Sugar

Are you highly sensitive and sugar addicted?

October 24, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 6 Comments

If you’re someone who is both highly sensitive and sensitive to sugar (which may appear in your life as a susceptability to sugar addiction or overeating), you’re not alone. It’s a pairing that I see over and over again – and one I see in myself. Being highly sensitive means you pick up more from [...]

Filed Under: Overeating, Sugar Tagged With: ADD, anxiety, binge eating, binge eating disorder, food addiction, high sensitivity, Overeating, sugar addiction

Stop sugar cravings with kindness

October 17, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 6 Comments

In the First Ourselves support group, we’re exploring how kindness can soften sugar cravings. It sounds impossible, doesn’t it? When we crave sugar, we tend to have 1 of 2 reactions: we either try to control, white knuckle, suppress, shut up, or cut out the feeling of wanting. Or we act out the craving by eating [...]

Filed Under: Sugar Tagged With: how to stop craving sugar, mindfulness, self compassion, sugar addict, sugar addiction, sugar cravings, sugar free diet

You can handle this.

September 28, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 13 Comments

When we overeat, we’re caught in a fight or flight state. Something in our bodies, minds, brain screams, “Danger, danger, danger!” and we eat to escape this fearful place. The food/sugar (or drink, or internet, or TV, or compulsive email checking or …..) becomes our surrogate for safety, nurturing, soothing. We feel the ouch, the [...]

Filed Under: Overeating, Sugar

Loving myself unconditionally

September 21, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 6 Comments

On a daily basis – often an hourly basis – I pause, put my hand on my heart and whisper to myself, “I will not make war against my own heart.” I have so many opportunities to practice. Every day, I make mistakes. Every day, I want to jump on myself when I make those [...]

Filed Under: Body image, Overeating, Sugar, Weight loss Tagged With: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self compassion, self forgiveness, unconditional love

Is your mind like a “scary neighborhood?” How our thoughts keep us trapped in sugar addiction

September 6, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 1 Comment

Writer Anne Lamott once said, “My mind is like a bad neighborhood – I try not to go there alone.” Meditation teacher Tara Brach put it this way – “The mind has no shame.” Both these quotes make me laugh, because they describe my experience and normalize it – how our minds get caught in [...]

Filed Under: Sugar Tagged With: cognitive therapy, mindfulness, negative thinking, optimism, subconscious mind, sugar addiction

How do you detox from the morning coffee/sugar hit?

August 30, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 7 Comments

I got an email from a woman asking, “Do you have any helpful ways to let go of the espresso, cream and sugar hit in the a.m.?” I’m guessing many of you can relate, so I’m posting my reply here. First of all, it’s easy to judge ourselves for using things like caffeine, sugar, drinking, [...]

Filed Under: Sugar Tagged With: caffeine, caffeine free diet, coffee, detox, sugar, sugar free diet

How I walked away from sugar (when I was really, really tempted)

August 23, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 20 Comments

For most of my life, I’ve been an emotional eater, soothing myself with sugary, starchy, fatty foods. I’m highly sensitive, which means I feel everything – both the good and the bad – intensely. Living at 120 watts can feel vibrant and alive. It can also feel scary. Strong emotions are often uncomfortable, so I [...]

Filed Under: Overeating, Sugar Tagged With: book on sugar addiction, sugar abstinence, sugar cravings, sugar free diet

Your heart is big enough – Heal overeating through the power of relationship

August 9, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 10 Comments

We typically approach diet, health and weight loss as a science: eat less, lose weight. Exercise more, lose weight. In this mechanistic view, we view the body as a machine, where we do X to get Y. We focus on fixing the behavior (eating less junk food, less sugar; losing weight, and tempering our emotional [...]

Filed Under: Overeating, Sugar, Weight loss

Caring for anxiety without overeating

August 2, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 2 Comments

I went walking this morning in new socks. They’re super thin – great for the heat – but very slippery. I began my walk feeling uncertain and tentative, like my feet weren’t supported on the ground. I felt like my feet would slip out from under me at any moment. I thought about this metaphor [...]

Filed Under: Overeating, Sugar, Weight loss Tagged With: anxiety, binge eating, binge eating disorder, emotional eating, Overeating

Healing prayer for overeaters

July 25, 2011 By Karly Randolph Pitman 3 Comments

I wrote this prayer this morning and offer it to you in humble service. May it lift your heart and bring you peace. May I remember who I am when I’m feeling lost and small. May I remember my connectedness, my belonging, my place in the human family. May I love all aspects of my [...]