Words from a Juicy Woman

It's so great to see that so many people over the world are 'on board' with diet-ditching and are fed up of the damage that an over-emphasis on weight and food control has caused and is continuing to do so.

I'm talking specifically about the comments that Andrea Amador, who runs The Juicy Woman blog, has left under my earlier entry Have you got a pair of 'skinny jeans'?

This is what Andrea says:

What a liberating post this is! It's been only recently that I have embraced the lifestyle of ditching the diets.

I earn my living as a speaker and coach with a focus of working with women around emotional eating, Since making that decision, I realized that I have had to deal with many personal issues and bugaboos related to clearing my own habits of eating abuse.

Four months ago, I was guided to discover the process of Intuitive Eating by a colleague of mine. Since then I committed to “trying it out” reserving myself just a little bit taking a wait and see approach.

It was like a party at first, eating everything I could get my hands on, then over the next few weeks, a new sense of discrimination replaced the desire to eat everything and I began to become a picky eater. That became very exciting for me and I lulled myself into thinking that the war on fat was over. Although I had gained some weight, I chalked it up to losing the battle, but winning the war!

Last month I had a presentation to make to a group of women. In preparation for that, I knew that I could no longer rely on my closet filled with size 8s, I needed to get a bigger size of clothes. Yikes, That sent me into panic mode. I knew that I had to go “shopping” I hated that.

I felt mortified, angry, infuriated, desperate and defeated. I began to sob and cry over the fact that I was gaining more weight and that I would never get off of this diet treadmill.

Then I remembered that I had a tool that I could use to change my feelings and reframe my thoughts in minutes. It's called Emotional Freedom Technique. As an Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner, I used EFT to gut out my negative feelings and to uncover my ability to be curious and embrace the joy which I felt from finally deciding to end the deprivation cycle. As I tapped on my acupuncture meridian points, I noticed that I was laughing and crying at the same time, feeling both feelings.

Within a few more minutes of tapping, I had completely resolved the feelings that had been in a flurry inside of me and I headed out with my head held high ready to purchase my size 14 outfit.

Since doing that clearing, I feel so much better, and have not since entertained thoughts of “I should go on a diet”. What a sense of freedom this Emotional Freedom Technique offers. Power at your fingertips! I love it.

Thank you, Andrea for helping me to see how much of a process this lifestyle transformation really is and for helping me to recognize that each small milestone represents a personal triumph.

I can liken my own experience to Andrea's (well, we do have the same name!), particularly in that once I created this site, I've had to face other challenges in myself because having made my decision 'public', there is no going back for me.

As well, I'm bowled over by the fact that in such a short while, Chocolate and Beyond has caused such an impression.