motd Sat Nov 12, 2011

[Guest guest]

A NORMAL

RELATIONSHIP

Saturday, 12 November 2011

I received an e-mail earlier this week that I

just have to share with you. It was from a lady who

had an important story to tell. And I think it's one

you need to hear, as well.

Dear : I watched your TV show for years

when I was growing up. After my last failed attempt

to lose weight and keep it off, I decided to try

gastric-bypass surgery as a last-ditch effort to

lose it once and for all.

I feel like a bit of a

failure by resorting to surgery to lose weight.

I had the surgery two weeks ago and I'm still

getting used to my new way of living. I must admit,

I feel like a bit of a failure. You know, I mean

by resorting to surgery to lose weight. It means I

couldn't do this on my own. But I didn't have much

of a choice. See, I haven't really been living my

life, because of what I weigh.

At my heaviest, I was

300 pounds. Since having the surgery and being on a

liquid diet, I've already lost 40 pounds. But you

know what? My head is still thinking about food the

way I did before I had surgery. Food was always my

secret love but how do I stop my mind from going

there? I've already eaten things I know I shouldn't

have, following my surgery. I risk stretching my

stomach by doing this and I don't want that to

happen. Why can't I be like regular people,

? Why do I have to struggle to have a

'normal' relationship with food?

That was quite some letter and it really got me

thinking. See, from an early age, we all form a bond

with the foods we eat. The bond begins with our

mothers who want us to have the best foods. (Even

though they may not always be foods we like.)

Whatever foods our parents liked, chances are, we end

up liking the same foods. Our folks pass their own

food tastes on to us.

When I was a kid, I ate and learned to love more

grown-up foods. My parents were both excellent cooks

and prepared an incredible mix of recipes for me and

my brother, Lenny. My mother would say to me"Honey

I spent hours in the kitchen making you my delicious

stuffed cabbage. I just know you're going to love

it." And she was right, I did! In fact, there

were very few dishes my parents cooked that I didn't

love. I loved my mother's meat loaf, her mashed

potatoes and all the fancy seafood dishes she learned

to cook in New Orleans.

So oh yes, at a very early age, I was hooked on food.

Many of you, like the lady who wrote me, also began

your own food addictions at an early age. Look, you

can have weight-loss surgery or go on all kinds of

diets. But none of them will work until you change

your relationship with food.

"Normal" eating means

having a healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and healthy

snacks.

You must train your mind to stop thinking about food

all of the time. "Normal" eating means having a

healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and healthy snacks.

It's all about making a plan for how many calories and

fat grams you should be eating daily and then sticking

to that plan.

Look, I have overeaten before and no, that's not

normal. And there have been times in my life where I

purposely didn't eat enough and, truth is,

that wasn't normal either. It's all about finding the

proper balance. Food should not be your "best friend"

and it shouldn't be your "lover" either. Food is

there to nourish your body, to help you get healthy

and stay

healthy. You shouldn't make it anything more

than that to you.

And how do you begin having that normal relationship

? By getting yourself a Foodmover and

using it so that you can teach yourself to have a normal

relationship ...with

food!

Love,