One and Two

As I mentioned in my last post, in my opinion there are two essential parts to being successful with conscious eating, or 'eating the way slender people eat'.  Those of us who are trying to eat consciously must consciously be aware of both parts at every meal and every snack.  Here goes:

1. Eating consciously means eating only until you are full.  I have had friends say to me, "But I don't always know when I'm full."  I understand that statement and most of my life have lived by the "I'm eating till my plate is empty" model, because I don't recognize this full feeling. 
     The truth is that our bodies will give us a signal for when enough food has been eaten during a meal.  In order to eat only until we are full, we must learn to recognize and acknowledge that signal no matter how much delicious food is still on our plate.  We must be willing to admit that it's there, even when we want to ignore the signal. 

2. Again, eating consciously requires that once you feel the signal for fullness that your body gives you, eating must stop.  In my opinion this is the hardest part, because sometimes we just don't want to stop.  Oh, man. There's still baked potato with all the trimmings on my plate. There's only half a slice of garlic toast left; surely I can eat that. That won't be much. In order to do this with integrity, you must stop eating once you feel that full signal.  If the food left on your plate can't be saved for whatever reason, it goes in the trash.  That's hard if you were raised with the starving children in China, as I was.  However, no matter what, conscious eating is not conscious eating, and you will never be slender, unless you are willing to throw good food in the trash.  It is a difficult, but critical lesson to learn.

Yes. This is hard.  But you know, so is living with knee problems, diabetes, back issues, heart problems, and a myriad of other health issues that are caused by being overweight.  Those of us who live our lives with too much girth can give you a list of ways that said girth has affected the way we live.  We choose our challenges. We choose our rewards.  Let's choose wisely. 

My Cardiologist's Million Dollar Tip

That's what he said at my followup exam after my normal (yea!) angiogram. He said my heart had no blockage. However, my triglycerides are somewhat high and the A1-C test showed my blood sugar to be just above normal.

He said, "I have a million dollar tip for you. Lose weight. If you would lose 40 pounds, your triglycerides and blood sugar would be normal."

Of course, I know that. Overweight people know all about the hazards of being obese. Having enough knowledge is never the issue. Making a commitment and sticking with it is the issue.

Still, hearing the cardiologist make those comments got my attention. Hence, I began to give Weight Watchers serious consideration.


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She's Lookin' Great!

Yes, she is! One of my dear friends, has gastric bypass surgery several months ago and she has lost 65 pounds so far! I am so very proud of her. We talked about what fun it is to be able to get into smaller size clothes. She has lost enough now that she is having to buy more clothes! WoooHooo!
Gastric bypass is not for everyone and it is certainly not the cure for obesity. However, for some people it is an important piece of the puzzle. If you are considering such a procedure, it is my suggestion that before you make your decision, do some serious soul searching about why you are obese in the first place. Get very real with yourself. Ask yourself and answer the hard questions. Get counseling if necessary.
Be prepared to deal with the emotional issues before you decide about surgery. Then if you decided to proceed with gastric bypass or lap band surgery, don't put it off any longer than you have to. Procrastination only allows your obese condition to do further permanent damage to your body. If your gonna do it, then do it as soon as possible.