When we met, Joann, who was in her fifties, called herself the Queen of Dieting, as she had tried diets, exercise, and coaching and was still trying every diet that came across her path. She was depressed and obsessed with being thin. She was exhausted even though she slept a lot, and her career as a college professor was on the line. Joann was thin – what some would call skinny, and she looked gaunt.
Her mother was a very tiny woman at 4 feet 9 inches and 94 pounds, and by the age of twelve Joann was the same height and weight as her mother. Joann’s weight was average for a child her age, but she felt big and fat. She was constantly compared to her very petite cousin, and she was teased and called fat by her brothers. Her mother closely watched what Joann ate and scolded her if she thought she was eating too much. Joann’s self-esteem was so low that she would sneak food and eat it where no one could see her.
Joann said that all she could see when she looked in the mirror, even as an adult, was the girl who was always bigger than her mother and her cousin. Joann counted calories and carbs for everything she ate and avoided fat like the plague.
Raw Food and Juicing Was NOT the Solution
She had been on a raw diet and juicing for seven months wondering when her energy level was going to rise. When Joann and I developed her special food plan based on The Food Codes™, it showed that she needed chicken and chicken fat for key proteins.
She laughed because her Jewish grandmother’s Sunday chicken soup made with schmaltz (chicken fat) was her favorite food! Her grandmother spread the creamy schmaltz on toast like butter for Joann. White fish also tested as a great protein for Joann.
This made her laugh too! She also loved her grandmother’s gefilte fish, another Jewish dish. (Her brothers hated it.)
Her Food Codes plan included a nice variety of vegetables and fermented foods; a few fruits; and various grains, nuts, and seeds. She needed 50 percent cooked food and 50 percent raw food. Her greens needed to be steamed or cooked rather than raw, and she needed no green juice at that time.
Ten years later Joann is feeling good about herself. She left her college career for a while but is now teaching again. We helped clear her struggle with childhood emotional issues and she now uses the Food Codes method to test what foods her body needs and wants. I recently saw her, and as she brushed her hands down her hips and lovingly patted her belly, she said, “Look at this beautiful belly. It’s not caved in any more. My body loves me, and I love my body.” Joann is about fifteen pounds heavier than she was when we first met, and this is exactly what her body wants.
Why Our Bodies Get Out of Whack
Weight problems often have little to do with the food you’re eating and more to do with how you feel. We’ve all experienced food cravings. When we see something upsetting on television, feel angry or bored, or have had a rough day, we soothe ourselves with something sweet, crunchy, or creamy. Whether you turn to ice cream, candy, crackers, or chips, you know what it’s like to use food to heal a painful emotion. Then there is the bingeing hangover – the feelings of disgust, judgment, and shame in regard to what you just splurged on, that make you feel even worse than before you put that first morsel into your mouth.
Emotions strongly impact our eating and our cravings. When we release some of the stress, guilt, and drama in our lives, we find more balance in our eating – we are drawn to foods that are better for us, eat only when hungry, and stop eating when full. We find true joy and peace in eating and food, as the Creator intended.
Emotional imbalances can be 85 to 95 percent of our eating and weight struggles. We unknowingly hold on to our emotions at a subconscious level where they can affect our eating without our realizing it. Emotions can cause pain and discomfort in many ways, including food cravings and eating disorders. The emotions trapped in your subconscious can actually take up space in your body. The result can be pain, eating disorders, and being overweight or underweight, among other problems.
To experience balanced eating, it helps to also balance your emotions. Actually, balancing eating and balancing emotions are interesting in that, do you balance your emotions in order to balance your eating? Or do you balance your eating in order to balance your emotions?
Actually, a bit of both. The first step is to have the awareness followed by the willingness to make a change. When you are aware of the need to make a change, the process becomes easier to digest… literally.
By focusing on what your body is asking for, you are also recognizing that your emotions are important. It is a process and one that I daresay, you are worth.
To learn more about how to tap into your food needs, based on The Food Codes™ click here.
Leave a Reply