Re: Re: Holidays, Family, Emotions

[Guest guest]

gee, maybe we can make that into a board game; "Diet and Restriction Land" instead of "Candy Land".

If you eat past full, you "go to jail", lol! If you stop at "just full" you get to advance two extra spaces. If you land on the "looked in the mirror and liked it" you advance 10 extra spaces!! If you thought, "I'm fat and ugly" then you have to go back two spaces. You get the idea :.)

Laurie

To: IntuitiveEating_Support Sent: Sat, December 26, 2009 11:18:32 PMSubject: Re: Holidays, Family, Emotions

Laurie said: Sounds like family doesn't know how to support you with this IE approach; they're still lost in diet and restriction land I suppose.wow. I think I need some art skills so I can draw a cartoon of that! Lost in diet and restriction land....thanks,

[Guest guest]

Hi Jo,

that is very painful, having to watch your brother and know it's up to him; you can't help until he is ready.

But I'm so glad that you took care of yourself by eating a comfortable amount. And I'm also glad you're able to express the anger you felt. It's great that you can express it instead of keeping it bottled up inside yourself.

My brother is just so depressed; every day for him is a huge struggle, and there's really not much I can do to help him. At least he is in therapy with someone he thinks is a good therapist. But on Christmas day I ended up feeling profoundly sad about the lack of real connection with my brother and no connection to any other family. It's really sad but, like you, I did alright food-wise and I didn't binge through the day, which is a major accomplishment considering binging all day was the primary activity of my family on holidays!

Laurie

To: IntuitiveEating_Support Sent: Sun, December 27, 2009 10:17:21 AMSubject: Re: Holidays, Family, Emotions

Family can be so painful to watch some of the things they do to each other and themselves but you have to know none of it is your fault; no pangs of guilt; no feeling sorry for them - she is the one making the choice - you can only do so much for someone that does not care to hear what you have to say. After all these years and all that I have exhausted of myself and my time trying to help someone I've finally lost the above feelings for an alcoholic brother. I was however mad, mad because he chose to get drunk before we picked him up at 8am,

[Guest guest]

Laurie and Jo, I send you both a hug!! I really regret the difficulties you both are experiencing with members of your family. There is really nothing more frustrating and painful than to have troubled family members whom you can't help but want to.

For me, Christmas dredges up stuff I just don't want to think about or feel. I have always been too embarrassed to admit it, but my father was an alcoholic who passed away on Christmas Eve, 1986 due to cirrhosis of the liver. Don't know really know why I'm saying this! But it certainly feels good to finally admit it!

Tribole and Resch's Intuitive Eating certainly pegged me in the chapter on coping with your emotions without using food. Yeap, I'm an emotional overeater for sure, particularly for distraction and sedation. But this year, I realized eating to the point of a food coma just ain't working for me anymore. In order to progress, I have to finally deal with some of the feelings that always led me to overeat for two weeks during the holidays, and most of the year for that matter,

I do apologize for rambling.

All the best,

Jeanne