#8 - Eat sensible meals

The word sensible is so subjective here. So what it means to me may differ from someone else. I am really referring to sensible in the context of letting go of extra weight, or not gaining extra weight.

Some days I might eat a meal that is around 700 calories, yet for the rest of the day I might just munch of a couple hundred calories here and there, totaling between 1200 - 15oo calories total for the day. To me that is sensible since the allowable calorie intake in order to maintain weight for my body is around 1700 calories.

Other days I might have a few meals that do not go over 400 calories per meal. This is also sensible in the context of letting go of weight.

To me it is not sensible to eat an entire pizza which can be a few thousand calories.

#7 - Keep an estimate of calorie intake for the first month or two.

Keeping track of calories is not suggested in this book. I just figured since the techniques that Dr. Hawkins suggests are dealing with consciousness, and awareness, than it is sensible to be aware of the calories that I am consuming until I feel that I have transcended my previous eating patterns and habits. After a month or two I will stop doing this, as I believe I will have a good feel for how much I am consuming.

There was a time when I never counted calories and so I was quite unaware of how many calories I was consuming. I think it is a good idea to know how many calories you should be eating in order to loose weight, gain weight, or stay the same.

I am not completely strict about this, it is taken somewhat lightheartedly. It is just a good way for me to stay conscious of my eating. I certainly do not count every single calorie that I consume, I usually estimate the calories and have a general idea of my calorie intake.

Some days I eat very little, and really do not feel like eating, and some days I feel like eating more. I do not have a set rule of how many calories I can have, but I do have a good idea of how many calories I do not want to eat.

On most days after using the techniques suggested in Dr. Hawkins book I have found that I am really not as attached to the idea that I have to have a meal, it is more like I can take it or leave it. Yet on other days, I am actually looking forward to eating once the hunger sensations have passed.

#6 - Let go of self defeating belief systems and excuses for being overweight.

There are hundreds of reason that people come up with for being over weight.

I will list a few of the ones that I have had, which I believe contributed to me being over weight, and explain how I have allowed them to go away.

#1 - Having 5 kids.

#2 - I can't loose weight.

#3 - Having thyroid issues make it very difficult to loose weight.

#4- I am fat.

#1 - There is no reason that having 5 kids should prevent me from letting go of weight. There is no logic, or scientific data to support this as a fact, so this is an excuse that is self defeating, and so I allow this excuse to fall away. It is not true, and so I stop saying it to myself.

#2 - I can't believe I actually told my doctor that could not loose weight. The truth is - I actually loose weight quite well. I have lost weight every time I plan to. I just quit after a while, because I did not understand the patterns that have been running and ruling my eating behavior.

#3 - This one is easy to believe. In fact even my doctor told me it could be due to my thyroid. However, the truth is, that my body gains weight when I eat more calories than I burn. All the times I have reduced my calories I have lost weight, so my thyroid problem is not preventing me from letting go of weight.

#4 - I am not fat. I am not a body. I have a body. Right now that body is fat. But I am not fat. If my body were to loose a leg, I would still be me. When my body looses a tooth, I am still me. When my body looses weight, I will still be me.


This is probably the most important technique, because it will reveal some very ridiculous belief systems that are running in the back ground, which can easily go unnoticed.

In the book, Dr. Hawkins talks about an old man that is going to see a therapist. He moves very slow, with very little energy. It takes him a lot of effort just to get to the chair and sit down. Then the therapist hypnotizes the old man into believing that he is 35 years old. The old man wakes up, believing that he is 35, and he moves like he did when he was 35 - full of energy, moving about without difficulty, yet he was still in his old body.

This illustrates how our belief systems have power over our bodies. The body listens to the mind. So as long as I believe in any of the excuses I have given myself for being over weight, I will not be able to let go of the weight permanently. Because my beliefs will creep there way back into my life. Just as they have in the past. So, now when ever I catch my mind lying to me, I laugh a bit, cause the mind is busy, and quite funny, and I simply reject those thoughts as being the truth.

#5 - Pass up the eating of sugar/sweets on an empty stomach.

When first applying these techniques it is best to avoid eating sugar and sweets on an empty stomach. When we eat sweets, and sugary foods on an empty stomach our bodies absorb the sugar so fast that our bodies will have a drop in blood sugar levels, which gives the body a sensation of hunger, even if we have plenty of calories to get by for the next 4 - 10 hours without a problem.

It is a good idea to try to keep our blood sugar levels fairly stable, which will make following the first 3 techniques more of a breeze.

#4 - Visualize my body at my goal weight.

You can feel good now. It is common to tell ourselves that when we let go of all the unwanted weight we will feel so good. However, there really is no reason to postpone that feeling.

So everyday, I close my eyes, and remember when I was fit and healthy. I remember how fast I could move. I remember being able to run up and down the stairs without loosing my breathe. I remember being thin, and how good it felt.

I can see myself stepping on the scale and being at my ideal weight, and feeling really good about it. I go into that feeling, even if just for a minute or two. Then I let it go and just go about my day.

By doing this everyday, I have set my mind into automatically moving towards that reality. I also get the benefit of not having to wait for that reality in order to be happy.

#3 - When I get that hunger sensation- just be willing sit with it, and go into the sensation until it passes.

" With this technique, when the sensation arises the you had previously called hunger, you ignore the thoughts that go with this, especially canceling that thought of hunger. Instead you go right into the sensation, directly into the inner experience of what you are actually experiencing. You go where you are experiencing it without labeling it, naming it, or calling it anything. You just experience it and begin to let go of resisting those sensations. You silently go into consciousness itself, into the inner experience of what you are experiencing, and let go of resisting it." ~ David R. Hawkins -- From the book - Healing and Recovery

By using this technique I have found that there is a limited amount of the "sensation", and since I am willing to sit with it and not resist it, it disappears rather quickly.

The part that I have found hard due to my own belief systems is the labeling of that sensation as hunger. However, I am getting really good at being willing to sit with the sensation without doing anything about it. I am also getting really good at not resisting the sensation.

So now when the sensation arises, it seems to pass withing seconds, and never last longer than a minute. It really depends on how long it takes me to ignore the thoughts that go with the sensation. I have noticed that the sooner I dismiss the thoughts, the sooner the sensation disappears.

#2 - Only eat when I do not feel that hunger sensation.

When you are not hungry, you do not care if you eat or not. It does not really matter, and you are no longer being ruled by the desire to satiate a sensation.

In Dr. David Hawkins book, it is mentioned that there was a discovery about how a shift in consciousness occurs when people eat. The shift is actually a drop. Meaning that we descend from a higher state of consciousness into a lower state of consciousness. Like from an adult state of mind to a child state of mind.

Every one knows that a child does care much about calories, and eating right. When a child wants something they are determined to get it.


By using technique #2, I am breaking the " Hunger->Satiate" pattern and allowing myself to eat in a higher state of consciousness.

#1 - Do not ever eat when I get that hunger sensation!!!

This has helped break a pattern of satisfying a sensation, than may or may not indicate that my body is in need of food.

One thing that I noticed in my eating habits, and patterns, is that I have always tried to eat enough to where I would not feel hungry. Sometimes, I would eat a full plate of food, and still feel hungry, so I would go for seconds. Clearly, I was not hungry, as my stomach was already full of food. Yet because of the "sensation" I believed I was still hungry.

By using technique #1, I am allowing an old pattern of behavior to disappear.