Diet-Frequently Asked Questions

Andy Doubts speak the voice of what if? and are fed by fear. When doubts arise, look for the fear and its source. What’s the bottom line here? What am I afraid of? That I’ll die? Suffer? Miss out? It’s good to identify and name the fear.

When my daughter was about three years old she came into my room one night crying because there was a witch under her bed. I took the rational approach, shining a flashlight under the bed, but that didn’t work. Obviously the witch left when the light was on. So I turned on a night light, left the door half open and played soothing music. Again, it didn’t work. I was at my wit’s end and finally got mad — at the witch! In large letters on a piece of paper I wrote: “NO WITCHES ALLOWED!” and stuck it above my daughter’s headboard. It worked because my daughter didn’t want me to tell her there was nothing to be afraid of. She wanted to feel me as a powerful champion so she could feel safe. Be that champion for yourself. That might mean fine tuning your education about your condition, taking a stand and finding some fierce energy about it. We don’t need to abolish our fears to be free from them, we just need to feel protected.

Antony It makes sense to believe that the body can heal, provided it has the right ingredients and energy available, and that it will have more energy and strength if all the toxins and blockages preventing health are removed. The HHI lifestyle encourages these two elements: right nutrition and right elimination of the toxins in both the physical and mental realms. Our belief in those two essential components of the HHI program helps us overcome our occasional doubts, especially when someone questions our decisions. Certainly, sometimes we are divided between a professional opinion and a personal decision like in the choice of chemotherapy. It is a very difficult choice to make and stand by. Knowledge of both choices will give us strength.

I believe in the benefits of a raw living foods diet, but I just can’t do it 100 percent. Am I wrong for modifying the approach so I can be more comfortable?

Andy It depends on your condition. The path of comfort might not be what it takes to heal. Comfort is not the way to measure whether your choices are right or wrong for you right now. I suggest being intelligent about it. Be as informed as you can about your decision. Really weigh the benefits of 100 percent raw with the downside of compromising. I once heard a man say at his Hippocrates graduation, after seeing a dramatic improvement in his blood work from just three weeks earlier, “I can live with my discomfort with this new way of eating right now, but I can’t live with the prospect of not living.” When Brian and Anna Maria suggest that you do this program 100 percent for a certain period of time, take them seriously.

Antony It is important to be comfortable, but that does not mean that we can do whatever we want to by compromising our health for comfort. We could start with whatever level we are comfortable with, and then expand our comfort zone to reach our goals of optimum health. I personally believe in the spirit of the rule rather than the letter of the rule.

Andy Bernay-Roman is a Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor providing emotional and psychological support services for Hippocrates guests since 1990. To find out more about his body-centered, deep feeling style of therapy, read his book, Deep Feeling, Deep Healing: The Heart, Mind, and Soul of Getting Well, available from the Hippocrates store, or visit his web-site www.deepfeeling.com and blog at

Antony">www.blog.deepfeeling.com.

Antony

Chatham, a Florida Licensed Psychotherapist, has worked with Hippocrates guests since 1996. He draws his inspiration from Eastern and Western traditions of holistic healing and integrating knowledge and experience from psychology, philosophy and theology, in which he holds Masters degrees and doctoral course work. His work is focused on cutting-edge stress management using hypnotherapy, progressive relaxation, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), guided imagery, regression and the like.

Vol 30 Issue 1 Page 36