Monday, February 24, 2014

Diet Like a Dog






















What if you took care of yourself as well as you do your dog? In this episode Dr. Nina gives suggestions on how to feel doggone better and train yourself to have a healthier, happier relationship to food."

Check out this episode!

What if you took care of yourself as well as you do your dog?  In this episode Dr. Nina gives suggestions on how to feel doggone better and train yourself to have a healthier, happier relationship to food.

If you have a dog, or know someone who does, think of how much better life would be if you treated yourself as well as you treat your dog - or the way your friends treat their dogs - assuming they take good care of them.

If you have a bone to pick with yourself about your weight, you can train yourself to think differently about your physical and emotional needs, wants, feelings and conflicts.

Dr. Nina offers specific suggestions on how to change your mind, which shifts the way you feel, and changes your behavior with food.  When you feel better, you don’t need food for comfort or distraction – and that’s how you make peace with food!


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Saturday, February 15, 2014

Feeling Out Of Control?

FEELING OUT OF CONTROL?


“I was totally out of control with ice cream last week.”
“I didn’t eat anything all day and felt completely in control.”
“I hate getting mad because I feel so out of control.”



If you are struggling with disordered eating, the very thing you are trying to control (food, weight, and so forth) is actually controlling you.

Often, controlling food is a response to feelings of powerlessness in other areas of your life.   It’s easier to focus on your intake of food or your weight than to deal with an unpredictable boss, teacher, significant other or friend.  The wish to manage a person or situation morphs into a wish to control your food.  You can’t control a person but you can ostensibly control yourself, turning a relational struggle into an internal conflict.

Control is also a way of protecting yourself from feelings of vulnerability. Being vulnerable is often experienced as being unprotected from potential (or probable) emotional pain.   Taking control feels active and is a solution to the passivity of vulnerability.

Conflicts with food may symbolize conflicts about wanting or needing “more” in life.  Controlling your portions can be a way of denying your needs and wants for more.  Bingeing and purging may be a way of expressing your conflict over a wish for more.

Food for thought:

What parts of your life make you feel powerless?  Powerful?

Who is (or was) the most controlling person in your life?

What do you associate with weakness?

What are you afraid will happen if you lose control of your emotions?

Have you ever “lost it” emotionally?  What were the consequences? 

What are your fears about opening up to other people?

Where did you learn to be guarded?

What do you want more of in your life?  What's it like to think about wanting more?

When you identify and process the underlying emotions that lead to disordered eating, you won't rely on disordered eating to cope.   And that's how you make peace with food!!

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Weight of the Word














Sticks and stones can break bones and words DO hurt!  Dr. Nina talks about seven words that make you feel bad, and shares others that enhance your self-esteem. When you take off the weight of the word, you’re likely to feel better, and better about yourself.

Check out this episode!