints:

A man asked, “Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.” The Lord replied, “My precious, precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Turning back to you, I ask, how many times have you tried to let go of your excess weight and obsessions with food as a New Year's resolution?  You picked this blog for a reason. You are searching for the answer to what feels like a life-long problem. You have an urgent need. Like Margarita, you may have it in mind to lose 30 pounds.  You might look at that number and think you have to do it all now. But you don’t. Instead try and pray and insist and demand the remedy from a Higher Energy. Tap into your Source, it’s your inheritance—a gift for you. The Divine Source loves you. God, the law of Higher Potential, is there with you every step of the way. You are His child

And if you have trouble walking along with Him, let him carry you. He is strong and tireless, loving and kind. You are worthy of his love. Give Him a try. What do you have to lose? (No pun intended). You can ask for things from God. It’s okay to serve yourself. It is not selfish to love you and to let your Higher Source love you. Break free from your obsession with food and step into a life with peace and tranquility—your Higher potential.