Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Understanding the bod!

Understanding Your Body

Are you trying to understand your body?

Why does it hold onto body fat? Or crave foods that are “bad” for us? Why does our body lead us astray? How can we all- meaning mind, stomach, butt, cellulite…play for the same team?

Last night I ate bread, sounds innocent enough- it was so yummy and hot and had garlic butter on it. Because I am primarily eating raw food, this had an interesting effect on me. I felt immediately queasy and desirous of more bread at the same time. I had a stomach ache and felt like the only thing that would make it go away is if I ate MORE BREAD! Ugh! I know that didn’t feel right but what was going on?

Cravings often times indicate an allergy. Now that is counter-intuitive. You crave the thing that your body is allergic to. Allergies often times lead to addictive behaviors, binge eating etc. So for those of us that are the most sensitive we can sometimes be the first to fall into addiction the most easily.

The reason for this is not clear, but it is good information to have. Sometimes the mind is a good thing to use to explain to the body that clear conscious choice is a better decision than urge and gratification.

It has been suggested that this may be because some protein fragments formed when food is broken down are similar to endorphins, which the body produces naturally to counteract pain and produce euphoria. Then the allergy sufferer’s body becomes adapted to that level of endorphin activity and so craves the allergen in order to maintain the endorphin levels that the body produces to ward of the allergic reactions.

Often times if you eat something and still feel hungry, or you crave certain foods always wanting more never feeling satisfied or if you wake up with a food ‘hang-over’ it is quite possible that you are suffering from allergies. Healing these allergies through specialists or acupuncture or researching which foods you are allergic too you can make miraculous changes in your well-being and weight loss.

But more importantly how would you like your body to line up with what it really needs. You crave avocados and olives because you need more amino acid, you crave oranges because your body is deficient in Vitamin C. With a little fine tuning, listening, making smart choices, we can use are bodies as they were meant to be masterful instruments here to enjoy beaming health and frolic in our fancy bods!

Bravo!


Friday, June 26, 2009

Personal Empowerment/ Women and our Body Image Issues

I have just begun a search for women who have suffered from a list of:
-eating disorders
-binge eating
-overeating
-body image issues
-obsession with food or exercise

And wow did I have a huge response!

Why is this such a prevailing issue in our culture? If you think about it, it is really insane. Imagine a tree comparing its trunk as being larger or fatter or wider than another tree? Our body is a part of nature and is beautiful and perfect as it is, and yet, even as obvious as this appears we still suffer some of us for a lifetime with this issue.

I myself struggled for many years with all of the above listed issues plus some and now feel compelled to find answers to this pain, shame, and self abuse that is pervasive in our culture.

I would love to hear from you!

What is your story and how have you found personal empowerment or are still striving for it...because that is the light at the end of this dark tunnel.

We are all perfect and special as we are and our vehicles are really divine gifts and miraculous for all they can acheive and yet until we drop the outer superficiality we will never be able to know or appreciate the gift of our bodies.