Episode 92 - Intent-ful Eating, Part III
Intent-ful eating sounds great, but how do you remember to do it? Enjoy today's guided journey to help you easily put a healthy and slimming intent into everything you eat.
Transcript
Transcript
Renee Stephens: Welcome to Inside Out Weight Loss. I’m your host Renee Stephens, and together we’re accessing and adjusting the control panel of your mind/body/spirit system, bringing ease and joy to your weight loss journey and fullness to the rest of your life. Inside Out Weight Loss is about deep weight loss, deep and lasting weight loss. What the heck do I mean by that? Think about it. All of the attempts that you might have made in the past, have they really gone to the cause of your weight struggle, gone to the level of your desire to overeat. Because lets face it, isn’t that the problem in the first problem if there is such a thing as a problem, the fact that we actually want to eat more than our bodies need. Gosh, if we didn’t want to eat more than our bodies need then we’d be naturally slender. Imagine what it would be like if you naturally automatically easily preferred to eat the right amount, just the right amount, to maintain a nice naturally slender weight. Well you’re not going to get there by restriction, by depravation, because all that seems too hard, too difficult. How will you get there then? Is it even possible to get there? Of course you know what I’m going to say. I’m going to say absolutely yes, but you must have an approach that goes and works at the level of cause. What is it that causes you to want to overeat in the first place? Lets address those thoughts, those feelings, those trigger situations that cause you to want to eat more than your body needs. And that’s exactly what we do at Inside Out Weight Loss. Now the surprise, the unadvertised bonus by doing your weight loss in this deep and profound way, is that by addressing the same things that cause you to overeat, you are actually addressing some of the things that will allow you to more fully be present in your life, things that will allow you to be even more authentically you and truly express what you have to offer the world, what your gifts are, what your talents are, or simply your enjoyment of life will blossom. That’s the hidden bonus of Inside Out Weight Loss.
Renee Stephens: Now we’ll start today as we always do by taking a few moments to become present with you, because that’s where the deep and lasting change occurs, as we allow ourselves to sing deeply inside ourselves, acknowledging that we’re here for a reason. It’s not accident. If today is your first episode or your 92
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episode, you’ll know that you’re here because there’s something very important to you that you want. So take this moment to congratulate yourself, to appreciate yourself for you quest, for your determination, for taking the time to show up and be present for you - you’re absolute dedication to creating a life that you love to live. Perhaps it’s the life that you’ve been dreaming of. Yes, certainly you’ve been dreaming of having a body of a certain shape and size and weight, that fits into clothes in a certain way. Sure, you’ve been dreaming of that; but perhaps there’s even more that you’ve been dreaming of. Perhaps you’d like to be that way in a way that is easy for you. Perhaps you hadn’t even thought that it was possible. Well take a moment now to allow that dream, your dream, for your best life, one that suits you perfectly, to expand as you go deeper still within. Dropping down, down inside, allow your breath to carry you in. Down through your neck and shoulders… sinking down through your chest, through your heart, your stomach. Down, down, to your bellybutton. And just below your belly, where the center of your body is – and perhaps you can go even deeper still, deeper than you realized was possible. Allowing yourself to become present. Going very, very gently and easily into that place that is quiet and still and safe. That place reserved just for you. And allow yourself in this place to open, to deeply relax. Any cares from the outside world seem to become more and more distant with each moment that passes and each breath that you take. The cares of the day fade away and only this present moment exists. As you simply focus on the sound of my voice and be aware that your awareness is going down inside, where your deepest drives and desires live. And as you’re fully present with you, I’d like you to come back and be fully present now in this moment in space and time, noticing that you are not alone. There are so many others on this journey, and take a moment to send them your support, as you feel theirs come back to you magnified many, many, many times over, carrying you like a beautiful blanket, supporting you in your shared intent and your shared journey.
Renee Stephens: We have been talking about intentful eating, about how using your own intention, by using your own intention, that you can perhaps transform the food that you eat, your experience of eating it certainly, as well as your body. The evidence is in that water can be affected, can be transformed through the power of intention. And if water can be transformed, why not our food? And today I’m going to take you on a guided journey around imbuing your food with intent, because you think, “Well gosh Renee, I really like the idea of putting positive intent into everything I eat, and I want to pause, I really want to pause and take that moment before everything I eat to put the positive intention into it, but it’s so hard. I keep on forgetting. I go on autopilot and I’m busy and before you know it, I’ve finished what I’ve been eating, and I totally forgot. How on earth can I do it? It’s too hard.” Well I’m happy to say that my job is to make it easier. That’s the job that I have, isn’t it? That’s what we do in Inside Out Weight Loss; it’s all about making things easier for you. And so that’s what we’ll be doing in today’s guided journey, helping you remember, but also doing an intention for everything that you eat all the time, kind of a blanket catch all one, just in case you forget from time to time; this will take care of it, but again, it also pays off, to take those moments, to enhance your pleasure and enjoyment, and the results – the nutrition and the effect on your body of everything that you eat.
Renee Stephens: And we’ll do that after the break, because it’s time now to take a short break to support our sponsors. This is Renee Stephens, your host on personallifemedia.com. You’re listening to Inside Out Weight Loss.
Renee Stephens: We’re back now. I have been promising you a guided journey and don’t you think it is darn well time I deliver on that promise? My goodness! But even as I’m thinking about taking you on that delightful guided journey to imbue your food and your eating experience with intent, I’m also thinking about how much I’d like to tell you about the importance of ritual in your food. Because it actually is a way to automate, to bring automatically through repeated behaviors – in other words, ritual – a positive intent through your food. What is the purpose of ritual? What are we talking about here? We’re talking about those things that you do in church that you don’t even know what they mean. Ritual can be anything that you do on a regular basis that carries with it meaning or evokes a particular state. That’s the, one of the purposes of ritual. Another is to have shared meaning with other people in your community or within your culture. So we want to use ritual as a way to signal your subconscious mind, to signal all of you to transition into a state of gratitude and positive intent every time that you eat. Now you’ve heard of people I would imagine that have really transformed their health – they had some kind of massive health crisis like cancer, something really terrible – and they have completely changed their diet. And now they eat only raw or only super healthy food and they’ve become super healthy in fact, and cured themselves. Well I would bet dollars to donuts – is that a really bad choice of expression? I think so. I would be you that part of the transformative effect that they are experiencing is a result of their intention and intention that they are now carrying through their rituals of selecting and preparing their healthy food, ‘cause healthy food doesn’t land on your plate by accident. For most people in the world, healthy food gets to you because you make a priority of it, of selecting really beautiful ingredients and preparing those ingredients; there’s a ritual in the preparation of food. But lets just say we want to make it as simple as possible. Yes, I want you to go to the Farmers Market if you have access to one. Yes, I want you to hang out in that produce department, delighting in the multi colored extravaganza of natures bounty. And I recognize that that doesn’t always happen. So lets think about this: what could a ritual be that would set you into the zone about round eating? The simplest thing that I can possibly think of and that I use in my own life is sitting down at a table with utensils. And if you don’t have a table it’s on your lap, if you have a table that’s ideal. We want a plate, we want a fork, we want a knife, we want a spoon, whatever utensils are appropriate for what you’re eating, and lets just throw in a napkin. Alright, we’ve got a plate, we’ve got utensils, we’ve got a napkin, and bingo, we’ve got an eating experience. We have created an experience to tell all of us at all levels up and down the subconscious mind that food is coming. Now if we can add to that a moment, a nanosecond of appreciation and gratitude, that would be even better. But the ritual aspect is actually very important. What does this excluded? What is excluded when you sit down with a knife and a fork and a plate, what’s excluded of course is drive by eating, standing eating, popping things in your mouth as your on a route to other things. I call this low enjoyment consumption. It’s really not that pleasurable. So I want you to create a ritual of using utensils and plates or bowls when you eat something, no matter what it is; just take that moment to appreciate the fact that actually you’re ingesting some food.
Renee Stephen: With that said, I’d like you to allow yourself now to begin to drop inside and become very comfortable within you as you were just a few moments ago as we began this show today. Allow yourself on the wings of your breath to begin to sink in and drop inside again, noticing perhaps that this time you go down surprising quickly and easily to that place within you that only you know. That deep place within you, where all of the sounds and cares of the day become muffled and eventually disappear. They fade completely from you awareness, as your awareness focuses simply on the sound of my voice and on your very deepest inner experiences. Any sensations that you might feel very deep within your torso region, any sensations or experiences that you might have in your own inner world, that you know so well and feels so comfortable for you. Now as you’re here I’d like you to take a moment and focus on the energy below your belly, the energy of your hips and down your legs, through your knees and calves, down through your feet. Imagining that that energy continues on deep into the earth. It plunges deep into the earth and sprouts beautiful roots, root system, that gives you stability, that provides you with that anchoring, that connection to the earth energy. Imagine that you are connected and stabilized and supported by this deep root system that extends out beneath your feet, sends any toxins within you and your body/mind system down into the earth where they’re recycled and up comes soothing earth energy, that goes all the way up, up, up through your hips into your belly, into your waist and all the way up. And at the same time you notice that it’s as if there’s a connection, there’s an energy that comes from the heavens from the sky, opening at the top of you head. And a beautiful energy and connection that comes down from above, through your mind and your powers of analysis and thought. Down through your neck, into your chest and your heart. And as this energy from above mixes with the energy from below, they come together in that space of your heart, opening your heart. Opening your heart space in that beautiful relaxed feeling, that feeling of heart energy, the energy of love; unconditional love. And with your heart open you begin to go into a state of gratitude and appreciation for the fact that you have a heart and a body that serves you and allows you to live. And you think for a moment of the thing for which you are most grateful. Think of something that you truly appreciate having in your life. Perhaps it’s a gift someone’s given you. Perhaps it’s the presence of a person, a child, a relative, a friend in your life. Something that you consider to be a great thing in your life, that you feel tremendous gratitude for. And as you identify this thing that you feel so grateful for or this person or this capability that you have – perhaps that you have arms and legs that work – whatever it is – a heart that can love – notice the feeling in your heart of gratitude. Notice how the energy of your heart is when you’re in this state of appreciation and gratefulness. And as you think about this feeling of gratitude you can notice how wonderful it is to have a body that works and have access to sufficient food. And as you think about food, as you think about the food that you eat, you can imagine yourself at your next meal taking the time to get utensils and a plate or a bowl, whatever’s appropriate, and to find a place to sit, either alone or with others. And to take that feeling of gratitude and extend it to the food that you’re eating, whatever it is. Perhaps it’s something that is beautiful and organic and fresh. Or perhaps it’s something lesser, something preserved or processed. But whatever it is you can take that moment to be grateful for it, to appreciate the fact that it is available to you in your life. It may not be ideal, it may not be perfect; but whatever it is you feel a gratitude that it’s there, that you have this opportunity to choose. And then as you eat whatever this is that you’re now eating at your meal with your utensils and your plate, you simply set the intention that every mouthful that you eat, every bit of this food that you eat, be utilized by your body to serve its highest good. You can imagine eating this food and your body automatically knowiwng what to release of it and having the clear instruction and desire to use this food to promote your health and well-being. So any waste, it easily eliminates and it keeps only the best stuff, and anything that it doesn’t need it easily releases and lets go, and you keep the best nutrients, whatever it is that your body can make the most use of. And so you have this very simple and clear intent as you eat the food that it be there to enhance your enjoyment and nourishment in your body, easily and gently release what is not needed from whatever it is that you are ingesting. Exactly. And as you finish your meal you feel the food going down in your body, very gently and calmly, releasing what it doesn’t need and utilizing any nutrients that it can take advantage of. And the process feels good to you; you enjoy the process, you notice how this particular food has made you feel, and you may in fact as a result of this experience notice that if this is a food that you want more of you’ll plan to have more of it or perhaps it’s a food that you would like to have less of, that didn’t sit with you as well as you hoped. And easily and automatically that thought and that idea goes deep with so that the next time that you’re making a decision about what to eat, you know you have this feedback about what doesn’t work and what does work best. It’s very simple this act and this intention. So simple in fact that you create an intention for all food that you will ever eat at any time.
Renee Stephens: But we’ll do that very gradually by imaging now your next meal. Think of the next meal and imagine yourself getting your utensils and your plate or you bowl and sitting down and taking that moment of appreciation. And then the intention that this food be used to promote your health and well-being and everything that’s not necessary be easily eliminated. That’s right; the intention is with gratitude and love and appreciation for whatever it is that happens to be on your plate and the clear intention is that your body use it to serve its highest good for health and well-being. And you imagine another meal in just the same way and another meal beyond that, and pretty soon you imagine a whole weeks worth of meals and a month and you imagine doing this again and again and again, so many, many times, until they all sort of come together with this general overarching intention that everything that you eat your body take the best use of, use exactly what it needs and release easily what it does not need. By ingesting food you are ingesting love and appreciation, nourishment and nurturing for your body, releasing what you don’t need and creating that beautiful feedback loop so that your desire is very easily and gradually with each meal and each experience begin to align themselves with the foods that make it easiest for your body to be slim, fit and healthy. That’s right. Every time you eat something you automatically register that feedback that it makes you the next time desire to optimize to eat the foods that are easiest for your body to transform in this way, and this beautiful loop becomes so easy you start to prefer the healthier foods, the foods that are easiest for your body to work with, and start to dislike those foods that start to cause your body extra work. And all of it, with love, gratitude and appreciation. Now as you imagine yourself having done this many, many thousands of times over the years you can begin to come back and be fully present here with me now awake, aware and alert, clear and connected and ready for the rest of your day, because that brings us to the end of our show today. We’re out of time now. But I want to thank you for being present.
Renee Stephens: On the next episode we’ll be talking about maintenance, weight loss maintenance made easy. Here I go again with this easy business. Good gracious is there any end to it? Probably not. Be sure to tune in for maintenance made easy. I also want to encourage you to leave a question or comment for me at 206-350-5333. That’s 206-350-5333, so that I can answer it in the next episode of Inside Out Weight Loss. If you would like to accelerate your progress on your weight loss journey, I encourage you to consider the guided journeys available for sale on my site at reneemethod.com, r-e-n-e-e, m-e-t-h-o-d, dot com. There you’ll find the Sabotage Self Sabotage Journey, which is a foundational piece of enormous tranformative power. The Compulsion Blowout will relieve you of food compulsions permanently and easily. And The Appetite Adjuster will help you adjust your appetite to just the right level for your naturally slender self. They’re all available at www.reneemethod.com. This is your host Renee Stephens, and I am on a mission to eradicate the weight struggle from the planet, enabling you to develop and share your abundant souls gifts. Join me as we evolve the world by evolving ourselves. Take good care.