I wish to thank the individual who emailed me about taking the OA in vain and not staying strictly within the OA traditions of "OA and AA approved", and remind you all that OA is stuck, unable to grasp or change, that technology, social sciences, and our understanding of the human mind has expanded in the last 50 since OA was formed. Evolution of concepts is real, and happening.
I am just trying to get myself out in front of the curve, and help myself, any way I can. Hidden in all the information out there, the answer may be just laying there. Someone need to pick up and try all those solutions until we find the ones that work, even those that have placebo size effects. All we need to do is remove the cause of overeating, and the problem should go away.
The OA organization is stuck in a meme that sort of functions, but not well for most. Look at the turn over rate. Not many successes long term. Thinking must evolve or it stagnates and dies. If there is a simpler method of obtaining the same effect, I will take the simple method every time.
OA provides a social network of weight challenged people, all looking for a solution. Some are just not hanging around OA long enough to figure out if it works or not. There are at least 25 causes of overeating... which ones are your issues? remove the cause, and the problem becomes small.
Many of us have more than one issue. I suffered from mineral and vitamin insufficiency, sugar addiction, wheat addiction, grain and dense carbohydrate intolerance, and compulsive urges. There may be more as well. Fructose, corn and nuts are big issues for some.
Some of us will not accept reliance on a god, for gods are just concepts. Belief in a god must do something in the mind however, since the belief seems to fix so many people. I want to uncover that "what it does in the mind", and pass that on. Until then, I guess I will hand around OA, or AAA, or AAA + or FA, until AOA + get up and running here.
So put that in your pipe and smoke it or drink the kool-aid. The choice is yours.
Monday, August 27, 2012
more on Schwartz
- RELABEL – Recognize that the intrusive obsessive thoughts and urges are the result of OCD. example: It is not hunger, it is just a compulsive urge to eat. OCD. due to a fu brain chemistry.
- REATTRIBUTE – Realize that the intensity and intrusiveness of the thought or urge is caused by OCD; it is probably related to a biochemical imbalance in the brain. Tell yourself, "It's not me—it’s my OCD," to remind you that OCD thoughts and urges are not meaningful, but are false messages from the brain.
- REFOCUS – Work around the OCD thoughts by focusing your attention on something else, at least for a few minutes. Do another behavior. Say to yourself, "I'm experiencing a symptom of OCD. I need to do another behavior." get on with step 4 to 9 or get to work.
- REVALUE – Do not take the OCD thought at face value. It is not significant in itself. Tell yourself, "That's just my stupid obsession. It has no meaning. That's just my brain. There's no need to pay attention to it." Remember: You can't make the thought go away, but neither do you need to pay attention to it. You can learn to go on to the next behavior.
May the schwartz be with you...
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Schwartz, AOA +
Schwartz summary
- identify the compulsion, identify the urge, it is just your brain giving a wrong signal, biochemical signal or reaction
- label it as a feeling
- focus elsewhere
- do the next right thing
What a powerful thing for overcoming compulsion. Far simpler than the 12 steps. But the 12 steps take four to deal with moral improvements and two more to deal with relationships. But the step flesh it out nicely.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Compulsive Urge directed at food
What if I have a compulsive urge directed at food? There is no net talk of such a thing beyond Prader-Wille. There is lots on emotional eaters; impulse, avoidance, protection, punishment, hedonistic, stress, etc. There is a lot of physical and chemical causes of overeating. But suppose I have a compulsive urge and it gets turned to food.
There is lots of talk about other outlets for compulsions or compulsive urge. Hypergraphia - compulsive urge to write - it even has a name. There is much of sex deviants, fetishes. Then there is onimania, shopping.
I am not saying that it is a large portion of the population, just the few grossly obese who were such as children before fructose and the chemical driven obesity issues, perhaps less than one percent of the population.
I have always been compulsive at most things, full steam ahead or at a stand still. That is the definition of compulsive. So perhaps it is the compulsion that came first, and it just got directed at food. Then it can be switched in direction through Schwartz, identify, label, reattribute, focus on something else, revalue method.
N=1 test I guess. Some time applying Schwartz, and review.
There is lots of talk about other outlets for compulsions or compulsive urge. Hypergraphia - compulsive urge to write - it even has a name. There is much of sex deviants, fetishes. Then there is onimania, shopping.
I am not saying that it is a large portion of the population, just the few grossly obese who were such as children before fructose and the chemical driven obesity issues, perhaps less than one percent of the population.
I have always been compulsive at most things, full steam ahead or at a stand still. That is the definition of compulsive. So perhaps it is the compulsion that came first, and it just got directed at food. Then it can be switched in direction through Schwartz, identify, label, reattribute, focus on something else, revalue method.
N=1 test I guess. Some time applying Schwartz, and review.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Compulsive Urge and AOA +
I am using AOA + to identify agnostic (or atheist) overeaters anonymous plus science with added, and evolution of concepts, growing on those who have gone before.
It is my opinion that there are numerous issues that cause obesity/overeating, and each cause must be treated separately.
Once we identify a component of our "disease" as a compulsive urge, how does the real world deal with those?
Well, Schwartz came up with four steps, relabel, reattribute, refocus, and revalue. AOA + would add identify the "compulsion to eat" in front of that list. OA basically does all these steps but without the specific labels: labels, attributes, focus, and values. OA does not ever realizing it is those items, not the "god" that does the trick. That is not to say that intensive moral improvement is not valued, but anything will do as an alternative to obsess about.
Here is a summary of Schwartz: http://hope4ocd.com/foursteps.php
Binge eating definition can be found as a recognised diagnosis. But what of us who eat (or would like to eat, the compulsive urge) frequently throughout the day and evening, not much at one time, but 5 time 200 calories plus meals yields obesity... We have no diagnosis... We have a severe problem... Schwartz comes along and explains some of why the OA program works, and makes it much easier to "work the program until it works", once we understand what has to be done.
Is it time to start an OAO + program to spread understanding of the solution?
Schwartz becomes the "god" for a bit.
It is my opinion that there are numerous issues that cause obesity/overeating, and each cause must be treated separately.
Once we identify a component of our "disease" as a compulsive urge, how does the real world deal with those?
Well, Schwartz came up with four steps, relabel, reattribute, refocus, and revalue. AOA + would add identify the "compulsion to eat" in front of that list. OA basically does all these steps but without the specific labels: labels, attributes, focus, and values. OA does not ever realizing it is those items, not the "god" that does the trick. That is not to say that intensive moral improvement is not valued, but anything will do as an alternative to obsess about.
Here is a summary of Schwartz: http://hope4ocd.com/foursteps.php
Binge eating definition can be found as a recognised diagnosis. But what of us who eat (or would like to eat, the compulsive urge) frequently throughout the day and evening, not much at one time, but 5 time 200 calories plus meals yields obesity... We have no diagnosis... We have a severe problem... Schwartz comes along and explains some of why the OA program works, and makes it much easier to "work the program until it works", once we understand what has to be done.
Is it time to start an OAO + program to spread understanding of the solution?
Schwartz becomes the "god" for a bit.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Personal Manifesto V1.01
http://innerpilgrimage.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-journey-continues-i-found-a-trailhead-at-the-heart-of-these-dark-woods/
Jess got me thinking. I need to tweak these a bit more to fit my beliefs:
1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive urge to eat and food—that our lives had become unmanageable in this respect. We recognise that sugar and carbohydrates are chemical addictions, and compulsive eating is a behavioural addiction. This is my first time through life, and I am still learning. All we have is now and today.
2. Came to believe and to accept that we needed strengths and knowledge beyond our current awareness and resources to restore us to sanity. There is likely a set of rules, concepts or the like that can be followed and define as sanity. Evolution of ideas that can be followed, just as evolution of the steam tractor in history.
3. Made a decision to entrust our will and our lives to the care of the collective wisdom and resources of those who have searched before us, both inside the program and out, accepting that there may be a better way than current raw AA/OA program. Evolution of ideas, OK.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Add to that belief's inventory, growth of knowledge.
5. Admitted to ourselves without reservation, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs, strength, weakness, beliefs, disbeliefs, and any other thing we need to talk about.
6. Were ready to accept help in letting go of all our defects of character. We recognise that the mind created the ego, and as such the ego is impermanent and impersonal, as it is the reflection of other egos. It's original purpose was to protect us in the face of discord, indecision, uncertainty, lack of knowledge,and the like, aka situational dissonance. To prevent/reduce second guessing of self.
7. With humility and openness sought to overcome our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. This recognizes the importance of relationships of all forms, but also recognizes they must have utility to be worth maintaining. One sided relationships must be recognized as such and accepted as one sided, limited, or even abusive.
9. Made direct amends, where amends are owed, to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. We own a living amends to ourselves, living right into the future.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. Abandon self doubt.
11. Sought through thinking, analysis, discussion and meditation to improve our spiritual awareness and our understanding of the growth and the Overeaters Anonymous (OA) way of life and to discover the power to carry out that way of life. Evolution of concepts, OK.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters, bulimics, and anorexics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Jess got me thinking. I need to tweak these a bit more to fit my beliefs:
1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive urge to eat and food—that our lives had become unmanageable in this respect. We recognise that sugar and carbohydrates are chemical addictions, and compulsive eating is a behavioural addiction. This is my first time through life, and I am still learning. All we have is now and today.
2. Came to believe and to accept that we needed strengths and knowledge beyond our current awareness and resources to restore us to sanity. There is likely a set of rules, concepts or the like that can be followed and define as sanity. Evolution of ideas that can be followed, just as evolution of the steam tractor in history.
3. Made a decision to entrust our will and our lives to the care of the collective wisdom and resources of those who have searched before us, both inside the program and out, accepting that there may be a better way than current raw AA/OA program. Evolution of ideas, OK.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Add to that belief's inventory, growth of knowledge.
5. Admitted to ourselves without reservation, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs, strength, weakness, beliefs, disbeliefs, and any other thing we need to talk about.
6. Were ready to accept help in letting go of all our defects of character. We recognise that the mind created the ego, and as such the ego is impermanent and impersonal, as it is the reflection of other egos. It's original purpose was to protect us in the face of discord, indecision, uncertainty, lack of knowledge,and the like, aka situational dissonance. To prevent/reduce second guessing of self.
7. With humility and openness sought to overcome our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. This recognizes the importance of relationships of all forms, but also recognizes they must have utility to be worth maintaining. One sided relationships must be recognized as such and accepted as one sided, limited, or even abusive.
9. Made direct amends, where amends are owed, to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. We own a living amends to ourselves, living right into the future.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. Abandon self doubt.
11. Sought through thinking, analysis, discussion and meditation to improve our spiritual awareness and our understanding of the growth and the Overeaters Anonymous (OA) way of life and to discover the power to carry out that way of life. Evolution of concepts, OK.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters, bulimics, and anorexics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Monday, August 20, 2012
concept of .....
http://innerpilgrimage.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/into-the-woods-yet-again got me thinking... lecturing again... oh well.
I went through that kind of a process. Abandoned the do as I say Christian stuff was on of my best concepts.
The line that got me through is in BB 3rd ed, pg46, Our own conception, however inadequate... god is just a concept, nothing more. It is all about belief, not what we believe. It is about the assurance of knowing we are right, correct, and rigidity to those beliefs that gets me through life for the first time.
I believe mathematics, physics, chemistry, evolution- why not a set of as yet unknown rules to get me through these food/ overeating issues. I need to plan my way through life in general. (prayer and mediation) This is the first time I have been through life. For today, now is all we have.
I learned to meditate well enough to be able to feel the vibration of the air in my ears, and not interpret it as sound. That is the separation of the physical and mind. I studies Buddhism, and became a book buddhist- know it only from books. I read others, Tolle, Brown, jon kabit-zinn, etc, all interesting conceptions. For some, we are reborn each day as we awake. but I digress.
Keep up the struggle, for this life is all that we have. It is the first time through so we are bound to make mistakes. In additions, there are many choices in life, and some are bound to put odd stresses on our mind and body. We are bound to get pulled off our pathway. Broken people get recycled.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Comfort Zone
http://screamingfatgirl.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-discomfort-zone.html go me going.
For years I lived out of my comfort zone, high stress, pressure, and ate as relief/ distraction. My problem became much less when I left. It is not the comfort/discomfort that is the issue, it is how we react to it. Oh well, life goes on.
Most people live without overeating... it cannot be that difficult... can it?
For years I lived out of my comfort zone, high stress, pressure, and ate as relief/ distraction. My problem became much less when I left. It is not the comfort/discomfort that is the issue, it is how we react to it. Oh well, life goes on.
Most people live without overeating... it cannot be that difficult... can it?
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