Month: September 2020

Sharing SHiFTs by Amanda ~ Staying Strong by Letting Go!

As Stay Strong September comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways we stay strong in recovery. While some are obvious – we follow our food plans no matter what, we ask for help when we need it, and we stay connected to others who are also food dependent – others are not. And some don’t even make sense until you think about them.

Staying strong by letting go is one of these. When I first heard this idea, I needed to really think about it to understand how letting go would give me strength. Before recovery, I believed that I just had to try harder to find a way to lose weight and keep it off. Letting go, giving up, wasn’t an option for me.

I thought I needed to keep fighting, to keep trying anything and everything I could to lose weight. I did this for decades until I was so exhausted that I had no energy left to keep fighting. I was too humiliated and depressed to keep going. I decided to try one more thing before resigning myself to a miserable life. I let go.

Of course, that one more thing was to attend an Acorn Intensive, which is the program that not only saved but changed my life. Almost the minute I decided to stop fighting, I found the answers I had been fighting to find.

I never imagined that the act of letting go would make me stronger than I’ve ever been in my entire life. By letting go and surrendering to the things I learned at the Acorn Intensive, I’ve been able to lose more than half of my body size and that’s only the beginning!

As I’ve continued in my recovery, I’ve learned that letting go of people, places and things allows me to keep the serenity that I cherish. When I let go, I stop trying to run the show and I let things happen naturally. I no longer need to convince people to do the things I think they should do – you know how well that goes!

Though I may make plans or have goals, I understand that if these change then there is something better out there for me. I do my best not to attach myself to any one outcome by reminding myself that I do not always know what is best for me or anyone else.

This can be challenging but when I can truly let go, I gain a strength that I didn’t know I had.

I hope you stay strong for the rest of the month and check back to see what our theme is for October!

Sharing SHiFTS by Amanda ~ Unexpected Gifts

You never know when or how they’ll show up. It may be right at the beginning, in the middle or at the end. That’s what makes them so special. I’m talking about unexpected gifts.

I was reminded these past few weeks about how unexpected gifts can come from places that I normally wouldn’t think of. As we were waiting for our new cookbook, abstinence, to come back from the printer’s, I began to think about all of the gifts that came out of this project.

Not only was I able to re-connect with many of our alumni who very generously contributed recipes, but I was also reminded on an even deeper level of the commitment it takes to get and stay in recovery from food dependency.

Of course, having led many and with us beginning another Acorn Intensive this week, I regularly see the miraculous transformations of those who learn about and begin to follow a food plan free of addictive substances.

Working on the cookbook was different in some ways. Reviewing the recipes and remembering how absolutely devastated some of our alumni were when they came into our Acorn Intensive program, showed me exactly how much determination, commitment and perseverance those who are food dependent have.

Those who are not yet in recovery use determination and perseverance to continue bingeing while those in recovery use those very same character traits to find creative ways to keep their abstinent meals tasty in order to maintain long-term recovery.

Remember, it’s okay to enjoy your abstinent food!  Sometimes, enjoying your food can make the difference between continuing on in recovery or relapsing.

Once again, I want to thank everyone who helped to make our cookbook a reality. I am grateful for each and every one of you. And, I am just as grateful for the unexpected gifts that came out of this project.

If you’d like to purchase a cookbook, please click here.  A portion of the proceeds will go to our SHiFT Scholarship Fund to help those who cannot afford treatment for food dependency.

Sharing SHiFTs by Amanda ~ Saying No To Food That You Don’t Eat

One bite won’t hurt you. 

You have to eat cake on your birthday. 

I worked so hard to cook this meal for you.

We’ve all been through it and it’s not fun. Sometimes people get upset and it’s never easy but saying no to food that you don’t eat is absolutely necessary. Remember, your recovery is about you and not about pleasing other people.

While it may seem so easy to simply go along with the crowd, or sometimes your mother or grandmother who talk about spending so much time preparing your favorite food, there’s so much more to this decision than just the time it took for someone to cook.

To begin, think about the time and effort it took for you to get into recovery. Is giving that up really worth the few minutes of pleasure someone else will get from seeing you eat the food they prepared?

Now, add to this the idea that it’s not your job, nor do you have the power, to make anyone else truly happy or, on the flip side, unhappy, and you can see that trying to please someone else by eating addictive foods is dangerous, even life-threatening to your recovery.

Long after the temporary or shallow pleasure others may have is over, you will be left with the long-lasting and possibly deadly consequences of having binged. And, trust me, though you many not binge immediately after eating addictive foods, eventually that will happen. It’s not a reflection of your strength. It’s simply a fact of food dependency. Eating a food that triggers a physiological response in our bodies, causes us to want more and more of that food.

So, even though it’s not fun at the moment, saying no to food you don’t eat anymore will make the difference between food freedom and food obsession.  As always, the choice is yours.