BOO! OK, not that scary, but I bet many of you are feeling the approaching anxiety of the Halloween candy coming into the house this Friday, if you haven’t already stocked up for the kids coming to the door soon. You may also be wondering how you can keep your kids from making themselves sick for the next few days after Halloween. Sound familiar?
Well, as far as yourself, a lot of the fear of the incoming candy comes from a feeling of being out of control, or not being able to control yourself. This year, instead of focusing on trying to be in control (how often has that worked for you?), consider being in charge, or being able to make your own decisions of what you are going to eat. When you make a decision to eat a piece of candy, you get to actually enjoy it and not feel guilty, thereby eliminating the compulsion to binge on the candy.
Another thing to consider is that you may be approaching Halloween candy as if it is the only time of the year that you can have it. With Intuitive Eating, you can eat the things you really want when you have the inkling to do so. While it may feel like you wouldn’t stop eating if you allow yourself to have that forbidden food, you may be surprised to find out that one or two pieces is enough and you really enjoy it.
As for children, you are the parent and you set up your own rules, but I have my own opinion (I know, big shock). When children are allowed to keep their natural eating instincts from birth (e.g., not put on a feeding schedule, no cleaning the plate, bribing with food, or telling them they can’t be hungry because it isn’t dinner time), you will be amazed how they will self-regulate their consumption of candy. Research has shown that when a child has a food restricted, that’s what they want the most.
If you suspect your child is rules-driven and eating based on pleasing you, it isn’t too late. And please do not beat yourself up. Parents often raise their children the way they were raised and they don’t know any different. You are just doing what you think is best. For help with dealing with your children’s eating habits, I recommend you look up the author Ellyn Satter at Amazon.com. She is an expert in this area.
Until next month, keep the ghosts and goblins away and have fun!
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Hurry! Don't Miss This List Building Mega Event
My friend Stephanie Mulac has allowed me to give you a "Personal Invitation" to become her JV Partner in the 3rd Annual:
Self Improvement Gifts "3" List-Building Mega Event!
Ready to jump in? Full details at: http://www.selfimprovementgifts3.com/contributor.php?id=158
If you offer a product and/or service in the Self Improvement area, you will want to take part in this event! Many of the typical giveaways are geared more towards the internet marketing niche so I love Stephanie’s events that focus on self-improvement. I was very successful in acquiring many wonderful new subscribers to my newsletter in the last event which allows me to spread the word even more about intuitive eating!
Now is the perfect time to take advantage of becoming a contributor and add your free gift to this incredible event! And my favorite part – it costs nothing to participate!
Stephanie knows giveaways - someone even called her the "Giveaway Queen" the other day, and I totally agree!
It all starts here – get full details and join as a contributor today:
http://www.selfimprovementgifts3.com/contributor.php?id=158
If you know someone who you think may also benefit from this event, please pass this info on to them as well.
Act now, the launch is November 1st! http://www.selfimprovementgifts3.com/contributor.php?id=158
I can’t wait for the launch and I hope you will be there with me!
And don’t worry, everyone who receives this newsletter will be notified when the giveaway is live. There will be tons of exciting and valuable gifts for you to choose from!
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My colleague Julia Di Nardo is a psychotherapist I met a while back with whom I share very similar philosophies and mission. I was excited to meet a psychotherapist who was working with people on emotional eating using an intuitive eating approach. She ran this article in her newsletter a couple months ago and I asked if I could share it with my readers. It has many great ideas, so please click through at the bottom to get the rest of the article and keep it handy when you are journaling!
As a therapist, I often suggest to clients that they explore their feelings and thoughts by keeping a journal. I recommend choosing something that you’ll enjoy using and that you’ll stick to: a beautiful notebook, small enough to carry with you will make it easy to write whenever the inspiration hits you.
Alternatively, you could also use any of the free online journals out there (www.inboxjournal.com, www.my-diary.org) or free blogs (www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com) – just be sure to set your entries to “private” so the whole world doesn’t see what you’ve written! The online diaries also send email reminders to write in them – I love built-in nagging!
The trick to making a journal work for you is knowing what to write in it. Sometimes clients ask for a bit of direction with this process. Here are some journaling ideas if you’re not sure where to start:
- Write down what happened today and how you felt about it.
- Write a letter to a person you are angry with. Say everything you are feeling and wish you had the nerve to say.
- Draw a picture of the person you wrote the letter to in #2.
- Make a list of all the things you are grateful for. List all the big things, all the small things, and everything in between that you can think of.
- Circle the three most important things on the list you made in #4. Write a paragraph for each, expressing your appreciation to the person who had the most influence over it. If possible, turn this into an actual letter and send it.
- Make a list of the things that you feel upset about right now. Write down as many as you can think of until you can’t think of any more. Then choose the top five.
- For each of the top five things you identified in #6, list 10 things you can do to gain control of the situation. Circle the top three from each list.
- Make a timeline that represents your life. Fill it in with the most significant events that have shaped you: your early years, your teen years, and each decade that has followed. Draw pictures or icons next to the most important events. Use crayons or markers if you wish.
- Write a few pages about your feelings about the timeline.
- Describe how your life would be different if __________ had or had not happened.
Here are some examples:
a. If your parents had divorced
b. If your parents had remained married
c. If your parents had been married
d. If your mother hadn’t passed away
e. If you hadn’t moved to
f. If you had gone to college
g. If you hadn’t gone to college
h. If you had gone to college
i. If you had never met
j. If you hadn’t broken up with
- Make a list of all the things you wish you could do before your life is over.
- Make a list of the things no one knows about you.
- Write about your first year in high school.
- Write about what life was like before you became a parent.
- Write about what you wish you had known before you became a parent.
- Make a list of the things you still want to learn about being a parent.
For the rest of this article and a printable PDF version of this article, please go to this link:
http://www.julia-dinardo.com/images/uploads/
August_2008.pdf
© 2008 Julia Di Nardo
Julia Di Nardo, M.A. is a psychotherapist in private practice in the Montreal area, with a specialty in helping people overcome emotional eating. Visit her website at www.healthehunger.com to learn more about how you can become the happiest and healthiest you've ever been. Be sure to sign up for your free report, "5 Steps to Getting Control of Emotional Eating" and receive a complimentary subscription to her monthly newsletter, "Food for Thought," to get more great articles like this one.
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October 2008
 My friend Joanie Winberg of the National Association of Divorce for Women is having a fabulous event that you don’t want to miss if you are a divorced woman looking for fun, friendship and some YOU time. Please check it out, she is even having a contest to give away a cruise to a friend! (I wish you could pick me but I’m not divorced, does a previous divorce count? :) There are some incredible women speaking and I know that Joanie will pull out all the stops! Here are the details:
Are you single again and looking for a Fresh Start for 2009?
Join Joanie Winberg, your host for the Wellness Getaway Cruise for Single-Again Women on February 6-9, 2009
Early Babe Booking Rate!
Book before November 15 and SAVE $50 per person.
Hurry! Final payment due Friday, November 21, 2008.
Click here for more information.
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Last week I sent out an email announcing Love Your Body Day. In celebration, I am making my "4 Weeks to a New You, Feel Great Inside & Out Without Dieting, Endless Exercise or Burnout!" self-study program available for half price for a short time.
Love Your Body Day - Special Offer
Welcome to the 4 Weeks to a New You! Program!
Feel great inside & out without dieting, endless exercise or burnout!
 Are you and your body on speaking terms? If not, you will learn the secrets for reclaiming control over your eating habits, learn to eat guilt free, discover steps for achieving Physical Wealth and simple ways to eliminate stress and anxiety from your life!
This Is For Women Who...
- Want to start living now instead of waiting until they lose weight and get in shape.
- Are chronic dieters who've tried and failed and can't take diets anymore.
- Made repeated attempts to stick to an exercise program and haven't been successful.
- Want to learn how to eat on the run and still lost weight and get in shape.
- Constantly find themselves overwhelmed, stressed out and frustrated.
4 Weeks to a New You
Purchase now and have immediate access to:
- Four audios (45 - 60 per class) in mp3 downloadable format
- 32 page 4 Weeks to a New You workbook in PDF downloadable format
- Special Bonus! - 30 minute coaching session with Gillian Hood-Gabrielson
Here are the four audio classes you will receive. Click the link below for full details:
- 5 Steps to Breaking Out of Diet Prison
- 6 Steps to Guilt Free Eating
- Roadmap to Sanity in a Stressed-Out World
- Achieving Physical Wealth
For full details and to get your copy go to the Healthier Outcomes blog here: http://www.healthieroutcomes.com/blog/?p=57
Questions? Feel free to email me at Gillian@HealthierOutcomes.com
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- From Erma Bombeck: “Remember all the women on the Titanic who waved off
dessert”.
- Banishing tempting goodies may not be the best way to keep from eating them, researchers in Belgium said. Full story: http://www.arcamax.com/arcapub/s-411256-228196
- Chronic dieters, who try to manage their weight and food intake, tend to eat more snacks if they're packaged in 100-calorie packs, U.S. researchers said. Full story: http://www.arcamax.com/healthtips/s-399606-362317
- From the move "Ratatouille":
Reporter to "evil" food critic:”And you're thin for someone who
likes food”.
Food Critic: “I don't ‘like’ food, I love it. If I don't love it, I don't -- swallow.”
http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/
animatedfilms/ratatouille/
- “A waist is a terrible thing to mind.” Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, authors of “Intuitive Eating”
- “People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode. They never ‘arrive’. Sometimes, language, such as the term ‘personal mastery’, creates a misleading sense of definiteness, of black and white. But personal mastery is not something you possess. It is a process. It is a lifelong discipline. People with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, their growth areas. Paradoxical? Only for those who do not see that ‘the journey is the reward’.” Peter Senge, in “The 5th Discipline”
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Happy Halloween!
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