Fences Serve A Purpose

“Don’t ever take down a fence until you know why it was put up.” – Robert Frost 

Step 4, “We have searched honestly and thoroughly into ourselves and examined the true motivations of our actions, thoughts, and emotions.” 

Treat this step as a mission of truth rather than a seek and destroy.  Some “fences” are there for a reason and maybe a gate into that area is more appropriate for the time being rather than ripping out the entire fence. 

In Step 4 we seek truth as to our true motivations of our actions, thoughts, and emotions.  Once we make a discovery it might take some time to work through what we discover and eliminate or replace what we find with something that doesn’t need to be “fenced”.  For now we can install a gate so that we may gain access. 

In Step 5 we bring a friend along, through the gate and into an area that is usually fenced off.  With understanding and love they assist us in understanding what it is we find there, how to eliminate it or change it so the fence is no longer needed. 

In Step 6 we are ready to accept help to eliminate or change our unbalance and in Step 7 we begin removing the fence that is no longer needed. 

What we fence off we do so for a reason, a self-protective mode we created for a reason.  To simply discover the fence and rip it out would be careless and leave us vulnerable.  Discover the fence, find the history of why it is there to begin with, change the reason for the fence and then remove it. 

Living life happier and healthier for today – FORWARD RESET.

 

Lentils

One-half cup of cooked lentils has:

• Calories: 140.
• Fat: 0.5 grams.
• Carbs: 23 grams.
• Fiber: 9 grams.
• Sodium: 5 milligrams.
• Protein: 12 grams.

There are a lot of ways to prepare them so try searching on the internet for recipes and cooking methods that work best for you!

Sugar in Salt?

 Always read the labels.  It is amazing where you find sugar!

Diet or Lifestyle?

I've heard people say, "I need a break"! Meaning they are taking a break from their food plan and just doing whatever goes. The idea is that after a break they'll return to their diet, stronger and more resilient.

What are you thoughts about this?

I immediately thought, if you need a break then you aren't living a lifestyle you are on a restrictive diet.

I think this is a major difference that needs to be recognized because if you are like me I can be very successful at restrictive dieting, I can lose tremendous amounts of weight, but I have struggled at creating the lifestyle. Something works for me everyday, day-to-day, one day at a time.

If what we are doing for our food plan requires restrictive food intake then ultimately that won't be sustainable.

What we want to create is a lifestyle. No bad foods, only foods that provide better nutrition and fuel to our bodies than others. We want to change the mindset of restrictive thinking to being grateful that we able to select any foods if we want but our desire to use food to fuel our bodies allows us to search for foods that are more nutritious and get closer to our goals.

Forgive, Reset & Move Forward; FORWARD RESET!

When we forgive we don't lose, we let go. When we forgive we don't condone, we let go. When we forgive we may not forget but we still let go. When we forgive we can move forward. Forgive, reset, and move forward; FORWARD RESET!

Meal Prep

Having fresh foods available when it's time to prepare a meal is essential to making best food choices. Here I've prepped carrots, zucchini, onions, celery, red and green peppers. This took less than 30 minutes in my food processor and saves room in my refrigerator also!

For lunch I made an amazing stir fry and later seasoned with curry spices with pinto beans and brown rice. It was fantastic!

 

 As an overeater, shame erodes our true identity. We identify as fat, unappealing, and a failure. Our attempts to diet have failed over and over enforcing the belief that we aren't strong enough.

Our inner critic reminds us how inadequate we are, we self-criticize resulting in more shame and self-hatred. We attempt to take matters into our own hands and diet. We label certain foods "bad" and begin our restriction as a punishment for who we've become.

The intense pain caused by dealing with our addition in this manner, after a time, causes us to break our diet and binge with our favorite forbidden foods. We binge in a daze of peacefulness that is temporarily created. When we emerge we are ashamed and horrified at our actions, further enforcing our addition and further eroding our true identity.

In Step 7 & Key 4 https://forwardreset.com/steps.html : We eliminate our shame and begin to rebuild our identity to emerge other than an overeater. By step 7 we have reviewed our true intentions, sought to eliminate bad behaviors and characteristics, sought the help and guidance of those who have recovered before us, and Key 4 we took action.

We find a new way of living, happier and healthier for today. Like the butterfly we transform from an identity of shame and overeating into our true selves, we are becoming.

Wherever you identify on the spectrum of food addictions, you are welcome, please join us at FORWARD RESET.