Come to the Haven River Inn

January 9-11, 2015

for

"REAL COMFORT COMES

when

the COMFORTER comes"

 

The holidays have come and gone, and life may charge ahead without any new life-giving focus on how to get healthy and stay healthy…and also without addressing a very pesky problem, overeating.  If you've had trouble with compulsive overeating, you are not alone; and a Real Comfort retreat may be "just what the doctor ordered," because I know just how you feel.  And I want to share with you what I have personally learned about getting over this besetting problem.

Overeating. Food Addiction. At an early "Taste of Transformation" wellness retreat, someone said, "It's not that I don't know what to do; it's that I don't want to do it. Dr. Pepper is still my favorite physician." This comment invited developing a retreat of its own to adequately address this aspect of body-soul wellness.

Many of us realize that we need to eat better, but we don't realize that there are some not-so-obvious medical-nutritional aspects tripping us up.  We think, "If only I had more will-power." But really we have a physical set-up doomed to produce the tug of certain foods.  In such cases, willpower is a lesser issue. 

 Could the main issue be the stress of your life?  Have you had time to even think about a focus on eating healthy?  Or is there something deeper? Why do you use food as a coping mechanism?  Attention to both of these is required to gain freedom and to live well.  What if there is some hidden motivator?  What in your story keeps this coping mechanism so effective?

Many of us have made a lot of effort to change our diets, but it's been more about losing weight and looking better and less about drawing close to Christ. Such efforts often fall short somehow because we can’t be well without Christ.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to live with confidence and trust, making life-giving and life-sustaining choices where food is concerned?

Or at least have in mind how you will get back on track?

Maybe that is exactly where you are today.

Or, maybe it's not food; it's alcohol that tempts you.  I ask all my smokers, drinkers and work-aholics to do the same thing: change their diet first before doing anything else.

There is still time to set into motion or to rekindle the kind of life you really want to be living, the life of peace with God and peace with yourself.   This retreat in January might be that time for you.  Recover a vision for a healthier, holier future. 

This is your time.

~

You are invited to join Dr. Suzanne Ellison-Ramsay for: 

• Two days and two nights at the Haven River Inn - A restful yet motivating experience.
• Delicious yet very healthy food.  You won't be hungry, and you just  might lose weight.  Menu design comes from the book:  Do I Eat This? D.I.E.T?
  
• Devotions offering an integration of body and soul wellness.   Explore with others the questions we all have about why food seems to fill a void we'd really rather be filled by our relationship with God and others.
  
• Teaching on current research on food sensitivites and "food addiction." There's help available from certain foods that bolster our brain health and help us get over overeating.  Well chosen foods can lighten the tug of "hyper-palatable" foods, i.e., the harmful choices we make when we are stressed.
  
• Coaching to help you develop your own food plan. 
  
• If interestsed, a follow-up internet group is possible to continue encouraging and revisiting the issue.  Some of us have wandered in this desert for 40 years. Are you thirsty for a change?
  

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 A lot of us seem to take better care of others than of ourselves.  In that case, do you love someone enough to make a serious effort at regaining and maintaining your own health?  Then we hope you will come!

  

The Facilitator

Suzanne Ellison Ramsay, MD: a family physician for over 30 years has taken a special interest in helping women stop using food for the wrong reasons. " Lifestyle change is difficult, and the effort needs to be worth it.  Dr. Ellison-Ramsay is the founder of Lamb's Tale Ministries, and she and husband, John Ramsay, have five children, aged 22-31.   When at age 50, she developed five "chronic" illnesses she began treating them all with diet alone.  With the history of shedding 50 pounds (five times), she's learned about following God's lead to address the interplay between stress and overeating.    

"In my thirties and forties, when I would think we are to view our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit, I remember wanting to skip those Bible passages.  At that time my stressed soul seemed to say, Temple, what temple, I don't see a temple.   Now, the following quote by Oswald Chambers means so much to me, 'The biggest favor you can do for others within the Kingdom of God is to repent yourself of what you know you need to change, and then help others do the same. ' 

Women especially carry so much responsibility.  We have a very full plate.  I love wellness retreats and Real Comfort retreats that especially address why we use food for comfort sake ... because we have things on our plates that we barely know push us toward making bad choices.  With a little bit of help people can learn to live differently."

Dr. Suz, as she is called in the office, has written one book and is working on another.  The first, D.I.E.T? Do I Eat This? is an informative, readable and compelling resource guide for better food choice.  She wrote this to connect with her patients' saying, "I don't know how to pick from all the information out there these days."  See this book and a blog at www.drsuz.net

A second book with a working title of Why Do I Eat This?  Why D.I.E.T?  is due out in 2015.  In this she looks at that question from her faith that God wants people to be free from compulsive overeating so as to worship Him.  And that means, much as in this retreat, we are to consider our life stories that led to hurtful attachments to food, people, and any other eclipsing bondage.

 

~

 

This retreat will be very important for those folks who want to put an end to overeating.   However, if you have particular health issues, take a look at the next "Taste of Transformation" retreat, with opportunity for personal medical assessment for those people already struggling with various diseases.  In that retreat we will delve more deeply into nutrition and using "food as medicine."  

Registration fees include the conference fee plus all meals, with or without a lodging fee for 2 nights.  Follow this link to view pricing of both single and double occupancy rooms, and the commuter rate. 

For more information and Registration