Here we are in the year 2020; hopefully, our vision has more clarity. The number one New Year’s Resolution is often LOSING WEIGHT. But a lot of us use food as a drug – to hide from our feelings, to anesthetize ourselves, to escape. Grace Bell knows the dark side of weight control: years ago she had to drop out of college because of anorexia and bulimia. Now she is a Certified Facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie and a Washington State Certified Counselor – www.workwithgrace.com and www.eatingpeaceprocess.com. Grace and Dr. Diana discussed compulsion, sexuality and body image, and mindfulness. Many with eating disorders learn to connect food-phobic thoughts to upsetting events or feelings. Grace’s therapeutic work teaches how to identify feelings so that self-doubt can be unraveled instead of stuffing it down one’s throat. How does a woman’s image of her body affect her sexuality and her relationship with her partner? A primary way to enjoy sex is to focus on the pleasure. If she is distracted by the girth of her thighs or the tilt of her breasts, she may lose the sensitivity to her partner and not be able to let go. As long as we equate slenderness with beauty and success, anorexia and bulimia will plague many with dire, even deadly, consequences. The documentary “I am Maris” (www.iammarismovie.com) follows Maris through her journey battling eating disorders (Netflix, Amazon Prime, i-tunes). Grace will return to this program February 4th for more about Byron Katie’s The Work.
Click below to listen to the interview (approx. one hour):