One Thing I'm Learning....

October 26, 2011

When I first began this journey a couple of years ago, I was so earnest about it, and

I find that I can still get caught up in that. I still get confused about the differences between what my "mind" wants and what my "body" wants. I think this is where most of my growth and learning is right now. Little by little I discovering this subtle difference. This morning I made my favorite Cinnamon french toast...I love it because it's sweet and gooey and tastes fantastic (I think "sweet" might be the operate word, here). However, within 5 minutes of finishing up I felt "stoned," as I often do when I eat flour-based products. I'm still negotiating this and trying to really embody GR's explanation of the different kinds of deprivation - that of depriving

yourself of something yummy to eat, and that of depriving yourself of feeling well. I find more and more that I'm choosing not to deprive myself of feeling well and that's a slow but steady blessing arising in my life!

October 26, 2011

Wow, , what a great realization! And I found this post so helpful, as I am still early in the process and hadn't put it into terms of depriving myself of feeling well, which I think I sometimes do. However, I'm still learning to tune in to how I feel after I eat, let alone how I feel before I eat!

When I first began this journey a couple of years ago, I was so earnest about it, and

I find that I can still get caught up in that. I still get confused about the differences between what my "mind" wants and what my "body" wants. I think this is where most of my growth and learning is right now. Little by little I discovering this subtle difference. This morning I made my favorite Cinnamon french toast...I love it because it's sweet and gooey and tastes fantastic (I think "sweet" might be the operate word, here). However, within 5 minutes of finishing up I felt "stoned," as I often do when I eat flour-based products. I'm still negotiating this and trying to really embody GR's explanation of the different kinds of deprivation - that of depriving

yourself of something yummy to eat, and that of depriving yourself of feeling well. I find more and more that I'm choosing not to deprive myself of feeling well and that's a slow but steady blessing arising in my life!

October 26, 2011

That's the crux of the matter, isn't it-- depriving yourself of something yummy

to eat versus depriving yourself of feeling well. I've been struggling with

this lately, as I love good chocolate, but chocolate gives me migraines,

especially if I'm not getting enough sleep and/or it's that time of the month.

But whereas eating chocolate is a pleasure that only lasts a few minutes at

most, the migraine can last for days. It really truly ought to be not worth it

to eat chocolate, and I will go sometimes for months without eating it, but

then, somehow, I " forget " what it does to me, and go back to eating chocolate,

and having really lousy headaches. I would think that I would have learned my

lesson by now, but I haven't.....

The same thing goes with salty foods that make me dizzy and make it so that I

don't hear very well out of my right ear......

Tilley

>

> When I first

> began this journey a couple of years ago, I was so earnest about it, and I

find that I can still get caught up in that. I still get confused

> about the differences between what my " mind " wants and what my " body "

> wants. I think this is where most of my growth and learning is right

> now. Little by little I discovering this subtle difference. This

> morning I made my favorite Cinnamon french toast...I love it because

> it's sweet and gooey and tastes fantastic (I think " sweet " might be the

> operate word, here). However, within 5 minutes of finishing up I felt

> " stoned, " as I often do when I eat flour-based products. I'm still

> negotiating this and trying to really embody GR's explanation of the

> different kinds of deprivation - that of depriving yourself of something yummy

to eat, and that of depriving yourself of

> feeling well. I find more and more that I'm choosing not to deprive

> myself of feeling well and that's a slow but steady blessing arising in

> my life!

>

October 26, 2011

,

That's a really great way to frame it! I am going to try that on myself, depriving myself of feeling good.

This is something I'm also really working on lately... sweets often make me feel horrible (but not always, which makes decisions harder!) But I don't want to have a rule against eating them because that will make me rebel and eat them even more... but I also don't want to eat them too often!

Recently I'm getting better at not eating them because of how they make me feel and not because " sweets are bad for you " but it's certainly an uphill battle!

Abby

When I first began this journey a couple of years ago, I was so earnest about it, and

I find that I can still get caught up in that. I still get confused about the differences between what my " mind " wants and what my " body " wants. I think this is where most of my growth and learning is right now. Little by little I discovering this subtle difference. This morning I made my favorite Cinnamon french toast...I love it because it's sweet and gooey and tastes fantastic (I think " sweet " might be the operate word, here). However, within 5 minutes of finishing up I felt " stoned, " as I often do when I eat flour-based products. I'm still negotiating this and trying to really embody GR's explanation of the different kinds of deprivation - that of depriving

yourself of something yummy to eat, and that of depriving yourself of feeling well. I find more and more that I'm choosing not to deprive myself of feeling well and that's a slow but steady blessing arising in my life!

October 27, 2011

I think this is true, but it can get into a tricky area if we're not careful. I think your example is the perfect way to apply it. You know that chocolate causes migraines and you can usually respect that and refrain from chocolate without feeling like external dictates are guiding your actions (and thus eventually triggering rebellion). However, we can also take it too far and start restricting in the name of "feeling well" in the future. For instance, won't we feel better without that extra 10 pounds? So, we should really start restricting dessert. Or, isn't it true that eating a lot of cruciferous vegetables is a protective against cancer and won't we feel better if we didn't develop cancer? So, let's make sure we get X amount every day. These things are not necessarily false, it's just that they're too abstract and separate ourselves from how our body

feels and the signals it is sending us right now. So, I think the "feeling well" has to be a fairly immediate bodily signal, like getting migraines or feeling dizzy, etc., rather than a more removed or abstract concept.

Anyway, just hashing out a train of thought for myself. .

Mimi

Subject: Re: One Thing I'm Learning....To: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 3:20 PM

That's the crux of the matter, isn't it-- depriving yourself of something yummy to eat versus depriving yourself of feeling well. I've been struggling with this lately, as I love good chocolate, but chocolate gives me migraines, especially if I'm not getting enough sleep and/or it's that time of the month. But whereas eating chocolate is a pleasure that only lasts a few minutes at most, the migraine can last for days. It really truly ought to be not worth it to eat chocolate, and I will go sometimes for months without eating it, but then, somehow, I "forget" what it does to me, and go back to eating chocolate, and having really lousy headaches. I would think that I would have learned my lesson by now, but I haven't.....The same thing goes with salty foods that make me dizzy and make it so that I don't hear very well out of my right ear......Tilley

October 27, 2011

I think this is true, but it can get into a tricky area if we're not careful. I think your example is the perfect way to apply it. You know that chocolate causes migraines and you can usually respect that and refrain from chocolate without feeling like external dictates are guiding your actions (and thus eventually triggering rebellion). However, we can also take it too far and start restricting in the name of "feeling well" in the future. For instance, won't we feel better without that extra 10 pounds? So, we should really start restricting dessert. Or, isn't it true that eating a lot of cruciferous vegetables is a protective against cancer and won't we feel better if we didn't develop cancer? So, let's make sure we get X amount every day. These things are not necessarily false, it's just that they're too abstract and separate ourselves from how our body

feels and the signals it is sending us right now. So, I think the "feeling well" has to be a fairly immediate bodily signal, like getting migraines or feeling dizzy, etc., rather than a more removed or abstract concept.

Anyway, just hashing out a train of thought for myself. .

Mimi

Subject: Re: One Thing I'm Learning....To: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 3:20 PM

That's the crux of the matter, isn't it-- depriving yourself of something yummy to eat versus depriving yourself of feeling well. I've been struggling with this lately, as I love good chocolate, but chocolate gives me migraines, especially if I'm not getting enough sleep and/or it's that time of the month. But whereas eating chocolate is a pleasure that only lasts a few minutes at most, the migraine can last for days. It really truly ought to be not worth it to eat chocolate, and I will go sometimes for months without eating it, but then, somehow, I "forget" what it does to me, and go back to eating chocolate, and having really lousy headaches. I would think that I would have learned my lesson by now, but I haven't.....The same thing goes with salty foods that make me dizzy and make it so that I don't hear very well out of my right ear......Tilley

October 27, 2011

Thanks for following that train of thought, and I'm not sure where the line is.

You're right about the distant future being too abstract, but migraines here and

now sure are immediate. I've spent two of the last three weeks mostly with

migraines and whatever chocolate I was eating was definitely not worth that.

>

> Subject: Re: One Thing I'm Learning....

> To: IntuitiveEating_Support

> Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 3:20 PM

>

> That's the crux of the matter, isn't it-- depriving yourself of something

yummy to eat versus depriving yourself of feeling well. I've been struggling

with this lately, as I love good chocolate, but chocolate gives me migraines,

especially if I'm not getting enough sleep and/or it's that time of the month.

But whereas eating chocolate is a pleasure that only lasts a few minutes at

most, the migraine can last for days. It really truly ought to be not worth it

to eat chocolate, and I will go sometimes for months without eating it, but

then, somehow, I " forget " what it does to me, and go back to eating chocolate,

and having really lousy headaches. I would think that I would have learned my

lesson by now, but I haven't.....

>

> The same thing goes with salty foods that make me dizzy and make it so that I

don't hear very well out of my right ear......

>

> Tilley

>

October 27, 2011