11

Week Eleven


The Lists and
Your Beliefs
Religious and Spiritual























My Yellow List
Rewrite your Yellow List adding any new items that “could” interfere with your journey.
1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4 _______________________________
5,_______________________________
6. ______________________________
7._______________________________
© Remember to pat yourself on the back and shout with excitement about how far you have come.
















My No Matter What Red List - Week Eleven

1. _____________________________ 7. ____________________________
2. _____________________________ 8. ____________________________
3. _____________________________ 9. ____________________________
4. _____________________________ 10. ___________________________
5. _____________________________ 11. ___________________________
6. _____________________________ 12. __________________________
© Foods we love are divided into two groups; foods that we love but that don’t love us and foods that we love; that love us too. The latter foods are the foods on our No Matter What Red List. The more day count I get, the more foods I find that I never gave the time of day to and now really enjoy. Some of them I even love.
I will list some of the foods that I have acquired a love for during my journey:
© fresh pineapple
© a frozen vegetable blend with pepper and other fabulous seasonings
© precut, peeled and washed veggies. There's magic in having them ready.
© soy butter instead of peanut butter. It’s tasty, but not so good that I want to eat
it by the spoonful like I used to with peanut butter.
© apples (I have become a connoisseur). I especially like Pacific Rose. Before
my journey, I did not know there were different tastes to the many
varieties.
© carrots (another area of expertise)
© butternut squash
© colored cauliflower (my Costco has just started carrying bagged cauliflower in
purple, green, yellow and it’s regular color. What a visual delight, I love colors.)
© plain, canned pumpkin with Splenda or Stevia with cinnamon. My little
granddaughter loves it too, that’s her idea of pumpkin pie.
© a type of high end cherry tomato that tastes like candy to me. I know it sounds
crazy, but that’s what happens when you have not had sugar for over 6935
days.
© I like cabbage too.
(I have deliberately put this list on my No Matter What Red List page so you can see why I don’t mind letting go of my No Matter What Red List foods. Have so many foods I have acquired a love for has made it easy.)
There are more but I will stop here so you can have a turn.



Activity
Make a list of foods that you like or love that do not love you. The foods that love you are the foods you put on your No Matter What Red List.





















My Green List - Week Eleven

Your Green List is the same as last week.
1. Continue to drink your eight glasses of water or equivalent each day.
2. Your lunch vegetables at home or away will remain the same; twelve exact ounces again for this week.
3. Your dinner vegetables at home or away will be the same as last week; exactly sixteen ounces.
4. Breakfast- 4 ounces protein
8 ounces fruit
Optional small serving carb..
Lunch- 5 ounces protein
12 ounces vegetables
1 ounce fat
8 ounces fruit
Optional small serving carb
Dinner- 5 ounces protein
16 ounces vegetables
1.5 ounces fat
8 ounces fruit

4. You need to continue putting at least four hours between your meals. .
© Earlier I shared with you how evenings used to be the hardest time for me. Sometimes I truly thought I would “die” if I did not eat. On those nights, I would leave the dishes in the sink; get out of the kitchen as fast as I could, grab some diet pop or water, my gum, a good book and my Cheshire cat and go to my room where many times I would not leave until morning. My husband knew that at times like this it was his job to be in charge of the kids. I learned early on in my recovery that if I were to become Thin and Serene, my recovery had to come first. Yes, at times even before my kids and husband. Don’t feel you are being weak if you have to run away from situations in which you feel vulnerable.

Beliefs
I don’t want to “step on anyone’s toes” in this section so feel free to take what you want and leave the rest or skip it all together if you prefer.
When I talk about my beliefs, I will refer to my God as my HP (Higher Power) so as not to single out any one belief over another.

The Prayer of Saint Francis, which I have included, has been a favorite of mine since I began my journey. (I have printed this prayer on a separate page in case you like it as much as I do and would like better quality copy.)























Higher Power, Make me a channel of thy peace
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Higher Power,
Grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted
to understand than to be understood;
to love than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.








There are two lines in this poem that were instrumental in my journey. The first was, ”where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;" I thought my job was when someone was wrong (as determined by me, of course) that I was to tell them what was “right," (again determined by me). I was certainly surprised when I learned that my job was to bring “forgiveness." and that was all.
The second was “Grant that I may seek to understand than to be understood." I thought it was everyone’s job to understand me. Little did I realize that my job was to understand them. Learning this has made me a much better mother, daughter, wife; a better person in general. This especially helped me become a better mother. When my children were growing up, instead of trying to get them to understand me, I spent my energy “trying” to understand where they were coming from and why they made certain choices. I love this prayer because it helps me become more loving and caring. In essence, it was instrumental in helping me become a more serene person.

When I don’t think I can do something, what do I do? I pray to a power greater than myself for the willingness, then I “act as if” I have the motivation and start doing the footwork and see what develops. Quite often I’m pleasantly surprised with the results.

There are a variety of paths to my Higher Power. When one is blocked, I try another route. I try writing, and if that doesn't work, I try meditating. If that fails, I try reaching out to another food addict. Sometimes I simply need a nap. If one route to my Higher Power fails, then I try another; if one step fails, take another step.
It’s important for me to keep my food black and white so I can deal with the constant necessity of seeking a route to my Higher Power for answers when my human brain power fails. My journey has taught me that I never need to take even one step alone.
For me it does not seem to matter what form my Higher Power takes as long as it is bigger than me and not me. If you have difficulty with the concept of a Higher Power, you “could” let this program be a power greater than yourself until you develop one of your own.

I Love
“Good for Me”
Food.
(The more No Matter What day count I get the more I will love my “good for me” food.)