Winter 2014 Newsletter

Why I Always Lose Weight Over the Holidays

When I was in my 20’s and had bought into the adage “you can never be too thin”, I put on first 30 then 40 pounds through dieting – mostly starving myself. With a great deal of misery I carried this weight for several years until I learned to work with my body’s natural intelligence, instead of fighting against it. This year I will be 60 years old. My weight is in the normal range, my BMI is excellent. There is a lot of appealing food around. So how do I manage to lose weight during the holidays? I eat often, I don’t cheat myself out of what really hums to me (see the left column below) and I only eat until I’m slightly full (that’s a little less than halfway full.) This triggers my body to produce fat burning hormones that keep extra weight off of my body. Since 1988 I have taught my weight -loss clients to eat what they want, when they are just beginning to get hungry. When we wait over 3 or 4 hours between meals our bodies are automatically stimulated into starvation mode. Two different hormones are produced to help our miraculous bodies put on fat and stave off what it senses to be the imminent danger of famine. This means that anything you eat will be turned into fat when the body becomes alarmed by our natural survival mechanism to prepare for famine. Like many mammals, we also have the capacity to store fat to protect against famine. As an example, researchers have found that camels’ humps, once thought to contain water, mostly contain fat. These camels are prepared for long periods without food or water as they cross desert terrain. Similarly with humans, hormones that get triggered when you wait long too long between meals cause fat to be stored for self preservation. When you eat beyond slightly to comfortably full another hormone is stimulated which can cause weight gain. When this occurs, your body trusts that you are overeating for a reason and feels you are preparing for a known famine. If ever I eat more than about halfway full, I immediately pull my inner chain and ask myself, “What am I getting from overeating?” Sometimes my answers are needs and sometimes they are emotions. I use this kind of questioning so that I can identify and later meet these needs/emotions in a healthy and appropriate way. Not doing what we need to do – like going dancing on a Saturday night, taking a vacation, having satisfying sex or meaningful relationships – will never be satisfied by eating food. Sorry to tell you that even chocolates and cheesecake can’t help here. So, it’s important to identify what you are missing and be willing to take steps to get those needs met. Left alone, your needs won’t disappear. Every time you eat over a need or emotion, you dishonor yourself which is then reflected in your body.

Once you start to honor your body it will tell you exactly what to eat, when and how much it needs. You can learn to discriminate, instead of blindly trusting outside sources about when and what to eat. Trust your body to tell you what it needs, not the restaurant, store, diet guru, friends or others. If your doctor has you on a prescribed regimen then at least choose foods in that category that hum to you. Years ago what finally rescued me from the tyranny and brainwash of the diet mentality was a book called, “The Psychologist Eat Anything Diet”. Well guess what, it works! Much as you may have learned not to trust your body, remember, it is attempting to rescue you from it’s perceived starvation. Cheating yourself (psychologically) out of what you really want to eat will not stop your body’s need for that food. So it pays to be leery of advertising and to be aware of your actual bodily needs (those humming states.) If you learn to eat what hums to you, you’ll likely only eat those foods and not keep wanting more. A little of what hums to you is worth 50 times what calls to you. It’s easy to associate love with food because your mother, if you were lucky, picked you up when you cried and suckled you at her breast or fed you with a bottle. You were upset and regardless of what was causing it, your good mother wanted to eliminate the possibility that you might be hungry so she fed you. Those days are over. Oral gratification needs are patterns that can easily be cleared with Reimaging. As for emotional eating, it’s so easy and tempting to grab food instead of facing how lonely, bored, angry, empty, jealous or afraid we are. Yet it is only by facing these emotions that we can actually begin to do something about diffusing our emotions, identifying needs or changing our lives. These emotions are the very gifts that let us see where we are out of harmony, peace or grace with ourselves and others. They often lead us on a journey of great spiritual growth or they can indicate where we need to be changing something in our lives. Feeling happiness, being present and feeling at peace is our goal, right? The thing is, if you are afraid of your own reactions, like the pain that life presents as you walk through it, you miss the chances to better yourself and overcome your challenges. You’re likely stuck… or moving backwards. You are like the proverbial leaf swirling in a whirlpool in a stream instead of moving down stream on your path of purpose and bliss.

A Holiday Visualization

Let’s take a few minutes to relax. Try putting your feet up or getting into a position that is comfortable for you. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and relax your whole body head to toe. This is your time to comfort,heal and nurture yourself. Imagine you have already joined your friends at a Holiday Feast and you are being served your usual holiday fare. You smell the scent of pumpkin pie and turkey. You notice the colorful outfits folks are wearing, their smiles. You hear pleasant conversation and soft laughter. You can see the beauty of a blue sky outside the windows. You feel comfortable, safe and secure. You feel surrounded in love and you are lit up with joy. You find yourself looking at a plate piled high with food (much bigger than half your tummy size) including the desserts that the well meaning, caring, considerate folks have brought. Let’s rehearse first. Say to yourself, “I’m only going to eat what I really want and just enough to satisfy myself. I’ll watch everyone else stuff themselves because that’s the brainwash of the holidays.” After a few bites of what hums to you, it’s time to excuse yourself and go to the bathroom. Tell your friends and family, “I’ll be right back”. Now is the time to break the trance of mindless eating. Imagining that you take some time away by going into another room will break the spell. Now imagine taking all the food off of your plate that’s not humming to you, saying to yourself, “This represents all the old behaviors of eating over emotions and needs. This represents all of the stuff I’m eating over as well as my old habits with food.” Imagine tossing that food in the trash or garbage disposal (patterns, emotions, etc., you want to clear) and when you are ready, breathe that old stuff out. (Keep in mind that getting fat or overeating won’t save one starving child in Africa.) That’s right, toss them in the garbage and breathe all of that out, once you’ve identified as much as you wish of the emotions which you are eating over. Having rehearsed this behavior, you can now return in your imagination to your friends. As you pause before eating, know you are breaking what I call “the grazing trance” (mindless eating). Pause to feel into your emotions and needs. From now on you you will always be ready to drop into your heart and identify your emotions and needs. You will honor them now on by journaling, or by talking out feelings by yourself or with a trusted friend or counselor. When emotions are identified and you are ready to let them go, breath through them, clearing them completely. Be ready to take responsibility for your emotions and needs. Remember to enjoy every bite of delicious food that you want. Stay present and out of the eating trance. Please give yourself permission to eat just enough of the foods that hum to you to be half full and satisfied. Now, the food that you haven’t tossed out which has been placed in tupperware will be representing your new positive habits with food. They will represent positive emotions. Season them with joy, sprinkle them with love, infuse them with peace. It is time to actually feel the warmth and love of friends and eat what hums to you until you are halfway full. Be aware and conscious of the foods you eat and how much you really want them or not. Start pushing away from that which does not hum to you. Begin this holiday trusting your body to tell you what it needs. It will tell you when to stop eating, you just need to learn to listen to it. Honor your body, your emotions and your needs. Be compassionate with yourself. Treat your body as you would your own child. It needs you and naturally wants to be healthy for you. At the count of three, awaken and ground yourself, feeling happy, comforted, nurtured, alive and peaceful. Bon Appetit! Please Note: There are more levels to go to clear a pattern completely from the subconscious and unconscious sides of you. For example, clearing the beliefs that underlie an emotion would be the next step. Those of you who know my work know it clears you completely on 7 levels. I am available to help you. People are generally much more successful if they have someone to check in with or they journal their behavior. You can use your Reimaging Course, if you have it, order it if you choose, or you can call me for a Reimaging session or quick Sound Healing session. Our aim will be to clear your patterns or emotions underlying your addiction, through to the roots, then reprogram you to have more peace, joy and love as you reach out for new opportunities. ****************** If you want a local Bellingham appointment please call ahead to schedule an appointment in my Lake Samish office. My hours are 11AM to 9PM Sunday through Thursdays. Please note: I will be out of the office for the Thanksgiving Holiday 11/27 through 11/29. The same will be for Christmas Dec.25th through the 28th. Blessings, Santosha P.S. If you don’t want to receive these e-mails in the future, I will be concerned, dissapointed, pained, and wondering why in the heck that is happening. Let me know if I can improve or you’d like to see something different in the future. I offer nothing but pure, unadulterated help for folks that seek me out. Otherwise, I refund their money immediately. If you are serious about change, I am serious about coaching, helping you in self-improvement, healing you and finding intuitive solutions that help you. Please check out my last radio interview with Kim McMilllion out of Merced CA. This one is on blocks to prosperity. The show is Arts in the Valley on 1480 KYOS AM out of Merced, CA. You can find the show on Facebook at Arts in the Valley. The website is artsinthevalley.wordpress.com. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2011/06 /20/writers-sanctuary-presents-santosha-nobelmaren-springsteen http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2011/07 /18/writers-sanctuary