Do you wake up feeling anxious? Is it hard to get out of bed? What are you telling yourself when you awake? Are you holding tension somewhere in your body? 7 things you can do to start your day in a more positive way! Breathe into the tension in your body Stretch Eat something nutritious Imagine your day, one thing at a time and picture it all going well. Call a supportive person Read a self-help book Meditate Make this a ritual. New habits take 21 days to 3 months. The good stuff replaces the bad stuff… Give it a try. What have you got to lose? It can only get better. Happiness is a choice and it takes a lot of work! If your anxiety is overwhelming, give …
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With Little Eating Disorder Health Coverage, In-Patient Treatment Is A Farce!
Picture this… A 20 year old young women without financial or emotional support from her family nor any health coverage or very little coverage. She has a terrible eating disorder. Some coverage plus her own debt allows her start in-patient treatment. While she’s trying to recover she’s worrying constantly about her health insurance refusing her on a weekly basis and she’ll have to go home. They move her through the program too quickly; before she’s ready in order to appease the insurance company. She’s trying to cope with her lower level of care as she has graduated to the next level. She’s supposed to be proud of this but is she really? She knows it’s a farce but has no …
body/self image
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What Is Body Dysmorphic Disorder? BDD- Do You Have It? 6 Ways To Stop It?
Body Dysmorphic Disorder is quite simply an imagined defect in some part of your body; most commonly the face or stomach. BDD is very common in treating eating disorders because often this imagined defect leads to obsession and disordered eating to reach the desired body weight and shape. Other times, BDD leads to unnecessary cosmetic surgery. What to do? Stop mirror checking. Cut down slowly. Look at yourself realistically in the mirror and try positive affirmations like, Not bad! Find things that you like about your body, face etc. say it out loud I like my… Or write it down. Look deeper to underlying issues that may be causing you to falsely imagine defects and dislike your body shape and /or parts. Find a counselor to help …
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Breathe! How? 3 Reasons Why You Should Breathe…
You would think breathing is just something you naturally do and of course it is. But, do you know if you’re breathing correctly? Look at a puppy and watch his stomach rise and fall as he breathes. Catch him while he’s sleeping. You want to breathe in through your nose hold it 3 seconds and blow it out. Repeat this many times throughout your day. When you breathe correctly 3 things occur: You put your body into state of relaxation and healing. This is especially important when your dealing with pain. This state of relaxation works to calm your anxiety. Did you know that if you breathe incorrectly from your chest you can actually increase anxiety and bring on a panic attack? Breathing reminds you to come …
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Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays
Being mindful works in all aspects of your life including eating. It means being aware of what you put into your mouth. Many of us have busy schedules and stress in our lives and we tend to eat on the run or overeat without thinking. If you want to become mindful, read the book. It can guide you into mindful eating and you will feel better about yourself in general. We can’t always do things on our own. Sometimes a book is the object of change… Or counseling 626.335.0903 Let’s get mindful together!
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Are Your Friends Undermining Your Recovery? 6 Things To Do!
Friends can be a great support when trying to recover from your eating disorder, if they themselves are in a healthy place. If not, they will bring all kinds of unhealthy behaviors and statements that may trigger your own recovery. What to do? You want to be there for them like they were for you when you were beginning your recovery. Sometimes we have to make hard choices to protect our hard work in recovery. How to handle it: 1, Tell your friend how conversations are triggering you and as much as you want to be there for them; you’ll need to pull back for a little while to protect your own recovery. 2. Try explaining what kind of talk triggers you and give your friend a chance …
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Dieting is a Violent Act
I believe dieting is a violent act. I don’t feel neutral, or calm, or indifferent about dieting. I feel quite clearly that dieting is a violent act that (predominantly) women are encouraged to perform against themselves. I find diets to be physically violent, often leading to exhaustive cycles of weight loss and gain and sometimes insufficient calories (i.e. energy) and nutrition. I find diets to be psychologically violent, often leading to mental obsession, increased stressed, shame, disempowerment, disembodiment, and a general sense of failure when the diet inevitably results not in weight loss, but weight gain. I find diets spiritually violent, often severing the most sacred of ties between ourselves and the wisdom of our body. I can think of few things as holy as the…
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Savor & The Non-Toothache
One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I often default to a state of vigilance…or rather my nervous system defaults to vigilance. Whether through nature, nurture, or trauma my orientation toward my world can be perpetually scanning the horizon (however far off and however out of my control) for incoming threats, or worse, impending doom. This sounds more ominous than I actually experience it, but I’ve learned that my mind and body like to grip tight in fear and cycle over all the ways that I could prevent or avoid whatever thing in life could go going. It was surprising to me to discover, years ago, that not everyone is like this. Some people don’t fret that much about the future. Some people default to…
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2015 Holiday Gift Guide
Putting together this year’s gift guide was challenging. Like many people I feel a mix of emotions about the problems in the world and the position of privilege I hold. I bristle as conspicuous consumption but also believe in supporting businesses and the power of material objects to bring great joy and support to our lives. At first I wasn’t going to do a gift guide at all. I just wanted to shout “Go help a Syrian refugee! Find a homeless woman and give her a box of tampons! Get involved in politics! Don’t be apathetic! Your vote and dollars count!” and on and on. But you don’t need me to shout at you. None of us need to be shouted …
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My Favorite Posts from 2015
Many bloggers I know are highly strategic. They employ all the fanciest SEO (that’s Search Engine Optimization) tricks so their work comes up higher in your google query results. They extensively track trends and clicks and shares and tweets. They have their finger on the pulse of their reader and know just how to attract an ever-growing group of fans. I’m just not one of those bloggers, at least not yet, though I admire their savviness. I simply write when I feel inspired to write. I write what feels important, useful, and inspiring (to me) to share. I write because I want you to know you’re not alone and I want to remember the bits of wisdom I’ve collected along my way…
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A Useful and Incomplete List of Bright Lights
If you want to wake up, changing the media you consume is a powerful step. The more we surround ourselves with true and sane messages, the easier it is to see clearly and live accordingly. The more we surround ourselves with like-minded, compassionate-hearted, fierce-spirited people, the easier it is to have courage to go against the (delusional) tide and the easier it is to know that we’re not alone. As I work away on the physical workbook for the next circle of Feast women I’m including a list of people in the body-positive, intuitive eating, and meditation worlds. I focus on these three areas because they are essential to the Feast journey, but I could just as easily share my favorite…
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The Hunger for Rest
There’s a vicious cycle I’m witnessing amongst my Feast students. They’re tired, as in sleepy tired, and they respond to their fatigue, generally, in one of two ways. Some push through, live their lives from this depleted life, and feed their hunger for rest with food. Others do nap, when they can, and then wake wracked with guilt. Their thoughts flood in: “You’re so lazy.” “You’ve gotten nothing done this afternoon.” “Your husband/wife only needs 6 hours of sleep, what’s wrong with you?!” And the shame spiral begins. And to put a damper on the cacophony of mean voices within they eat. So I’m asking: When did it become a badge of honor to run on very little sleep? When did the…