Gastric Bypass Surgery Support Group
Gastric bypass (GBP) is any of a group of similar operative procedures used to treat morbid obesity, a condition which arises from severe accumulation of excess weight in the form of fatty tissue, and the health problems ("co-morbidities") which result. If you are considering gastric bypass or have had it, join the community where we share our experiences and find support.
becca1960
After JJ reminding me how wonderful Geneen Roth's books are, I finally went and dug out the ones I have... I've been devouring them like I use to devour a pizza! :)
Here is an excerpt I just had to share!!
Feeding the Hungry Heart The Experience of Compulsive Eating: Geneen Roth
(P 128-129)
If you use food or any other tangible substance alcohol, cigarettes, drugs as your main source of psychic nourishment you never get full. Food, being a tangible substance, cannot satisfy intangible needs. It can numb you, drug you, but it cannot nourish you.
Your chest aches. Youre not sure why, but you know that is hurt, and its uncomfortable to hurt. You want to do something about it quickly; you want toe pain to go away. So you eat the ice cream in the refrigerator; and for a while the ache freezes over, but it doesnt dissolve. You push it into the background; you focus your attention on the chocolate chips sliding down your throat: and afterwards, the glaze of the full stomach puts you to sleep. In the morning you awaken with stomach pains and a dull ache in your chest. No ice cream left. Today its potato chips or cookies or candy or anything in the refrigerator: Cold vegetables, frozen cake, fingerfuls of peanut butter. But the hurt remains. The ache - and what caused it - moves deeper into your body, curling around your heart, settling in your bones. The food has not touched it.
Watching a child try to put a round peg in a square hole, you know it is useless. Yet the futility of using food for psychic nourishment is not as obvious. You east but you remain forever hungry full but hungry. At twenty, fifty, one hundred pounds overweight, you are undernourished.
Food satisfies when the hunger is physical, and only then can it be considered nourishment. Every other time you use food, you leave yourself. You walk out the door and leave yourself staving. You wouldnt leave your best friend in time of need. You wouldnt even leave an acquaintance. But you leave yourself over and over. And each time it happened, you come a little closer to true starvation.
Every time you reach for food when youre not hungry, you are getting a signal of need. If you recognize that, youre lucky: youve found a way of getting your own attention. Some people never realize the success they have to their inner lives. Some people become so cut off from their bodies and so attuned to everyone elses needs, judgments, and demands that they ignore their own. They learn how to nourish their spouses, children, friend, but they dont take time to learn to feed themselves.
A few pages later (p 132), this line caught my eye:
in order to hear the possibilities, you must care about yourself enough to listen.
All I can say is... "wow" I don't know about any of you, but a bunch of this hit home for me! Her books ARE amazing! If you want to work on your head stuff... well, get to the book store! :)
Here is an excerpt I just had to share!!
Feeding the Hungry Heart The Experience of Compulsive Eating: Geneen Roth
(P 128-129)
If you use food or any other tangible substance alcohol, cigarettes, drugs as your main source of psychic nourishment you never get full. Food, being a tangible substance, cannot satisfy intangible needs. It can numb you, drug you, but it cannot nourish you.
Your chest aches. Youre not sure why, but you know that is hurt, and its uncomfortable to hurt. You want to do something about it quickly; you want toe pain to go away. So you eat the ice cream in the refrigerator; and for a while the ache freezes over, but it doesnt dissolve. You push it into the background; you focus your attention on the chocolate chips sliding down your throat: and afterwards, the glaze of the full stomach puts you to sleep. In the morning you awaken with stomach pains and a dull ache in your chest. No ice cream left. Today its potato chips or cookies or candy or anything in the refrigerator: Cold vegetables, frozen cake, fingerfuls of peanut butter. But the hurt remains. The ache - and what caused it - moves deeper into your body, curling around your heart, settling in your bones. The food has not touched it.
Watching a child try to put a round peg in a square hole, you know it is useless. Yet the futility of using food for psychic nourishment is not as obvious. You east but you remain forever hungry full but hungry. At twenty, fifty, one hundred pounds overweight, you are undernourished.
Food satisfies when the hunger is physical, and only then can it be considered nourishment. Every other time you use food, you leave yourself. You walk out the door and leave yourself staving. You wouldnt leave your best friend in time of need. You wouldnt even leave an acquaintance. But you leave yourself over and over. And each time it happened, you come a little closer to true starvation.
Every time you reach for food when youre not hungry, you are getting a signal of need. If you recognize that, youre lucky: youve found a way of getting your own attention. Some people never realize the success they have to their inner lives. Some people become so cut off from their bodies and so attuned to everyone elses needs, judgments, and demands that they ignore their own. They learn how to nourish their spouses, children, friend, but they dont take time to learn to feed themselves.
A few pages later (p 132), this line caught my eye:
in order to hear the possibilities, you must care about yourself enough to listen.
All I can say is... "wow" I don't know about any of you, but a bunch of this hit home for me! Her books ARE amazing! If you want to work on your head stuff... well, get to the book store! :)
Posts You May Be Interested In
-
My 6mo twin DD's are EBF and just started rice cereal on the first. Everything has been going fine except this morning one of them had a diaper rash (lots of redness around her anus). I read this as one of the signs of an allergy. BUT I did just buy a different brand diaper yesterday (which they have used randomly before w/no issues). Do you think its the cereal or the diaper? Im ready to start...
"Some people become so cut off from their bodies and so attuned to everyone elses needs, judgments, and demands that they ignore their own. They learn how to nourish their spouses, children, friend, but they dont take time to learn to feed themselves."
Guilty.
JJ
;-)