Learning The Guidelines....

Just as I promised on my last post, I will post some of the things I am using to help me on this journey.

First, Learn a Relaxation Technique. What ever relaxes you will work. Meditate, take pictures, dance, watch a movie, sing.... what ever you do, try finding something that relaxes you enough, so you won't feel pressured to eat as an escape to your problems.

Visualizing myself the way I want to look. One of the things I do over and over again is visualizing myself thin, happy, and free of problems. The key here is not only visualizing myself the way I want to look, but I try to feel the way I want to feel. There are times when I am feeling anxious or upset, and I stop.... take a deep breath.... and tell myself, "I did it! It happened, I don't have a problem anymore!" And for some reason, this works, it calms me down. And I linger on the feeling and enjoy that sensation of accomplishment.

Third, even when I give in, I will tell myself, "It's okay, I am not giving up, just taking a break." But most important, as I eat, I tell myself "Hum, this food is not so good after all. It is not as good as I thought. I don't need food to feel better. Food is just to nourish me, and it does not solve any problems." I keep teaching myself that food has nothing to do with emotions, and even if it felt like a lie at the beginning, now when I say it....it feels like the most tender truth.

I eat what I want, but I try to get small portions. I was used to eating larger portions, and what i am doing now is eating what I want in smaller quantities. For example, today I did not have time to go home for Lunch, and I did not have time to seat in a restaurant. So I went to McDonald's. I did not go to the Drive Thru, I went inside and I chose a mini meal with diet coke. I could not finish the fries, it was too much. I felt satisfied with so little....

Eat slowly. If I eat too fast I will probably eat more, not only because it takes about 20 minutes for my body to tell my brain I am full, but because I will be reinforcing my compulsive eating if I eat fast.

Enjoy what I eat. I want to enjoy what I eat, the smell and the taste. If I am eating something I don't want just because I want to lose weight, I will probably sabotage my weight loss. When I am eating, I observe my food, eat in small pieces and enjoy each bite. I try to taste all the ingredients in the food that I like. I made an omelet last night, and I used 1 egg + 1 egg white. I smelled it before I ate, and I tried to enjoy the cheese I had in, the onions, the parsley, the bell pepper.... so by the time I finished, I was fully satisfied because I had treat myself with something I like that was not reinforcing my food addiction.

Pay attention to the reasons why I eat. There are different reasons why I eat, maybe you have too. I eat because I am bored, stressed, worried. I do not eat when I am sad though. Sometimes we can eat because we are used to. An example is when you are at work and a co-worker brings in a treat for everyone, and you will eat just because it's something you like and because it is there. One of the things you could do is tell yourself. "I don't need to eat this now. It is here, and even if I come back and there is none left, I can always go to the store and buy it." Telling yourself you can buy it later, will help you learn to control the impulse to eat. When you don't give in to the urge to eat that treat thinking you can have at any time you want, it will actually make you don't want to buy it later. You are learning that food is not scarce, and you can easily say no to a tempting food.

Don't deny myself of the foods I like. If I have any forbidden foods, guess what will I do? I will binge on them. So, no food is out of limits, but I watch how much of it I am eating. It is a good idea not to mix 2 of the foods you know you shouldn't be eating. Moreover, you should eat small portions of these types of food, or chose to eat them on the weekends on larger amounts. As long as you don't use this as an excuse to binge on the foods you know make you lose control, you are okay to eat them. But if you notice that eating them make you lose control, these are the foods you need to work on harder with the cognition intervention, and maybe even learn how to use some behavioral intervention. (I will tell you about the behavioral intervention on the next post)

Eat low calories snacks that I enjoy, such as Popsicles. With this hot weather, the fruit Popsicles are great, just 25 to 30 calories each. They make a great dessert as well. When I feel like a chocolate Popsicle, I usually eat the weight watcher big fudges.

Bubble gum is a great way to control my urge to snack. I saw on Biggest Loser that Extra gums are great, just 5 calories, but I don't like Extra that much, so I actually chew on Juicy Fruit gums, its just 10 calories a stick and I feel more satisfied with a juicy fruit than with an Extra gum.

Patience. Patience, Patience. I know this will take time, so I am not putting myself down because I am not losing weight fast.

Learn how to cook your favorite foods. I am cooking so much more now and enjoying so much. I bought a few new appliances, and I am preparing healthier foods now. It tastes better and I know what is in it. This way I can plan my day and eat the foods I like.

Remember the good reasons why I want to lose weight. I don't tell myself that I want to lose weight because I look disgusting, or because I can't find clothe, or any other negative reason, I tell myself I need to lose weight because I will feel great, I will have many clothe to wear, it will be easier to move around, I will have more energy to go about my day, I will sleep better, or even that I will look better and feel more confident to find romance. Never get negative thought stuck in your head, that is why you got into this mess in the first place. Start being kind to yourself.

And of course, I use the OCD technique when I am feeling an uncontrollable urge to binge and eat something I know it would be bad for my health.

So, these are a few guidelines I am using that are helping me control this food addiction. I hope it helps you guys as much as it is helping me. And if anyone has any good ideas to incorporate to these guidelines, please feel free to share!

See you soon,
Love always....
Me