Day 10 of Healthy Eating Gifts

Day 10 of the 12 Days of Healthy Eating Gifts
brought to you by WiseHeart Wellness WorldWide
Treating food addiction and compulsive eating

Welcome to your tenth Healthy Eating gift. Eatings can trigger a lot of obsession and compulsion. So today we want to give you some ideas on how to accept these gifts that your brain and body may be bringing to you.

Most people rebel a bit at seeing obsession and compulsion as gift, but as with everything that happens in your body it is a message and an invitation to know yourself better. And in knowing yourself better you can navigate life better. What a great gift.

Opening the Gift of Obsession and Compulsion
Step 1 Get Curious and Compassionate
The speed of obsessive thoughts actually slow down, as you observe them. Breath slowly and compassionately observe the thoughts noticing and describing everything about them, but not acting, hanging it or believing any of them. "Wow, I can't stop thinking about those cookies in the freezer, it sounds like a high pitched whine, I feel anxious, I can't sit still......

Step 2 Relabel and Re-attribute
When we believe our obsessive thoughts as truth we act compulsively on them. It can really help to identify that these thoughts are just expressions of chemical imbalances moving through our brain. They not are reflections of our being or our reality. When we know they are momentary things, we can use different strategies to address them.

Step 3 Re-focus
This is the hardest step and takes the most practice. It is not necessary to "stop" the obsessive thoughts or compulsive actions, but just to interrupt them. Trying to force yourself to stop may actually make, it worse. What works better is to just change the direction of your thoughts. The following ideas to refocus have been our most successful with clients and ourselves:
• mindful moment - describing ordinary objects around you, like the color of the wall, the furniture, the weather, your clothes, can interrupt obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors
• soothing for the senses - obsessive compulsive experience is furthered by sensory distress - putting attention to soothing interrupts and defuses the problem
• movement - for some it is fast movement like running or dancing, for others slow like stretching, rocking or yoga that is helpful
• looking at positive images can by pass the verbal mind and create positive bio-chemical responses that lessen the OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) effect.
• paradoxical thoughts, movements and visualizations - thinking about pigs flying, standing on a chair, imagining the object of your obsession being animated like a cartoon - things your mind can't make sense of will short circuit thoughts
• putting the obsession to good use - sometimes it is possible to use the energy of obsession to good purpose by refocusing on wellness thoughts and behavior, such as reading inspirational books.
• gratitude - listing anything you can think of to be grateful for from toenails to the members of your family or having a mind that can think about things can significantly change your thoughts and brain and body
Step 4 Request Guidance
Once able to "surf" and "soothe" your way through an obsessive compulsive episode, whether with food or something else, it is important to take time to reflect and request guidance on what to do about this, what you need to know about it, what gift may be present in it.
Many people have been able to recognize underlying unresolved emotional issues, find real peace due to the mental training they undertook to deal with the obsessive food thoughts and many simple instructions to eat or abstain from a particular food, drink more water, go outside or got to bed.
Journalling these inquiries can be a helpful way to avoid being drug back into the obsession while you consider it. Repeated writing about your compulsions can sometimes reveal their purpose in your life and ways to release them.

When we look at the obsessive compulsive experience as a gift we can set about opening it up, instead of just managing, fighting, ignoring,or even medicating it, we learn more about ourselves and what we need to be well.
Of course none of these things on their own will quickly and completely eradicate obsessive compulsive experience, but practiced at the the first notice of an obsessive thought pattern beginning can make a real difference and have an exponential effect the more they are practiced.
There are many additional interventions that can be helpful and may be necessary for any particular person to be able to achieve further freedom from chronic obsessive thought and compulsive behavior. These include; brain chemistry optimization, trauma therapy, resolution of old emotional issues, distress tolerance training, meditation, clinical relaxation and nutritional regimes.

These gifts were so well received by our clients, we’ve made this available for a wider audience and the coupons are good for any time of the year.

To receive a personalized gift, click on the link below to receive a free Discovery Session,
http://forms.aweber.com/form/20/653007820.htm

Still a few more days! WiseHeart Wellness wishes you Happy Healthy Eating in everything you do!