: SO THRILLED to hear back from you, Kathleen! I wholeheatedly agree - without first healing sugar addiction I could never have attempted Riley's theory of hunger being caused by a "survival" neurological pathway. I was always terrified of sitting with hunger. I believed that stomach gnawing or even food thoughts were carb cravings and if left unattended, would only get worse until I couldn't help but binge. But slowly I learned it is a process (something else I found embedded in the Steps). With great trepidation and a LOT of missteps, I have learned to distinguish between carb craves and habitual, neurological thoughts that I should eat more (they feel so real!!). But the first time I sat with hunger and allowed myself to feel uncomfortable until it subsided was life changing!!!

So looking forward to hearing your thoughts!!! BTW - I never, ever count calories (if I did I would never eat another almond!) and have still lost almost 50 pounds!! Who HOO!
Much love,
Barbara - heybubb@verizon.net

Hi Everybody:

: After reading today's newsletter I
: was compelled to write and tell my
: tale. I started with Radiant
: Recovery some 15 or so years ago
: when I first picked up Potatoes
: Not Prozac. Kathleen's information
: and generous soul gave me back my
: life. I have lifelong gratitude
: for all her gracious knowledge and
: support.

: But even after "doing the
: food" and being a 7th Stepper
: for many years, I remained over
: 100 pounds overweight. Even with
: continuous exercise.

: At 63 years old, I had completely
: given up the notion of ever losing
: weight but I gave it one more try.
: I went to a eating disorder
: nutritionist/therapist who showed
: me a book called, "Eating
: Less - Say Goodbye to
: Overeating" by Gillian Riley.
: Although this book came out a
: couple of decades ago, I had never
: heard of it.

: By reading this book I realized I was
: addicted to food QUANTITY. In
: short I was eating way too much
: food to lose weight. But when I
: limited my food intake, I felt
: hungry and deprived, even right
: after a full meal. This was not
: carbohydrate craving from blood
: sugar or brain chemistry, which I
: knew well. "Eating Less"
: explains this is caused by a
: neurological pathway from the
: "survival" part of your
: brain (hindbrain and medulla) sent
: to your "decision
: making" part of your brain
: (frontal cortex) saying "You
: must eat or else you will starve
: to death". Or it may be
: hunger triggered by a sensory
: memory. Either way, it is
: basically a "habit" of
: brain thinking you are hungry when
: you are not. I call it Phantom
: Hunger. It took a while to be able
: to distinguish my hunger signals
: as just a habitual thought. Not
: only did they FEEL real, I
: experienced REAL physical hunger,
: REAL gnawing in my stomach - even
: after completing a full meal. But
: I learned to realize it was not
: true hunger and did not ignore it
: or try make it go away - I just
: breathed deeply and sat with it
: and realizing, "this is
: uncomfortable, but in time it will
: go away." And slowly but
: surely, it did. I continue to
: reset my neurological pathways not
: to inundate my thoughts with
: Phantom Hunger. As such, I eat far
: less food, have far more energy
: and at last, after all these
: years, the weight is coming off.

: I would be SO interested in your
: thoughts, Kathleen!!

: With much love and gratitude,
: Barbara Rosenberg