I just finished this book, which I swiped from a friend’s house.

Oddly, I came away from it with a lot of great thoughts and ideas, as well as a feeling that at least a third of the book is totally not right for me.

That being said, if I got anything at all from it, that’s pretty amazing. So here’s my best attempt to sum up the major points of the book and what they are doing to help me transform the way I relate to food.

• Willpower should not be an act of deprivation and self control. It should be an act of realigning and reminding ourselves of what really matters.
• We all spend too much time hurrying, too much time distracted and trying to multitask such that we rarely devoted 100% to anything. That same hurrying and distraction leads to overeating because we don’t pay enough attention to the flavors of our food, so we aren’t as satisfied.
• When you eat: slow down, observe a moment of silence before beginning, try to give your full attentiveness to at least the first bite of every meal. Even these slight, small changes can have huge effects in your life.
• If we really want to slow down, we have to make the choice to simply NOT be so busy. We have to affirm that we DO have enough time. It gives us back our power, giving us the ability to choose in every situation what is truly a priority for us. It’s scary, and in the short term it most certainly COULD have negative consequences, but in the long term it will bring us more in line with what we truly want and need from the world.
• “The body is strong and the world generous. Both can accommodate error after error as they patiently await the time of healing.” In other words, we don’t ever have to be perfect. We simply have to keep trying.
• The more attention we pay to our food, the more our tastes will align with our true needs. We also have to be flexible and remember that needs and tastes change over time, so what has worked before may not always work.
• When I do overeat, particularly when it causes pain or discomfort, it’s important for me to be IN those feelings, to really feel them. I shouldn’t be trying to escape them in big or small ways, including telling myself over and over how I won’t do it again, since that is focusing on the future instead of focusing on what is happening in the moment. The more I allow myself to truly experience the negative consequences of overeating, the more I’ll be able to make that connection and hopefully avoid making the same choices again.
• Your body will do anything to serve you, to make you happy, so treat it with the love and respect it deserves.
• Discipline should come from a place of love for yourself and your body, encouraging habits that avoid unnecessary pain and suffering. It should never come from a place of punishment, correction, or push to make yourself “better.” That one was a big one for me, since it’s always been about improving, not love… until now?
• Where my body is RIGHT NOW is an integral part of everything else about who and where I am in this moment. By constantly thinking of the body I want in some imagined future, I’m avoiding what good I could be doing right now.
• We should use meditation and/or yoga as a tool to foster a sense of deep awe for all that our bodies do for us.
• “Let being good to yourself come first, and as your understanding deepens of what exactly it is to be good to oneself, you will find the cravings for sugar diminish.”

And so it comes back again to the same message. I need to be HERE and NOW. I need to focus on being more in the moment, and cultivate love of and awe for all of the amazing things my body continues to do for me.