Although food had been a family issue since childhood and I always felt a few pounds over weight, food never became an obsessive issue for me until a few years ago. As I was doing energy work and creating The Path, I found myself in a constant state of ravenous hungry. I had to eat because I was always starving and the result was that I gained about 20 pounds. So the obsession became how to eat so I wouldn’t gain any more weight. I was always experimenting with different ways to eat in an attempt to manage the starving feelings. I even created a new term: ravenosity. I tried a detox strategy, I went glutton free and then tried a high protein diet, but I never lost the ravenosity and I never lost weight. About one year ago I used an app to count my calories and I started to run every day. Using the app felt good because I never felt guilty when I ate and I learned one very important lesson: if I’m managing my intake to 1100 calories each day, then I will never eat a bite of food that I don’t enjoy. This was a good experiment; however after six months of faithfully following this plan, I only lost three pounds and never satisfied my hunger.
I started to see food as torture rather than one of the glorious pleasures of alive. Also taunting me was the fact that I’m a really good baker. Baking is a creative outlet for me and I love what I bake. I couldn’t understand why I would be given a gift that tortured me so. Every time I meditated, I saw myself joyfully baking and realized that I had to change my perspective drastically.
A few weeks ago I started a new strategy and it’s simple: Eat what you love. Eat these foods intentionally. Enjoy every bite. Then the magic happened. I am no longer starving and I no longer spend all day managing my food intake.
Over the years I have done numerous Path sessions on my weight. These sessions aligned me with the following affirmations:
1) I have a blissful relationship with my body
2) Food is joy
It was only because I am now aligned with these statements that I discovered joyful eating. When one is eating joyfully, all guilt associated with eating is by definition gone. So my strategy for anyone who comes to see me with weight issues is to align them with these two affirmations. And once that alignment is complete, then eating goes from being a tortuous daily obsession to one of the most joyful activities that exists. Because I am no longer starving, I’m eating less and I can see that weight loss will be a natural outcome.
I was explaining this philosophy to my friend. I mentioned that one of my first joyful eating moments was drinking hot chocolate. She repeated back what I said and she said, “so therefore when you are hungry you drink a packet of hot chocolate, and that gets rid of your hunger.” And I emphatically said “no! What I did was poor cocoa and milk into a pot adding sugar as needed. While that was cooking, I whipped homemade whipped cream. Then I added a shot of Kahlua to the mixture. Too me, cocoa prepared that way is nectar of the Gods and how can nectar of the Gods be anything but good for you?
My life keeps teaching me lessons. It took me a few years to figure out this one. The answer often shatters belief systems that are held by my family and community. But now I know that the answer to any issue is “choose joy”. And simply stated being enlightened means to choose joy every moment of every day.
I’ll keep you posted with my measurable results!
