Help
Sign In
exploration
June 2009 
What did you learn about yourself yesterday?
Posted on Feb 24th, 2008
by 
WonderlandAlli
WonderlandAlli
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for February 24, 2008:
That vegan macrobiotics and yoga create a stillness and harmony in me, and that it can easily be smashed back into an unbalanced state with one surprise trip to Dairy Queen. Now if I could just get myself to stay vegan for more than 2 days without giving into the the milky matriarch of instant graitification... I know that when I allow myself to be depressed and become controlled by it, fast, fatty, instant, and sweet foods like soft serve ice cream quickly swoop in and try to fix it. Stupid ego and its replacing sadness with snacks... But its just one more thing I will conquer in my new awareness.
Access: Public
You said…. “I know that when I allow myself to be depressed and become controlled by it, fast, fatty, instant, and sweet foods like soft serve ice cream quickly swoop in and try to fix it.”
Knowing just that, you can easily - in a relaxed state - move yourself back to a point in time where perhaps you were given an ice cream cone to nullify some traumatic experience (which doesn't have to be much, really, when you're little). If you should find that time, talk to the little girl there and let her know that she no longer needs that crutch when something (even making a commitment to a different eating style) is creating a bit of stress in life. Tell her what reality you now want to pursue, and show her the pay-off (whatever your reason for wanting to be “vegan” might be). You'll be pleasantly surpirsed to find how much more willpower you will have regarding your choice of diet. ~ :-) ~
Oh Gem, it really goes back so far. Everything from my mom giving me waffle fries to keep me quiet during mall shopping trips, to getting an Icee after my shots to calm me down, to Granny giving me ice cream every night that I stayed at her house, and to the depression in jr high when I gained fity pounds in about 6-8 months because I'd come home and drink half a dozen pepsis and a couple snack cakes, and sometimes more. I can't really go back to one instance, but its been used as a soother throughout my life. My sister had the same issue with food. We were snackers. This is why I've gotten into the yoga, lately I've been trying to rely on daily yoga to relax myself so I don't get stressed out, and I try to use controlled breathing when I want to snack from boredom and know darn well I'm not actually hungry.
I really relate to you, WonderlandAlli. And thanks to Gemstar for help on this. I'm also changing my diet. The realization that much of my mood swinging and headaches is related to my diet seems so obvious now. Not to mention the emotional part of eating. WonderlandAlli and Gemstar, will you be my friends? This is my first day on Gaia and I don't have any friends yet. Not sure how to make friends, but sure that I like you both.
Hi Trish: I sent you an invite - so if you go to your mail (near top of screen toward the right) you'll find the link to click to get to your mailbox, and I've left some instructions on how to invite people in the invitation mail. (Sorry, Alli - not trying to hi-jack your comments).
And Alli - since you know all of this now (about emotional eating), you can now change the program. A good way to help do two really good things for yourself at once is when you feel like you're hungry, many times it is actually thirst - most of us never drink enough water. So go have a good tall glass of cool water, and while sipping it slowly, affirm to yourself that you're now developing better habits, that your goal is to have a happier, healthier body, and you now realize that you can become relaxed without needing to eat food and the water is sufficient to fill that need. What this does is create an anchor in the subconscious mind. So if you repeat this process several times for a few days, you'll find yourself automatically gravitating toward water, which is reasonable quantities is good for you, and you'll have broken the emotional eating habit for life.
~~ {*.*} ~~
Oh Geez Gem, I am the Goddess of Off Topic, post what you gotta post! :D
It's funny you mention thirst, I was just having a conversation with my friend Wendy at her place tonight and we were discussing health and thirst because she's starting a diet and a cleanse. Some uber-limiting lots-of-pills thing she has her heart set on.
One of the things I am doing is making sure I have one meal a day that is just wonderful and savory, that I can really appreciate. Then I'm happy enough to eat simple meals for the rest of the day. Today it was a sandwhich made of curried paneer and bok choy which I had for breakfast (Just the right amount of currie, the right amount of salty…). Have you see my food blog? I post macro (or at least macro-ish) recipes there and any really good ones I create. (Like the paneer and bok choy sammich) It's http://wonderlandall.blogspot.com
So breakfast wasn't vegan, but you know, I had been thinking to myself, I'm macro. Not a PETA-junkie. So as long as I'm living a Big Life (Macro Bio) and feeling full, a small amount of dairy once in a while is ok. (It's just very often a trigger food for diet failure for me, but paneer I seem to be able to have without going nuts because its mixed with so many flavors when I prepare it, its more like a tofu than a cheese for me). Meanwhile conventional cheese needs to go, as it triggers me and I can't comprehend the word “enough” when I have it. I already replace milk with soy milk (I prefer the taste now actually, despite soy milk requiring taste aquisition) and I try to avoid ice cream. But… I get weak. Oh well, gotta keep on truckin, right? Can't give up for a flat tire!
Besides, I still have half a sack of paneer in the freezer… >.> Someone's gotta eat it!
one of my favorite sayings is progress over perfection, it really helps me. my hope is that sharing it with you will be a gift.
namaste,shirley
I like that! I really do!
then i am really glad that i was present here.
wishing all the best to you each and everyday!