Balance

Last little while has been spent trying to get out of the dieting frame of mind so I have felt a little off balance. I guess it must be what riding a bike is like after you take off the trainer wheels - it has been bumpy and I still feel a little anxious when I eat something that on a diet would be considered 'bad' but I am starting to see foods as all equal a little more (just). The books from Geneen Roth and www.everywomanhasaneatingdisorder.blogspot.com has really given me a lot to think about and advice. The place that I am at now though is the place where I know that I can eat what I want but I also know that there needs to be a healthy balance of food in my life, not just for me but for my children. I want them to grow up with wanting and having a wide range of foods and on a daily basis having a healthy balance diet which also includes eating what they want when they are hungry. My question is though after years of dieting what is a healthy balanced diet - no carbs, no fat, high carbs, high protein, calories, points, three meals only????? I don't know what it means to just eat a balanced diet!!!

While I have been experimenting with honouring what my body wants I seem to push my body into having something I know it doesn't. Like for lunch I really wanted I ham sandwich but the f'ed up voice in my head said 'hey chick you are not on a diet have something naughty something with lots of calories- you are allowed so go for it.' So in my rebellious state I do what it says even though all I really wanted was a ham sandwich. So I know that this is going to take practise and the balance found.

I can definately say though that I am starting to feel so much better about myself, my relationship with food and sure that I can finally conqueror this thing.

Ouch!!

I took a bit of a break for a couple of days from the world and I have just spent the last couple of hours catching up on blogs - whack!!- reality stuck. One of the blogs was a heartbreaking account of a very cool chick losing her baby at 16 weeks. It made me realise that I am sooooo incredibly lucky to have two wonderful wee ones even if I am tired and grumpy and would love a great nights sleep - there are women out there that would give anything to soothe their babies cries at all hours of the night or find playdough in the plug hole! So tonight I am going to kiss them a few more extra times and smile when my baby boy cries for my attention at 2am, 4am and 6am.

Last weekend I bit the bullet and joined the gym and this past Monday I had my first session and guess what today was the first day I could actually walk again!! OMG am I really that out of shape!! I bitched and moaned through the session with the trainer - as I was running two steps at a time up two flights of stairs...while holding a medicine ball - but like she said I will thank her come summer. HMMMMMM she better be right!

Unititled

I feel like I have just been hit by a brick. I don't even know how to write this postbut I know I need to get out what is happening so when things are okay again I can read back and find out what is going on.

Since 11.30am this morning I have been binge eating - everything I could possibly find including going down the road and spending money I know I really can't afford and buying more. Something has changed though usually I would not feel anything while I am eating I am almost numb but today I have cried from the time I opened my second chocolate bar until now. I have cried because I have tried to feel the pain and although I was eating trying to stuff it down I think it has got to a point where I knew I need to acknowledge it. This is what I realised.

I eat because I am frustrated, lonely and tired. I love my little boy to death but I need a break. I have pretty much had him for six months 24 hours a day except for the five weeks I was on teaching placement but even then I had to skip lunch and work around feeding him and once I got home from looking after little ones he was there. There are people that I could ask to look after him but when I ask it seems like I am asking for the world not just a couple of hours and they manage to make me feel like a terrible mother because I need the time. I must admit my husband tries but he just doesn't get it - he tries to work the children into his schedule not just working to their needs and so he gets angry and they get upset so it is just easier for me to do it rather than having people yelling and screaming around me.

Most of my friends don't have children. The one friend who understands whatI am going through and has a young baby lives in a different city and ringing her means large phone bills (DH not happy about this one). I never joined the coffee groups because to me most of them are just a way for mums to compare and talk babies. I don't want to compare babies! Baby boy also won't have a bar of the bottle so even the attempt to wean is more frustrating then having sore bitten nipples (bottom teeth are through) and sleepless nights.

Is it any wonder I have turned to food. It's my comfort, my way out, the one thing that is not judging or wanting something from me right now. How can I possibly get out of this cycle?

Diet detox

When I first said okay no more dieting Bex! It was cool, felt at ease then day two and my body kinda did the you can eat what you want again no rules so go for it and I ate and ate all of the things that I had restricted because of 'dieting', thank goodness I knew this was a normal part of 'diet detox' and just went with it. Well reactive eating no more - after eating chips for dinner last night and not really enjoying them I realised it was time to put the reactive eating behind me and start looking at what I was going to do to get myself healthy and fit again.

So this morning I turned to my low GI foods that I was eating when I was pregnant and actually enjoyed - while I was pregnant I wasn't dieting and just focused on being healthy by eating the low GI foods and keeping myself satisfied and I lost 11 kilos!! It took 9 months to do but hey if I was 11 kilos lighter in 9 months from now I'd be happy. Eating low GI foods stops the dietng thinking because by eating low GI foods your tummy is full, your bloood sugar levels stay more stable which means your moods do to, and I know thatmost of my eating is done not because I am hungry but because of what my moods dictate I eat. One part that I will take from the old dieting is the keeping a food diary but instead of points I am going to write down - What I ate, was I hungry? if not what was I feeling? and what was I doing when I was eating ie: sitting at the table, watching TV - because I am sure that the amount I eat relates to what I am doing at the time. Who hasn't eaten an entire family block of chocolate in front of the TV without realising it and blamed the husband/kids/dog for eating it all up!!

Bit lovin'

Part of this journey of discovery (man it sounds like I am off to find the lost city!) is discovering what feels right for my body, not just what a diet says is right for my body. So I have decided to write the things as I discover what is right for my body, mind and soul (after all I am just more than boobs and hips) and what's not.

What's Right!
*Whole grain bread - Its fills me up, it keeps me going - It satisfies my need for bread without inducing a binging episode.
*Nuts - After years of being told by 'diets' that nuts were a bit of a no no I have started enjoying them again. I love raw mixed nuts, I love the crunch and they always hit the empty spot. I also know that nuts level out my blood sugars.
*Candles - I have about a jillion candles in my house and all of them are gorgeous and till now I have been doing the 'save them for a special occassion' but of course no occassion is special enough - well that's what I thought until I realised every day is special - I am special and my family are special so we deserve to have yummy candles burning even if we are just sitting watching TV.


What's Not!
*White bread - I feel bloated and sick and there is something about white bread that makes it my devil food. The more I have the more I want and I don't even really like it unless its dripping with butter and nutella!
*Messy house - Now call this crazy but the way I have been feeling I didn't think I deserved a clean tidy house - why tidy when I felt so crap. Turning it around a messy house makes me feel like crap and I can't let my children grow up in it.
*Having the TV on up to twleve hours per day - yes I say that its just for company and the sound now that I am at home most days but really most of the time I end up plopped down in front of it watching crap and living in a fantasy world. Time to start living back in mine.

So going to bed tonight feeling a little clearer, a little more at peace with myself.

Mini meltdown

Today I have had a bit of a mini meltdown with food due to a couple of things. One, left over birthday cake from little girl's birthday party - over the pink already!! Two, I am fighting off being sick - have been taking my echinacea so I am sure I am feeling better than I might have otherwise and three, starting to face the icky emotional stuff. Today I was going to start going through the exercises in Geneen Roth's book but because I have been feeling yuck I haven't quite got there and I guess I also think I am a little scared. So of course I am having a little freak out and eating to I guess numb the freak out voices and feelings. Right now I truly feel like I am about to step off the edge of the cliff and I am not sure if the parachute is going to open or not - I trust that it will but there is still the uncertainity until I actually do it!! Hey, I've come a little way already - admitting that it is feelings that I am eating for not hunger. So tonight going to just take a breath and step out into the unknown, wish me luck!

Soapbox

What is it with society today that whenever people get sick or a skin rash or something physical happens we pop pills to get rid of the symptoms. All too quickly people seem to want to cure the symptom instead of finding out what the cause is. For example I have on my foot a slight rash and the second M & S see it, they say get the steriod cream, get rid of it!! Whereas I want to know what caused it not just get rid of it because how do I then avoid the cause or treat the cause - this is why I am a huge avocate for natural products and homeopathy. I feel that with these products you can find and treat the cause which will then treat the symptom. To me using chemical drugs is a way of masking the issue, like a quick band aid. I guess that's also what I have worked out that dieting is for me, instead of dealing with what causes me to turn to food and my overeating and I am only dealing with the band aid food problem - dieting to me is yes lost the weight but will probably gain it again as I haven't dealt with the cause of me being fat. Does this all sound like talking in circles.

I guess I have just got to a point with many things where I no longer want a band aid, a chemical drug, a diet to get rid of the symptom I really do think its time to figure out what the underlyng problem is and hey if I have to walking around with a rash on my foot for a month to find out what is causing it I will!!

What is society really covering up with all their chemical drugs and food band aids. Okay Bex time to fold up the soapbox and go and eat some organic fruit!

Leftovers!?!

Okay I have my first emotional eating issue in my sights. Not very glamorous or exciting ...leftovers!! Yes those little pearls of leftover food that don't make it to the plate. Now those who know me know that I have issues with inanimate objects (I feel sorry for the toys that my children don't play with!!! Issues you say!!!)Now I have only just realised that these feelings stem onto food. Seriously. I obsess about the pieces of food that are left behind and can't stop obsessing until either I eat it (which happens ninety nine percent of the time) or someone else cleans it up. I just can't throw it away! I almost have an anxiety attack about the food sitting there and the second I have eaten it I feel better as the food has accomplished its purpose in life. Does that sound completely mental? I finish a meal, feel good... then someone mentions 'oh there is more up there' or I can see food still in the bowl/pot/takeaway container... and suddenly I can't stop obessing about it, knowing that it feels wasted and alone. Boy oh boy is there some months of therapy in that one!! Next it will be the talking chocolate :O)

Out from under my rock

Last night after finsihing one whole family pizza and a family block ofCadbury's Mint Chip chocolate I decided it was time to stop hiding and come out from under my rock. The rock of blaming my genes, my mother, my stepmother, my husband, stress, no sleep, celebrations, breastfeeding, or the makers of all those tempting foods that surround me - the rock that to date I keep peeking out from but actually haven't got up the guts (and energy!) just to move the bloody thing! Well last night as I lay down in bed feeling disgusted with myself for being a failure - I put a stop to the voice and said this is the last time, the last time I will sleep feeling this way and the last time I will beat myself up for something I know I can change.

Today I feel mentally ready to do it! My brain in engaged and now its time to make my body that way. My biggest challenge to face will be using food as a release from stress - it's how I wind down, how I escape the crying baby or whinging toddler or the house that doesn't 'fit' our family (story for another day!). I know that food is a temporary fix after its gone I still need to deal with whatever drove me to it and this is my greatest challenge on this journey. Dealing with things instead of running and hiding under the doona with a bucket of KFC as protection. Its time to deal with why I eat, the food I eat is just a side issue.

Someone green once said 'ogre's are like onions ... they have layers.' Well that what my relationship with food is - it has layers and I am going to start peeling them away.