Do you have any tapes to help diabetics stay on their diet? A tape of affirmations for diabetics would be very helpful. For many, diet is a matter of life and death, not just an aesthetic problem. I would love to have such a tape!
Dave
Answer:
Dave, I agree entirely! You’re preachin’ to the choir,
Dude! Only it might be more motivating and effective for you to think
of this as a quest for good nutrition as opposed to staying on a diet.
And yes, we do have an audio program that targets diabetes (designed
to encompass both Type 1 and Type 2) and it contains within it, among
other things, some motivational imagery, some solid, accurate cellular
imagery for diabetes (seeing the cells connecting with your insulin so
they can absorb sugar from the bloodstream) along with corresponding
metaphoric imagery (giving yourself permission to take in love, beauty
and sweetness from the environment).
There are strong relaxation components as well. By relaxing and de-stressing, we reduce cortisol in the bloodstream and that helps shift our blood chemistry into a healthier zone, as well as assisting with weight loss.
We know from psychological research that one of the things that helps motivate people to behave more healthfully is imagining themselves feeling better and doing better. For many, this is a much better motivator than feeling “life or death” scared; or than being disgusted with yourself for “misbehaving”. So what we’ve incorporated into the affirmations are these more positive images and motivators.
Samples of a few of the affirmations:
I call upon my intention to heal myself and keep my body well. I engage my powerful will to assist me in doing this.
The blueprint that I hold in my mind’s eye, that I instruct my body to follow, is the picture of a healthy, vital, strong body. I can see it and I can feel it as I hear these words: healthy, vital and strong.
I invite assistance from my friends and loved ones, past, present and future, to lend me their support and strength. I see myself surrounded by their love and caring, and I feel it all over my body like a warm wave.
I can see and feel radiant sunlight, entering my body and penetrating all the way to the cells, encouraging them to find the insulin in the blood, connect with it and open to the abundance of glucose that is available.
So you get the idea. It’s tough to stay on track with diabetes, because extra insulin floating around in the bloodstream (because the cells aren’t able to make proper use of it) along with extra blood sugar, can make you feel so logy, depressed and unmotivated. That’s why the imagery can help break up that defeating pattern.
To this point, I just found this comment on the review page for this audio program – check it out and take heart:
I am a diabetic who has been taking insulin, Glucophage and Prandin for the past 3 years to control my blood sugar. I decided to run a little experiment to see if meditating could reduce my need for these medications, which I am not happy about taking. This is especially true of the shots. My nurse told me that regular relaxation might possibly reduce my blood sugar. I started three new relaxing activities which I had never tried before. I joined a hatha yoga class that meets three times a week at the community center. I also started listening to either the Health Journeys Diabetes imagery or the General Wellness imagery, in the morning and the evening. I am not sure how far this will take me, but last week, my nurse-educator told me that I am definitely taking too much medication, and that we will have to start cutting it down!
This is not the first time we’ve heard this.
Best of luck to you.
Belleruth
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