The Juicy Woman

Embrace Your Right To Bare Arms: Love the Skin You're In!

Hey girl! Be a Juicy Woman. Love the skin you're in! Celebrate your juicy self by embracing your right to bear your bare arms with confidence.

Be bold and enjoy your shapely curves. It is only by learning to love and accept yourself now that you can move forward. Wouldn't you like to get off the diet roller coaster, eat the foods you love and lose weight naturally? Sign up for my free article and learn how to lose weight naturally without pills, powders, gadgets or gizmos and best of all without ever, ever, ever, ever having to go on another diet again!

Dear Eating Disorder, My Friend

I’m on several discussion boards for Intuitive Eaters and lately I’ve been seeing a great many posts discussing people’s feelings about what they get out of being overweight.

Back in August of last year, I had a discussion with a colleague of mine. His name is Doc Frost. Doc is a 25 year retired therapist who has successfully treated many women of eating disorders in a private clinic in Utah. I credit him with teaching me about Intuitive Eating and inspiring me to share this work with you.

Doc told me about an exercise that he used to assign his new clients. He suggested that they write a letter to their eating disorder and by doing so they would uncover the benefits of what they got out of being overweight. He called it Dear Eating Disorder, My Friend, When Doc suggested that I do the exercise, I thought he was kidding. I reasoned to myself that being overweight was the worst thing in the world and that it prevented me from feeling better, stronger and healthier, enjoying lovely clothes and a higher self esteem…

Anchor Good Feelings To Achieve Goals Effortlessly

This past week I left town with my family to visit my step daughter, Janelle. She is in the Air Force and she was recently promoted to the rank of Tech Sargeant. I'm so tickled with pride.

My husband, Angel, our son, PT and our daughter Cara and Janelle's mom, my friend, Lucy were all on hand and present to support and cheer Janelle on for her enormous accomplishment.

The ceremony took place in a large auditorium on base. First we heard a few speeches and then the proceedings began. As each of the candidates' names were called, they stepped on the stage and stood between two of their superior officers. If their family members were present, they were asked to stand on either side of the candidate.

Boosting Your Self Esteem: Avoiding the Last Piece of Burnt Toast

Years ago when I was a child I used to enjoy spending Wednesday nights with my Nana and Grandpa. It was such a special time for me and I adored being with both of them.

In the mornings, Nana would make breakfast for Grandpa and I. Our meal usually consisted of eggs, toast, juice and milk. Typically there would be one piece of toast that was darker or a bit more burnt than the rest. My Nana always used to give Grandpa and I the ‘good’ pieces and she took the burnt one and I remember watching her stand by the kitchen sink and scrape the burnt part off of her toast. Occasionally she would just take a bite out of the toast without scraping it.

Don't Take It Personally: You're Not Responsible For Other People's Bad Moods

Have you ever felt responsible for someone else’s moods? Last week my husband was in a bad mood. In the past, I would have allowed that to really bug me and it would have niggled at me until I felt convinced that I hadn’t done anything to cause his bad mood. Not only that, but I would have also used that as an excuse to give me permission to eat all the food in the house that wasn't nailed down just so that I could get a quick fix of comfort and feel that I wasn’t at fault.

Lately as I continue to study NLP and achieve mastery over language, I am realizing more each day that we choose our feelings based on what we accept as our thinking. That means that I don’t have to be responsible for anyone else’s feeling but my own. That’s become very liberating and it has enhanced my every relationship.

Emotional Rescue Eating: Are You A Rescuer?

Last week something happened to a family member of mine that was quite upsetting. The phone rang late at night with another family member asking me for help. Not quite awake, I screened the call and let the machine pick it up. The situation sounded chaotic. Later I replayed the message that was left on the answering machine and I kept asking myself, Can I really be of any help? I sat and pondered the question for several minutes, before I took action. I realized that I could not do anything to change the circumstances. The situation at hand was the result of consequences and choices that were finally bearing out for someone I love. As much as I didn't like it, I couldn’t change anything.

Like so many women, I’ve been raised with the belief that women are the caregivers, the nurturers, the fixer uppers. I thought a kiss on a boo boo would make everything better so for years I stuck my nose in many situations where it didn’t belong. That led to a life filled with chaos for me. I used to get in the middle of everything. When one of my friends got divorced, I felt so badly for her that I began to cause a rift in my own marriage. When several of my family members made choices that put them in awkward and uncomfortable positions, I was always attempting to turn things around and make it better for them, always looking to save everyone and cushion the blow. That kind of thinking led me to being a miserable person always seeking the comfort that food would give me.

Body Confidence: Stop the Sighs Over Size and Buy Clothes That Fit You Now

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to do some shopping. I knew that it was time to prepare for summer and toss out some of my sweats and baggy tees that I tend to favor. What can I say I love to be comfortable, especially if I’m just staying home. I’ve even been known to coach in my jammies. I guess that's an occupational hazard. Oh well, who cares? I like it that way.

Knowing that I had a few more formal engagements to attend, including my step daughter, Janelle's promotion to Sargeant in the Air Force at the end of April, and an upcoming family vacation to Puerto Rico in June; I had to get some clothes that would be befitting of Andrea, The Juicy Woman. I guess my old Elton John tee shirt with the air conditioning wouldn’t cut it.

The Healing Power of Storytelling: Therapeutic Metaphors To Transform Your Life From the Inside Out

In a continuing pursuit of my goal to become an NLP coach and trainer, I have just recently graduated my second Master Practitioner course of NLP training. Next year I begin as an Assistant Trainer at the NLP Center of New York. However this year our group has been focused on learning more about the art of storytelling and how that can help to give clients new resources for problemsolving. The specific type of storytelling to which I am referring is called a therapeutic metaphor.  A therapeutic metaphor is a story that is constructed based on solving a specific problem for its listener.

Dr. Milton Erickson, the world famous hypnotherapist is best known for his use of this type of storytelling. Dr. Erickson was one of three therapists who were studied by the two original creators of NLP, Bandler and Grinder. Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson were modeled by Bandler and Grinder in order to learn how they were so successful with their patients. By studying each of the therapists, Bandler and Grinder developed special “patterns” for general communication, rapport-building and self-improvement. Erickson's unique ability to communicate with his clients came from his method of telling them stories. He told his patients stories in order to guide their subconscious mind to solving their own problems, change limiting beliefs and break unuseful habits and patterns. 

The Power Of Thinking Pretty: The Mirror Has Two Faces

This evening I got a chance to enjoy a movie that I’ve never seen before. “The Mirror Has Two Faces” stars Barbra Streisand and Jeff Bridges as two college professors who meet and decide to enter into a platonic marriage.

Taking many twists and turns, the movie shows Barbra’s character, Rose as being a woman who has lived the majority of her life with an internal self image that she is not pretty. Always comparing herself to her beautiful and popular sister and mother, Rose comes up short, feeling like the ‘ugly duckling’ by comparison. She reasons that because she is not ‘pretty’ she must settle for a relationship with Jeff Bridges that does not fully satisfy her.

Connirae Andreas' Naturally Slender Eating Strategy Guideline #1 "Choosing Foods That Kiss Your Being"

Connirae Andreas is the creator of the "Naturally Slender Eating Strategy." She is also one of the original co-developers in the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming. As a therapist, she has helped thousands of people to overcome fears, phobias and various other experiences in their lives that have blocked their lives. To get more information and read the strategy in its entirety, read the book that she co-authored with her husband, Steve Andreas, called, “Heart of the Mind."

This post and several others like it will take excerpts from the interview that I enjoyed with Connirae last week. This post will describe the importance of choosing foods that 'kiss your being.' I encourage you to visualize your food choice as the loving mother depicted in the photo and you as the infant child seeking nourishment.