{"id":810,"date":"2014-03-02T10:36:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T08:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianberkman.com\/?p=810"},"modified":"2014-03-02T10:36:21","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T08:36:21","slug":"shed-fears-and-phobias-as-you-shed-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/?p=810","title":{"rendered":"Shed fears and phobias as you shed weight"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve started a support group for people with Type 2 Diabetes who want to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. We\u2019ve had just two meetings but already I notice how similar the experiences of others in the group have been to mine.<\/p>\n

Even though I\u2019ve achieved my goal weight and by every measure I am now healthy, I still sometimes eat as a way of managing my anxiety. The difference now is that now I eat nuts or more of the foods that are good for me and even if I do increase my weight because of it, I\u2019m able to normalise in a day or two.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve also noticed that I\u2019m not alone in the way that shedding my heft has also dramatically increased my ability to manage my anxiety and phobias. My life-long fear of spiders was once so debilitating that I couldn\u2019t even look at a photograph or worse, be near a rubber spider without freaking out.<\/p>\n

Look, I\u2019m not suggesting that spiders and I are now best friends but certainly the intensity with which I avoid them is diminished.<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019m less frightened of myself, more confident that my body won\u2019t fail me if I need to get out the way of a spider on the rampage.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also more able to tolerate discomfort – I slid while climbing down Hangklip and deeply grazed my hand and arm. It was bloody and sore but I had no option but to continue climbing and deal with it when I got home. I mention this because I know that even if I were bitten by a spider that I\u2019d likely survive it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A golden orb spider encountered while climbing the Kogelberg.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I learn more about what I\u2019m capable of now that I\u2019m not fat\u00a0 I honour myself for breaking the cycle of using food to soothe myself and then using food again to suppress the sadness and anger I felt at having used food to soothe myself in the first place.<\/p>\n

More than anything, Tim Noakes introduced me to the idea that I was addicted to certain foods.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that I was lazy, or lacking in willpower, but that all of my life I\u2019d been given the wrong advice in terms of what to eat.<\/p>\n

Changing the way we live is hard enough without having to also be kept on the brink of addiction.<\/p>\n

The Type2Revolution, We Shall Overcome support group meets on Wednesday evenings between six and seven at the practice rooms of Dr Louise Spruyt, 1 Mildred Street, Kenridge, 7550. It costs R450 per month to participate. Email Type2Revolution@BrianBerkman.com<\/a> to join.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve started a support group for people with Type 2 Diabetes who want to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. We\u2019ve had just two meetings but already I notice how similar the experiences of others in the group have been to mine. Even though I\u2019ve …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[21,61,108,133,149,150],"class_list":["post-810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weight_loss","tag-brian-berkman","tag-healthy-weight","tag-prof-tim-noakes","tag-support-group","tag-type2-diabetes","tag-type2revolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}