Feed Your Soul

Focus on becoming more of you, instead of less, and break the cycle of dieting that has nothing to do with food.

The New Year is here and as usual, you’re busy with plans to shape up and slim down!

You’re buying new workout clothes and picking out just the right shoes.

You are ready for 2017 to be different!

But what if I told you that you were going about it all wrong? What if I asked you to actually set aside those plans for the moment?

Here’s why. Most of us had anything but an ideal childhood. We were likely surrounded by the twins, Trauma and Drama, who were always questioning our worth and making us feel as if we weren’t good enough. Over a decade ago, I found myself on the floor of my apartment, considering whether to end my own life. I had a crystal-clear moment of understanding that led me to one last-ditch effort to recover my own health. And through my research and studies, I found that good health — and weight loss — are not about food.

Right now, many of us are eating to fill a void — a placeholder for something we want but don’t yet have. There isn’t enough food in the world to fill that void.

The real reason it’s hard to lose weight is so much deeper than choosing the right diet or staying on the bandwagon. We focus on the body and ignore the soul. In other words, we only treat the symptoms, and diet and exercise won’t fix the problem. In fact, they contribute to the problem by leaving you hungry, frustrated, and feeling more hopeless than ever.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can examine those cravings and find out what you’re really hungry for — and feed your soul — with six steps that make up The HUNGRY Method. Here’s how it works.

The HUNGRY Method

The HUNGRY Method helps to discover who you are, what you’re really hungry for, and how to let go of the feelings and thoughts that have held you back in life for good.

Instead of focusing on how you can become less — like most traditional weight loss programs ask you to do — think of how you can become more. More of who you really are.

If I have learned anything on my own path of healing, it’s that we are hungry for ourselves — the essence of our truth. Of who we are when no one is watching.

It’s not about willpower but rather finding your power by discovering the truth of who you are and simply being that more. It makes the number on the scale unimportant, and ends the cravings that we try to satisfy with food.

Each step of The HUNGRY Method starts with a powerful question. Please allow yourself time to think through each one completely and take as much space as needed when recording your answers.

1. H- Honor the journey that got you here

Ask Yourself: How Did You Get Here? The roots of our weight problems are planted deeply in our childhoods and then perpetuated throughout our adult life. Take some time and think back to the things that have led you to where you are today. What are some ways you’ve been influenced by others and their expectations of you? Explore how those events have led to your hunger void. What are the hunger void fillers you use?

2. U- Understand what you really want in your life

Ask Yourself: What Do You Want?
Dig deep and be courageous and honest. Find a quiet place where you can be still and open up your heart to hearing the truth. Explore the question, What do you really want? What have you always wanted to have or be?

3. N- Notice the beliefs that are keeping you stuck

Ask Yourself: Why Do You Believe You Don’t Have It?
Beliefs are the most powerful thing you will ever have to overcome if you want to live a fulfilled, happy, healthy life. You see, we form beliefs to give meaning to events that don’t have any in order to make them real. In other words, we tell ourselves stories.

These false beliefs we create don’t help us or protect us; they only hold us back. Start to notice and write down all the beliefs that have held you back. What stories do you believe?

4. G- Go back to where it all started and let go of those beliefs

Ask Yourself: What Happened That Led You to Believe This?
Beliefs are formed when we’re young children, usually before age 8, from lots of similar incidents that typically involve our parents or other authority figures.

These beliefs follow you your whole life unless you find a way to deconstruct them and let them go. This is very exciting, because if you can change your beliefs, you can change everything!

Choose a limiting belief from the question and start remembering another time in your life where you felt this way. Go to your earliest memory of this belief. Describe that event in detail — including sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touch.

How did this event make you feel?

As you recall these emotions, know that you are safe. What happened then isn’t happening now.

Remove the meaning and emotion from the events that triggered your limiting beliefs so all you’re left with is the event. Your limiting belief has no more power.

Finally, breathe and forgive people who were involved in this event, and let it go. It is simple and yet not always easy so spend as much time as you need with this step of the method.

5. R- Reconnect to who you are (and what you’re really hungry for)

Ask Yourself: What Am I Really Hungry For?
Now that you’ve eliminated those false beliefs, let’s take a journey back to you. Focus on who you’ve always been, your authentic self, or what I call your True Self.

Spend some time reconnecting with your True Self and discover your worth. Explore the things that are missing in your life that, if you had them, would fill the void that food normally does.

Ask yourself, What am I REALLY hungry for?

6. Y – You create the life and body of your dreams

Ask Yourself: What Can I Do to Feed Myself?
Now that you have discovered what you’re REALLY hungry for, it’s time to go eat it! Start feeding yourself what you’re really hungry for. When you do, the cravings, weight, and low-self esteem will vanish. Be open to step outside of your comfort zone!

The good news is that you are MORE than capable of this and you can start today. You can become the person you want to be and live the life you really want.

Create a plan to feed your body and heart and get started right now! Create a daily practice of feeding yourself.

Ask yourself, What will I start doing today to create the life and body of my dreams?

As you can see, the HUNGRY Method isn’t another quick fix, but rather a life-changing process. Be patient and allow yourself the time to work through these steps. Whether it’s January or whenever you are ready to do something different, heal old wounds, and step into that greatness that’s reserved for you, it’s time to get started. Cheers to a new year of trying new things and becoming more you!

Editor’s note: Cynthia Pasquella offersa complimentary guidebook designed to dive deeper into The HUNGRY Method, at http://www.whatyourereallyhungryfor.com/.

Photo credit: Thinkstock, iStock, eldinhoid.