Kristie the doctors are wrong 

The Doctors are telling you to go on a diet or face death. Kirstie I have been following your struggle with weight for many years. The one thing I know for sure is you are a very successful dieter. Whenever you made up your mind to lose weight you did. So I know that you will succeed again with your diet as you have done in the past. 

 Kirstie, like you I was a very successful dieter. Most of my life from my high School years to my mid 40’s was a period of many diets. This was before the diet plans such as Atkins and Dean Ornish diet. Our diets were simple. In the mid 60’s it was the grapefruit diet. I went on it and in three weeks lost 30 lbs, eighteen months later I hit a new high and along came a new diet. The fried egg diet... eats nothing but fried eggs. Again the weight came off easily and I was successful with another diet. Then I did the no diet, diet. I did vigorous exercises including long periods of steam showers. This weight control plan became my primary one for over a decade. I added running in place while in the steam shower  to sweat off the pounds, even that eventually failed me.  I did not know it at the time but I was harming my body.

Today I must be very careful that I do not stay in a steam shower or hot tub too long. I have been rushed to the hospital twice from over exposure.  A quote was given to me several years ago that stopped me dead in my tracks. The first three letters for diet are Die. Bottom-line is that no matter how successful you are with your selected diet plan it will not work long term.  A diet must shift from weight loss to weight maintenance. Unfortunately success is the exception rather than the rule. In fact estimates are that up to 95% of us who lose weight from diets eventually gain it all back plus more. Thus the term yo-yo diet came into being. Lose 30 gain 40 lose 40 gain 50 lose 50 gain 60. Kirstie the key to your long term success is in developing that weight management program. 

 Looking back I can see the insanity of my efforts at weight management.  What I found that worked for me was a food plan of healthy eating, not a diet, not an eating plan, but a lifelong food plan. A plan that was simple and straight forward. A plan that was so stated that you knew immediately if you were off plan.  What worked for me was asking for God’s help. Deciding to turn my will over to him was the answer.  From the day I turned my will over to him, I did not have to worry about my eating and my food choices. Knowing God’s will for me became my saving grace, he is the one standing over me when I get onto the scale. Once I knew that God’s will for me was to eat in a normal healthy way, I had a foundation from which to build. A new healthy lifestyle

I know for you as a scientologist that you need to develop your own conception of this higher power. One that has been used successfully by those who did not have the conventional concept of God was using love and tolerance as their higher power and the God of their understanding. Let that power be what is with you when you get on to the scale. Kirstie I know how upsetting it is to lose the weight only to find that it all comes back and more. My weight swings were about 30 lbs. I had three brothers who had weight swings of 100lbs Two deceased   brothers  would be alive today had they been able to put their will aside and replace it with God’s will for them. As I have said many times in meeting rooms. ‘I know of no God who’s will for a person is to be unhealthy and to kill him or herself with food ““God’s will is for us is to be healthy.”  Kirstie I can understand how you gained weight while being a vegetarian. Here you have gotten the key to success in a food program. First and foremost the food plan must be a healthy one,

Secondly it must be balanced so that you get the varied vitamins, minerals, and nutrients needed to have your body run smoothly. And last but not least your food quantity must be a normal size. To aid in digestion and to keep the pounds off it is also suggested that you eat slowly and attentively.

To succeed with this however requires vigorous honesty. You must constantly ask .is it God’s will for me to eat this? With vigorous honesty the right answer will be forthcoming.

The people magazine article indicated that experts say that when dieting, it's helpful to pair up with a friend, and that you should probably give Valerie Bertinelli a call. In my 12 step food program we have long term successful food sponsors. I also recommend making God your friend as he is always with you, loves you unconditionally and his will for you is to be happy joyous and free

(c) Tuchy Palmieri     www.healing-habits.com

© Tuchy palmieri  permission is granted to reprint any and all of this

 www.healing-habits.com