The Christmas Season and Food When Full

So Christmas is upon us again, and we have the oppertunity to feel all the feelings that Christmas brings up for us as compulsive eaters. If you are carring any excess weight then chances are that you are a compulsive eater, in other words, you have the habit of eating when full. most people overeat a little at Christmas. Overindulgence is the name of the game big time, but to overindulge regularly is a way to avoid our emotional stuff that we do not really want to face in depth, but in order to be free of it, we have to face it in depth.
How do we still enjoy life or have happy moments if alchol and excess food seems to be a very effective way of keeping it all together? Well, true happiness comes from being aware of how we feel. If I feel sad, I feel that and allow a few tears to be shed or a downright downpour if that is what  is needed. If I feel happy because I meet someone who is a dear friend I feel that happiness in its entirity and wallow in it, milk it, really allow it.
We go beyond judgement of our feelings and just become aware of them, and no longer allow them to be a reason to eat when full or overindulge.
Indulge, yes, but overindulgence is a sign of running away for fear, anxiety, boredom, stress or unresolved issues. So stop when you find yourself craving to eat when full, drink or smoke, and ask yourself - What feeling or issue is this? And given the fact I feel this way what would I like to do now? And get bust doing it if it is healthy - It will lead you on a New Year's journey of discovery that will last long into the coming months, and into a more satisfying and healthy life.
Happy Holidays!
For holiday backup, book a telephone consultation on natural permanent weight loss, or to buy one of Sofia's books, contact
07530 531 655
www.trueslimness.co.uk
email: sofia@trueslimness.co.uk

Don't panic if there is weight gain

You see, you are still grappling with your eating pattern of eating when full when there is any weight gain. Weight gain is always because some eating when full has been going on, and temporary weight gain is not that unusual and quite understandable, until we get into, eating when hungry and stopping when full 100% of the time.

So relax and let your focus shift from worry to being aware.

Let your focus shift from worry about any extra kilos to awareness of when you are physically full and stopping at that point.

Let your focus shift from panic about weight gain to understanding about weight gain and eliminating that which causes it – the eating when physically full.

Let your focus shift from anxiety over weight gain to awareness of the emotions that drive you to eat when full and focus on resolving those emotions through asking yourself, our habit breaking question: Given the fact I feel this way what would I like to do now?’ and following up on the answer.

Best wishes, Sofia xxx

Tuesday workshops @ 1 Pell St., Swansea

True Slimness, on-going weekly workshops are now being held at The Centre, 1 Pell Street, Swansea, Wales. They will be every Tuesday 12 noon till 2pm. Call in for a chat, some support and inspiration in the weight loss game, which really has a lot to do with what is going on in our hearts and minds. Yes, our emotions definitely effect our eating. We eat when full for comfort, a treat, or as a compensation and substitute for what we are really looking for in life; be that friendship, more work satisfaction or a healing of old hurts, bring it all to our classes where, in the lovely, central location of The Centre, 1 Pell St., Swansea, a stones throw from the wonderful Swansea Central Library and the beach, explore the real reasons for your habit of eating when full. Like a recovering alcoholic, or drug addict, a compulsive eater embarking on her recovery needs support and wisdom. The True Slimness workshops provide just that.
One to One sessions and telephone consultations also available with facilitator Sofia Bothwell. For further information or to book an individual consultation contact (01792) 799 617 mobile 07530 531 655 or email sofia@trueslimness.co.uk

Creativity and doing what you love go hand in hand, so take a moment and ask yourself two important questions that will help you tap into your creativity and march yourself away from the habit that makes you gain and keep weight.
What do I love? What do I think I would do if I was slim now? Make a list of these activities and chose one and do it this week. Bring it into your life now. You are providing yourself with an addiction free life - a life free from eating when full - thus allowing your body find and keep its own naturally slim size.
Take the focus off food and on to what you love. Take the focus off food and on to discerning whether you are hungry or not when you eat. Focus on stopping when full by being aware of your feelings and resolving those feelings no longer eating when full because of them.
That's it in a nutshell! Good luck and may the wintertime of your issues with food soon become a Springtime of new ways of relating to yourself, food and feelings.
Sofia

We know what to eat

We know what to eat, we know what we should be eating, and what we should not be eating. I know I did when I was a compulsive eater wanting to lose weight.
In recovering from my compulsion to eat when full and in my work helping people lose excess weight for good, I clearly see that we all know what we should and should not be eating. So focusing on what we should and should not be eating is not focusing on the real issue in the game of how to lose excess weight for good - it is a side issue - the main issue is a little harder to face, and it is this - Why we can't impliment that knowledge? Why can't we have the extent of control over our eating patterns that means we can stop when full 100% of the time and mainly eat the foods we know are good for us while those that are not so good for us, keep to a minimum?
Well the answer as you may already know, is - emotional.
This is why resolving emotional issues is always at the root of permanent, natural weight loss. We have two things going on at a time - the compulsion to eat when full and often the 'wrong' foods' when full, and at the same time the knowlege that what we are doing is not that good for us and also the realisation that our control over that is limited because an emotion we simply do not know how to deal with, is coming into our awareness, and we feel like we want to run away from it because it is so uncomfortable and that is our way of dealing with it - to eat when full to suppress it, yes, to binge on foods that do not make us feel good helps us suppress our uncomfortable emotions.
So ask yourself - What emotion would I feel if I did not eat when full? Or What emotions are repeatedly behind my urge to eat when full or eat the 'wrong' foods?
Think back to the last time you overate on something you knew was 'bad' for you - Ask yourself - If I hadn't eaten that, what emotion would have come up? and then ask yourself - How else could I have dealt with that emotion? What action, if any, was that emotion urging me to take?
Honour all that you know and all that you are learning in this mystical journey towards true and lasting slimnesss.
So until next time, wishing you,
love and inner insight that may lead you forward to true slimness.
Sofia

Eating When Full

Just taking a week to focus on when you are actually full, will help you greatly in losing excess weight for good. Every time you notice yourself full yet wanting to eat more, is a time when you have power - power to deeply know what is driving you to eat when full.
As eating when full is the root cause of excess weight, you are looking at what is the cause of your excess weight every time you become aware of your emotions as you crave to eat more, even though your stomach is saying 'No thanks, I'm full right now.'
Reassurance is often good at this point as feelings of deprivation are not uncommon when we, want to eat when full but are abstaining from eating when full. Yes, reassure yourself that you can indeed eat again once some real hunger sensations start. Remind yourself, even though you feel deprived, that it is a self-abusive thing to force food (however tasty, or however craved / wanted) into your already full stomach.
And remind yourself of what the last binge felt like physically. The bloating, the tummy ache, the 'I'm far too full feeling.' That 'far too full' feeling may feel normal but it is not that comfortable the more you bring your awareness to it. Also bring awareness to the gentle reminders that your stomach is constantly relaying to you that the stopping point for eating is often before when you actually do stop. But be kind and understanding of yourself and your habits that you are brave and willing enough to be embarking on changing - This is not necessarily easy and be very kind to yourself - mistakes, slip ups and far from perfect eating is totally allowed as you master the art of stopping when full.
It is giving up an addiction - eating when full is an addiction - a crutch that is used to help deal with feelings, and the crutch can easily be dropped as you learn how else to deal with those feelings and emotional issues that drive you to the fridge when full, just as an alcoholic is driven to drink or a junkie to score.
Compassion not judgement helps you move forward and away from addiction - you can do it millions have already.
Good luck,
Until next time,
Sofia
Phone sessions available (01792) 799 617
http://www.trueslimness.co.uk
http://twitter.com/TrueSlimness

Blossoming

This wonderful geranium is proclaiming to the world, or my back yard: 'See you can still blossom!'
How does that relate to us as we recover from compulsive eating, and lose weight for good naturally? Well, in my experience of being a recovered compulsive eater and recovered bulimic for over 25 years, blossoming is part and parcel of this healing journey. We give up eating when full, we give up suppressing our emotions by stuffing them down with food when full and we start to listen to their guidance instead. The emotion of dissatisfaction, for example, is telling us we are dissatisfied with some aspect of our lives, and when we explore that, instead of suppressing it by eating when full, we might find ourselves drawn to enrol in an art class, or start reading books on some subject that interests us. In fact, I actively encourage you to - today - start asking yourself - What am I interested in? And then - How can I bring more of that into my life? This may be exactly what will fill that gap, in your life, that no amount of food when full can ever fill.
Until next time,
Love and blessings as you blossom,
Sofia
Check out my YouTube video on addiction swapping
http://youtu.be/HIeW53lmK_Q