WEEK 1 CONQUER YOUR CRAVINGS FOREVER Welcome Hi, and thank you for beginning this journey with me. I know how frustrating it is to struggle with weight and emotional eating. I personally battled it for half my life. It wasn t until I found the information in the Skinny Genes program that I was finally able to get control of my weight and my life. Now that I ve achieved success, I have made it my mission to help others do the same. Dawson Church, PhD, and I are excited to share this introduction to the Skinny Genes program with you. Dr. Church is a best-selling author and a brilliant scientist who is leading the research on Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), a method that has been clinically proven to eliminate stress and emotional issues in minutes. EFT, also known as tapping, combines basic principles of psychology with the ancient Chinese medical practice of acupressure. I use EFT extensively throughout this program. The Skinny Genes program offers a step-by-step, easy-to-follow format. You will learn cuttingedge tools and techniques for successfully breaking free from self-defeating patterns. Each week of the program includes an audio recording and a lesson plan to walk you through the techniques, step by step. A big component of the Skinny Genes Program is self-empowerment. You ll be equipped with all the tools you need to handle your cravings and emotional urges effortlessly whenever they occur. 1
INVEST IN YOURSELF As you know, the best results in anything you do in life come from a truly committed effort. To get the most from this Cravings e-book, you need to immerse yourself fully in it. Give it your all. The tools and techniques I offer here work faster than anything I have discovered (and believe me, I ve searched!) to get anyone the body and life he or she could only dream about before. It worked for me and it will work for you, but only if you use the tools and techniques. Many of us are not accustomed to putting ourselves first. Throughout these next six weeks, please make the commitment to put yourself and your health first. I promise you that if you apply this information to every situation in your life, the results will change your life forever. GETTING HONEST I highly recommend that you have a dedicated journal to accompany you on your weightloss journey. Recording your experiences in a journal will help you succeed with your weight loss if you need more help, check out the Skinny Genes program. In addition to the exercises I give you, you might want to keep track of your progress throughout the week. Each day take a moment to reflect on your experience with this process and what you are learning about yourself. Once you are free from emotional eating, you ll love looking back at your journal to marvel at how far you ve come. GOAL SETTING Action Step #1: The Importance of Why Before you embark on this journey to lose weight, you need to ask yourself an important question: Why? Why am I starting this journey to lose weight? It may sound trivial, but answering this question could be the difference between succeeding or failing with this e-book. Your brain is constantly sorting for the answers to the why question. Why am I doing what I m doing? In this case, why am I starting this journey to lose weight? If your brain doesn t have a clear picture of the outcome, it is easily distracted. Once your brain has a clear picture of the end result and knows why you want to get there, it will automatically create a blueprint, and subconsciously start connecting the dots to get you there. Research shows that visualization helps Olympic athletes achieve their best performance. By visualizing their performance ahead of time, the athletes create neural pathways that evoke physiological changes; their bodies start to respond as if they ve already reached their goal. You can do the same for weight loss. By imagining the end result, your brain will get the message that it no longer needs to hold onto the extra weight and automatically start releasing it. 2
So, take a moment and think about your motivation for becoming slim and healthy. Would you like to fit in your favorite pair for JEANS? Look extra hot for your honey? Do you want to feel healthy? Write your answers in your journal. CRAVINGS A craving, and the uncontrollable urge to satisfy it, is a learned behavior. Often, a food craving is linked to a childhood memory: you used to eat a particular food with someone you cared about, or it was given to you as a treat, so you created a positive association between that food and an emotion, which was then hard-wired" into your brain. Example: Your mother used to give you chocolate to make you feel better after a hard day in elementary school. Now, as an adult, when you're feeling sad, you reach for chocolate. When you eat the chocolate, you release endorphins, the body s natural opiates, which lift your mood. So you eat the chocolate to feel good, but the fact is that the good feelings are already inside you. The chocolate has simply become a signal to your mind to release endorphins. The chocolate doesn't actually contain any endorphins. The good news is that you can break that neurochemical association and gain control of your craving with EFT, which Gary Craig developed in 1981 from techniques discovered by Dr. Roger Callahan, a cognitive psychologist. As noted previously, EFT is a clinically proven method that draws upon both psychology and acupressure. It quickly and effectively conquers phobias, anxiety, stress, compulsions, and addictions by literally tapping on specific acupressure points while saying simple affirmations. Entire books have been written about the study and science of EFT. If you are interested in learning more about the research behind it, visit www.eftuniverse.com. This website is packed with articles, case studies, and personal stories of success. YOUR BRAIN AND MEMORIES The Skinny Genes Program changes your thoughts and behaviors associated with food and emotions. Let s take a quick look at how these associations form. 3
From the moment you re born, your brain assigns meanings and values to experiences that trigger emotional responses. For instance, your mother may have rewarded you with cookies for a good report card. Your brain hardwired the association of cookies to good feelings: love and affirmation. Now, any time you experience an unpleasant feeling during events or circumstances in your life the kids having a meltdown, your boss breathing down your neck, boredom or loneliness at night you subconsciously seek the comfort of cookies because of that hardwired association you learned as a child. You will learn how to stimulate specific acupressure points to send a flow of serotonin to the brain, which deactivates the body s distress signal, effectively breaking the hardwired connection between the food you crave and the emotional response it generates. Once the process is complete, usually in three to five minutes, you ll be able to look at the food, or think about that food, without having the physical craving. Brain imaging devices show changes in the brain frequencies after applying similar methods. You can read more articles about this on my website (http://www.brittanywatkins.com). SCRIPT TO TAP FOR CRAVINGS More tapping scripts available for free at http://www.brittanywatkins.com Tapping works by applying mental focus and stimulating acupressure points (called acupoints, for short) in easy-to-reach places on your face, upper body, and hands. Please read the first chapter of the EFT Mini Manual for step-by-step instructions on EFT. When you begin this exercise, have the food you crave in front of you. Taste and smell the food so you can measure your desire for it. Always measure your desire for the food; this is how you will determine your success in applying the technique. 4
Memory When you feel compulsive about a food, it s usually because you have a fond memory of eating that particular food earlier in life, either with someone with whom you shared a strong emotional bond or in a situation that was happy for you. Think back to some of your earliest experiences with this food. If you can recall eating the food with a specific person, notice the good feelings aroused by the food, create in your head a picture of the person (or situation), and send that person those feelings. Imagine giving that person a hug and sharing your appreciation for that person. Imagine being with that person and the food at the same time. Take the feelings out of the food. Give those feelings to that special person or people. In short, you're going to "de-personalize" that particular food. If you don t have any memories from the past, just keep focusing on your desire for the food. SUD To rate your desire, use a scale called the SUD scale. SUD stands for Subjective Units of Distress. On the 0-10 SUD scale, with 0 being no desire at all and 10 is you salivating, rate your desire for the food at this moment. A number will intuitively pop into your head; the first number that comes to you is usually the correct one. Feelings Notice what it is about this food that you love. Is it the crunchiness? The creaminess, the way it goes down your throat? Notice how your body feels when you imagine eating it. Chocolate Craving Script Even though I have this craving for chocolate, I love and accept myself. Even though I am craving chocolate right now, I love myself completely. Even though I can't control myself around chocolate, I accept myself and all my imperfections. This craving for chocolate It always takes me back What a great time What a great memory So many good feelings Oh, I love this chocolate That taste That smell It's just so good It reminds me of then What if I could keep this amazing memory And feel calm and relaxed around chocolate? 5
What I'm really craving is the memory And all these good feelings I can feel good whenever I want. All I have to do is remember this time. Take a big deep breath. As you tap through the points, keep tasting the food in your mind, and feel all those good feelings. If you used to eat this food with someone, imagine giving that person a hug and tell them how much you appreciate them. Now go back and taste the food again and notice what your desire for it is. Did it go up? Down? Stay the same? If you still have a craving for it, notice what it is about the food that you still like. Is it the crunchiness? Is it the smoothness? The way it feels in your mouth? After each round of tapping, your perception will shift a bit. So, notice what it is about this food that you crave tune into that, and repeat the sequence. Even though I still have a craving for chocolate, I deeply love and accept myself. Even though I still have this craving for chocolate, I accept myself completely. Even though I have this craving for chocolate, I choose to feel calm and relaxed. This craving for chocolate It s so exciting just thinking about it. I want it right now. This craving I just love the way I feel when I eat it. This craving for chocolate, I want it right now. I just love that creaminess. I can t get enough of that creaminess. I love that creamy feeling. I choose to feel calm and relaxed. I choose to feel in control. I can have chocolate whenever I want, I just won t feel compulsive about it Take a deep breath Go back to the food and check your desire for it again. 6
I don t want to give this up. I refuse to give this up. I m not going to give up my chocolate. I don t want to give up this happiness. I m afraid I ll never have it again. I do NOT want to give up my craving. I do not want to give up my chocolate. It s the only way I know how to feel happy. I m not going to let go of this happiness. It s my reward. I don t want to give up my reward. It s scary to let go of this craving. It s scary to give this up. But maybe it can be different. What if I could find new ways to make myself happy? Chocolate can t really make me happy, it never knew how. It s just chocolate, it has no emotions, no feelings, and it certainly can t make me happy. I choose to feel in control. I can have chocolate whenever I want it. I just won t feel so compulsive about it. It s easy to find other ways to relax. Deep breath Check in: what s your desire for the food on the 0-10 scale? If you re still at a 3 or higher, go back and start this exercise from the beginning. Even though I m afraid my craving will come back, I love and accept myself. Even though I m afraid this didn t work, I accept myself completely. Even though it s not going to stick, I m open to new possibilities. I know my craving will just come back. There s no way this worked. There s no way it can be this simple. I just know my craving will come back. Why haven t I found out about this before? If it s so simple, why don t more people know about this? I m just worried my cravings will come back. But I m open to new possibilities, and I m willing to let things be easy. I am allowing myself to be free from this compulsive craving. I choose to find new ways to make myself happy. Deep breath 7
For the last time, check your craving. Taste or smell the food and notice what your desire for it is on the 0-10 scale. WEEK 1 REVIEW Daily Action Steps 1. EFT for Cravings: tap daily for cravings. One-time Action Steps 1. Journal: Why do I want to lose weight? 2. Post your goals in the EFT universe forum. I m so excited to share this information with you. I know you will learn so much about yourself throughout this program. Use this material to help support you on your journey, and remember to be kind to yourself in the process. Xo Brittany 8