Disclaimer: I am not an expert in addiction medicine. I’m a registered nurse that has been working in the field of permanent weight loss for the last six years. The work I do now is the result of my own personal experience. I was addicted to food, and as a result, I was overweight since my teens. For decades, with temporary success, I had tried everything I knew to try to turn my weight issue around but I was unsuccessful. I felt trapped and depressed. In my late 40s and early 50s I finally figured out a permanent and peaceful way to lose and maintain a healthy weight. I found a way out of my addiction to food.
Having a more fit and slender body was certainly wonderful, just as I thought it would be, but one other thing I lost was just as meaningful and I had no idea it even existed. This may sound dramatic but it is truly the way I felt. Being released from the compulsion to eat was just as remarkable as finally being at a healthy weight. I had previously felt enslaved to a food habit that I was unable to break for decades. The word “enslaved” is aptly defined as losing your freedom of choice. I mean really, would I ever have freely chosen to be overweight?
So now, I find myself wanting very much to help others who are struggling. Below is a powerful little practice that I would offer to anyone who is addicted as I was.
When a craving hits
-Stop for a moment
-Put your full attention on the feeling the craving is creating in your body.
-Where do you feel it?
-What does it feel like? (Details please)
-Take two or three deep breath‘s while allowing yourself to feel the powerful pull of the craving
-Observe the craving and its power over you
-Go ahead and make your choice without judgment or criticism. You may choose the object of your addiction or you may chose differently, but you will now be choosing consciously.
-How does that feel?
-Repeat as needed whenever the craving returns
It is your conscious choice that can begin to turn things around. You are taking your power back no matter how small, and that is what matters.
It is my heartfelt wish for you to live a life full of love in all of its forms, i.e. fun, friendships, abundance, kindness etc… This was not possible for me as long as I was dealing with an addiction. You are a worthy and lovable human being. How do you want to live your life, trapped or free?
With love, Jackie