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FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010

HEAD TRANSPLANT CURES WEIGHT PROBLEM

That’s what a patient told me the other day.

“I feel like I have had a head transplant. My cravings are gone, my obsession with food and weight which I have had for over thirty years, is gone. I have such mental clarity now, I can’t believe the fog I have been living in all these years. And I am losing weight without even trying, and I'm not even dieting.”

Did she have a head transplant? Not exactly, but she was "cured" of her obsession with food, and when relieved from the burden of that preoccupation, her mind expanded instead of her waistline.

I have been talking about this for years in my book and in the Shrink Yourself program. The weight problem, the reason most people come to our site, can only be mastered AFTER the obsession with food is gone. I have hesitated to call this a “cure” because everyone is not cured at the same rate. However, for those who are rid of their obsession with food, it seems like a miracle, it feels like a head transplant.
[more]
I was surprised when three years ago I first heard members of the Shrink Yourself program write in spontaneous messages saying that around the fifth session a miracle happened to them. Their craving went away... just like that! They didn’t tell themselves to stop craving, which of course wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. They didn’t have a will power battle with themselves and achieve a temporary win. No, they said their cravings just disappeared. All of a sudden, after decades of struggle, they appeared to be "cured."

How does this happen? Here’s what I can tell you for sure. The miracle moment when the cravings disappear is an unconscious phenomenon that tells us that the brain has been reprogrammed. It didn’t just happen on it's own. It happened because the Shrink Yourself member and my patients were on a serious quest to figure out why food had become such an important part of their mental and emotional life.

Everyone who has succeeded in this way immersed themselves in the quest, and struggled with the issues I have described in my last series of blogs; frustration with marriage or a relationship, guilt and anger, defiant eating, and self doubts, and all the other issues that make up a dynamic life. In each struggle they gained an insight that proved to them over and over again that overeating and bingeing don’t resolve the pain of life problems. In fact, that behavior feeds a foggy mind, a brain that is in a state of half-knowing, and half-not wanting to know.

The immersion is important. Little bits of insight accumulate. Parts of the brain get reprogrammed at a time. It all leads to a “cure” that can take place in 5 weeks for some or 5 months for others. But when it happens, it feels like magic, something most people who struggle with compulsive eating or food obsession can’t even imagine happening.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be "cured" of your food obsession?

POSTED BY !DR. GOULD! | 4:49:16 PM

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12 COMMENTS

Reinventing said...

This has happened to me. The desire to use food to deal with life, has just gone. It IS like a miracle I have been binging/dieting for 40 years I have not had a binge in 7 weeks..but more importantly i have had no DESIRE to binge. I have not had to fight anything...the urge is just not there. But, I am hesitant to call this a cure...I am worried that one day, I will wake up and it will be a day of struggle again, and a day of trying my damndest NOT to binge, and failing....That said, I DO feel my mind has been reprogrammed...the phrase that did it for me? "when we crave food, we have to understand it is not that we are looking for food, we are looking for RELIEF". I kept picturing my 'mini me' inside of me...crying for relief,and here I was shutting her up and shutting her down with food. I dont want to do that anymore.

shirley61 said...

The Aha moment! Reprogramming the mind has been happening to me slowly. I am in week 11 and almost through the program. There have been many moments of realizing what I am doing before I eat like never before. We can only hope this continues after the program is completed. The brain is wondrous thing. Shirley61

Barbie M said...

Ha! Answering the question is itself part of the reprogramming: "Can you imagine ..." My answer: "I have a vision of being at my natural weight, body toned and flexible. I am not capsized by uncomfortable emotions and no longer act on the compulsion to REACT to situations and circumstance. It is a focused intentional life." That is my vision, my IMAGINE. I read a quote and keep it nearby ... "An excuse is just a well-crafted lie your vision will bother you until you take action on it." I imagine myself blasting through the wall of excuses.

VBC said...

How do you know what you want once the cravings decrease?? I've found since I have started the programme 3 weeks ago my cravings have really dropped. What I am having a hard time with — and this may be a bit too technical or something — how do you know what you want if the 'stimulus' images, so to speak, are going? I can imagine certain food and want it so much. That has been programmed in from associations and external suggestions, I think. What does it get replaced with? Or does it? If you don't respond to images and triggers — where do the wishes/urges/ideas come from when you choose what to eat? Recent previous associations? I.e. the salad and shrimp and light to no dressing rather than something heavier and fatter that you had, enjoyed and then remember that? So I guess you re direct yourself to something you know is healthy, try it and that becomes your new 'association material'? I'm working on it.

Deborah said...

I can relate to many of the people who have posted. I have days of clarity where I don't obsess about sneaking food, and others where I can't wait to go find something to binge on. Fortunately, the non-binging days are coming more and more frequently. I don 't think I'd ever call myself cured, because emotional eating has been part of my makeup for most of my 49 years.

Juda said...

Since starting to read the Shrink Yourself articles I have been much more aware of what I call the food fixation times. Things can be goin along quite well but then I become preoccupied with what I am going to eat today or the next day. It's like I am now in observer mode somewhat removed from myself yet still in the driver's seat. Instead of eating being the solution for everything I am sometimes choosing to do other things. This is a huge breakthrough for me. The totally food fixated auto-pilot is off and the pilot is back on deck more and more often. Many thanks to all who have contributed to me reaching this place.

megan said...

I had a big mental awakening the other night on my walk with my husband. It wouldn't have been possible without this program. While it makes me anxious to confront my feelings and the REAL reason they exist, it is more exciting to reach clarity. I'm ready for more.

jacobs said...

I have been cured of my food obsession. It was a wonderful moment when I realised it happenend, it felt like a huge internal pressure had subsided, and a new mental clarity had begun. I have literally grown up. I now know what it feels like to be a full functioning adult. I now experience all life has to offer instead of running away from it all. In order to do this I had to confront all the traumas I had suffered in the past with a trusted professional. The thought of it was harder than the execution. Im soo glad I did it all, because now I am finally free and it feels fantastic! good luck on your journey x

SkinnyD  said...

Wow- It must feel amazing! I bet you could start to concentrate on other parts of your life! I cannot wait for that day: I think I am slowly making progress towards ending my obsession with food. I have found that I sometimes binge when eating healthy food... so I am not sure what that means. I am really working on being aware while I eat I have started to read SY Blogs and forums while I eat instead of watching TV.

Shellagh Marshall- Young said...

After years of 12- step, refuting irrational beliefs that I still have and recognize, I am no further along with my eating obsessiont. My thinking is still black or white. Starve/Binge. I have reached a place or acceptance in other areas of my life, not so with eating.

Andy95 said...

I have had some "cured" episodes when I stopped craving food and lost weight without even trying. But I've also struggled with relapses where I fall into old habits and use food to comfort the stresses of the day. I see it happening but tell myself, I'll be better tonight or tomorrow or next week. I've been better this week and lost weight. For me, I get it but my reprogramming is will take a few tries

infjcreative said...

It must be like the incubation period that occurs when doing art. You work and work, then leave it for a while, then the brain somehow makes all those connections, and then something brilliantly creative just "happens".

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The Shrink Yourself Blog
The Shrink Yourself Blog, hosted by Michelle Fiordaliso, clinical director of Shrink Yourself, gives you expert info on emotional eating.

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