“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” ― Gautama Buddha, Sayings of Buddha. Writing my book and creating my course was a gift to myself and a gift to any other struggling food addict. It is dedicated to the mass dieters, the weight loss surgery goers and the last ditch effort attempters. If you have ever struggled with the obsession of food, the over indulgence of diets, or the nonstop relentless pursuit of normalcy, then this may be just what the doctor, (or fellow sufferer) ordered. I remember that exact moment, the moment my world chang ..read more

In earlier blogs and in a chapter from my book, I spoke of routine and for most of my life the fact that all I did was embrace the chaos of my serious lack of of it. I enjoyed living this way, not realising that it was just another way to be lazy and let my addiction take pride of place in my life. I thought if I had no set routine and did what I wanted, when I wanted that food choices and binging would be ‘acceptable’ or at the very least 'justifiable. Until I experienced the kind of routine needed to make rehab work and have a normal relationship with food through abstinence and self-develop ..read more

When I started my own weight management program, I did so in the January, according to folklore this is the best month to start anything of significance. That decision came after my severe addiction to diets, food obsessions, calorie counting, book buying, diet trying nightmare that I participated in over the last 25 years had got all too much. Like I have said before, food addiction is often dismissed as a choice made by gluttonous individuals that have limited regard for their appearance or health. Alcoholism is accepted as a disease along with drug addiction and even gambling because the so ..read more

lets get started! Now I want you to go buy a diary, a notebook, a scrap book anything that will help you track and plan your journey. Mine was a scrap book and had photos of my physical progress along with photos of challenges and things I discovered along the way. I wrote poems, affirmations and I vented frustrations and stuck in stickers and images similar to a vision board. I remember thinking at the time how nice it would be to look back on it all and see how far I have come and remember all of the changes that I had made. I even attached my blood tests that showed where I was pre op post ..read more

Inner Strength and denial. I have a tonne of inner strength, I always have and probably always will, however I am yet to use this and the many strong traits I possess to their full capacity. I have survived many things, homelessness, divorce, eating disorders, bankruptcy, teenage pregnancy, domestic violence and sexual assault. Each experience has built on my strengths no matter how unfortunate the situation was at that time, and the truth is had I not endured the many negatives I would certainly not be the positive woman I am today. Never giving up, never accepting defeat and always looking ..read more

I had tried it all. I followed diets of every description and my most extreme effort, weight loss surgery was the strategy that I thought was going to finally bring me obesity freedom. In truth, this decision almost cost me my dream of helping others and so for that purpose I am going to give you an open and honest account early on in my blogs so there are no misconceptions about my own unique journey. Now this surgery is different for everyone and it is just another tool that will, not can...but will see you lose weight. The amount will vary as too with the success, but with restriction ulti ..read more

I personally believe food addicts are disordered eating sufferers, with a physiological dependency on particular food types, example sugar, fat, salt or in combination. Therefore, the first plan of action is to get off the substance that puts us into this unique category so we can then address disordered eating. The definition of Disordered eating can be summarised in this extract taken from Issue 40 of the NEDC e-bulletin; ‘Disordered eating is a disturbed and unhealthy eating pattern that can include restrictive dieting, compulsive eating, skipping meals and compensatory weight-loss methods ..read more

In my personal opinion food addiction and disordered eating, is a collaborative effort of both psychological and physiological dependency. This in most cases can result in depression, obesity related diseases and of course, food obsession where we might continually think about what we consume on a day to day basis. Statistics aside, obesity affects more people throughout western society than any other health concern today, and you do not need to be a health professional to know it. Apart from the obvious symptoms and signs of food addiction or negative food behaviours, such as obesity or anor ..read more

I used to find ‘fat’ such an aggressive word. When googled, it returns over 780,000 results in a few different categories. Businesses use it a lot - for quirky restaurant names and these returns were top of the list. But ‘fat’ has a nutritional meaning also, where you can read on and on about healthy fats and how fat plays an important role in the diet and so on. However, most of the returns are negatively aimed at ‘fat’ people, which really - just means we carry too much of the nutritional component fat around our bodies doesn’t it! Hit images and you are bombarded with societies worst night ..read more

I have done a lot of thinking about all the types of people that might feel what this blog suggests. Some of us can get very lost in all the information and messages we receive about diet, food, exercise, what’s healthy, what is not and what is the latest fad. It can get very overwhelming and this is where many of us give up and stick to what we know, eating rebelliously, conveniently and habitually. Add to this, the unknown of our psychological contributors and the fear of being a binge eater, all the while being in denial and hiding our food, it is no wonder we feel a little crazy. This is ..read more