NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/alt/support/diet/2866

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-20 | 2.8 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!think.com!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pitt.edu!jsl
From: [e-mail] (John S Lundberg)
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet
Subject: Re: When Food Is Love
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 20 Nov 92 15:09:59 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Lines: 41

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Dyer) writes:
>This "Geneen Roth" stuff seems to be particularly attractive to women,
>for whatever reason, I don't know why.  I haven't come across a man who
>is inclined to push it.  But it's mostly women who seem to be
>brainwashed into thinking that there has to be some emotional basis to
>their overeating and obesity and that "being nurturing to yourself"
>somehow breaks this cycle.

I guess I think it's possible for one's rational side to shove aside
the emotions and assert control.  I think this is necessary to break
the "devil's loop" that many overweight people are stuck in:
overeating->weight gain->sedentary lifestyle->emotional distress->
overeating, etc.  You simply have to say "enough is enough" and
start rigorously controlling what you eat.  Getting involved in
trying to understand the emotional basis of overeating is, for me,
hopeless.  My feelings are too ambiguous and uncertain.  All I know
is that I have a tendency to engage in certain behaviors that if
not controlled have undesirable results with dangerous consequences.

My diet started back on June 8.  Certainly before June 8 I would
have agreed with every statement in the above paragraph.  But where
I failed, and where my thinking fundamentally changed, was in my
coming to understand that a diet must be rigorous yet adaptable.
Before I used to aspire to a kind of dietary perfectionism, an
absolute standard of behavior.  Deviating from that standard meant
that I had failed and thus I might as well have a good time.  Now
I have a somewhat more flexible and long term point of view.  I
try to think in terms of months and years rather than days and
weeks.  I keep a food diary and suspect that it would be a good
idea to do so for the rest of my life.  But if I told myself that
I could eat whatever I wanted, as Roth seems to be suggesting,
then I'm sure I'd fail.  Last night, for instance, I was fairly
hungry yet my food diary said that I had consumed 1400 calories
for the day, a bit over my target of 1200.  Instead of eating I
went for a drive and bought a magazine.  This morning I had breakfast
and I don't feel particulary hungry at the moment--I don't think
there's some reservoir of unfilled hunger that accumulates until
the dam of your self-control breaks.  Hunger is just a feeling
and it passes.
--
John Lundberg