Enjoy Your Chocolate

Our western society is undergoing a culinary transformation. With all the food choices we can make these days it seems to get easier to nourish our bodies in a healthy and holistic way.
Having said that, I am discovering in my work with clients and students that a lot of people are suffering from eating disorders. On the surface it looks like they are eating healthy but when you look closely you will find that their eating habits can tell them a lot about self-love and self-respect.

Too many times I have heard questions like, “Why can’t I lose the 3 pounds I’ve gained? or “I am hardly eating anything but the fat doesn’t go away.” When people ask these questions they are looking for answers regarding their dietary habits but receive most of the time answers that relate to their emotional needs.

I first started to pay attention to this topic when the Akashic Records repeatedly gave me the message that we should “Enjoy our Chocolate.”

This advice inspired me to find out what emotions are hiding behind our eating habits.

An eating disorder can be anything from overeating, compulsive fastening, anorexic behavior to being obsessively picky about our food choices.

Many of our food choices and eating behaviors can be justified with our unique dietary needs. On an emotional level they seem to refer to the existence of “low self-esteem” and a “feeling of worthlessness”.

Our eating disorders reveal an indisposition of the soul.

They let us know that, no matter how wonderful our lives might look like on the surface, on a deeper level we feel inadequate, unworthy, alone and often hopeless. We use food to medicate our pain.

Here are some factors that might lead to an eating disorder:
* Low self-esteem
* Feelings of inadequacy
* Anxiety
* Defining yourself in terms of appearance
* Helplessness and a need for control
* Difficulty in managing emotions
* Social anxiety and problems with social skills
* A tendency toward perfectionism
(Source: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/teens/truth-about-eating-disorders)

A healthy person eats when she is hungry. She eats as much as she wishes until she feels fulfilled. The word ENOUGH has a sacred meaning to her as it not only stands for enough food but also enough love, self-esteem, respect, joy and laughter.

A healthy person eats when she is hungry. She eats as much as she wishes until she feels fulfilled. The word ENOUGH has a sacred meaning to her as it not only stands for enough food but also enough love, self-esteem, respect, joy and laughter.

If you’re concerned about yourself or a friend, ask the following questions:

• Are you frightened of situations where you will have to eat a normal meal?
• Do you have food rituals such as eating food in sequence, not allowing foods to touch each other, eating a very limited variety of foods, cutting food into small pieces or blotting with napkins to remove fat?
• Do you feel good or bad according to how much you eat, how much you weigh or how much you exercise?
• Does weighing too much make you keep to yourself and feel lonely?
• Do you spend most of your time thinking about how much food you have eaten or will be eating during the day?
• Do you use laxatives, vomiting, diet pills, excessive exercise or water pills to help you lose weight or feel in control of your weight?
• Would you eat more than others if you didn’t control yourself?
• Do you sometimes feel out of control when eating? Do you often eat beyond the point of fullness, to the point of physical discomfort?
• Are you frequently depressed because you feel fat or overweight?
• Do you diet or fast (other than for biblical purposes) weekly or monthly?
• Do you feel that, if you could lose weight, you could achieve all your other goals?
• Do you restrict what you’re eating, or overeat, when you are stressed or feel unhappy?

(Source: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/teens/truth-about-eating-disorders)
Our eating habits are our souls invitation to create new sources of meaning and self-worth in our lives. Losing weight is much more a spiritual journey than that of counting calories.
It’s a loving process of learning to transform our pain and emptiness to convert into a new source of personal growth and well-being.

My advice to you is to recognize what food means to you. How do you feel when you recite the affirmation “I am enough”?

Maybe you create a spiritual ritual where you bless yourself and your food before you start eating. Send love to the part of you that is really in need of nourishment. The parts of your soul that need to be fed too.
Most of all love yourself, put your souls needs on your menu and enjoy your chocolate.
Disclaimer
The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.

With all my love,
your chocolate loving
Gabrielle