Geneen or Gillian (Mckeith)? I know which I'd choose!

This Saturday I opened my post to find a copy of a Genneen Roth book that I ordered from the US. It's the very first one she wrote, along with some of the members of her workshops, and it is really worth a read.

The reason I like is that we all have different reasons for bingeing, or over eating, whatever you want to call it, and not every person's story 'chimes'. But some do, and this really makes you think. I am a great believer in the sub-concious mind's ability to 'mull over' things, and I often do this with my lesson prep for school. I'll start thinking about a topic for a lesson and then leave it to 'ferment' for a couple of days. Suddenly a really good idea about the lesson will pop into my mind and off I go! What has this got to do with the book, well, I think if you read something and it chimes with your subconcious mind, then sooner or later you will be remimnded of some experience you had as a child, or some reason why you do something, that previously you struggled with.

I've struggled to think of reasons why I overate for so many years, and I think I pretty well have sorted most of it out, but there is still that 'feeling' that I get, that I really can't explain, and there are some experiences in that book that may help me to sort it out.

Also I think that bingeing is the same as putting your fingers in your ears and going 'la, la I'm not listening' to the whole world.

You just want it all to go away.

My funny class.

My class are so funny, they really are. They are so full of enthusiasm, they get exited about spelling and times tables tests, and new geography topics that seem quite boring to me. I love them to bits!

This week, we have been doing a new exercise programme called Activate. (Val Sabin) It is 10 minutes at the start of the day and 5 minutes before afternoon lessons. It's a mixture of aerobic, and brain-gym like exercises, and we use a DVD. I do the exercises too, and so do my TAs. The kids absolutely love it, and it seems to have a calming effect on them, conversley, they seem a bit more alert- as some of them are inclined to be a bit yawny first thing.

It's made me be bit more keen to exercise which is also a good thing!

Last Week.

The last week of my holiday is now over, and I'm trying not to get that 'sinking feeling' about going back to work!

I have had a great week. Met up with forum friends, ad we had a lovely Moroccan meal in town, and an impromptu belly dance from the waitress! We all seemed to hit it off really well, and hopefully we can all meet up again soon. The food was interesting, It was dark, and hard to see what you were eating, but it all tasted really nice. Even the chick peas, which I didn't realise were there until I had had a couple of bites. (Usually I avoid them, as I hate pulses!)

My daughter and I had a fun day out in town again Thursday, I took her to see Hairspray for her 25th birthday which she loved.

Then the weekend in Belfast (see picture!) went really quickly. A Lebanese meal was an interesting experience, and I think I managed to not overeat at all until Saturday night, when I had to wait a bit too long (waiting for other people to be ready) to eat, and ate more of my pizza than I really needed to! Boy did I feel stuffed, and it gave me a tummy ache. It was good in a way because it reminded my of how I dislike that over-full feeling.

I avoided the fry-up both days, a lovely selection of fruit and yoghurt was much more to my taste! Met some lovely (and 1 not so lovely!) old friends, and made some new ones too!

Oh and my ankle (achilles tendonitis) appears to be much better so I am able to walk again!

Random thoughts.

Is it me or is this the 'slow blogging' season? Everyone including myself, seems to be having a 'not much to say' time.

I suppose its the in between season time that we are in, the weather was almost springlike for a couple of days but now winter has descended again...

I am on holiday for two weeks so feeling remarkably unstressed and happy. Not that I don't like my job, but it can be very stressful at times and I do resent the amount of hours I have to put in with planning, marking and doing displays etc. So its nice to have a bit of respite.
I have a busy week to look forward to; I am going to a meeting about my daughters future planning on Monday, hairdressers and date in London with BC forum girlies Tuesday, out with Mum and Dad Wednesday, theatre trip with daughter for her birthday Thursday; going to see 'Hairspray' http://www.hairspraythemusical.co.uk/ which is a great feel good show.
Then on Friday I am off for a weekend in Belfast with the charity that I am involved with, we run a conference for parents where they can meet experts and speak to them about the syndrome.

So a very busy time, and no worries about food/dieting for me.

Taking care of myself.

Eating this way has been a big revelation to me, and I have been revelling in it. It really suits me mentally to only eat when I am hungry and only eat the foods I am hungy for.

But it does not suit me physically.

I won't go into the details but I have had a few problems recently because of my diet and lack of roughage. It has been very unpleasant and very painful too.

So now I have realised that I must take care of my body properly by eating more regularly, trying to eat more fiber rich foods, and more fruit and vegetables!

Its taken me a while to realise this, but I can't ignore what my body is saying to mw anymore.