Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

Gummy bear fruit snacks:

Fruit Juice from Concentrates (Apple, Pear), Corn Syrup, Sugar, Gelatin, Sorbitol, Malic Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Mineral Oil*, Carnauba Wax*, Colors (Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Yellow 5).

[MeadowLily]

Fortified gummy bear vitamins. I've eaten 1/2 bottle in one sitting and the other 1/2 the next day. I couldn't tell any difference between them and the real deal.

When I see them sitting out on others' tables, they cue me back UP and not in a good way.

I simply can't bring these home.

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

If you melt them into a solid block it will save you some time.

[MeadowLily]

 

Extremes beget extremes.

The idea that earthquakes and weather are related dates back to the ancient Greeks. In the 4th century B.C., Aristotle proposed that earthquakes and tremors were caused by wind trapped in underground caves.

We experienced the whackiest winter on record and there's been record heat for a couple of weeks. Extremes.

I surmise that it's somehow related to the total solar eclipse in a few weeks. EQ swarms and compensation movement. Extreme cold and heat. 

I take it back outside early in the morn and later in the evening. The dog days of summer = hot and sultry.

I like to mix La Croix with my booch over ice. Stretch it all out for a very refreshing drink.  I like the milder LaCroix's with less citrus.  I mix Berry booch with Mango or Apricot LaCroix. Ginger booch mixes with Blackberry/Cucumber.  Mango booch mixes well with Mango LaCroix.  Mix it all UP.

 

[MeadowLily]

How do you know it's time to ask for help.

Are you always running and chasing down a food high?

Food calms you down and gives you peace. Food is your constant Happy Place and it makes you feel Ooooo sooo good until it doesn't.

Food is your substance and it's sooo easy to find.

You continue to eat, binge and thrill eat until you've reached the apex of misery. You eat so much in one sitting that you can barely move, so you go lay down on the couch and snooze it off.

You wake back UP and start eating again. Food Addiction is a relentless driver. It will drive you until you eat yourself to death. 

[MeadowLily]

You feel/have anxiety and stress if you cannot get your hands on your trigger foods.

When you finally do, you find relief... instantly.

Food is your lover and friend. Food is your everything. All of your feel good endorphins come from food.

You eat while you read, paint your toes, watch TV, in the bathtub, in the closet at work, hiding in restrooms, in the car, while you're shopping at the grocery store. You sneak food and hide it in your closets. You've always have your own private stash of multi-crap. Far and wide as the eye can see.

Listening to your body cues? Hi-larious.

[MeadowLily]

You have habitually pushed past your satiety boundaries for so long now that you've lost touch with your internal cues and the body's stop signs.

You are always in the Eat Position.

You are a gluten for punishment and on the road again to a lifetime of binge eating, dieting and overresticting. You are forever compensating for your Food Addiction.

Buying bigger clothes, having a wide range of sizes in your closet to accommodate food addiction.

Monday Mindset. Starting a new diet every monday with a narrow way of eating or skipping meals every day. That causes more anxiety and stress for the food addict within hours.

You try the latest hack your life away craze and dial your foods into 2 or 3 items. That leads to more disordered behavior and habitual repeated binges.

1 in 4 are binge eaters.

Are you in that number?

You don't need to wait until you reach your highest weight before you go for help. You don't need to reach rock bottom before you go for help.

That's really risky business. You may wait until it's too late.

[MeadowLily]

Got body cues?  No, you don't because you ate them all away a long time ago.

If you don't have a food addiction you won't know what any of this actually feels like. I hope you don't and never will.

If you do, don't let the ground grow colder.

Food addiction progresses from mild to profound. Just like alcoholism. It doesn't go away on its' own. 

The driver becomes more reckless and relentless. The driving force that takes you all the way down and out. 

[MeadowLily]

Got Food Addiction?

You're always chasing down food for others. Baking for them, shopping and eating. 

Oooo, lookie here, Hon, I bought you a bag of cookies. They eat two and you hide out in the house eating the rest of them.  The bag is gone, so you have to run back to the store and buy another bag to replace it.

You buy a package of cinnamon rolls and pretend it's for the company.  They eat one and you eat the rest. You're back on the road again, chasing down more replacements. Compensating, compensating, compensating and hiding your food addiction.

You lurve to bake. For others and yourself.

All baked goods are made of 3 items.

Flour, Sugar and Fat. They may look different but the results are all the same.

I've made you a cake and a batch of cookies. Please, don't eat it all because I will when you're not looking.

Sneak eating is a thing.

How do you pull yourself back from the brink? You ask for help. You actually sit down with someone Face-To-Face.

They help you create your own positive food management plan with some much needed boundaries.

Reasonable Restriction and not overrestriction.

They will teach you how to amuse yourself with something other than food, food, food.

Intuitive Eating. I can't make promises that you will ever get those normal satiety cues back.

Choices and Consequences.

Satiety cues, I miss you.  Intuitive Eating, we broke up a long time ago and I can't even remember what your face looks like.

 

[MeadowLily]

Running and chasing down another food high?

 

 

[MeadowLily]

If you absolutely love that way of eating zero carbs so much - Why O Why do you need a Cheat Meal or a Cheat Weekend to endure it.

If it is such a good way of eating, why would you need to STOP and take a detour to endure it.

Over-restriction and Dieting = The need for many, many detours and Cheat Meals

[MeadowLily]

Reasonable Restriction = Set some much needed boundaries 

Learning how to plan your meals to get back in the groove

Consistency

Planning helps when you're thinking about sliding back off the goose

Recovery comes first

There's no such thing as an easy recovery or the Finish Line

The alcoholic doesn't plan for Cheat Drinks or Cheat Weekends.  That would result in a total relapse.

The Food Addict doesn't play around with food rewards. I can't bring that trickery triggery into my house or car.

Others may drag it in but I do not. I maintain my boundaries.

You don't use someone's toothbrush or use their mascara. Those are leaverites. Leave 'em right there.

My BFF is always dragging rocks home from her vacations. Her suitcases are loaded to the gills with rocks.  Her husband tells her, those are leaverites. Leave 'em right there and don't you dare put those in your suitcase.  She does it anyway because she's fearless that way.

I took it back outside early this morning. I was thinking about office politics.

I'm not who I used to be.

I'm no longer shoving all of my emotions down with food. Would I be a wild barracuda.

You don't know this new me. I put back my pieces, differently. 

Would I be hail on heels. Maybe. Maybe.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Office politics.  You can't sit this one out. You may want to run and hide but you can't.

You have to find a way of connecting with others without selling your soul.

Office politics can be a dog pack and not a team. Almost 2/3'rds dread going to their job because of the vicious power struggles.

Oooo hails bells, it's that way in a family, too. Everyone is always fighting for their place in the chicken yard. Pecking order. Who's on first.  Who's the greatest of them all.

It's a fact of life and there ain't no way to get around the games that people play everywhere you go. Relationships, work, families. 

You may think it's WINNING to just ignore it but it will come back to bite you in the rearend. Gossip, rumors, jealousy, envy and strife.

You may think you're taking the higher road by ignoring it but you've just got to get in there and play ball.

People spend more time schmoozing than working.

Politics can make or break you. You can't assume that hard work will promote or keep you there. Connection is everything.  Be prepared for the potshots coming across the bow at any time and potential landmines.  Oooo, it is a crapshoot. 

Workplaces have a culture and biases that change all of the time.  Get ready to rumble.

I'm hyperaware now, of that bread sitting over on the countertop looking all sweet and adorable.

You see, I ain't fond of office politics. I think they sux.

You have to have a plan to deal with the mind warp the scale throws at you and office politics. I'm working on it.

Much Love. Tanto Amore. Peace Out. LOL

Thinking about it makes me stressed and I need more music to calm down.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

You're somewhere in the future and you look much better than you look right now.

There's a great cloud of witnesses to help you when you feel like falling back into addiction. They're in your corner, on your side, catapulting you forward.

I did start this thread on Paw's birthday and I didn't see that way back when.

Motivation is a gift. Don't take it for granted. Ever.

Don't be afraid. Step out of your comfort zone. Walk down that road, it's better than blowing smoke.

Forget about all of the drive-by fruitings that crushed your dreams. Playfoods won't bring you happiness.

You're somewhere in the future and you look much better than you look right now.  Everything looks better.

Engage the thinking brain instead of activating fear.

[MeadowLily]

Remember the positive words that have been spoken out over you. Peoples of faith will know what Ima talkin' about.

Use to them wage a war against everything that's fighting against you. WINNING.

[MeadowLily]

People have asked me...have you seen your Paw around. No. I don't want to see him around and I haven't. Not on this plane. No.

But, yesterday, waking UP and before my eyes opened, I saw Paw. He was smiling from ear to ear with his beautiful white teeth. He was happy. Really happy. 

No more pain or sickness. He didn't say anything. Just smiling brightly. 

I think that was to let me know many things. He's alright and the rest of us don't have to be afraid. He's paved the way just like he always did. He'll be there. Waiting.  

[MeadowLily]

Today's Health Minute on the radio said...

People who write down their feelings, goals and vision UP their chances of achieving them by 52%.

Goal journals are hot right now. You don't even need to buy one. Make your own. Pick up a blank journal and personalize it with your dreams, focus, success, joys, boredom beaters, achievement reflections.  Anything that you think is noteworthy.  Daily planning, week in review, workouts, mindset, roadblocks or obstacles.

Create your own positive food management plan and putting pen to paper frees up mental space, giving you more room to achieve your goals.

Writing about your feelings and goals lights UP parts of your brain that helps you laser in on the steps you need to take.

Strike while the griddle is hot and don't edit yourself.  Don't let the inner critic or the outer critics deter you. 

People who write down what they're grateful for are 50% happier than non-journalers.  Train your brain to look for the Happy Awareness every day.

This will trigger more benefits like increased resilience against the naysayers, including yourself, which in turn helps you achieve your goals.

If you build it, they will come.  Happiness, gratitude, joy and positive rewards that have nothing to do with food.

Your dog days will be over.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

 

[MeadowLily]

Post Whole vs. Post Hole - Digging much deeper holes for yourself.

Create your positive food management plan after Whole 30.

If you have diabetes and food addiction, some order out of that chaos must be imposed. Medical intervention.

Having a sense of unfairness and self pity won't fix it.

I'm compliant without complaint.

Your tolerance and indifference for cravings, triggers - our mileage will always vary. 

Intuitive eating doesn't work for me.

Alcoholics feel the same angst and internal struggle and urge towards rationalization as the full blown food addict.

It's difficult for both of us to embrace the concept of NEVER. 

Recovery comes first.

They imagine a life of no margaritas with nachos, no guinness with pizza and no wine with popcorn. Like for real, for REAL giving them up.

The entirety of life is just too huge to contemplate for both of us. The imaginary comfort of food rewards only lasts for 5 minutes or less.

Think long term recovery.

My positive food management plan is filled with gentle changes. Gentle permanent changes for the WIN.

[MeadowLily]

Extremes beget extremes.

If you 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.

I "just" made it through the past 3 years without a full blown food addiction relapse.

I "just" share my experiences and observations in hopes that they will help someone with food addiction like me...

Let me tell you something, Felicias, you got dressed and walked for an hour at some speed above completely still.

 

[MeadowLily]

Extremes beget more extremes.

My spirit is the best part of me. I get a check in my spirit when I'm knocking up against the razor's edge of more extremes.

Run Forest Run.

[MeadowLily]

My spirit is Whole. I can't rely on those other two nitwits. Body and Mind. They've always let me down in the past. That's "just" the hard, cold truth.

Intuition is the philosophy of the mind and conscious reasoning.  I have that. We all do. Our intuition can be wrong, especially when we make snap judgments about others.

Food addiction = the side effects of faulty reasoning and eating while in the unconscious mode.