Task 1) Please try this fun type of food diary.
If you have dieted before, the chances are you tried to do a food diary and failed badly. A food diary is often where you detail the food you have eaten, weight it, measure it, and record calories.
If you have an emotional connection with food this task is utterly impossible!
Todays task is to complete a “LOVELY” food diary
Record the next 2-6 snacks /meals you have. (This could be coffee and bun, porridge, a sausage, a roast dinner ) NO calories, NO weighing.
If you cannot detail the food, just say “ snack 1 or meal 2”. The task is not to look at macros or carbs, it’s to identify the following issues a) how hungry were you b) where did you eat it c) what emotions did you feel before you ate it d) how did you feel afterwards.
My good friend Kiran (who helps me support emotional eaters) made this video to help you see the value of this task!
https://youtu.be/SAuJdXknt5E
Please, please give it a go
Task 2) Drink a small quantity of citrus juice ( a splash of lemon or lime juice) in water before each main meal.Task 3) Ground and Release.
This is one of the riskiest exercises we do on this 5 day course.
Get your chair and put it back to the wall. Sit down, with your feet on the floor in a comfortable upright seated position.
Remind yourself of the contact points exercise you’ve been doing every day.
Good
I’d like you to think of something mildly stressful. If stress goes from 1-10 with 10 being awful, I want you to think of a 3 to 4.
I now want you to become aware of your physical reactions to stress.
Without judgement. I’d like you NOT to think about the event or chew over it, but identify the physical expression of stress. You may get tense, feel a tightness in your chest. You may sweat.
I feel a pounding in my ears.
Here is a bigger list of physical sensations that others have reported.
| Faster breathing | Reduced visual field |
| Difficulty breathing | Hair standing on end |
| Tightness in chest or belly | Losing bladder /bowel control |
| Faster heart rate/pounding heart | Racing thoughts |
| nausea | Anxious thoughts |
| Butterflies in stomach | rumination/looping thoughts |
| Dry mouth | Anxiety or panic |
| Clenched jaw | Impatience irritation or rage |
| Pale and cold skin | |
| Sweaty palms | sadness |
| sweating | shame |
| Hunched posture | overwhelm |
| dizziness | restlessness/fidgeting |
Don’t spend too long here.
Now bring your attention to the points of contact you’ve been working over the last few days. Feel where your feet touch the floor, feel your bottom firmly on the seat. Feel how safe you are. I want you to focus on the felt sense of support, this isn’t a thinking process.
Once you begin to focus on your contact points, you will sense the physical sensation of stress going away, or being discharged! These are the likely symptoms
| shaking/trembling | crying |
| twitching | laughing/giggling |
| Slower deeper breathing | yawning |
| Slower heart rate | sighing |
| Relaxation in the chest of belly | Stomach gurgling |
| tingling/buzzing | burping |
| Waves of warmth | farting |
| chills | coughing |
| Flushed skin/sweating | itching |
(Ref: Stanley “ Widen the Window”)
Once you feel the sensations of stress disappear, you are good to get on with your day.
Good luck with these drills!