food

How do you know you are Prepared to change your Relationship with Food?

food, health, positive thinking, therapy, Uncategorized, weight loss, wellness

At age 28 I woke up to prepare for work like any other day, except that day when I opened my closet I had no clothes that fit, nothing to wear for work. I froze for a minute in fear then decided I needed to do something.  I remembered attending weight watcher meetings with my Mom at age 5, so I called in sick to work, found a meeting and became a weight watcher that day. I walked through the door scared, embarrassed but determined to do whatever I needed to do, whatever they told me to do to lose weight and get healthy. I lost 25 pounds in 2 years. That may seem like a long time to some, but I was more interested in learning and changing so I could keep it off for a long time. So 28 years later I have sustained that weight loss, plus a little more.

 I worked 10 years in the weight loss industry, but early on I discovered a food relationship is so much more than I could ever imagine. That fueled my passion to pursue a career as a Psychotherapist helping adults understand their current disordered food relationship and create a sustainable one supported by psychological, behavior and lifestyle factors.

This post will introduce you to the Psychological factors of readiness, change, success-failure of weight loss and maintenance.

Readiness: Dr. Kelly Brownell and other researchers in the field of obesity believe one of the most predictors of weight loss success is one’s psychological readiness to follow a program. Determining ahead of time which factors might stand in the way of your losing weight gives you a chance to correct them so that you can focus your energy on getting weight healthy.

Transtheoretical  Model of behavior change (Stages of Change): originally used to define changes in addictive behavior, it has been applied to the adoption of positive health behaviors.  It has 5 distinct stages in the change process: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance.  These stages represent the “readiness” of an individual to make a change.

Attribution Theory: Psychologist Bernard Weiner found that the difference between achievers and non-achievers doesn’t depend on the number of failures or successes a person has, but rather on the conclusions one draws about why those successes and failures happened. In general if a person “attributes” failure to a personal defect-like incompetence-and explains success as a stroke of luck, then he is reasoning like a pessimist. An optimistic attitude generates hope and persistence-which, coincidentally, are the ingredients required to make permanent weight-loss changes. Ignoring difficulties doesn’t make them disappear-focusing on solutions does. The positive perspective must take reality into account for it to work.


This is just an introduction to the world of healing a food relationship utilizing psychological constructs. One of the most fundamental building blocks of nutritional metabolism is our relationship with food, or our food psychology paradigm – the sum total of our innermost thoughts and feelings about what we eat. Our relationship with food is as deep and revealing as any we might ever have in life.

I help adults conquer eating issues, calm anxiety, and recover happiness at any age. 

 

Today is National Food Day! Really!

food, health, nutrition, self care, wellness

National Food Day is observed annually on October 24. One of the targets that Food Day aims to help people is to “Eat Real,” which is defined by them as “cutting back on sugar drinks, overly salted packaged foods and fatty, factory-farmed meats in favor of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and sustainably raised protein.”  National Food Day involves some of the country’s most prominent food activists, united by a vision of food that can be healthy, affordable and produced with care for the environment, farm animals and the people who grow, harvest and serve it.

In 2012, there were 3,200 events taking place from community festivals to a national conference in Washington, D.C. to thousands of school activities.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Enjoy some of your favorite healthy foods and use #NationalFoodDay to post on social media.

HISTORY

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) initiated National Food Day 2011. It is a nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food and a grassroots campaign for better food policies.  This project builds throughout the year and culminates on October 24 of each year.