Eating Disorders - OA for May 2014

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, May 10, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Habits

Habit can work for us or against us. We have given up a set of eating habits, which were counterproductive, and we are learning new ones which will work to our benefit. Some of us require more time than others to make the shift.

Each time we act according to the old, destructive pattern, we reactivate those negative habits. We need to abandon them completely so that they will atrophy from disuse.

Each time we practice a constructive eating habit, we reinforce our new pattern. Writing out a food plan, weighing and measuring the food, eating slowly, and saying no thank you to seconds and binge foods are a few parts of the new pattern. When these actions become habitual, we do not have to think consciously about them, since we perform them automatically. Our mental efforts may then be devoted to something else.

Appetite is largely a function of habit. The more wrong foods we eat, the more wrong foods we want to eat. The longer we follow a healthy, sensible plan, the more it satisfies us.

Teach me to build constructive habits.

We need to change our thinking. Change the old tapes and make new. Make new habits, that will serve you well in recovery. It was our best thinking that got us to the doors of recovery. As the slogan says, "Nothing changes if nothing changes."