[Jen]

I bought this book for my mom called Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking and I thought I'd have a look at it before I gave it to her. A lot of what he says applies to food and so much of it really hit home for me. I'm going to read the whole thing but I just wanted to put down a few points here for your consideration.

What is it doing for me? When we eat something that we know is not good for us what exactly are we doing to ourselves? All we are doing is setting ourselves up for further unhealthy eating and a guilt trip. Sugar and fat set off hormones in the body that make us feel good and when that feeling wears off then we want more. It really isn't any different than nicotine or cocaine.

Do I actually enjoy it? I think everyone of us loves to eat but do we enjoy that sick and guilty feeling afterwards?

Another point of his is about the fact that smokers are paying $$ so they can put something in their mouth and end up suffocating. I think I can safely say that we've all spent $$ on fast food and junk food that would have been better spent at the grocery store on fruits and veggies. Fast food while convient is also more expensive than if you had cooked your own meal.

I think a lot of us know this stuff already but just the way he puts it really makes sense. This is the first time that I really ever considered unhealthy food being in the same light as something like nicotine, alcohol or cocaine. Of course the difference is that I don't need nicotine, alcohol or cocaine but I need to eat. Still eating unhealthy food is doing nothing for me, I might enjoy the few seconds when it is on my taste buds and the sugar rush but afterwards I feel terrible because I know all that it is doing is creating more fat cells by the millisecond. So that's it, from now on I am not going to eat or drink anything that is going to make me feel that way.

I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this.

[soiley]

I agree that it is addictive. In my case, it's not the food as much as it is the act of eating, because I will eat anything. I have binged on french style green beans. While I agree that 2 bags of frozen green beans is not as bad as 2 bags of potato chips, but it's still binging, eating when not hungry, eating to sooth myself or numb myself. And it's true, you can choose to rid your environment of ciggies, dope, alcohol - but you can't do it with food. It's just always there.

[Jen]

I think of this whole process of 'freeing myself'. I know a lot of people think that by changing their diet and not eating the stuff they love that they are denying themselves. I'm now thinking of the change in my diet as freeing myself from all those feelings of guilt I get when I eat food I know is not really good for my body. I am enabling myself to enjoy life, enjoy better health and feel better about myself.