What Kids Can Teach You About Weight Loss
by Dinneen
Filed under Blog, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss
I watched one of the most powerful Oprah’s shows yesterday. The subject was an epidemic that is affecting the health of America’s children, and what’s also affecting too many adults. It’s not what we usually associate with adolescents: drug addiction, alcohol abuse, or smoking. It’s something more powerful and affecting more kids (AND adults) than ever before: obesity.
The children on the show show took part in a day-long intervention, just like what is often needed when children (or adults) abuse drugs or alcohol. But for these kids their drug of choice was food.
The intervention was to get to the real reason why these kids ate. And like Oprah said on the show, the reason they got overweight “goes way beyond junk food.”
On the show we got an inside look of these children’s lives. They spend their days in shame, guilt, depression, discomfort, stress or pain. In one way or another, they were hurting inside and ate for comfort, in search of acceptance, or to cover up emotions.
These kids also have to deal with the pressures and mistreatment from society. As one of the children said,
“People look at my outer layers and not my inner beauty, and don’t recognize what’s on my inside and automatically judge me because of my weight.”
People talk behind these kid’s backs, treat them differently than other “normal” children, and judge them by what’s on the outside instead of what’s on the inside.
The intervention was a way to look beyond the food, and for the parents (and society) to understand what is really going on. It’s not just about eating right and exercising. And it’s not just about food. Food is only a part of the issue.
The real issue is the emptiness many people feel inside.
As one of the leaders of the intervention said:
“Today what we are intentionally doing is inviting a conversation around food, around weight, about the emotions behind the weight — because it’s not about our weight. It’s ‘What is the hunger for? What are we hungry for?’”
As I watched the show I couldn’t help think of the parallel with adults. So many adults are hungry for more than just food, they’re hungry for something more in their lives — they’re hungry for acceptance, love, comfort, a satisfying job, or a caring relationship.
The counselors on the show then explained that before anyone (children OR adults) can begin to work on the larger issue – health – they need to tap inside and find the place where they hide feelings they cannot express or don’t express:
“If anger is not expressed, it goes inside the body and we start to eat or numb it out,” they said.
So many people today have built-up emotions, anger, or feelings inside that they’re not letting out. We also have many stresses. We’re juggling work, career, family, social life, and other everyday pressures. But instead of expressing our feelings, we’re keeping them inside and many of us turn to food to make us feel better.
On Oprah’s website, the counselors give tips for overweight teens, but they are just as useful for adults, and most of them I use with my own clients. The counselors stress the importance of getting support and being proactive about your health. They suggest seeing a nutrition specialist, and taking fitness or nutrition classes, as they are “great ways to empower yourself, keep you motivated, and change your life.”
I suggest you read the tips and while doing so, think about your own situation: Why do you sometimes overeat or not eat healthy? What feelings are you not expressing and using food to treat instead? What’s holding you back from empowering yourself and your family?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please comment below.
The Inside Scoop on Losing Weight
by Dinneen
Filed under Blog, Weight Loss
Women (and some men) all over the world have been talking about Oprah these past few weeks, and her constant battle of the bulge and war on losing weight and KEEPING it off.
Many of us can relate.
I even wrote about Oprah’s weight gain last month in my blog. Many people in the spotlight, like Oprah (and winners of the reality show The Biggest Loser) can’t seem to keep the weight off. They lose, then gain, lose, and then gain again. And it’s the same for many of us!
What the heck is going on?
For one thing, we keep looking to external factors to determine what and how much to eat. We’ve spent years listening to others to tell us what to eat, so we’ve been disconnected from our bodies.
If we listen to our bodies correctly, it tells us what to eat. The problem is, we’ve been listening to the “diet gurus” and other people for so long that we no longer know what to eat or even trust ourselves around food.
When I first lived in France, I was amazed how people just “knew” what to eat. There wasn’t this constant talk about calories, portion size or fat grams. They just knew.
But how did they know?
Well, for one thing, they listen to their INTERNAL cues. They listen to their bodies and trust their bodies to tell them what to do. They listen to their hunger and fullness cues, and to what their body is craving.
So how to listen to our own internal cues?
Be Mindful When Eating
In order to get back in touch with our internal hunger and fullness cues, it is important to be mindful when eating. Using our senses when eating is a great way to get back in touch with our bodies. With today’s hectic lifestyles, we’re too busy rushing around and eating food on the run. So slow down a bit and start to become more mindful when eating.
Don’t Restrict Foods
When people go on diets, they start eliminating certain foods or a food group — like carbs, for example. Once you go off the diet it’s normal to over-indulge in foods high in carbs. This is because the body has been missing the nutrients and craves them intensely. It’s the same for any foods. The more and longer a food is restricted, the more intense the craving.
At first, one might feel out of control and that they cant be trusted around the food. But over time the craving will subside and return to normal.
So stop looking for the magic answer to your weight loss. The answer is actually inside you — you just need to look inward and bring it out.
Want to understand your own cravings and learn how to listen inside and to YOUR body so you eat only when hungry, and stop when you’re full? I can provide you with clear strategies to help you think about food only when you’re hungry, stop overeating, deal with cravings & comfort eating, and lose weight & KEEP it off. Just contact me to see how I can help you in your journey to get healthy, lose weight, and feel wonderful in your body.
The REAL Reason Oprah Has Gained Weight — Again!
by Dinneen
Filed under Blog, Weight Loss
Oprah’s Battle With Weight Gain – and her Missing Link for Permanent Weight Loss
It’s hitting the airwaves and news media like a tidal wave. The news about Oprah and her constant struggle with her weight.
Once a trim, healthy-for-her-body weight of 160 pounds, Oprah has now reached the dreaded 200 pound mark, a number she (nor many of us) does not want to see on the bathroom scale.
In the latest issue of O Magazine (January 2009) Oprah opens up about why she feels she regained the weight, what she’s learned, and how she plans to change. The article is candid, open, honest. She puts it all out there. There’s no excuses, whining, or blaming of anything, or anyone other than herself, for her actions (or lack thereof). Kudos to Oprah for being real, being open, and taking responsibility for her body, her life, and how to go about moving forward.
In her article, Oprah says:
“My goal isn’t to be thin. My goal is for my body to be the weight it can hold—to be strong and healthy and fit, to be itself.”
That’s an awesome goal. And a goal we all should be reaching for. But there’s something missing. Something that Oprah is not getting. The key — the missing link — that holds the answer. The key to help ALL OF US reach our goals and solve our own weight challenges.
But before I get to that, I need to address some other questions that are on everybody’s minds, and the ones Oprah tries to answer in her candid article:
Why? Why did Oprah REALLY put on the weight? How did she let this happen?
Really — Oprah, of all people. I mean, this is a woman who has it all. With all of the experts and medical doctors she is friends with and has on her show, she knows what to do – heck, we all know what to do, it’s not rocket science: eat healthier, eat less and move more.
But why didn’t she (and don’t we all) just do it?
I mean Oprah has it all: money, fame, friends, and a hugely successful career (to put it mildly).
Really. What DOESN’T Oprah have?
She is one of the lucky few who have access to (and the money to pay for) the top people in the health, wellness, nutrition and fitness fields. She has access to personal tainers, chefs, expensive gyms (and probably a home-gym too, I’m sure). She has all of the tools to make weight-loss and weight-management possible AND easy!
I mean, really. She doesn’t come home from a long day of work and have to worry about chopping, preparing and cooking dinner.
So what is it?
If one of the richest, most famous, and successful women in the world who has overcome the odds in many areas of her life — if SHE can’t lose weight AND keep it off, then how the heck can YOU?
If Oprah keeps falling off the wagon, then how on earth are YOU going to stay on track??
Well, I’ve got the answer for you.
Oprah touches on it and talks about areas it touches in her article, but she’s missing the big point. She talks about many reasons, all of them true.
Oprah talks about her thyroid problem. But says she has that under control and knows that is NOT the reason why she regained the weight, nor does she use it as an excuse. (Hey, she’s lucky enough to be treated by the best doctors money can buy).
She then talks about a list of reasons why: she has a food addiction, she uses food for comfort, she is craving love, and she needs to put herself and her health on her to-do list as a priority.
These issues are all true. But there’s still a missing link. And it’s NOT about only eating the right foods.
It’s not about eating steamed broccoli and chicken the rest of her life. It’s not about how much to eat, portion control, or how many calories, fat grams or carbs she eats. It’s not about being too busy, stressed, and tired to cook or eat right. It’s not about having enough willpower.
It all boils down to ONE thing, and the one thing Oprah does not have or is really broken:
her relationship with food. THAT, my friends, is the foolproof formula Oprah (and all of us) are seeking.
It’s her broken relationship with food that…
- is making everything else out of whack that she can’t get control of her weight
- makes her put herself last, and the food first
- made Oprah feel she didn’t want to photographed head-to-toe all last year for the cover of O Magazine
- made her hit rock bottom — and not want to be onstage with Tina Turner and Cher (both older, but who looked better, felt better, and had more energy than she did)
- got her on the wagon in the first place, then off it again
Only when she has a positive relationship with food — and only then — will she stop using food as a drug, stop using food for comfort, to soothe, or to ease stress. Only then, will she stop craving love and stop reaching for food instead. Only then, will she stop and ask herself if, and why, she’s really hungry.
She needs to change her relationship with food.
Do that, my friends, and you will you have found the foolproof formula for permanent weight loss and be truly happy, healthy, and be whole — right now, in 2009, and in every new year.
And let me know YOUR thoughts…
P.S. Call me Oprah — or anyone who has gone off the wagon — I can help. Really, I can.
