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The Benefits of Ice Cream

Blog · Your Body


 

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week. I’ve been busy putting together the final touches for Live More Weigh Less: Early Enrollment and I can’t wait to tell you about all of the details and perks next week.

So as I mentioned on Friday, I was skiing with my family last weekend and as I’m sure you’ve experienced, when you’re with your family you tend to dive back into old habits, specifically for me it’s around my eating.

This used to piss me off, but now I see it as a beautiful opportunity to observe and learn from my eating habits.

Let me paint a picture for you: It’s saturday night, and we’re celebrating my brother’s birthday around the dining room table in our ski rental house. Cake gets cut and served and we’re passing around 2 pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, One Sweet Whirled and Super Fudge Chunk. Since One Sweet Whirled is far superior to Super Fudge Chunk, I was determined to get some.

So I’m watching the pint being passed around when I realized that I was going to be the last to get some. All of the sudden I was calculating how much would be left in the pint after it went through 6 other people. I felt my throat tighten and fists clench. It took everything in me to not scream, “Don’t eat it all!” like a greedy 7 year old.

I felt like ‘happiness’ was living in this tiny pint of ice cream, and if I didn’t get any, then there would be no happiness left for me. Bummertown. Luckily, when it finally got to me, there was plenty, but I still had this feeling like someone was going to come over and eat it off my plate.

Before I would have gone into major self-scolding mode, telling myself I’m a fat, weak, idiot who should never be allowed in the same room as ice cream again.

But on Saturday, a few bites into my ice cream I thought, “huh. very interesting. what’s going on here?” You see, what I’ve learned, and what I help my clients understand, is that we can learn so much about ourselves by observing our attitudes about food without judgement.

What I saw on Saturday, and what was a rampant pattern for years, was that I felt like there wasn’t going to be enough for me.

And here’s the important part to understand, usually, when you feel one way about food, you feel that way about everything. And it’s true that there’s a part of me that feels like I don’t have enough money, enough clothes, enough attention etc. But I hadn’t been paying much attention to that attitude recently, and saturday was an awesome reminder to revisit that thought pattern.

I have a client who is always very stressed about calories, not over eating, if she’s eating the right stuff etc. Her diet is constantly on her mind and she’s always panicked.

So I asked her, “How often do you feel in a panic in your daily life?”

“All the time.”

Bingo.

Here’s the thing, my client doesn’t have an eating problem, she has an anxiety problem.

I don’t have an eating problem, I have a problem with never feeling like I have enough.

And food, is just one way that this problem is being acted out.

So this is what I want to know about you: how do you feel around food? Needy, restrictive, like there’s never enough, like you’re never eating the right thing, confused, panicked, numb? I want you to take some time today to observe your attitudes about food without judgement, and see what comes up. And I’d love for you to tell us in the comments below.

And are you that way in other parts of your life? I would bet, yes.

What’s awesome about having a global attitude that affects all parts of your life, is that you can use other areas of your life to work on it. Areas that are much less complicated than dealing with our eating.

So I’m continuing to work on knowing that I have enough money, and that I am safe, provided for, abundant and there is infinite happiness to go around. My client is now working on reducing the anxiety in her life by taking time for herself to relax.

I want you to think about in what area of your life you can practice releasing this “issue”, because as you heal it in one area, you usually stop doing it with food. And do tell us what your ideas in the comments below because some people might be stumped, and it would be so awesome to hear your plan.

And isn’t it nice to know that you don’t have a food problem? Food is just one way you’re acting out a global habit. Tweet it!

I can’t wait to chat with you about this in the comments below!

xo

Sarah


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