Diet Survivors: January 2008 Archives

Some diet survivors get stuck. They say, "But what really is fullness? I know no end to fullness."

It's understandable, especially for those who have had binge eating disorder. It can take a while after ending the bingeing to be able to find fullness again.

It's also understandable in light of how diets make us follow rigid rules and ignore what our bodies are telling us!

It's time to start believing in your own wisdom and judgment. Even with a guideline, you're the only one around who will know when you're full.

So try asking yourself toward the end of a meal, "Am I about eighty percent full?" Eighty percent is a good place to stop. Then do your human best to find approximately 80 percent, and stop eating.

If numbers don't work for you, then ask yourself, "Will this next bite be hunger or greed?" You'll know what to do after that.

Don't eat again until you're hungry. And don't forget, eat only delicious food.

Finding fullness is an art of approximation, not a science. The amazing thing is, when it comes to eating, approximate really is good enough.

Click on the book cover for more information

Normal Eating solutions: (You'll see after clicking how to subscribe to them)

Diet Survivors meditations

Diet Survivors message board

Food and Feelings message board

Find out more about Linda Moran's book, How to Survive Your Diet.

Visit the home of the book, The Rules of Normal Eating

Learn more about normal eating at Eat Normal Now

Here's a reminder today to wear clothes that fit. Wouldn't that have been common sense to your great-grandmother? But how often do we squeeze ourselves into the next size down?

I don't know about you, but when I wear something tight, I construe it as pressure to lose weight.

That kind of pressure backfires, whether you actually need to lose the weight or not.

Be comfortable. And don't feel guilty about all the clothes you can't wear right now. It's part of the cost of being human. Hide them under your bed. Out of sight, out of mind.

A Diet Survivors message board member asks, "Can I suggest a great book to follow up How to Survive Your Diet? Geneen Roth's book When You Eat at The Refrigerator Pull Up a Chair."

I don't know if many of you realize this, but humor is an effective part of learning normal eating, and learning so many other things too. Laughing at yourself will actually take you through the process faster.

Some folks come into adulthood and beyond, never really learning to laugh at themselves or finding humor in things, but I've observed that people seem to be able to learn this at any age.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes in the name of self-loving, we erroneously refrain from goofing on our own frailties. But the truth is that when we are secure and confident, we are also secure and confident about our foibles and weaknesses. I goof on mine all the time. I have so many!

It's interesting to me that Karen R. Koenig, my favorite normal eating guru, is the same way. We even call ourselves "stupid" from time to time. It's fun.

Has anyone here noticed that when you embrace normal eating, you find out that some things you learned are turned on their heads? Conventional wisdom turns out to be wrong on so many fronts, including humor.
We discover we were misled.

Gwen Shamblin, author of the Christian book The Weigh Down Diet, calls this phenomenon "opposite world."

Think a little bit opposite today. Try and see what it's like to lovingly goof on yourself. Let yourself laugh hard. You'll find your way out of your eating dysfunction faster. No kidding.

Click on the book cover for more information

Normal Eating solutions: (You'll see after clicking how to subscribe to them)

Normal Eating blog

Diet Survivors meditations

Diet Survivors newsletter

Diet Survivors message board

Food and Feelings message board

Find out more about Linda Moran's book,
How to Survive Your Diet.

Visit the home of the book, The Rules of Normal Eating

Learn more about normal eating at Eat Normal Now