“Making a Change for Good”

I wanted to share an excerpt form the book “Making a Change for Good” by Cheri Huber. we read this to our Transtions class to support them in creating a new, healthy perspective with food.

Eating is often a source of great suffering. What and how much to eat are questions we face every day. If we are conscious, there is no problem. At a retreat, a woman said, “ I’ve noticed that I can generally maintain my commitment to lose a few extra pounds as long as I maintain conscious awareness while eating.” This is a huge piece of the puzzle.

“Going unconscious” is the reaction to specific triggers. Rising energy that gets labeled “tension” is one of those triggers. A series of connections begins that takes the unaware person down a path of bad decisions. For instance, I am conditioned to ignore early warning sides of hunger. I’m busy, I’m involved in something important, and I avoid signals of growling stomach and dropping blood sugar. I can never remember to bring a snack or to avoid coffee and sugar when I won’t be able to eat for several hours. Soon I am miserable. Inside I’m hysterical. I can’t focus or concentrate, and I hate everyone around me. When I finally get to food, I stuff myself with the quickest, easiest items I can get my hands on. I pack in way more empty calories than I need before my brain gets information about how much I’ve ingested. Alas, fast food is designed for the person in my condition. Snack foods are made for people in blood sugar crisis. So, we want to bring conscious, compassionate awareness to the issue of food. Who would I be if I had a kind, compassionate relationship with food. What would happen to self hatred if I ate what was good for me and was healthy and felt good about myself. There would be no drama! There would be no suffering.

Does this mean you will never again get to eat a piece of cake or candy? No, of course not. It means you will eat it when it is good for you to eat it, not when it’s an unconscious decision from self-hate. Let’s say I commit to eating a limited amount of sugar once per day. I know sugar isn’t good for me, and I don’t feel well, I weigh more than is comfortable, and I feel totally out of control with the issue. Because I’m used to eating a lot of sugar every day, the stress is going to build. Voices start angling for their sugar. Conditioning starts distracting, making cases, making deals. The Judge starts expressing an opinion about who and how I am for having an issue with sugar in the first place. I watch it all. I breathe and observe and write down everything that goes on. I am practicing choosing compassion over self-hatred. I am addressing the issue. I’m cutting back on sugar. I’m taking responsibility for my health and well-being, and I’m doing it from the place that is most compassionate to all. Compassion for the sugar addict, compassion, for the habit, compassion for the body, compassion for the opinions, compassion for the person who wants to be free of the addiction.