This article is in response to a special request from one of my readers. After last month’s ezine article, The Power of Acceptance, I received this e-mail:
I have a bad case of celiac and many food allergies. I have not accepted that fact. I seem to get sick looking at food at times. I keep saying I want to trade this body in.
Maybe one day you can write about people like us who are obese partly due to being celiac and food allergies. I found a lot of what I can’t eat and it is a lot so I tend to eat more of what I can eat at times.
There is a gold mine of information in these few sentences, revealing several layers of opportunities for healing. The two biggest issues that immediately jump to my attention are the relationship with the body and “teeter-totter thinking.”
By her own words, it sounds to me like this person believes that her obesity is due to her food limitations. And while celiac disease and food allergies are very real issues that many people have to contend with, in the grand scheme of things her situation is no different than those who have physical limitations that keep them from rigorous physical activity.
To think that our body’s shape and size is determined by what we can or can’t eat – even if we find ourselves eating “a lot more” of the stuff we can – or to think that our body’s shape and size is determined by what we can or can’t do for exercise – even if we physically can’t “do enough” or the “right” kind – or to think that our body’s shape and size is determined by some combination of the two is “teeter-totter thinking.”
And the way to heal that issue is the same for everyone, regardless of whether or not any particular dietary or physical restrictions apply. Embrace a Model of Alignment. It’s the first step in our “5 Steps.”
Step Two of our “5 Steps” is to Connect With Your Body. And it will be very difficult for our friend to connect with her body if she keeps saying that she wants to trade hers in. Perhaps her feeling sick when she looks at food is her body’s way of trying to communicate something to her. And the more she can cultivate a relationship with her body, the better she’ll be able to understand its messages and take guidance from its wisdom.
And her issue with acceptance – which prompted her initial reply to my article – is addressed by Step Five: Clearing the Channel. The Five Steps are the Five Steps are the Five Steps. And any situation that comes up can be addressed and healed through one of the Five Steps. So rather than looking at her wounds and challenges as issues that keep her trapped, I would encourage our friend to bring them to the 5 Steps of Happy Calories Don’t Count and the New Body Mind Makeover to be healed.