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Intuitive Eating Resources

Intuitive Eating Resources

I rounded up my best free intuitive eating resources, body neutrality resources, and Health at Every Size resources. It includes books, blogs, podcasts, programs, and courses.

Intuitive eating and body neutrality are increasingly becoming popular among women for a number of good reasons. For one, it’s been proven to lead to positive health outcomes. In addition, both are a healthy approach to health that puts you in control of your eating behaviours and body image.

Health at every size is the overarching weight-neutral health principle that drives the foundation of both intuitive eating & body neutrality.

This blog post is aimed at helping you discover intuitive eating resources to support you in your journey Going Beyond the Food: which means ditching diet culture, making peace with food and your body.

What is Intuitive Eating?

Body neutrality definition

The meaning of Health at Every Size

My top 4 free intuitive Eating resources

Intuitive eating resources

Body Neutrality resources

Health at Every Size resources

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What is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive eating is an evidence-based approach to eating that allows you to be the expert of your own body. And this self-care eating framework enables you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body.

Moreover, it teaches you to trust your ability to meet your own needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, and ultimately develop body wisdom.

Most importantly, eating intuitively is well–researched and proven health framework supported by more than 100 intuitive eating studies as of 2020.

What is Body neutrality?

Body Neutrality definition is about empowering you to embrace yourself as you are. That’s including the parts you don’t like about yourself.  And its focus is to avoid self-hate while simultaneously relieving you from the pressure of having to love your body.

And the framework of Body Neutrality recognizes that not everyone is going to love every part of themselves all the time because that’s  an unrealistic expectation, to say the least.

In short, the goal is to respect and accept your body for what it is – and that’s it.

What is Health at Every Size?

Health at Every Size definition is a philosophy and an approach to health. Linda Bacon, Ph.D  wrote the book Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.

The book demonstrated through health at every size research and studies that health behaviours influence health more than weight.

Above all, the HAES movement promotes the simple truth that all bodies are good bodies. It shifts the focus away from dieting for weight control.

Instead, it steers you toward self-care practices that support your body’s natural wisdom and vitality.

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My top 4 free intuitive eating resources

#1 The Going Beyond The Food Show

This is my intuitive eating podcast. A collection of 200+ episodes that cover all topics about intuitive eating, body neutrality, and health at every size.

I suggest you get started at show 199 and move your way up!

#2 Health at Every Size Manifesto

A free HAES guide is provided by Dr. Linda Bacon.  And it explains the Heath at Every Size approach to health and provides sustainable research-based evidence that demonstrates that health is accessible at any body size.

#3 Beauty Redefined

Beauty Redefined is a non-profit, dedicated to promoting positive body image online and in live speaking events. This website is run by identical twins Lexie Kite, Ph.D. and Lindsay Kite, Ph.D.

These two experts teach body image resilience through research-backed online education available on their website, and social media. Visit their blog and TEDx Talk.

#4 Get Started Guide

I created this free guide to help women understand the basics of intuitive eating. Most importantly, this guide is followed by a series of educative articles to help you to get started on this new journey.

Get the FREE guide here.

 

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Intuitive Eating Resources

There are 3 levels of resources for you if you are ready to learn intuitive eating.

#1 Intuitive Eating Books

Evelyn Tribole is the ultimate intuitive eating expert, my teacher, and my mentor. She has dedicated her career to training health professionals with the intuitive eating framework.

All of our programs at Going Beyond The Food are certified by The Original Intuitive Eating Pro®.

The Intuitive Eating Book

The Intuitive Eating Workbook

#2 Structured Online Intuitive Eating Program

The Intuitive Eating Project is a 5-week online program.

In addition, it is a self-study program to teach you Intuitive Eating in an easy step by step, supported by an online community, and dozens of videos, guides and integration exercises. And it’s lead by myself, Intuitive Eating Expert, Stephanie Dodier CNP.

#3 Intuitive Eating Program Private Counselling

Two options for you:

#1 If you want to work with a local intuitive eating certified counsellor, then, you can visit this directory to locate someone to work with you 1-on-1.

#2  You can visit this intuitive eating coaching page on my website. Not only will you be able to read more on my coaching programs but also submit your application if you would like to work with me 1-on-1.

Most importantly, my 1-on-1 coaching is inclusive of body neutrality and health at every size alongside with intuitive eating.

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Body Neutrality Resources

Are you ready to get started making peace with your body? Then, there are 3 levels of resources for you.

#1 Body Neutrality Books

I would suggest starting reading books. Things No One Will Tell FAT Girls by Jess Baker is a lived-experience book combined with research. This book was a game-changer!

The second book you should read is definitely The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf. This is a classic that redefined the relationship between beauty and female identity. Body image issue is a feminist issue! Must read for all women.

#2 Body Image Courses & Programs

I would suggest two online programs. Both of these programs are a step by step structured program to heal your body image and make peace with your body.

#1 Beauty Redefined Body Resilience Program.  A 8-week program to build body resilience by helping you navigate body shame, objectification, and unreal ideals.

#2 The Body Acceptance Project, this is my baby. A 5-week self-study online program to help you accept your body using the body neutrality framework.

#3 Body Image Private Counselling

Two options for you:

#1 Jess Baker is a Recovery Support Specialist with a long history working as a Psychosocial Behavioral Specialist. With both formal education background and lived experience I’m pleased to recommend Jess. You can find more about working with her here.

#2 Would you like to work  1-on-1 with me? You can visit this intuitive eating coaching page on my website. Not only will you be able to read more on my coaching programs but also submit your application if you would like to work with me 1-on-1.

My 1-on-1 coaching is inclusive of body neutrality and health at every size alongside with intuitive eating.

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Health at Every Size Resources

Ready to relearn health and adopt a weight-neutral approach to health? I have a few options for you. Three levels of resources for you:

#1 Health at Every Size Books

The first place to get started is to read Dr. Linda Bacon’s  Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. Think of this book as the bible of the weight-neutral approach to health.

Next, I would suggest my colleague, Christie Harrison’s book Anti-Diet. Her book is very well researched and structured for you to understand why health is available to you now!

#2 Health at Every Size Course

If you are looking for a step by step structured program to teach how to support your health in a weight-neutral holistic methodology…

Going Beyond The Food Health Mastery is a 9-module curriculum. And this program will teach you how to support your body towards the best health without having to lose weight. Not only without restricting food or taking any supplements! This program is taught by myself, Stephanie Dodier CNP.

#3 Health at Every Size Private Counselling

Want to work with a Health at Every Size care provider? You can visit this directory to locate someone to work with you 1-on-1.

What is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive Eating definition is an evidence-based approach to eating that allows you to be the expert of your own body.

This self-care eating framework enables you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body.

Teaches you to trust your ability to meet your own needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, and ultimately develop body wisdom.

I hope this helps sister!

 

 

What is body neutrality?

Body Neutrality definition is about empowering you to embrace yourself as you are, including the parts you don’t like about yourself.

Its focus is to avoid self-hate while simultaneously relieving you from the pressure of having to love your body.

What is Health at Every Size?

Health at Every Size definition is a philosophy and an approach to health.

The HAES movement promotes the simple truth that all bodies are good bodies.

It shifts the focus away from dieting for weight control. Instead, it steers you toward self-care practices that support your body’s natural wisdom and vitality.

What are my top 4 free resources?

The Going Beyond The Food Show

Health at Every Size Manifesto

Beauty Redefined

Get Started Guide

What are the intuitive eating resources?

1. Intuitive Eating Books

a. The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole, Elyse Resch, Tracy Tylka (Foreword)

2. Structured Online Intuitive Eating Program

a. Intuitive Eating Project by Stephanie Dodier

3. Intuitive Eating Program Private Counselling

a. Intuitive eating certified counsellor

b. Intuitive eating coach, Stephanie Dodier

What are the body neutrality resources?

1. Body Neutrality Books

a. Things No One Will Tell FAT Girls by Jess Baker

b. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf

2. Body Image Courses & Programs

a. Beauty Redefined Body Resilience Program

b. The Body Acceptance Project

3. Body Image Private Counselling

a. Jess Baker

b. Stephanie Dodier

What are the Health at Every Size Resources?

1. Health at Every Size Books

a. Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Dr. Linda Bacon

b. Anti-Diet by Christie Harrison

2. Health at Every Size Course

a. Going Beyond The Food Health Mastery

3. Health at Every Size Private Counselling

a. Health at Every Size care provider

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What is Diet Culture and 4 Steps to Navigate It

What is Diet Culture and 4 Steps to Navigate It

If you’ve been following me on social media or reading my blog, you certainly have come across the term “diet culture.” I’ve mentioned it many times before. But what is diet culture? How does it impact your life? And what should you do about it?

This article tackles this topic and teaches you how to opt-out of it. Also, I offer some resources that will help you start a new life outside of this oppressive belief system. Here’s what you’re going to learn from this blog post:

What is diet culture?

How to navigate the diet culture

Diet culture educational resources

Now, let’s begin exploring the diet culture so you can take your first steps to freedom!

diet culture

What is diet culture?

From the sound of it, you might think the term “diet culture” refers to a group of people who are on a diet. But it actually has a different meaning.

Christy Harrison, a colleague of mine, has the best diet culture definition. She defines it as a system of belief that worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue. It’s now prevalent in our society and oppresses women from all over the world!

How does this impact your life?

This means you may have spent your entire life thinking that you’re broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin ideal.

That’s just one angle. You can also look at the diet culture from three other angles:

The second angle is that it promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status. It makes you feel compelled, almost obligated, to spend massive amounts of time, energy, and resources, trying to shrink your body so you can fit into this thin ideal. Now, research is very clear that the dieting model has a 95 percent failure rate, so it might as well be an exercise in futility.

The next angle is it demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It forces you to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, shames you for making certain food choices, and distracts you from the pleasure of eating as well as from your purpose and power.

Last but not least, it oppresses people who don’t match the supposed picture of health or the thin ideal. This affects us most particularly as women, although it’s starting to affect men.

My 25-year journey inside diet culture

As you probably know, I used to have a love-hate relationship with food and my body. A 25-year career in dieting left me obsessed, frustrated and confused about food. I was also at a loss on how to take care of my body.

Dieting was stealing my life and at 39. Then I decided that I had enough… I finally chose to take my power back and free myself from dieting and body shaming. The Going Beyond The Food Method™️ was born out of my personal journey.

Now, as a health professional, I’ve helped hundreds of women work their way out of this oppressive culture and develop a healthier relationship with food using intuitive eating and body neutrality.

Is diet culture affecting you, too? I invite you to consider its impact on your life. Take our quick self-assessment tool we created to help women determine if intuitive eating is the right solution for them.

How to navigate the diet culture

how to navigate diet culture

I invite you, and honestly all women, to become diet culture dropouts! Below are the four steps you need to take in your journey towards freedom:

  1. Understand that you have a choice. 

Now is the best time to be a woman. Unlike the generations before us, we’re liberated and empowered! You have to understand that diet culture is a tool that the patriarchy uses to keep us from being in our power. It keeps us busy minding our calories and macros. It induces guilt and so we feel inclined to punish ourselves when we fail.

Whether you want to stay in the diet culture and be oppressed or to break away from it and change your life, it’s totally up to you. But you should know that you have the power to make that choice.

  1. Take responsibility.

With great power comes great responsibility. Now, that sounds like a quote from a Spiderman movie, but as an empowered woman, you are responsible for your life. No one else is!

Now, you can be the victim of diet culture and drown yourself in self-pity and helplessness. Or you can say, “Screw this! I’m going to take responsibility, and I’m going to work myself out of it and change my life.”

It’s your call.

  1. Educate yourself. 

Read books and blogs. Listen to podcasts. Consume content that supports the choice that you’ve made for yourself. Be on guard against the content that might suck you right back into the diet culture. As I’ve said before, beware of diet culture programs disguised as wellness practices.

I’ve made it my personal mission to empower women by educating them so they don’t allow themselves to be oppressed. And so, I have put together some resources for you.

We have anti-diet culture podcast episodes on the Going Beyond the Food Show, where I interview health professionals. I invite you to listen as they share their expert insights and opinions on our relationship with our bodies and with food.

You can also read our anti-diet culture blog posts on this website. Here, we go deep into the research and the studies around diet culture as well as dieting and its impact on health.

If you’re looking for an anti-diet culture book, I recommend Health At Every Size by Linda Bacon, PhD. Dr. Bacon does research around health and dieting. It’s a book that gave me a lot of “aha moments” and subsequently changed my life.

  1. Find a framework to help you reconstruct your relationship with food and with your body.

You’re going to shift from the way of life that diet culture has taught you to a more empowering way of thinking and doing things. This means there’s a lot for you to unlearn and relearn, so you’re going to need all the support you can get.

The Going Beyond The Food Method™️ is a 5-step strategic process to help women move out of diet mentality and into self-care. Our 5 pillars are: mindset, emotional wellness, mindfulness, body neutrality and intuitive eating.

Diet culture educational resources

diet culture resources

As a clinical nutritionist, I’ve found that intuitive eating is the most effective tool for developing a healthy relationship with food and your body. Intuitive eating teaches you to tap into your innate hunger and fullness cues. It requires you to relearn how to engage with food without restriction and without labeling food as “good” or “bad.”

The trauma around body image is more powerful than the one around food. What I have found over the years is that when we work through our relationship with food, it’s a lot easier and faster to heal body image issues.

We offer a variety of programs that will help you should you decide to opt-out of diet culture:

1) The Intuitive Eating Project – This is a self-study program that will help you relearn how to eat intuitively at your own pace.

2) The Going Beyond the Food Academy – This is group coaching program where we teach the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ and offer support and coaching in a more in-depth approach. In this program, we talk about mindset, emotions, body image, intuitive eating, and mindfulness.

3) Conquer and Thrive– This is a six-month, high-touch intensive program where you work one-on-one with me. Here, you learn how to work your way out of the diet culture and heal your relationship with food, your body, and yourself.

Diet Culture FAQs

What is diet culture?

Christy Harrison defines it as a system of belief that worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue. It’s now prevalent in our society and oppresses women from all over the world!

How to navigate the diet culture?

1. Understand that you have a choice.

2. Take responsibility.

3. Educate yourself.

4. Find a framework to help you reconstruct your relationship with food and with your body.

What are the diet culture educational resources?

Intuitive Eating Project – This is a self-study program that will help you relearn how to eat intuitively at your own pace.

The Going Beyond the Food Academy – This is a group coaching program where we teach the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ and offer support and coaching in a more in-depth approach. In this program, we talk about mindset, emotions, body image, intuitive eating, and mindfulness.

Conquer and Thrive – This is a six-month, high-touch intensive program where you work one-on-one with me. Here, you learn how to work your way out of the diet culture and heal your relationship with food, your body, and yourself.

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Women Food and Power

Women Food and Power

My life was pretty good: I had food on the table, a home, a car, a great career that brought in enough money, cool friends, a supportive family.

I thought of myself as an independent fierce woman. 

But I also wondered, “… is that what life is really about?”

While by society standards I was doing all the right things I kept, wondering if every other woman was as anxious as I was about how I looked. Were they as overwhelmed as me at the thought of not losing or worse gaining weight? Is it normal to feel this frustrated with food and not being able to eat like everyone else?

Everyone around me reflected that it was all ok, but secretly, I knew something wasn’t right. So, I kept going making sure I was checking all the boxes:

        My partner: Making sure he was happy, satisfied, that he felt loved.

        The boss: I was delivering the results expected. 

        Social circle: Making sure I was there for them and was pleasant.

        My parents: Striving to be #1, working hard and making money to ensure my safety.

        Society: being a good girl and kept striving for the female beauty standards of thinness

women food and power-1

And then the forties came along

It wasn’t one thing one moment… one day. It was a series of little things that collectively lead me to realize I was living the illusion of a happy life based on others’ beliefs. 

That’s why I was eating… 

I was years in the making. In fact, I was a pretty smart child and wasn’t afraid of speaking my mind. I played with boys as much as I played with girls. Certainly, a tough little girl. 

But at 13, the society led me to believe that I was too much. Too tall. Too big. That if I wanted to be a good girl from now on, I needed to be less. Smaller. Thinner and also quieter. To achieve this goal of being a good little girl, food was going to be the weapon of choice. Over the next few years, I learned to diet and that shrinking my body was the gateway for me to manage my “too muchness”. 

By the end of my teenage years,  I learned that my power was food because I was so into diet culture. I learned that for society to accept women, she must conform to its standards. Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with a body & spirit that naturally conform to the norm so I accepted that I would need to work hard at fitting in for the rest of my life.

That’s exactly what I did for nearly 27 years until my forties came along. I started to read self-improvement books and questioning the beauty ideal imposed on women.

Women Food and Power: My journey

Up to then, my power was food (and the attempted control of weight) all to fulfill the illusion that being smaller would deliver better. I thought if I couldn’t control my height at least I could control my weight.

It turns out that controlling my weight wasn’t an easy task. It worked and then it didn’t but I learned quickly to be a “good fat person” by at least trying to lose weight and making sure everyone knew I was trying hard. That’s when I started to eat in secret.

By the time I hit my mid-twenties, I had a strong coping mechanism in place to cope with my inability to conform to what my body should look like.

  1. People-pleasing: I sought external validation so I made sure I wasn’t rejected
  2. All or nothing: On and off the diet. It’s my fault it doesn’t work so try harder
  3. Perfectionism: To compensate my “not enoughness” and “too muchness”, I needed to strive to achieve everything perfectly
  4. Mental filtering: Life is about controlling my body, therefore, my food.

That’s what I call today Diet Brain. Diet brain was the way my subconscious mind evolved to cope with the world that I felt rejected me and my body.

But something happened in my late thirties. I had this resounding secret thought “I can’t do it anymore”. I felt exhausted and the excitement of the latest diet has vanished. Soon enough, my body followed suit and wouldn’t cooperate anymore.  I was anxious, depressed, and sick.

I couldn’t imagine that the rest of my life was going to be just another “diet”. Is that what life was about? Really just managing my weight?

women food and power-2

I was born worthy

The truth was that my life focus had been on chasing my self-worth. I was failing at the task but always trying and I was failing because self-worth was never going to come from being smaller.

I was born worthy but somewhere along the line of my life, someone or something led me to believe that I needed to earn my worth through my body size.

Although I had chased my self-worth for over 27 years through my body size and had yet to find it, I never questioned this belief. The indoctrination from diet culture early on in my life was still creating my reality today at 40. That’s the magic of the subconscious mind.

That is until I started to question my beliefs. Could I be enough without being in a smaller body? Is it possible to be loved and supported without being smaller? Could I be successful without being quieter?

I always had a choice

Yes: It was a possibility. I could be loved, supported, and accepted at any size.

I started to notice women in my life that were “enough” without being smaller. Women who were successful, happy, and confident in non-conforming bodies. Women whose power wasn’t wrapped around food. New people came into my life reinforcing the possibility. Books, blogs, videos… over months I had plenty of evidence.

Yet I was still stuck. I had made different choices. By then I knew it wasn’t my fault that I was the way I was but it was my fault if I stayed like that.

I needed to go from wanting to change to deciding to change. The problem was I was afraid. Scared of the perceived work it takes to change. I didn’t have time. I didn’t have the resources…

The pain of doing the work appeared to be greater than the pain of staying in the “not enough”. So, I chose to stay put. I kept lurking on what was possible.

I had so many stories in my head that keep me from not making the choice to change. Let’s face it, when it came to my ability to change my subconscious mind was telling me: “You are a failure” or “ You’ll never be able to do it” or “Why would this be any different than your attempt to manage your weight?”.

My subconscious mind was on a mission to keep me safe and secure in my comfort zone. Not believing in myself was my comfort zone. I wasn’t worthy enough to believe in myself.

women empowerment

What if you couldn’t fail?

I believe in paying to be held at a higher standard that I can conceive for myself. So, I committed myself to have someone show me the way.

The greatest achievements I had in my life up to this point came from being taught by a great teacher or coach: sport, business, and adulting. I knew that if I was going to make it happen it was not going to be on my own…

“What if you couldn’t fail, Stephanie?” she asked.

In every other part of my life, failure was not an issue… would have learned from my mistake and tried again. Likely tried something different but nevertheless, failure wasn’t fear.

Why wasn’t it different from food and weight? I don’t have the answer just yet but it was. I think it’s because I had so many traumatic experiences in that sphere of my life that fear of failure paralyzed me.

“You are wildly capable, Stephanie. Look at yourself, you have dieted for 25 years, starving yourself, depriving yourself, overworking your physical body… you’ve done it all! You are so capable to do the work and make peace with food & your body so you can reconnect with your innate power!”

So, I got over myself and went for it.

Women Food and Power: The tools I found

I learned to manage my mind, mostly my subconscious mind and the many stories trying to hold me back. I now decide what stories play in my head.

At the same time, I learned to be present in my body not to what others think of my body. I’m present in the moment in my body. I’m no longer afraid of being with myself.

I learned to interact with my body as my best friend and be neutral. My physical body no longer is the filter through which I see my life. That’s body neutrality.

Lastly, I learned that I had the power within me to feed myself. My body and I are “good enough” to be our own nutrition expert. That was a turning point for me… through intuitive eating, I shifted the relationship of power with food.

Food was no longer about being less… food was about being ME.

That was the work and I did it.

Empowering yourself

How you engage with food is how you engage with your life. If you feel powerless around food you feel powerless with your life.
How you think about our body is how you think about yourself. When you hate your body, you hate yourself.

There’s a basic formula for life: Our thoughts create the way we feel, our feelings drive the action we choose to take, our actions forge our results, therefore, our thoughts become our reality.

If right now you think you aren’t good and/or worthy enough to have what other women have, that’s exactly the reality you’ll keep creating for yourself.

The most effective way to feel disempowered is to give your power of choice to something else, someone else than you. That’s what millions of us, women do when we decide to buy into the beauty ideal consequently, diet culture. The path of less resistance is to conform not to question.

Being empowered is recognizing that you do have the power to affect your life. It’s simply recognizing that you have the power to choose.

On the other side of fear is freedom.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” -Anais Nin

girl power

It starts today

No matter how anxious you may feel right now, pay attention to suggestions and opportunities that suddenly present themselves in your life… new people, new books, this article. This time, make a choice from a place of love.

Take the first step in the direction toward something that feels right and see where it leads you. And do it NOW. That’s empowerment.

If you are serious about changing, you’ll find a way. If you are not, you’ll find an excuse to stay in your comfort zone.

Will you keep choosing fear instead of love?

PS: If you decide to choose love and want to be held to a higher standard and taught the easiest way to get “there”, I can help you…. that’s what I do now. Help other women get “there”. Going Beyond The Food Academy & Conquer and Thrive.

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Body Acceptance is a challenge and it’s real….

Body Acceptance is a challenge and it’s real….

Body acceptance is a challenge it’s real… Body acceptance has been a challenge for me for 25+ years.

I’ve lost and gained weight my whole life always chasing body confidence and every time, I failed to understand something really important

Every spring, I used to recommit myself to a new diet and/or lifestyle. What I was seeking in weight loss was already available for me to grab. It was in me and I just didn’t know it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Every time I engaged in a new diet: paleo, keto, low calories… it didn’t matter which one since my intention was to fix myself so that I would finally be ok and accept my body. 

I need to lose weight to accept my body

I thought a diet would help me be confident enough to find love, be acceptable enough to wear any clothes I wanted, be thin enough so that I could blend in.

I’ve lost and gained weight my whole life and every time, I failed to understand something really important.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Seeking the answer fuelled nearly 30 years of my life.  I was successful in most area of my life: career, finances, friendship… but I considered myself a failure when it came to my body (which for me meant my weight which meant food).

My life goal wasn’t to lose weight… weight loss was a tool to get to my end goal. What I really wanted the most was just to be normal and not have to worry about what I looked like and what “people” thought of me. I deeply desired to become “normal”… I wanted to blend in.

Why the heck was I able to be successful with everything else and not with my body?

Today I know why…. it was right there in front of me but invisible to my eyes.

The body confidence I was seeking wasn’t in a thinner body. Confidence was in acceptance. Confidence was in being at peace. Confidence was in my mind. 

The truth is there is has many “thin body” women that aren’t confident in their “thin” body that there is “big body” who aren’t confident in their body. Look around you… if confidence came as a result of body weight then all “thin bodied” women would be confident and we all know this isn’t the case.

but I need to lose weight to be healthy

that was my come back to ” body confidence isn’t the outcome of body weight”. 

To be healthy your body weight must be in the “normal” BMI range. That was my core belief since I can remember and this core belief was validated through my formal education in nutrition. That’s also the core pillar of Diet Culture and I know many us believe this too… right?

I strived hard, hustled and spent a whole lot of time and money figuring out how to be healthy.

The truth you and I can chase health at any size. Look around you… you and I have life long thin people around us who been diagnosed with health conditions at the same rate as “overweight” people. Diet Culture fuel on our fear of weight to sale us $67 billions of product in 2017. If dieting was the solution would we have “an obesity epidemic”? Did I make my point yet?

As my level of health knowledge evolved the purpose of my hustle change to: “be healthy and you’ll release the weight”  because a healthy body doesn’t hold on to weight. That’s the core of Wellness Diet.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The truth is becoming healthy doesn’t mean you’ll release the weight. There is little something call “Set Point” that Diet Culture forget to mention when making the promise that a healthy body will release unnecessary weight. That’s what is called the “Wellness Diet”. That’s just another form of dieting beliefs aka Diet Culture.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I’m healthier today than when I was 50 lbs lighter. I’m healthier today than when I consumed 20+ supplements a day. I’m healthier today than when I was Keto, Paleo or Fasting. How can this be? I focus my attention on all the other health factors that impact health and the most important being stress and non-acceptance of my body was very stressful.⠀⠀⠀

Finding Body Acceptance

Body acceptance is buried below years of saying to yourself  “I’m not good enough and I need to work harder!”

Body acceptance is hidden behind “What the heck is wrong with my body?”.

Body acceptance that we are seeking thru weight loss can be found within us… right now without losing any weight.

Body acceptance is self-acceptance. Self-Acceptance is the platform for you to create permanent change (and no it doesn’t mean giving up).

Without acknowledging your current state and station, it’s impossible to know what’s going on with yourself. You have to accept your current reality and the way things are to be able to move on. Self-acceptance lets you take stock and make changes at your own pace without ultimatums and makes them an actual, conscious choice that you make. Accepting something for how it is now doesn’t mean it will never change, it just means that it doesn’t have to for you to see value in it.

By accepting yourself you move from love to fear. From that place of love, you’ll be able to find and heal what is really holding you back. What is really the issue… instead of what everyone else thinks is the issue.

5 Day Body Acceptance Challenge

Ready to beging the journey towards body acceptance?

Ready to make peace with your body?

I’d love to invite you to join me and hundreds of other women in our 5-day Body Acceptance Challenge. This free (and highly transformative) 5-Day Body Acceptance Challenge will get you started with accepting your body right now unconditionally (without having to lose any weight! 😀).

I’m going to share what I’ve discovered after years of studying eating & body image psychology combined with personal practice is what I’ll be sharing inside the Body Acceptance Challenge. 

I’d love to invite you to join me and hundreds of other women in this 5-day journey. 

 

Hope that I’ll get to meet you inside the Body Acceptance Challenge.

with love,

Stephanie

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Religion and Self-Empowerment: A Letter to Christian Women

Religion and Self-Empowerment: A Letter to Christian Women

RELIGION AND SELF-EMPOWERMENT

If you are a practicing Christian, you know that one of the greatest teachings of God is selflessness. As servants of our Creator, we should be enhancing our spirituality by selfless acts like helping our neighbors, forgiving people, loving our enemies and serving God, and less emphasis on our physical body and material things in this life.

Some people think that what I impart through my works about self-appreciation and self-empowerment does not sit well with the teachings of Christianity. One might think that by following the lessons I teach about loving yourself and knowing yourself better, they are doing the exact opposite of what God wants us to do.

I’m not an expert in religion, but I think there are important connections between what we practice inside the Going Beyond the Food Academy and the teachings of Christianity.  That’s why I want to share this letter from Susan Sledge, one of the students of Going Beyond the Food Academy to all Christian women who are doing the same work inside the Academy.

Written to Stephanie Dodier on August 1, 2018. It is a letter of clarification from me, as a student in the Going Beyond the Food Academy, to another Christian in the program who may be questioning the Academy’s teachings in light of Christian beliefs.

Dear Sister,

We have a mutual friend in Stephanie Dodier and I’m assuming a similar food freedom journey. I have spent the last couple of years reconciling what the Bible and Spirit of God has to say about our body, soul, and spirit. I’m passing along what I have come to understand in hopes that it will encourage you and enhance your walk.

Four Bodies, One Image of God

There is an excellent study by Andrew Womack on Body, Soul, and Spirit that you can get through his website or listen to by podcast. Materials are free and I think it is an excellent place to start. If you want the summary version then I suggest watching this Youtube video. Although the study goes into great depth proving three forms of our being, I have summarized it below:

1) Body – Physical body made of up bones, muscle, tissue, brain matter
2) Soul – Includes your mind, will, and emotions; Some think of it as your personality, how you think, how you process the world
3) Spirit (with a little s)– Innermost, eternal part of you. The part that God breathed into Adam at creation. After you became a believer, your spirit (little s) was perfected and you became a “new creation”.
4) Spirit (with a big S) – God’s Spirit that was promised to you as a believer. It was fused with your (little s) spirit. They are inseparable and form the new creation. His guidance is within you and part of you. He resides in you and your spirit.

In eastern medicine, Stephanie will teach you that there are 4 bodies. It is similar to Biblical teaching, but soul is a term used in the Bible to encompass both the mind/logic and emotions/will. In Christian thinking they are not delineated but so entwined that they utilize one term. Instinctively though, we know there is a difference between our “heart” and our “head” which is more in line with eastern teaching.

Every man is made in His image which includes Jesus, Father, and Holy Spirit. We are like beautiful diamonds that are multifaceted, multidimensional as He is. We all contain aspects of Him and in glorious moments, we demonstrate to the world who the creator is. Glorious moments can include spectacular moments or simply everyday life like, smiling at a stranger, the squeezing of someone’s hand to communicate love, passing on wisdom to another, being a helpmate, or interceding for someone’s need. We all, regardless of our religious beliefs, exhibit characteristics of God because he made us in His image.

In the Godhead, you will see Jesus who represents God’s bodily form. He had a form when walking around in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3). Jesus/God wrestled with Jacob (Gen 32) and of course was born into a human body which was later crucified. His body was resurrected, and he functions in it today. Father God is representative of divine thinking, wisdom, and emotions. It is the being that loves, protects, and provides for us. He is the one who administers justice. Holy Spirit is a gift. Holy Spirit is the creative, helpful teacher full of wisdom and guidance. Our three bodies (body, soul, spirit) have a purpose and together, we are able to move through life in communion with this world (Jesus). We are able to process past, present, and future to make decisions and to act (Father). We are able to learn from our innermost being to heal ourselves and others and live an abundant life (Holy Spirit).

Love Our Neighbors by Loving Ourselves

In my religious background, loving myself was a selfish act. I’m not sure if you can identify with that or not, but the higher calling was to love others and not to focus on self. I have come to believe that message is skewed.

When Jesus speaks of the Father and Spirit, it is with great love and adoration. When the Father speaks of Jesus and the Spirit, it is also with love and adoration. The Spirit also testifies of the same with regards to Father and Jesus. They love each other AND they are one being. So, it is fair to say that God (Father, Jesus, Spirit) loves Himself. Out of that love, He created man.

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matt 22:37)”. The second commandment is similar, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:39). Jesus was answering a religious lawyer who was trying to entangle him in legalistic, right/wrong thinking. Jesus knew the hardest part about keeping a law was that which the soul processes (heart, soul, mind) and if we focus on loving God, our creator/father/friend/savior then everything else falls into place in due time.

When Jesus told us to love others as ourselves, there as a HUGE assumption on His part that we love ourselves. That sentence can be rewritten to say “as you have come to love yourself, love others in the same way”. What does that mean?
It is what Stephanie teaches in the form of self-compassion, body neutrality, meditation to calm the mind, mindful movement to honor the body, nutrition to feed our body, and spiritual practice to nurture the spirit and commune with God.

Self-Sabotaging Behaviors Shut Spirit Flow

Womack’ study speaks of the body, soul, and spirit being a pipeline. He uses the analogy of a valve between the spirit and soul that we control the flow. We can either shut it off completely and not interact with the spirit’s wisdom or we can let it flow like a raging river. When spirit knowledge comes into contact with the soul there is a renewing of the mind (mind, will, and emotions) that takes place and when it is complete, it will be demonstrated in the body. So, the flow goes from spirit to soul then to body.

Sometimes, when we don’t see God’s promises manifest in our bodies, it is because we have turned down the flow or our minds haven’t yet fully embraced it as truth. Stephanie’s work is about helping us evaluate our valve control or belief system in the renewing of the mind. When she talks about the subconscious or self-sabotaging behaviors, I liken it to the pipeline analogy. Sometimes we know we are limiting the flow and other times, our soul is acting on our behalf because of what it believes to be best.

There are inner healing ministries dedicated to uncovering the lies we have believed and asking God to heal them. Beyond the Food program is about finding the lies we are believing about ourselves and being open to healing from different sources (self, food, higher power, breath, mindful movement). For me, I am able to easily transform the imagery from the different tools Stephanie presents to God’s provision and all the tools He has provided me on this freedom journey.

When God created Adam, He commanded Adam and Eve to take dominion and rule over all they had been given. Believers are given authority in spiritual matters. We are entrusted with the care of ourselves and His people. I think I understood it well when ministering to others, but I don’t know that I took dominion in my own life when it came to self-care. I placed others need above mine and I had come to believe that I was incapable of permanent change and because of past performance, I might not be worthy of it.

Of course, they are lies, but when we believe a lie, it becomes our truth, in a sense, and it’s not until the renewing of the mind that we have an “ah-ha moment” and the lie is replaced by truth and the valve opens up the flow a little bit more. It is difficult to stop moving water. As we get truth flowing through us, it is hard to stop the healing that transpires. When we know better, we do better whether we really intend to or not.

This is why Jesus is called the truth and because of it, He is the way, the truth, and the life. When He (Jesus, Father, Spirit = God) flows in us things truly change. When we see a dry, barren area (because of the exercises, reflections, journaling, meditation, etc), we can signal to Jesus that we have a dry spot. He will reroute the truth flow over that spot. Old will pass away and the new is now in the current. This is dominion.

Because our spirit and God’s Spirit are fused together and perfected, this search and rescue mission is symbiotic. It may feel like He is pointing out the dry spots while other times we are doing the excavation. Either way, spirit/Spirit are working in tandem to provide healing and life abundant.

Reaching God from Within Ourselves

Let’s talk about meditation and yoga. In Christian circles, we are taught to not go inward because we are taking our focus off God and onto us. I subscribed to this thought for many years because of the amount of scriptures speaking to focus and reliance on Him. I have had a few “a-ha” moments over the last couple of years that have changed my thinking.

First, if God, through His Spirit resides in us, then wouldn’t we go inward to seek Him in addition to other ways to access Him? Second, have you ever done a “soaking” session or silent retreat? The whole point of these sessions are to quiet the world, quiet the mind so we can hear from Him. Having this internal navigator was the miracle of the cross.

Old Testament believers couldn’t fathom the concept of God residing within us….actually taking up residence. Meditation, which can also be a part of yoga, is a prayerful act of calming the body and soul so that the spirit can speak. This includes your little S spirit and His big S Spirit. If the word meditation wigs you out, then try substituting the word prayer. If I recommended 10 minutes of prayer every night, you wouldn’t argue with it, would you?

In worship, there is a release where your mind is not racing around but focused on God. You release your cares for one moment (soul), let your body experience the movement (body), and your spirit has a moment to connect with the body/soul and God. Sometimes in worship, we get moments of clarity because the mind is focused and released for all other obligations, much like the act of meditation. If you speak in tongues, you have experienced how your spirit by-passes your mind to commune with God. It is a release, encouragement, and “reset” much like meditation.

He made us Capable of Self-Healing

Healing breath is another topic for discussion. When Stephanie says to send your breath to an area to break up anxiety, I say try it and see what happens. It is nothing short of a miracle. Scripture says that every good thing comes from God. Holy Spirit is described as a wind and fire. Breathing stirs up something in us. It purifies within us. When we circulate breath, we are circulating a healing power that God breathed into all men.

So God’s gifts are for everyone and not just us Christians? Whoa, now! I’m probably stepping on some toes. When He created man, he created them and said it was “good”. His relationship to them was perfect and the world was created for them.

After sin entered the world, there has been a continual process on behalf of God to restore us back to original design and relationship. Through Jesus, he took care of the relationship piece. Your spirit is in perfect unity with His but your body and soul are still in process of being restored back to perfection.

Think of it this way…..if you were stupid before believing in Jesus, you were stupid after, but over time, you learned more and got a little less stupid. If God is the creator of all good things, then He created them for all people not just Christians. Some people are able to recognize God’s gifts better than others and believers should be quicker at it because of the relationship they have with the Godhead and practice over time.

Wisdom is a God-given Gift

Wisdom is something that God gave the world and to every man. Wisdom is personified in the Bible as “she”. She cries out in the marketplace meaning she speaks in the busiest of places. This could be the nightly news, your business, your children’s school, a friend, and cultural trends. Wisdom has always been here.

I imagine wisdom was shouting at Eve when she started talking with Lucifer in the garden but with free will, she chose to ignore it. Wisdom wasn’t just in the middle east, it was everywhere. Could a man in China hear wisdom and apply it to his life in 1000 B.C.? If you have ever visited a museum of ancient cultures, you would have to confirm that wisdom must have been present and the people grabbed it.

What about eastern medicine and integrative medicine? Could it be that they have had their ears attuned to wisdom and picked up what she has been putting out? I believe this is why you see nuggets of truth in every world religion. They are picking up wisdom from God.

Jesus is the issue, however. Who we believe Jesus is….Son of God/God Himself removing all barriers between Himself and man….is the core issue of our belief and the monumental divide with other belief systems. Wisdom, however, is God’s gift to all of mankind.

I have gone on and one, but felt the need to share this with Stephanie in case she wants to pass it along to another curious, Christian mind. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss this further.

Hugs,

Susan Sledge
[email protected]
817-219-7801

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5 Steps to Make More Time for Your Health

5 Steps to Make More Time for Your Health



Making more time for your health is more important than you think. Let’s take me for example. What was the number one reason I didn’t make my health a priority for more than 15 years?

Can you guess?

You got it: Time. 

It may be different for you, but for the majority of my patients (and in the past, for me), time is at the top of the list of reasons why they are struggling.

Every day I balanced work, home, friends and a seemingly endless stream of errands and to-dos. I wore too many hats. To be honest, I was once a workaholic; I used to work up to 14-16 hrs. a day. There was NO time for exercise or cooking, let alone some relaxation time. I used to think that people who had time for that were just, simply put, “lazy.” The hustle was real and I love it. It made me feel important and worthy.

But then one day, without warning, I ended up in the hospital and was told (by a cute young doctor …) that I needed to take prescription medications; otherwise, my condition would just get worse. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks: I was slowly but surely destroying my health.

It’s not like I never thought of it. Let’s face it, I’m smart a woman. I knew that every time I stopped by McDonalds drive-thru on my way home after work, it wasn’t the best choice for my health. But I’d always tell myself, “Ah, want the heck! Nothing bad has happened to me yet so I will figure this out later.”

Life is a Series of Choices

I had a choice to make: I could either continue to go down this path of self-destruction and just take prescription pills so I could go at that same pace, or I become a healthier person. I mean let’s face it. It wasn’t a secret and I could hide: I was overweight.

But here’s the real question that you’re likely asking yourself right now: Do I have the time to devote to becoming and staying healthy? If your answer is “no,” think again, because it’s not a question of having the time; it’s a question of making it. This one single realization could be the key to achieving the weight you want, and the feeling of energy and self-confidence you crave.

More Time for Your Health: 5 Ways to Make it Happen Now!

Try these tips to make more time for your fitness, nutrition, and emotional health and make your health a priority.

Change your perspective from “I have no time” to “There is time to be found.”

When I got back to the office after my trip to the hospital, I looked around me and I kept seeing colleagues who looked healthy. They seemed to be able to make time to go to the gym and bring their lunches to work. It was obvious that they had a positive outlook on life. When I asked them how they were able to do what they did, I found out that they all had one thing in common: They didn’t think they had any other option. It was part of who they were. Their perspective was different than mine.

I shifted my perspective from “I have no time” to “There is time to be found.” In most days, if not all, there are underused pockets of time, which you can spend on doing something that can help you become healthier.  We all have a choice on how we view things.

Changing your perspective is like changing the window through which you view the world. When you change how you view the world, you change how you feel about it, and life choices become easier. Making more time for your health won’t be hard at all.

Get your planner out and get creative

Find the time. For me, what seemed to be a lack of time was actually a failure to prioritize. Start by sitting down with your planner. If you don’t use one, get out a notepad and sketch out what every day during the week looks like, including what time you get up, what time you go to sleep, and everything in between.

Then dust off the same problem-solving skills you use at work or with the kids and look for places where you might trade one activity for another. When you have intentions, the universe collaborates with you to make them possible, including making more time for your health!

If you watch 60 minutes of TV each night, can you cut down your TV time to 30 minutes so that you can use the extra time to exercise or put together a healthy meal for tomorrow’s lunch? Perhaps you can walk on the treadmill while you watch. Maybe your kids can take the bus to school a couple of days a week or carpool to get to sports games so you can free up your time to do chores and go to bed early. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

For me, I found pockets of extra time during the evening. I used to just crash on the couch from exhaustion every night. So I made a commitment to exercise at the end of each day and gave myself a month to see if it would help me. Well, guess what? Exercise, combined with healthier eating habits, gave me more energy, not only throughout the day but also at night. Since then, I would exercise for 45 minutes, 5 days a week. I also spent 15 minutes each night on packing my lunch for work.

Perfectionism Will Kill You… Delegate!

At first, I refused to admit that I was a Perfectionist. As matter of fact, I thought of myself as not being perfect enough. I mean having high standards is what pushed me to create the life that I have now. Nothing wrong with that, right?

The problem with having high standards is that you’re likely to not delegate. You tend to take on everything, I mean everything and do everything all by yourself. We think that no one besides ourselves can be trusted to get it done right, which is why we take on too much and have suffered from the “I don’t have time syndrome.” Doesn’t it sound familiar?

However, when I realized that I was making a mistake, I started handing over responsibilities to people around me. I invested time in training others on how to do important tasks and then I hold them accountable. People always strive to do their best, especially when we trust them with something important to us, including children.  You might be frustrated if your partner doesn’t fold the laundry exactly the way you think it should be done. But remember:  The trade-off is a valuable 10 or 20 minutes of time you can devote to yourself

Learn to say no

Do you feel resentment towards certain commitments in your life? I had one client who felt like she “should” be on the board of this nonprofit organization. But she was dreading the meetings and was always exhausted from her job and the commute. She started to feel resentful of the commitment. When she resigned from the Board, she immediately felt as if a huge weight was lifted off her chest.

The key to creating more time is to start saying “no” to requests and obligations that you don’t want to fulfill.  It’s kind of like cleaning out your closet. At first, you think everything is necessary. But once you begin getting rid of hangers from the dry cleaners and creating more space, you gain momentum. By the time you’re done, it feels great!

At first saying, no was very difficult for me…Honestly, I was afraid of not feeling needed. The aha moment for me was when I realized that the person who needed me the most was…ME. I needed to give to myself first.

So if you want to make more time for your health, learn the gentle art of saying no.

Quit wearing busy like a badge of honor

“I’m a busy woman.”

“Sorry, I’m booked till next week. Two weeks, actually.”

I used to say these things with pride. I wore my busyness as a badge of honor. My booked schedule was a proof of my value, my worth. But at the end of the day, I wasn’t happy, which led to me not being healthy.

We are part of a culture that increasingly values preoccupation and over-commitment. “Crazy busy” has almost become a statement of validation, reinforcing that I am significant and that what I am doing is important. That’s was me. But this addiction to being busy, as well as my drivenness, came at a steep cost: my health.

The first thing I did was to be aware whenever I said, “I’m so busy.” And whenever I caught myself doing so, I would reframe the situation in my own head.  I needed to regain a sense of perspective and control over my own life. I started journaling 3 to 4 times a week in the morning. I did have some resistance initially, but this habit has turned out to be a game changer in keeping me from succumbing to “the rising tide of demands, details, and deadlines.”

The discipline of recording your thoughts will help you gain greater focus, unravel thorny problems, process negative emotions, and maintain a balanced perspective on my work and life.

Dieting is not about the food

 

For me and 90% of the people who complete my programs, the biggest challenge wasn’t about the food at all. It was changing our mindset. I’m guessing that it will be your biggest challenge, too.

It’s all about what is going on inside your head that influences the choices you make.  What you have done thus far has gotten you to where you are now. If you want different results, it’s time to change your approach.

I’m a living proof that the 5 principles that you’ve just read really work. I have applied them in my own life. I changed my thoughts and this led to me making more time for myself. And gradually, I was able to change my lifestyle. In the process, I lost 100 lbs and achieved optimal health. I’ve never felt this good before!

Need a little more guidance to eating healthy? 

 

more time for your health“By taking time for me, I am making a powerful statement to my children that says: I matter. My passions matter. I don’t want them to just see me as the one who does the laundry, picks them up from school, and makes dinner. I want them to see a woman who is creative, loves her friends, and takes times for her own needs. I want my children to see a mother who values herself #ketoconnector.”-  Julie, a Keto Connector program client. 

Why not join my Keto Connector Challenge.  Participants have lost upwards of 15 lbs in 30 days. But more importantly, they have reduced ALL symptoms of disease by 59% – again in only 30 days.  Imagine what you could do with the tools and support I provide.  Click here to learn more.

What’s your one strategy that you would add to this list for preparing a healthy meal even when your schedule is terribly hectic? Share your comments below or on my Facebook fan page.

 

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How to Achieve Mind and Body Connection

How to Achieve Mind and Body Connection

How to achieve mind and body connectionNot many of us know the importance of learning how to achieve mind and body connection. Generally speaking, we tend to think of our body & mind as two different systems and we believe they function separately. Yet instinctively, you and I know that is not the whole story. Let’s look at a common experience that all of us have had in the past with our body & mind connection.

Do you remember the first time you had to give a speech in front of an audience? Maybe you felt “butterflies” in your belly.

Or went on a first date with someone you were really trying to impress? Maybe you felt the palms of your hands becoming sweaty.

In either case, there is no doubt that you wanted to appear calm and collected, but at the same time you were feeling self-conscious and nervous. Self-consciousness will result in tightening your buttock muscles (so you are literally sitting on your tension), you will sweat more than usual, you may feel slightly nauseous, and you’ll probably fluff your words just when you want to appear suave and confident.

My Personal Experience

In my own personal experience of the mind-body connection, when I felt nervous or anxious I would eat – particularly carbohydrates such as chips. Sound familiar to anyone? Food cravings were the way my body was signalling to me that I was stressed, nervous or anxious. What I knew instinctively, and what we are at last beginning to prove scientifically is that there is an intimate and dynamic relationship between what is going on with our feelings and thoughts, and what happens in the body.

Illness is very real, accidents happen, and medicine can really help. But the role of the mind and emotions in our state of health particularly with chronic conditions is vital one, and by understanding this relationship, we can play a greater role in our own well-being. It is only a part of the overall picture, but it is the part that is invariably overlooked or ignored.

The idea that our minds and emotions play a critical role in our health—a fundamental aspect of the Going Beyond The Food Method—is far from new. Many ancient healing systems emphasize the interconnection between mind and body in healing, including Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine; Ayurvedic Medicine – Indian traditional medicine with written records dating back more than 5000 years; and Traditional Medicine with a history of more than 2500 years. All of these traditional medicines have taught us that good health depends on a balance of the mind, the body, and the environment. Thus, learning how to achieve mind and body connection is essential.

Science of the body & mind connection

Modern scientific research supports this age-old tenet of medical wisdom. It began in the 1920s when a Harvard scientist by the name of Walter Cannon, MD, identified the fight-or-flight response through which the body secretes hormones called catecholamines (such as epinephrine and norepinephrine). When they enter the bloodstream, these hormones produce changes in the body—i.e. a quickened heart or increased breathing rate—that puts the person in a better physical state to escape or confront danger.

Since that time, scores of scientific breakthroughs have highlighted the mind-body connection in health. Psychologist and PhD Neal Miller discovered that we can be trained to control certain physical responses such as blood pressure that were previously considered to be involuntary. This discovery gave birth to biofeedback, which has now been found to be effective in the treatment of anxiety, attention deficit disorder, headaches, hypertension, and urinary incontinence.

Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson, MD, identified the flip side of the stress response which he called the “relaxation response.” Benson demonstrated that meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques can bring about physiological changes including a lower heart rate, lower breathing rate, and decreased muscle tension along with positive changes in brain waves. Mind-body techniques that elicit this relaxation response have been successful in treating many stress-related disorders.

How to Achieve Mind and Body Connection: The Next Steps

If we separate either a machine or an organism into its component parts, it can’t function. Each piece has a role to play, even if it is a very small role and even if only one part is malfunctioning it affects the whole. If we ignore the role of our feelings and thoughts play, we are ignoring one of the most important parts that make up our whole being.

Understanding the mind-body relationship and knowing how to how to achieve mind and body connection may not cure your physical difficulties. However, by learning the language of your body messages, you can discover what is being repressed or ignored in your psyche and emotions and how this is influencing your well-being. From this vantage point, you can discover that there is an extraordinarily intimate two-way communication going on between your mind and body that affects both your physical state and your mental and emotional health.

The first step in sharpening your mind-body connection is to eliminate any interference from the outside environment from food and toxins. Our signature program the Going Beyond The Food Academy is a step by step plan that will help you begin your journey in crushing your cravings and achieving total health. One of the main benefit of a more mindful approach to life and a peaceful relationship to food. You can get started here with mindful & intuitive eating by click here.

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8 Powerful Questions For Your Life Transformation

8 Powerful Questions For Your Life Transformation

transformation questionsThe moments with the biggest impact in my programs such as Going Beyond the Food Academy or my retreats are when powerful transformation questions get asked at just the right time. These 8 powerful questions for transformation have allowed many amazing transformation.

The right question can do more to motivate a student into playing a bigger game than reading a whole bookshelf of inspirational books or attending several ‘how to’ seminars.

Why is that?

Transformation questions, when phrased and timed well, entice us to go inside and look around the many rooms of our body-mind. We emerge knowing ourselves better than we did before and willing to take on new challenges.

https://youtu.be/39E8OqyWPg8

Transformation Process

These questions are the kick starter to any profound and permanent transformation process and that’s exactly what I teach. I simply chose to use food as a tool to teach transformation. That you try to transform your diet or your love life or your health the process is all the same.

You must first get clear with yourself on what you want.

Then learn new skills and or make a decision that will allow you to reach your goals.

8 Transformation Questions

You will need a journal for this exercise, a place where you can gather your thoughts, observation, and feelings.

I would suggest reading all questions at first without answering any. Let the questions sit with your spirit for a few days.

In the following days take 1 -2 question at a time maximum per day and write your answer in your journal. Set the environment that will allow you to get the life-changing answer you are looking for: be alone, no one to disturb you, be in a relaxed state with no pressure about time, in a positive mindset.

When you write your answer leave plenty of space for each question to be answered as you may want to add to it in the process. Read your answers and add more thoughts as you go.

  1. Where do I want to be in five years?
  2. How do I want to feel on the inside in 5 years time? Where will I be emotionally, physically and spiritually?
  3. What bad habits do I need to stop? What do I need to take responsibility for?
  4. What mistake have I made? What would I do differently?
  5. What story have I told myself? What conditioning did I receive?
  6. If no one judged me, who will I be?
  7. Who would you be if you weren’t concerned with pleasing and caring for others?
  8. Why do I like food more than my own health (self)?

So, next time you feel stumped, stuck, or unsure where to go, ask yourself these powerful questions that will serve as a kick starter to your transformation.

If you ready to start your journey in transforming your health with nutrition you should check out my free Crave Cure Guide.

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Improving Women Empowerment: The Journey to You

Improving Women Empowerment: The Journey to You

improving women empowermentEmpowerment is a word that’s used and overused – what does it really mean? Empowerment is our goal, our mantra and our way of being in my free and private community: truly supporting each other in our journey achieving our health goals and living a purposeful life. We continually work towards improving women empowerment.

Improving Women Empowerment: Start With Yourself

In today’s world of instant gratification and quick fixes, empowerment is learning that you can rely on yourself and create the life that you want to have, even when making that happen seems like more that you’re capable of. Because the truth is that you can do more than you think you’re capable of. Your potential is far beyond what you think is possible. What’s more, you don’t have to have someone there with you every step of the way.

You’re Not Alone

What empowerment doesn’t mean is that you’re all alone in this journey to yourself. It’s OK to get help along the way. Humans are creatures of community, of connection. Successful people are almost always quick to point out that the spark of their accomplishments came from within, but that it was the support and help of others that facilitated their final success. They were empowered by people along the way to believe that they could do it.

Improving women empowerment requires more than just platitudes. Words can help along the way most certainly, but it’s the helping someone to see that they are capable of growing to be more that is the real heart of support. You don’t just know how to eat healthy and take care of your body properly – these are skills that must be taught by someone who knows how. But they aren’t magical secrets either, and everyone is capable of mastering them.

Independence vs. Dependence

One of the biggest pitfalls of getting help is the danger of becoming dependent on that aid that you’re getting, often to the point that you backtrack without it. That’s really what yo-yo dieting is all about, and it’s a cycle that millions of people find themselves trapped in. The key to overcoming dependency is empowerment.

“I felt like I was walking up a very steep cliff. I needed someone to tell me where to begin, how to manage/organize myself, where to get resources easily, when to push forward and when to stop and wait. In just 6 months of working with Stephanie I did not just organize myself, I learned patience. I learned how to listen to my body and interpret it. The best thing I have ever done for my family is work with Stephanie and the results I’m seeing are nothing short of a miracle.”- Amal S.

Good support is support that scaffolds your growth, giving you the tools that you need in order to master your own life independently. Great support stairsteps you up out of the canyon that you find yourself in, then shows you that you can walk the path without a hand to hold, and maybe even that you can offer a hand to another down the line who needs it. It is always good to become part of a community whose goal is improving women empowerment.

Transformation

A great way to think about this whole process is the analogy of a wounded wild animal. In many ways, life gives us wounds that put us in danger for one reason or another. Those wounds can heal on their own, but leave us vulnerable and less able to care for ourselves, just as a wounded wild animal is vulnerable and less able to care for themselves.

Once they get the care that they need, then can be released and sent back out, fully empowered to take on the challenges that they face. The same is true for you. Once you’re supported and healed through the process, you’re able to then step up and take care of yourself again. This time wiser and with more experience. This is exactly how Crave Cure program program has been built.

This is the second article in the series “Journey to YOU”. You can find the first article of the series on Body Image right here. Hope you enjoy!

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Welcome!

 

I’m Stephanie Dodier - Clinical Nutritionist, Intuitive Eating expert, Podcast host, and Creator of the Going Beyond The Food Method™️, which was born from my own journey with chronic dieting & body image and has since grown into a global movement.

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