SHiFT – Recovery by Acorn

There’s still time! We have a little over a week left in Active August. If you haven’t already done so, you can still get active this month. Not sure what to do?

Here are a few suggestions: Take a swim in the lake or a walk around the block. Grab the dog and hike in the woods. Climb up and down the stairs a few times. Always wanted to try rollerblading or skydiving? Active August is the time!

Or, how about a walk through the center of your town? Not only will you be active but you’ll also get to know the people in your community. Or, if that doesn’t work for you, what about kayaking, tubing, or rowing down a river or in a lake?

Have you ever thought about horseback riding or playing volleyball on the beach? Active August is the time!

Those who are in recovery from food dependency have the opportunity to be active in ways that were not possible before. While weight loss is one benefit of recovery and there are many more, maintaining a healthy body size opens the door to activities that were only previously imagined.

Don’t wait another minute. Get up now and get active! Hurry before the month is over! And check out our Facebook page to see how our SHiFT Team is getting active this month.

Karla likes to garden.

Tracy enjoys a good walk.

Mary is willing to lift weights.

Phil can really dance.

It’s Active August and our SHiFT team members are getting in the spirit! Now it’s your turn to get going! At SHiFT, we have designated August as the month to get out and get moving. Now, is the time! While we don’t necessarily mean what many think of as exercise, we do know that moving our bodies helps us to feel better physically and psychologically.

For some who are food dependent, this can be a real challenge. Being creative can help with this. If running is not possible then take a walk. If you are not yet able to walk too much then try seated stretches. Swimming is also a great way to move your body and have fun.

While these are all good suggestions, it’s worth taking a few minutes to think about what types of activities you enjoy or would like to try. In recovery, I love to ride my bicycle and kayak. When I’m doing these things, I’m not thinking about how many calories I’m burning. I’m just enjoying what I’m doing.

Walking in the forest is also one of my favorite activities. I can get lost in looking at nature while walking without thinking about my body movement.

For many who are food dependent, the idea of moving our bodies needs to be SHiFTed. We need to think about enjoying the feeling of movement rather than the effort it takes or how hard it will be. The longer we are in recovery the easier body movement becomes.

So, as we move into August, take a few minutes to move your body and post a picture on our Facebook page!

No one understands how miserable I am. 

No one understands how hard I try to lose weight. 

No one understands what it’s like to feel so deeply humiliated by the size of my body. 

And, most of all, no one understands how truly awful it feels to try diet after diet and still gain weight.

These are some of the things I said to myself over and over again for many years of my life. I hated the way I lived my life and I hated that no matter how many different programs I tried, I couldn’t have the one thing I wanted most – to lose weight.

Even though I didn’t understand all of it at the time, I knew I was truly miserable and that something wasn’t right. I kept searching and trying to figure out how to help myself yet each diet I tried didn’t work. Even weight loss surgery didn’t make things better. I felt humiliated after each failed attempt and more and more hopeless.

What I didn’t know at the time is that there are people with exactly the same problem I have – food dependency. I had no idea that others thought about food as much as I did and that they, too, were desperate for a solution.

Six years ago when I entered the Acorn Intensive, I found a group of people who understood me completely for the first time in my life. Of course, there were people in my life who loved and cared about me (and still do), but up until this point, no one truly understood my struggles with food and how hopeless I felt.

In addition to finding a recovery program, I found something I didn’t even know I needed:  a community of other people who are like I am. To this day, my support community continues to be the foundation of my recovery from food dependency. I regularly talk to my sponsor. I have a therapist, and I have a strong network of recovering friends who support me.

The concept of community is also important to those I work with at SHiFT. Time and time again, I watch as those in our programs connect with and support each other. We have one group of people who attended an Acorn Intensive a year ago and are still meeting in one of our aftercare groups every week. We have another group from a different intensive who created a walking accountability group with each other and our newest Food Freedom program participants are beginning to find connection with each other.

In addition to this, we have seen people connecting on our free SHiFT Strong Support calls and in our Saturdays with Phil Workshops. Many of these connections last far beyond the length of the meetings and programs and these are just a few examples of the ways in which people connect through SHiFT.

I am blessed each day to be reminded of how important it is to find a community of people who understand me. It is my hope that you will find the same thing.

I’m too busy. 

I can never do that. 

It just won’t work out for me.

These are all examples of stopping before starting. It’s easy to come up with many different reasons not to take a risk and try something new. In fact, it takes absolutely no effort at all to think up a bunch of excuses.

Taking a risk and getting out of ourselves is entirely different. This involves courage, curiosity, and a certain amount of trust that no matter what happens we will be okay. Though this isn’t always easy, taking risks and trying new things can enhance our lives in ways that we couldn’t have even imagined.

When I weighed over 300 pounds and I couldn’t stop eating, I wasn’t able to imagine the gifts I have in my life today. Then, I was trapped in an obese body I could barely move around. It didn’t seem possible that I would ever be able to ride a bike or even walk comfortably again.

I was out of hope but couldn’t quite give in totally to living the rest of my life so miserably. I decided to try one last thing – an Acorn Intensive Program – and that turned out to be what I now know would change my life forever.

That one risk to attend the Acorn Intensive has brought things into my life that I no longer believed possible – a life of serene and sane eating, the loss of over half my body size, the ability to ride my bicycle, kayak, and hike, and an end to obsessive food thoughts to name just a few.

Since then, I have taken many other risks in my life that have all turned out okay.  Even though some didn’t go exactly as I wanted, whatever happened, worked out for the best.

The important thing about all of the risks I have taken is that I gave myself a chance to try something new which had the potential to improve my life.  I didn’t stop before I started and I hope you don’t either!

You may have been hearing a lot from us about our new Food Freedom Program which launches on July 27. We are super excited about this new self-paced, online program that helps those who are struggling with weight, food, and body issues.

Yet, what exactly is food freedom and how do you know if you have it? We’ve been getting a lot of questions about this so I’ve decided to dedicate this blog to answering some of those questions here.

Above all, food freedom is serenity around food and eating. Food freedom is being at peace with eating healthy, delicious food without constantly obsessing about what or how much you’ll eat.

There are no minutes, days, or hours lost to looking at recipe after recipe or running from store to store to fulfill a craving. There are no lost conversations because your mind drifted off to thinking about what you will eat next. And, most of all, there are no physical consequences from eating too much – no indigestion, no bloated stomach, no nausea, and no difficulty moving.

Food freedom is a healthy, serene way of eating that brings more gifts than I can ever describe though I will give it a try here. For me, food freedom means that I can eat three meals a day without constantly thinking about food. It means that I am exactly that:  FREE.  Free from not only obsession but from all the chains that come with being tied to always thinking about food.

Today, I am truly living a food freedom life. After losing half of my body size, I am now at a healthy weight and I am able to do all of the things I love to do, most among them is to play with my amazing niece Georgia – you knew I was going to get her in here somehow!

I can have relationships that are real and true based on healthy interests rather than collecting buddies who were willing to binge with me or enable me to remain unhealthy.

To me, food freedom is my life and I am super excited to help others live a life of food freedom.

If you haven’t already, please join me in living a food free life.

If you’d like more information about our new program, click here.