My daughter Kay has a built in stomach regulator monitor. At three years old she can sense what she wants to eat, and how much, before her tummy is full.

If you’ve been around kids, you know that sometime they eat all day and then won’t eat again for days. It’s just their growing cycle. What amazes me about Kay is that if we go out to eat ice cream, or have cookies or candy, she knows exactly when she’s had enough. She’ll eat three bites of ice cream and then say “I’m done Mom.” or, at Eater, when we went for a community Easter Egg Hunt, all the children got dozens of chocolate filled eggs (what were they thinking?), and we still have most of the eggs left. she knew when she’d had enough chocolate – after just a few pieces.

Don’t get me wrong, my child loves chocolate and candy as much as I do, but she knows when to stop. She listens to her body, and when she’s done, she’s done. No trying to cram in more food for any reason. And no issues of ‘forcing’ herself to stop eating either.

She enjoys the sweet, and then moves on.

Why do so many of us struggle with weight and food?

For many of us, it is about control. For some, our bodies and food choices are one of the only things we feel we can control. So by Gosh Darn It, we are going to eat when we want and what we want.

It is an illusion of course.

If you are struggling with food, either eating too much, or if you have an eating disorder, go into meditation, think about a time in your life when you felt out of control – perhaps it felt as if decisions were made without your involvement. Was this when your eating also went out of control?

Just acknowledge the circumstances when you felt out of control. Allow yourself to reconnect with choices in your life – now.

Journal, meditate, cry around any time you’ve felt out of control or felt like a victim. As you really feel these emotions, let them wave through your body and then release them. They no longer serve you.

You’ll find your own eating may come into alignment with your actual physical needs.

And my daughter? I give her lots of control and choices in her life. I hope she doesn’t ever feel she needs to control her food intake out of fear or desperation.

If you need medical help, get it. If you need spiritual help get it. Don’t struggle with addiction. It doesn’t serve your Soul.