Lifestyle Choices

A great many of my patients do not really know what stress actually is. They think that it’s an outside force causing them to feel tense. But that’s not stress — that’s a stressor. Stress is a person’s negative reaction to a stressor.

For the most part, people have a negative reaction to stressors when they feel that their stressors are greater than their ability to deal with them. When they feel like this, they see their stressors as threats. On the other hand, if they think they can handle their stressors, they usually see them as challenges and generally enjoy grappling with them.

If you now feel as if your life is full of threats, instead of challenges, you are experiencing stress. If your degree of stress is severe, it’s going to be quite difficult for you to live a balanced, healthy lifestyle free from compulsion, including the compulsion to overeat. (more…)

It is now common knowledge that uncontrolled stress can trigger a great many diseases and disorders—insomnia, gastric ulcers, high blood pressure, asthma, and migraine, to mention just a few. But for a long time these ailments were treated like something over which we had no control. It was assumed that one could only treat their symptoms with drugs, treat the stress that triggered them off with more drugs, and hope for the best. Now, thanks to research into altered states of consciousness and work done with biofeedback, studies have shown that every human being can exercise a high level of conscious control over his nervous system. (more…)

Lean is supposed to be beautiful. As a result, some women spend most of their adult lives trying to get thin and stay that way. For, in our society, thinness has become a symbol of loveliness, success, self-control, and social acceptability—and being overweight the twentieth-century bete noire of womanhood. You know the kind of thing: “Lose that nasty twenty-five pounds with our super new slenderizing regimen and it will transform your life into a wonderful world of bliss.” Well, don’t believe it. (more…)

“GOOD BEHAVIOUR” PERSONALITY

The “good behaviour” type has put a tremendous amount of energy into conforming. He relies on others’ opinions and likes to obey the rules. He looks down on those who do not follow the rules or do not act in the proper fashion. He is obedient and authority bound — he is always worried about whether the authority will approve of his actions, and he willtry very hard to please. On the positive side, he may be an extremely conscientious worker.

Childhood background

The childhood history is often one of an over-emphasis on the control of behaviour. Being a good boy or a good girl is more important to the parents than natural expressions of spontaneity. Thus, eating up all your food, or going to the lavatoryonce a day, or being nice, or not being aggressive, becom_emajor issues in which the parents eventually win a battle for control. The child thinks that if he conforms, then at last hewill receive the warmth and security he wants, but howeverhard he tries, he can never be good enough because he will never really be loved for who he is. (more…)

The Problem With Techniques

The ideas described in the section on Gestalt are not peculiar to it and are found in many of the more modern therapies. Although founded on an attempt to find more vitality, they can be misused, because as soon as any technique becomes inflexible it creates an act rather than a vital expression. Because the techniques are exciting, some people also use them to get a temporary “high” on human experience, rather than to learn to be more themselves. The important point is that any technique is only a tool of the trade, a “gimmick” to get through to the more alive part of a person. Tools can be used in many ways, and some tools work better in some people, and in some eras, than others. What is most important to you as a client is the skill with which the tool is handled and the integrity of the handler. (more…)

The first step in fat control is establishing realistic goals.

Too many teens and adults, both men and women, establish unrealistic goals for their physical appearance. Fat weight, and body proportions are all factors that can be changed, but people often set standards for themselves that will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. It is important that goals be set for fat and weight control that can be accomplished for both the short term and the long haul. This necessitates developing an understanding of your own body proportions as well as your body fatness. Unrealistic goals may result in eating disorders (see Concept 20), failure to meet goals, or the failure to maintain fat loss over the long haul. The measurement procedures used in Labs 13A and 13B should help you establish realistic goals.

Goals that emphasize the behavior of eating less and exercising more are more effective than those emphasizing a specific outcome such as weight or fat lost (or gained).

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The support of family and friends can be of great importance in fat control.

In Concept 18, the importance of family and friends to successful exercise adherence was emphasized. Family and friends can also help you in changing and adhering to healthy eating practices. It is known that parents who overeat have children who eat more than normal. In these cases, it is important for the entire family to participate in a program to control fatness. Family and friends should provide support for the person trying to gain or lose fat by helping them follow the guidelines presented in this Concept, rather than tempting the person to eat improperly. (more…)