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A groundbreaking book! A solid road map to recovery from the use of food as a coping strategy. (Learn more)  Interactive On-line Program Join Now! Help Provided to OvereaterBy Jennifer
McLarty
A compulsive over-eater and chronic dieter, the five-foot-two Salmon Arm resident has weighed as little as 115 pounds and as much as 250.
In
her darkest moment, she could eat a dozen doughnuts, a pint of ice cream
and a loaf of bread and still not feel full. But
last year, Pickard turned a corner after attending an emotional eating
seminar hosted by Victoria 's
Cedric Centre. The
workshop helped identify the underlying reasons for her pattern of bingeing
and dieting, and point her in a new direction of healthy eating. "Food
has always been a comfort - a friend. I used it to fill a void that
really had nothing to do with eating at all," said Pickard, 55.
"When
I went to the Cedric Centre that was my last attempt. At first I didn't
believe what I was being told - that I could give up dieting. But I
was willing to listen because nothing else had worked." The
emotional eating seminar, facilitated by Cedric Centre founder Michelle
Morand, will run again this weekend, April 8 to 10, from 10
a.m. to 7
p.m. Its
focus is helping women get to the root of their destructive eating habits,
and teaching them that food isn't the real problem. Morand
subscribes to the theory of natural eating - consuming what you want
until you're full, then letting your body find its own unmanipulated
weight. The
concept can be tough to swallow for many women. But according to Morand,
positive change is fleeting until the binge-diet cycle is broken. "Many
of our clients have spent years trying to treat their unbalanced relationship
with food by using diets, only to find they gain more weight and become
more unhappy with their bodies," said Morand. "Are
you tired of dieting? Are you tired of feeling bad about your body?
Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food that doesn't meet the
criteria of a clinical eating disorder? Then this would be an appropriate
seminar for you." One
year after attending the Cedric Centre workshop, Pickard has made peace
with her body and started to lose weight. She credits
the Cedric Centre with her breakthrough, along with the discovery her
weight problem has been exacerbated by a lazy thyroid. She
is now on medication, and practicing natural eating. "When
I'm in a stressful situation, I don't even think about food now, which
is a huge improvement for me," said Pickard. "It's still early
days, but I I'm listening to my body and I feel I've really turned a
corner. "It's a momentous step in what's been a lifelong journey." |
Michelle Morand
|
Food is not the Problem: Deal with what is!
