Archives 2020

Something I’ve been asked a lot recently is “are you worried about the coronavirus?”

Worried? Nope.

Mindful? Yes.

Here’s why…

Worry pretends to be useful — but it never is.

Worry causes us to stockpile ridiculous amounts of loo roll.

Worry causes us to sleep terribly, so we reach for sugary foods the next day as a pick-me-up.

Worry causes our bodies to flood with stress hormones which leads to comfort eating.

Worry is a trickster.

It tricks us by pretending to be useful. But it isn’t.

I feel you.

There’s so much going on out there that we could worry about—media articles, politicians, the stock market, job losses—that we can’t control.

Worry distracts us from what we can control.

We need to come back to what you can control.

Like…

choosing how we show up energetically in our lockdown bubble (remember, the children follow our lead)

choosing to savour chocolate (not eat the whole bar)

it’s a choice.

And it starts with recognising when worry is tricking you.

If you’re ready to swap worry with confidence and take control of comfort eating, why not join us in the free Facebook group ‘Peace With Food’.

How often do you judge yourself as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person based on what you last ate?

I feel you.

It’s something I used to do all the time, and now it a lot from clients.

Moralising in action.

Here’s how it works.

We women, have learned from the diet industry that certain foods equal ‘good’ while other foods equal ‘bad’.

As in, an apple good.

But a mars bar, bed, terrible.

Here’s where it gets fascinating.

We women – especially women who’re struggling with their weight- take the nutritional debate another layer deeper without even realising.

For example, when we eat the mars bars, we judge OURSELVES as fundamentally ‘bad’.

We make this enormous moralising, judgemental leap.

OK, so you ate the mars bar…. instead of the apple.

Big whoop – you’re human! Mars bars are yummy.

Here’s the truth I want you to appreciate.

Choosing to eat the less-than-nourishing food, doesn’t make YOU bad.

Not EVER.

So please please please take the moralising and judging of yourself off the menu – and enjoy your food!

Now if you’d like to end the good food vs bad food debate, I encourage you to come on over to my free Facebook group – Peace With Food.

Sooooooo many women say to me if I just had more will power, I could shift this weight.

But it’s not true.

Relying on will power is a sure fire way to fail.

We fool ourselves by thinking, “If I had more will power, I could resist that chocolate biscuit.”

Here’s why will power fails us….

You see, we all have two minds: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind.

The conscious mind houses your will power.

It’s about 10% of your mind. It’s the part of you that knows intellectually that you shouldn’t eat that fifth chocolate biscuit.

The unconscious mind is the powerhouse – it’s the other 90%.

It’s in charge of all automatic functions like breathing, healing, and it controls all of your eating habits….. including whether you eat that fifth biscuit.

You can see by the numbers that the unconscious mind that’s in control.

For example, try not to understand the following…

Yuor mnid is aimazngly perofwul! Wloceme to a wrold of hddien potential. Brtheae, realx, and konw that cahnge is esay when you use the peowr of your unconscouis mnid, the smae part taht atiutocamally understands thsee wrods.

See, the unconscious mind is an absolute powerhouse!

As you read those words, did you need to think about how to read? You just did it!

So, if you want to become the shape and size you want to be, it’s your unconscious mind you need to change.

Rather than fighting cravings, emotional eating and bad habits you can re-program in new cravings and habits that will make you the shape and size you want to be.

Remember: chagne is esay wehn you konw how!

If finding more will power has failed for you in the past, why not harness the incredible power of your unconscious mind with virtual gastric band hypnosis so that you can be the shape and size YOU want to be?

Sounds strange – very strange indeed – but it is true.

Negative thinking can limit your weight loss.

Here’s how.

When you think negative thoughts, you influence the biochemistry of your body.

When you think negatively, your body floods with cortisol and adrenaline.

Cortisol and adrenaline = stress hormones

They’re both stress hormones which cause your body to hold onto extra weight.

While I’m not saying negative thinking actually contains calories, it’s clear that what happens in your head directly influences your body.

Now, I’m not suggesting for a minute that you need to remain in a state of “life is wonderful” every second of the day to lose weight.

But what I am suggesting is breaking that insidious habit of perpetually seeing things worse than they are.

Here’s how to do that.

Remind yourself of this truth:

Your mind creates thoughts like the heart creates beats.

Just because we have thoughts in your head, doesn’t mean we need to believe them.

It’s just your mind creating thoughts.

So the next time you’re tempted to go down a negative rabbit hole of worry, anxiety, negative thoughts – remind yourself that the mind creates thoughts like the heart creates beats.

I hope you found that helpful and I look forward to seeing you next week with another making peace with food tip.

If you’re ready to feel more in control and confident around food, the virtual gastric band hypnosis can help. C’mon over to Lighten Up.

Has the world’s fear and panic started to inject itself into your covid-19 self-isolation bubble?

If it has, I feel you.

I’ll be honest.

Even though I’m a weight loss hypnotherapist, my eating habits – my healthy eating habits – went out the window there for a couple of days.

#COMFORTFOOD

And, I’ve been sneaking some extra “comfort food” treats into my shopping basket too.

Mostly wine and chocolate. Forget about loo roll!!! Wine and chocolate for me!!!

Now, my tip for this week is an oldy but a goody.

This tip never goes out of fashion, especially trying times, like these ones.

The tip is this…

BE KIND.

Be kind to the person at the supermarket who thinks food limits don’t apply to them.

Be kind to the kids who’re bickering because they’ve been cooped up all day.

Right now, even if it doesn’t seem like it, everyone is doing the best they can.

And that includes you, darling.

Be kind, be compassionate, go gently.

It’s the only way through this.

Now if you’re struggling with stress eating or the coronavirus has you slipping into helpful patterns of overeating – I’d like to support you.

I’m running a 5-day Thriving During Lockdown online retreat.

It’s FREE.

It’s online.

And it’ll give you the support and the tools you need to control your emotional eating, feel good about yourself, and stay healthy, happy….sane… through the ‘lockdown’ and beyond.

I look forward to supporting you through this.

And until then, be kind. x