Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

Oooo, and that reptilian coping brain.  I don't have one of those either.  The primitive, instinctive brain function shared by reptiles...sneaky snakes.  Nuh huh.  

The reptiles coping behavior to defend themselves reacting like a lizard or gator. Remember a dog will look down when he's done wrong but a snake will look you right in the eye.  I have far more in common with my dog and nothing to share with the sneaky snake or lizard or alligator. 

A dog has a window into your soul.  They share your pain, know when you're crying, their eyes show concern and compassion.  Reptiles don't do that, they'll just bite you when the chips are down and slither back into their hidey holes.

I don't give two hoots about the reptilian coping brain.  Reptiles are unable to overcome their addiction to HFCS because of their lizard brains. They don't have a spirit and everyone knows that all dogs go to heaven...except those that can't stop biting people. One day we won't be bothered with those sneaky snakes.

Choices and consequences.  I choose to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. One day at time.  It's all fun, really.  Laughter through the tears is one my favorite emotions.  So just try and bite me, sneaky snake.  I'll get my dog after you.  

Much Love.  Bye Felicias.  

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

How many Therapy Snakes have you seen on a leash going into the hospital or care center.  How many Search and Rescue snakes do you know.  Me neither.  They don't exist. Reptilian brains don't have a good bedside manner.  

Therapy,  Search and Rescue, and Military Soldiers... Dogs. Everything goes to the dogs. 

I'm going to have another Dog Day Afternoon and a tea party for my clan. There will tiddlywinks of every kind,  extra special good things and my dog is going, too. 

 

[MeadowLily]

I'm a Texas Two-Stepper. I used to go out honky-tonkin' with my BFF's. There was one smoke-filled honky-tonk that everyone would hit on the weekends.  I wore some really pretty leather/fringed tops and skirts with my cowboy boots and danced all night long. I ordered soda waters with a lemon/lime twist.  No one ever bothered me and if someone bought me a drink, I gave it away.  I was always proud when someone would report back to any member of my family...that girl goes out dancin' and never touches a drop of alcohol.  Truth.

I've been to work parties and events and didn't let that kind of pressure ruin me. But vices are all the same.  There was that HFCS vice.  You can drive safely while you're all jacked up on HFCS and you're only hurting yourself but I did damage with that vice, too.

I don't understand peer pressure to drink alcohol but I know it's everywhere.  You have to take the bull by the horns and stand strong.  Take full responsibility for yourself in every situation when your back is against the wall and someone is trying to force a drink down your throat or coming at you with some dessert you don't want.  

Dancing for hours and hours is great exercise.  All movement counts.  I suppose that was out-exercising a binge eating/food addiction back then.  But there comes a time when that no longer works...along with dieting.

Find exercise that you enjoy and do all of it on your own terms. Get dressed and walk out your front door at some speed above completely still.  You don't have to feel the need to put the word "just" in front of your accomplishments as in I "just" walked down the road for an hour and I wasn't even walking fast.  

Comparison is the thief of joy.  Teddy R. said that.  

  

[MeadowLily]

Here one, there one but felt everywhere, out of the ordinary. Alrighty, then. A 4.8  in Hoback.  http://www.isthisthingon.org/Yellowstone/daythumbs.php

 

[MeadowLily]

We've always had our share of celebrity sightings over the years but yesterday's was the best.  Just what the good medicine naturopath ordered.  No name dropping or GPS coordinates but it was paleomazing. 

 

[MeadowLily]

Fear is contagious.  So is feeling sorry for yourself.  Don't go there.  

If you've been around small children, they're so impressionable.  One gets sick and pretty soon they're all getting sick...the yuck, I need a bucket kind of sick.  I've observed it. It's the same way with adults.  Fear and woe is contagious, especially amongst family members.  Heck-a-toot, even Therapy Dogs become overwhelmed with sadness and it makes them sick, too.  They have to be removed from overly sad situations and given time to recover.

Dogs have an excellent bedside manner.  We can learn alot from them. Snap out of it. There are times you have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and snap out of it.  No one can do it for you. It's important not to spread fear onto others when they're not feeling well. 

You'll never know how strong you really are until it really is the only choice you have.  And sometimes, when you're feeling so low that if you were sitting on a dime there would still be enough room to swing your feet,  the universe UP and hands you a gift.  A glimmer of hope or a messenger who pulls you right on UP out of the muck and mire.  

It's happened to me when I've least expected it over the years. Surprises of the best kind.  There are always signs along the highway if you keep your eyes wide open.  Smoke signals and signs and they give you the gumption to carry on and pull every ounce of strength back together to form a strong internal combustion engine of motivation and momentum.

Momentum is a gift.  Don't turn your back on momentum, it's been handed to you. It will carry you all of the way through on your journey.  Momentum has a window of time,  it may not ever come back to you in the same way again.  There will be times of refreshing and renewal when you're ready to throw the towel in.  It's always darkest before the dawn and mercy is new every morning. 

I cherish momentum.  Recovery from anything is going to take longer than 30 days.  

 

[MeadowLily]

Don't bring the offenders into your house or vehicle.  It is as simple as that.   

You can't control the breakrooms in every office that are filled with food triggers and coworkers making plans for daily afternoon food explosions.  It's raining taco chips and potato chips are sweeping them off their feet in there. 

Do not bring the offenders into your personal space and environment.  When others do that, Houston, you have to have a plan and strategy to deal with the mind warp.

This happened to me over the past 10 days.  Those frickity frick frick oreos were all over my house.  Stashed by beds and armchairs,  all of the flavors including the new lemon ones.  They were really marshing my mellow.   

Company was melancholy and oreos were plugging up all of the dark holes.  Those sneaky snakes were staring directly into my eyes. The reptilian coping brain skills won't help you.  You have to be smarter than the snake. 

That's when I draw upon my spirit.  Endless, timeless and stronger than my body or mind. My muscles aren't as strong as my spirit.   In the beginning,  I couldn't even do this for myself. I did it in remembrance of ancestors who've gone before me. Then about 21 days into a Whole 30, my momentum came and my own motivation.  You're in for a real treat if it happens for you. 

It's never let me down.  Oreos will always let me down and mess with my head, but I had to go back to the well and draw upon my spirit.   Today, I'm back in biz.  There are still oreo remnants all over the place.  It was oreo's last stand.

So I went to the gas station and I looked at a small box of your typical movie candy.  One small box.  One movie box has 9 servings @14 grams of sugar each.  Everyone eats the entire box and that comes to a whopping boatload of 126 grams of sugar. That's some serious T2 in the making there and huge rationalization that your pancreas can handle this much sugar.  The pancreas has a lifespan, when it's over it's over.

Don't bring the offenders home.  It's that simple.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

My abby normal relationship with food was something I've always given you credit for.

RIP, Gene. 

 

 

[Hutlifr]

On 25 Aug 2016 at 10:18 PM, MeadowLily said:

Lardons are a thing.  Who knew.   The more you know. 

Oh oui oui... Des lardons partout...

 

like croutons... But I don't do those anymore...

[MeadowLily]

“...a woman not yet seen, but whose perfume accumulates on the horizon like a storm cloud.” 
― Fernand Dumont 

 Pardon me, Miss,  What's that fragrance you're wearing?   Ooooo,  Des Lardons partout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6io3wj3pa_E

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

 

Wake up each morning and know that life is great and bacon is awesome. 

Love is in the air, or is that the bacon?  

 

Kevin calls his kids bacon bits. 

[MeadowLily]

I haven't been inside of a movie theater in over a couple of years.  It would be returning to the scene of the crime.  Popcorn and gummy bears and diet sodas.

There's too many yapping audience members that are not terriers and way too many extra special refreshments smuggled in from Bubba's Smoky BBQ. I no longer chomp on sugarless gum because I could never stop at 4 pieces.  It was usually the entire package, blowing bubbles and it lost all of its flavor and lovin' feelin'  in just a few secs.   Maw...you don't have that entire package of gum in your mouth do you, looks like you have the mumps.

The binge eater is not concerned with the quality of food, it's the quantity of food they're after.. The binge eater lives for that over-stuffed full to the brim feeling...usually until you're bursting. I have strategies that I use instead of polishing everything off so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow.  

There's always tomorrow and another streetcar named desire coming around the corner. 

No sugarless gum.  No sugar free or regular sodas.  No HFCS offenders and trickery triggers. I've watched alot of ancient movies with the folkaronies.  Westerns, mostly.  Gunsmoke.  Festus and Miss Kitty. I did cement the number of sugar grams in the avg. small box of movie candy into my memory.  126 grams of sugar.

I might go to the movies again, someday. I can rent them at home and drink my delicate green cold brewed tea with a BAS and bacon and avocado dressing. I can bawl my eyes out in the privacy of home. Ya still got it, George.  Movies and music are two of my alternative healers.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Quid Pro Quo.

Give and Take.  A favor for a favor.  Something for Something. 

A binge eating disorder traded in for something of value.  My life. A sacrifice...not burnt offerings but an exchange.

Binge Eating is a chronic disease of food rewards.  I no longer reward myself with food. 

It is important to break the cycles of binge eating.  Every day I set my will and choose not to reward myself with food or go on thrill eating sprees.  I've made enough festivals with food and they were record turnout events.

You know when you have truly forgiven someone for a wrong.  You no longer mention what they've done to you in great detail and with automatic recall.  You do not pull it out of your hat on a whim or splash it across the headlines.  

When we set our will and choose to forgive someone,  it's done.  You mean it with everything within your being.  You no longer throw it in their face every time you talk to them or in passing with others.   That's true forgiveness.   Like it never ever happened.

A wise man once told me that if you have total recall of every single detail and how you were wronged...saying I forgive you but I will never forget...that ain't forgiveness.  That's imaginary forgiveness. True forgiveness lets all of the circumstances fade away.  Then there can be kisses and hugs all around. 

I wish I had a life reset along with the head reset and food reset.  I wish that I did not have to learn these hard lessons but that's imaginary. It did happen and I don't know if I have forgiven myself but I understand and appreciate what other binge eaters are going through.   

Much Love.  Bye Felicias. 

[MeadowLily]

Thirty days are not enough to break all of the cycles of binge eating.  The main perpetuating factor for me was dieting.  Dieting and binge eating. 

The only way to break this cycle is to stop dieting.  So I did.

Everyone's reasons for wanting change are different.  Change for almost everyone is not possible without a healthy level of self-motivation. No one can do it for you.  You have to want a change.

My positive food management plan has motivation and momentum. When the benefits of change outweigh the benefits of remaining where you are - you're on your way.  

I have a pain list that I review every single day.   When the benefits of change outweigh the consequences and pain of binge eating,  you're making headway. 

You have to be honest with yourself about what you really want out of your life so you can tip the balance in favor of recovery. 

I don't log my food or keep a diary.  That is a throwback to dieting, logging food, calories, carbs, macros, micros and mackerels.  If I continued to log my food, I would've found myself judging, tweaking or dialing carbs/calories down.

I've based all of my changes on creating health rather than dieting or "losing" weight.  

Day by day, month by month....you will find the food you want the most is the food that makes you feel absolutely the best.   Your body-mind-spirit is the only tracker you'll ever need.  It is far superior to any app or tracker. 

Now, I am consistent but I used to fly by the seat of my pants.  Binge Eating is an all or nothing, chronic disease of food rewards.  I no longer reward myself with food.  That may sound like "nothing" but it's actually not.   All or nothing is a binge eating cycle that I had to break. 

All = thrill eating, food festivals, record turnout events

Nothing = dieting which causes more binge eating

Abby Normal was my mode of eating. It messed with everything and I regret it.  That inner-critical voice is connected to your overall  health and well being.

We are the things we tell ourselves. Our thoughts and feelings are so connected to our physical health.  Sustaining recovery from binge eating hinges on new thought patterns.

Preventative vs. Reactive.  That's the key.   Staying ALERT.  

The mind can be a bully and a stubborn mule.  It's not going to give up the ghost that easily.  It wants you to coast on your laurels so it can run the show. Again.  

The ghosts of binge eating through Christmas past, every holiday and birthday..or every day for months and years gone by.  The mind wants you to numb yourself back out with food so it doesn't have to feel anything.  A constant, distraction coping mechanism.

Like a watchman on the wall,  I have to remain ALERT.  I watch for smoke signals on the horizon and sound the alarm when I see that herd of yellow-bellied lily livered sapsuckers coming my way.

One day,  I hope my new normal will overwrite those abby normal binge eating files in my brain.

[MeadowLily]

My bonne amie is vegan and sought BER (binge eating recovery) before me.  We're similar in many ways and share the same trickery trigger.  HFCS and we ate all the things. Gummy in nature. We could polish off bags together flying down the highway.  Eating our way through several states, laughing on those gummy bear roadtrips. 

Bonne amie is consistent and remains at an optimum setpoint for years now.  But something has happened and years of carbs are no longer working.  Rice, beans, noodles, mostly raw vege, nutmilks and sprouted bread.  No eggs, dairy, raw whole nuts, fish or vegan desserts. No paleo desserts and treats either. Minimal fruit.  No additional good dietary fats.  No Chia pudding, yuck, I need a bucket.  

I surmise that hormones are longing for a re-sync. High quality proteins lead to deeper sleep and are essential for keeping the hunger hormones, leptin and ghrelin, balanced.  Quality proteins fill and sate you 24/7. 

Increased quality protein ushers more tryptophan into the brain and that UPs sleep neurotransmitters.  Without any protein,  your hormones are going to have one heckuva time trying to re-sync themselves. 

Nuts are fats and grains are carbs.  When you mix nuts and grains together it does not create a protein. That is imaginary. Grains and beans do not make proteins, they make more carbs. 

We cannot change anyone.  A bonne amie convinced against their will is of the same opinion still. Things are starting to fall apart.  Joints, back pain and skin conditions that will not go away. Wild horses couldn't drag bonne amie away from a vegan lifestyle and proteins are not happening.

We don't bop each other over the head with our differences. Bonne amie will keep eating croutons on a BAS and I'll opt for bacon bits or meatballs on mine. 

We both agree and say no to diet foods.  No sugar free versions and in my case no fat-free versions either. No artificial sweetners.  We both like to spice up our foods with ginger, mustard, hot pepper flakes, dill and all kinds of herbs.  We're consistent with 3 meals aday and both of us no longer binge or go thrill eating. 

True friendships are a judgment free zone.  Bonne amie is lovely.  Sometimes you just have to shut the hail UP to keep the peace.  I know secretly watching me eat, bonne amie is thinking...yuck, I need a bucket. 

[MeadowLily]

My BER included throwing out all my dieting books.  It's my nature to sneak a peek at the grocery store or while sitting in waiting rooms.  You can't find one woman's magazine without a new diet.  It's part of the bait and hook. I know.  I know.

There's a brand new one out there called the flat belly diet.  It's a bunch of hooey and malarky. It involves making muffins out of white flour, chocolate chips and egg beaters and brown sugar and white sugar.  The coupe deville of this recipe is the safflower oil. 

I was ROFL and snickering so hard.  Who in the world believes this gives you a flat belly or reduces internal inflammation.  It walks like a duck and quacks like a pastry muffin.  There's always another streetcar and diet coming around the corner.  That was one of my Grandmaw's favorite sayings and I'm carrying it forward.  

Paw says we have to use our heads besides something to part our ears with.  I'm trying. 

[MeadowLily]

Most food addicts like myself don't want to surrender to support. Who likes to admit that self-reliance has failed them. Food addicts need a process for breaking the denial of food addiction.

It is the nature of all addictions that they become stronger and at some particular time the food addict can no longer cope by their own self-will or reasoning power.  

Few real food addicts can abstain from food triggers for any real length of time.  Family and friends are not enough and they become worn out with pulling someone up. 

The withdrawal aspects are quite different for specific foods for individuals.  As with a Whole 30, some do not experience any detox symptoms at all.  Others do.  There are so many similarities. Hidden illnesses and food allergies can show themselves when a food addict eliminates their common binge foods or triggers.  Some people require hospitalization.

On the average, food addicts need at least 3-6 months to make it to a place of stability. Some may take a year or more.  As with every kind of addiction, surrendering to support and structure is crucial for recovery.

In the later stages of food addiction, people give up hope.  They resign themselves to a life of binge eating. But as the alcoholic or chain smoker or food addict (maybe all 3 at one time) has to be willing to admit that they cannot drink like others...there are usually many, many attempts to control the addictions alone.  Pursuing it and trying to manage it alone can result in the delusion that we are like other people.

The alcoholic cannot reward themselves with drinks.  The later stages food addict cannot reward themselves with those strong trigger foods.  This is where structure and support comes in to save the day.  Relapsing when you have another chronic disease like T1 or T2 diabetes, a heart condition or anything else compounds the food addiction.

Confronting food addiction denial is the first step on the pathway to recovery.  If you're exactly where you were one year ago today or two years ago today,  seek structure and support.  Sit down with someone Face-to-Face.   

This is the Hitching Post.  I hitch my post to the universe and face the music.  The half has not been told how much it helps me.  In the midst of every celebration, there's always another steetcar named desire coming around the corner but I'm not hopping on anymore.  

[MeadowLily]

Love is in the air, or is that the bacon? Dogs know.  

Cesar says that dogs live in the present and they're always present.  We should be, too.  And here it is, dogs know what we're saying but I always knew that.  

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/08/31/scientists-confirm-your-dog-knows-what-youre-saying.html

 I think it's paleomazing that dogs know what we are saying in every language on the face of the earth. Swiss, French, Okie, Arkie, and cowboy twang.  That's because dogs have a spirit and they're all heart. 

Dogs are forgiving.  They are the most forgiving of all creatures.  Much more so than a human.  

But humans have to draw the line in the sand with bodily or any kind of harm.  When we choose to forgive, we can do that from afar for any kind of those abuses. I've watched those programs where the family member goes into a mind warp and starts identifying with the perp.  That's taking forgiveness to an abby normal degree.  

We don't ever have to lay down and become the carpet, letting others walk all over the top of us in the name of forgiveness.  Heck-a-toot,  noooo.  Not for any kind of abuse.  You choose to forgive but do not go back for kisses and hugs all around.

The kind of forgiveness for all of the usual suspects - our family members who've borrowed thousands of dollars and did not use it for bills but went on a vacay with it.  Or your BFF who secretly wore all of your clothes while you were roommates and left them in poor condition. Your coworker who took credit for all of your ideas.  Those types of things....you know the difference.

We do not go down to the jailhouse and rock around the clock with the perps. We don't send them flowers or bake them pastries.  We can forgive and move on.  Bye Felicia, foreva.

Forgiveness sets you free from the chains and bonds that have left you stuck in the past. Dogs forgive but even dogs steer clear of strangers who've been mean to them or they sound the alarm and bark nonstop.  Sounding the alarm like a watchman on the wall.  Dogs do not go back to mean people for hugs and kisses.  Dogs are good judges of character.   They know things on so many levels. 

Dogs have a Crap0Meter that is off the charts. You don't want me going near there...okey dokey, I won't.  You sense a bear is nearby,  alrighty then.  Let's pack it UP and hook it UP and head for the house. 

Dogs are good medicine.  Your kids need a dog. You need a dog.  They're filled with nothing but so worth it moments and dog kisses and love.  They'll keep your mind and hands busy while you're going through sugar withdrawal.  You can run and jump together.   Cesar is the dog whisperer and I'm the squirrel whisperer. 

 

[MeadowLily]

They say that treatments for obesity and binge eating don't hold UP in the long run.  The estimates and stats for long term success are very pessimistic.  All of it really marshes my mellow but I have to face the music.  This is why I fight for my life and face the adversity. Don't bring the offenders into your space and let's give it hail, today.  There's always hope.  Go against the grain and prove the stats wrong.  She believed she could.  So she did. 

  "There is really no good treatment for obesity," maintains Christopher Fairburn, MD, a psychiatrist and eating disorders expert at the University of Oxford. "Surgery... it's pretty radical. Drug treatments help about 5 percent of people, but you have to keep taking them indefinitely. And behavioral therapies...everyone relapses," he says. "The psychology of it is very interesting," Fairburn adds. "Losing weight is quite easy. But people can only keep it up for a while, then they tend to just throw in the towel."

[MeadowLily]

"Let's be honest, we did not get here from eating too many carrots" and it was just one of those things that stuck...

Hutlifr, that's some truth UP in there.  You have much to share about balance.  I've traveled across Europe but that's my takeaway.  They're not running around like they're being chased by a bear, they're not eating like there's only a 10-minute lunch hour, or sleeping with one eye open all of the time.  There's balance, balance, balance.

And that is why they are long-lived peoples with whopping boatloads of happy awareness. They may not have millions in the bank but they are content.  When you're around them they shine and give off that aura of a peaceful, easy feelin'.  

Your peoples are not going to put themselves on a self-imposed gerbil wheel schedule that drives them right into the ground.  Fruit and nuts did not get me into the hole I dug for myself. That's why I can consistently add them into my positive food management plan and they don't drive me back to the brink of relapse.  They never got me there in the first place. Along with those carrots and sweet potatoes and squashes and everything with a beautiful orange pigment. 

Balance, Hutlifr.    That's the ticket.  

   

 

 

[MeadowLily]

As they sayeth, Whole 30 giveth and subset rules taketh away. 

You can't displease everyone so you've got to please yourself.  My positive food management plan does not include dialed down subset rules.  Thrill eating giveth and dieting taketh away.  

So let's put the pedal to the metal and keep tooling along until your breakthrough comes.  At a rock-steady pace, your breakthrough will come.  

 

[MeadowLily]

"But people can only keep it up for a while, then they tend to just throw in the towel."

They say we'll just throw in the towel and go back out on the old binge eating trail, leaving miles and miles of multi-crap wrappers behind us and eating our way through all of our vacays and starting over and over and over again. But they  underestimated my personality by several thousand degrees. 

I'm not starting over.

They say      And behavioral therapies...everyone relapses" 

They sayeth but it doeth not taketh my momentum and motivation away. It only lights a fire under my hindend.  Come on, baby, Light My Fire.   

She believed she could.  So she did.  

[MeadowLily]

I could tell you how my ancestors survived through long, harsh winters.  They made as many food preps as they could during the summer months and yet, there was not enough. It was a lifelong struggle.

Bear and I know what expert wildlife go for after their hunt.  Instinct drives them for survival. Offal may be awful for some but not the wildlife or Bear.  The nutrients in tallow are far different from refined vege oils. 

Dialed down subset rules may get you by for awhile but there will be a food reckoning.  The body is bent on survival.  If you're not concerned about the internal affects then focus on the outward consequences.   You'll end up with twigs for hair and maybe as bald as a billiard cube.

Your hair is indicator of what's going on with your thyroid.  Dial everything down to a zero-mum and you'll have mini-mum hair on your head. Think gentle changes for the permanent WIN.