03.17.08
Fasting again
Jeff and I began our second juice fast of our new cycle, the last one being in late January. I have confirmed that via the fasting efforts I will achieve my immediate goal of getting within the weight requirements for private health insurance, so that is reassuring. Now I am working on concurrent efforts to the fasting: exercise issues, and emotional eating issues.
I am finding that my choice to do high-density willpower bursts (the fasts) is a more sustainable approach for me than trying to maintain a constantly high level of vigilance across all three fields of play: nutrition, exercise, and personal growth/healing. My overall nutrition is good for maintenance, and will be great once I’ve gained better success with regular exercise. (That’s even given bouts of emotional eating.) Tackling the caloric restriction necessary for actually losing weight through concentrated fasting is working well, given all the factors involved.
I have made some discoveries in my readings on the growth and healing front. Two important books I’ve read recently are The Solution by Laurel Mellin (R.D.) and The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. The Solution discusses six areas that lead to an inappropriate relationship with food: weak nurturing, ineffective limits, body shame, poor vitality, unbalanced eating, and stalled living. The Simple Living Guide is about voluntary simplicity, the concept of paring down excess in your life in order to live it more fully. In particular, things I learned about myself from time with these books:
If my life seems so busy that I’m having trouble making time for things that are important, then my life is too busy and I need to reprioritize.
I have difficulty accepting “necessary pain” in life, very much preferring an easy road.
My expectations are often so high that I can’t even get started because I know failure is inevitable.
These observations give me areas to focus my energies when not on an active fast.