Welcome

If you happen to remember my last newsletter, waaaaay back in January, I announced that I was changing my schedule to send it out every two weeks instead of once a month.

Well, here it is about two months later and I’m just now sending it out! Believe me, it’s been driving my inner control freak crazy. The old negative self-talk has been coming up, telling me I’m not good enough, why can’t I do it all, and <gasp> I’m not perfect! It’s funny, all my negative self-talk has gone away when it comes to food and my body, but it pops up in other areas sometimes. Of course I have good reasons why the newsletter has been delayed for so long – I’ve been swamped with projects that I’m looking forward to sharing with you soon, and I’ve had more than my share of annoying things going on outside of business. And the control freak that I thought I got rid of in my intuitive eating journey has been hanging out.

So instead of allowing the stress of being behind take over my life, I decided to ask my inner coach what I should do. And the answer was vaguely familiar (because I say it on a daily basis when I’m coaching!) While I was working on adopting intuitive eating one of the most valuable lessons I learned was to identify when I was trying to control something that I had no control over. If I didn’t have the control, I needed to let it go and trust everything would work out fine. While it was difficult, doing this reduced my stress dramatically and had a huge effect on reducing my emotional overeating. It also allowed me to focus more attention on the things I could control, which kept me from getting stuck and accomplishing nothing.

So many of the patterns we discover while learning intuitive eating (like trying to control everything) are also present in other aspects of our lives. I love intuitive eating because you don’t just make peace with food and your body, you give yourself a better quality of life. Remembering this time around to let go of those things I can’t control once again helped me get “unstuck” and I actually accomplished much more, allowing me to get this much-delayed newsletter out earlier than I thought!

Fellow control freaks, when you feel the urge to eat because you’re trying to hold on to something you can’t control, ask yourself, “Do I have any control over this?” If you don’t, focus on the things you can control and let the rest go. Practice doing this because it will get easier, I promise!

Speaking of control, one thing we don’t have control over is the functioning of our computers. My entire business is on mine and it worries me that I will lose it all if my hard drive were to crash. I have a backup program but it’s not enough for me to feel secure. Since I do have control over keeping my data safe in the event that my computer crashes, I did some research and found an excellent report on various ways to be sure I have everything covered. It’s called, “How to Avoid Disaster in Your Online Business” by one of my favorite online business experts, Nicole Dean. She doesn’t just talk about backing up your data, but how to manage passwords for security, how to prepare for an emergency, how to back up your website, and much more. Her recommendations are essential for business owners, but also helpful for anyone who stores important files on their computer including family photos, financial records and purchased downloads. Check it out!

Have a safe, secure and peaceful (non-controlling) start to spring!

Late-Night Fat Rant

I’m getting tired of hearing about airlines singling out overweight people and forcing them to purchase an extra seat. I don’t have a solution to this issue, unless the airlines would be willing to put in wider seats (which I think we all would be happy about). I’ve had a couple clients afraid to go on vacation because they were worried about what would happen as they board the airplane. My only suggestion is to call the airlines and find one that does not do this and only fly with them.

Anyway, this recently happened to a comedian who happens to be friends with late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson. I was pleasantly surprised to hear his response on national television. I think you’ll like it too:

(If you don't see the video below, you can view the video directly from YouTube here.)

What is Your Biggest Challenge?

When you subscribed to my newsletter, soon after you received my “6 Steps to Guilt-Free Eating” report, I sent another email asking what your biggest challenge was. I always read every single one of the responses and appreciate them very much. If I am able, I will respond to them as well. Below is a challenge someone sent me that I was able to answer. This subscriber found my feedback very helpful and gave me permission to share it with my newsletter readers. This issue has been brought up by some of my clients as well, so it may be something you’ve also been curious about. By the way, if you have a challenge you would like addressed in the newsletter, you can email me at Gillian@HealthierOutcomes.com.

My biggest challenge is dealing with overeating in the evening. I’m recently retired and I do fine all day, I usually have breakfast and lunch with a snack in between and I’m satisfied. In the late afternoon, before dinner, I like to have a glass or two of wine so I can just sit and unwind from the day. It does seem like a long time before I actually sit down, have the wine and relax. What happens is after having the wine each night, I want to eat everything I can get my hands on and I end up eating throughout the night and overeating. I would really like to be able to stop doing this!

Thanks so much for sharing your challenge with me. I have a couple of thoughts that may be helpful. Most major life changes (like retirement), will affect your normal routine. I’ve seen eating patterns greatly disrupted when this happens. Most people find it easier to stick with a way of eating when they have a routine. So things may settle down for you as you settle into your routine. However, there may be other factors as well.

One thing that comes to mind is the timing of drinking your wine. Are you eating anything between lunch and the wine? If not, it could be the problem. If you're eating lunch at noon or 1pm, for example, and having the wine at 5pm or so, you've gone without food for at least four hours. So-called "normal" eaters (or intuitive eaters), usually eat enough food to last three to four hours. After this time, when they are hungry, they will once again eat enough to last three to four hours. This is a generalization, but it is typically what I see as my clients’ eating normalizes and they overcome emotional overeating and dieting. So if you are having wine on an empty stomach, or even if you didn't have the wine, if you go more than 4 or so hours without eating, you are most likely going to be hungry. If you wait, you will get to the too hungry point, where it's really hard to not overeat. That's the point of no return, as I like to say, because you don't know you are full until you are way too full. (Note: when you overeat, it will usually take more than 4 hours to feel physical hunger again).

So if this is the case, maybe you can have a bit to eat before the wine, or with the wine. It doesn't have to be a full meal, maybe just some cheese and crackers or an apple with peanut butter, or other snack that incorporates some protein and carbohydrate. That combination helps keep your blood sugar stable and prevents you from getting overly hungry.

Another thing that may be happening is simply that the wine is “going to your head”. Obviously some people are more sensitive to alcohol than others. I know I don't need much to feel the effects. If you have enough wine that it affects your ability to really tune into your hunger or fullness, you may end up eating more simply because you aren't getting the feedback from your body that you would when not consuming alcohol. It's really typical to go to a party for example, and eat a lot more than normal because of the wine or other drinks. For this I would also recommend eating something with the wine to help buffer the alcohol so you don't as easily lose touch with your hunger and fullness signals.

Thanks again for sharing your challenge and good luck! :)

A Better Approach to Childhood Obesity

You may have heard about Michelle Obama’s new project to put an end to childhood obesity. While her effort is well-intended, many of us in the intuitive eating/non-diet community find her plan somewhat disturbing. I began overeating when I was about eight years old and it was due to having many restrictions put on what and how I could eat. Again, these rules were well-intended, but they led to deprivation backlash and sneak eating, and then overeating. This was the beginning of my 25-year battle with dieting and compulsive overeating.

Below are links to articles I found that I thought were helpful in learning a better way to deal with children and eating. I have many clients that are afraid they will pass on their dieting and overeating habits to their children. If you are one, I hope you find these articles helpful as well. The first is written by probably the foremost expert on children and eating, Ellyn Satter, whose books include, “How to Get Your Kid to Eat…But Not Too Much”. Highly recommended! I’ve also included an excellent article about raising kids with a healthy body image and another with some ideas on how to prevent childhood obesity without dieting or rigid exercise. I would love your feedback!

• A Message to First Lady Michelle Obama - Child obesity: Help without harming
• Body Image and Your Kids: Your body image plays a role in theirs
• Slash Your Child's Risk for Obesity by 40%--Without Diet or Exercise