Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sophie Skover is the founder of LSS Harmony Life Coaching, which coaches people to heal the issues that are stopping them from accomplishing their dreams. She lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, works with clients, conducts workshops, practices yoga, and runs every morning with her dog, Jack. Sophie encourages us to face our inner life and grow into the most impressive version of ourselves.

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The Continuous Appetite

Balboa Press

Contents

Preface—Checklist: Do I have The Continuous Appetite?.....................xiiiIntroduction—Sophie's Story...............................................xixChapter 1—Food Isn't the Problem..........................................1Chapter 2—I Just Ate Too Much.............................................15Chapter 3—Preventing Overeating...........................................27Chapter 4—Face Your Overeating............................................37Chapter 5—Diets Cause Cravings............................................51Chapter 6—How the Heck Do I Only Eat Half?................................63Chapter 7—The Power Within................................................75Chapter 8—A New Perspective...............................................88Chapter 9—Why Things Happen...............................................101Chapter 10—Unleash Your True Beauty.......................................114Chapter 11—Events, Holidays & Vacations...................................125Chapter 12—Discover Your Best Self........................................139

Chapter One

Transforming the continuous appetite is a process of looking within to discover what's happening underneath the craving.

If food is for fuel, then why do we have taste buds? All humans must eat to survive—without exceptions—and, if we didn't have taste buds, we might not have the drive to eat. The purpose of eating, however, has become so tangled into a web of tasting rather than fueling that people are getting increasingly imbalanced with every passing bite.

I like to call out-of-control taste buds "cravings". These little guys are important and serve us in many ways. At times (when our inner issues surface), they can take over and cause us to feel uncomfortable. If you have a craving right now, I challenge you to first recognize that something is going on in your inner life, and the coping mechanism you've chosen is food. The problem, however, is not food; it's rather the "result" from an unacknowledged problem in your life. In the past, these inner issues have probably caused outrageous cravings that have made you feel bad, but the way out is near. These harmful cravings are called the continuous appetite.

Have you ever used food to comfort your body in a time of need or perhaps as a form of stress relief at the end of the day, even though it interferes with your weight loss or fitness goals? If so, you are familiar with how your body's cravings can result in self-sabotage caused by the continuous appetite.

Have you ever been in a great mood emotionally and then—all of a sudden—a co-worker made a comment or your spouse gave you a look, and you immediately felt horrible? This nasty feeling then sends you frantically to the fridge, throwing your weight-loss goals out the window. This is how a lack of emotional awareness stimulates the continuous appetite.

Do you ever get stuck inside your mind with thoughts like, "What should I eat? What should I order? Why do I have to struggle with food on a daily basis?" If so, these are the thoughts the mind will generate when something is out of balance within. The damaging result is the breakdown of the mind, which then speaks the language of the continuous appetite.

Have you ever felt empty and disconnected from life and asked yourself, "What is the point anyway, who cares – nothing matters ..."? This is how inner spiritual emptiness uses a facade that feels like hunger but, instead, actually activates the continuous appetite.

If any of these scenarios seem and sound familiar, you're not alone. I have lived through this darkness and, at times, thought I wouldn't make it. But I've overcome these obstacles and, if I did it, you can too! All these negative experiences that happen in the body, emotions, mind and spirit, (or your BEMS) will be your key to unlocking true freedom from continuous eating. Our relationship with food is something that we all have to address every day and, when you struggle with this issue, it can seem as if life is overwhelming. There is a way out, however, from the body's cravings, emotional dysfunction, mental chatter and spiritual emptiness which are the ultimate roots of your intense cravings—and that way out is awareness.

Awareness will be the light that leads you out of the darkness, but we can't shine all of it on you at once. We need to gradually introduce you to it like a gentle sunrise, so you have time to adjust to the radiance. The exercises and techniques offered in this book can be thought of as mini beams of light that will shine through your darkness. Naturally, the more you practice, the brighter you will become.

The first step is to examine the relationship you currently have with what you eat. Take a look at where you currently stand with food because the first step to changing any behavior is identification. I want you to think about your relationship with eating as if it were a person, and then answer these questions:

• How do I act around food?

• What makes me cheat on my goals?

• Where do I tend to overdo it?

• How do I obsess over it?

• When do I sneak it?

Your answers will shed some light on your relationship with food, which will bring awareness and, through awareness, you will be shown in which way you need to grow.

Inner Issues Beneath Overeating

We all have issues—big ones, small ones, obvious ones, and even invisible ones—and no one is issue-free. I don't care who you are, how much you have or don't have; not one of us is impervious to or exempt from having issues. Everyone on Earth has some kind of issue, and there are statistics that classify up to 85% of families in America as "dysfunctional". So having life conflicts has practically become the American standard but, when we try to ignore our issues, they turn into problems or cravings. When we unconsciously react to our problems by acting on our cravings, we create even more inner dysfunction.

We do, however, have a choice, and making this choice is crucial if we want to heal the continuous appetite. The necessary decision is to begin facing our true inner issues. Life offers all of us information and messages beyond the surface of each life situation. When we don't hear (or listen to) the message being presented, a problem can turn into a dilemma. When we don't tackle the dilemma, it turns into a calamity and, when the calamity is left unresolved, our life becomes steeped in turmoil.

I knew that place of turmoil well. I used to live there, and wondered why my life always seemed so troubled. I would encounter problem after problem and craving after craving, steeped in my own self-generated turmoil. But once I began to work through some of my issues, I started to see that these situations had presented themselves long before I became consciously aware of them. This taught me that I could now begin to be more conscious and avoid living in the turmoil. I then moved to the level of the problems...