Finding Thinner peace

In this modern world, with so much competing for our attention, books often take back seat to ipods, cell phones, computers, work, and play. But when you are laid up with a broken ankle, time opens up in abundance. It is a gift. Suddenly, there is time to read an reflect

Soon after I started Jenny Craig, my sister called me and suggested another book that might help me make the transformation to achieve, 'Thinner Peace' This is a phrase coined by Martha Beck in her book, "The Four Day Win'

This book is the perfect companion to my brother, Steve's book, Making your mind Magnifcent for people like me who have been caught in a vicious circle of dieting and

binging.

In the book, Martha Beck outlines a plan for transforming how we see ourselves. Step by step she takes us through the process of finding that thin, lithe happy person that resides below the layers of bulk we have acquired over the years.

It turns out, (and those of us who have spent a life time of dieting already know this) that we cant scold and cajole ourselves into thinness. We have two parts of us that constantly undermine our weight loss efforts. One is our dictator. The dictator take over when we decide to 'go on a diet'. He stands over us with clenched fist and monitors every morsel that goes into our mouth and every minute on the treadmill. For a while we are virtuous and follow the dictates of our inner dictator. We feel smug that at last we have summoned up the willpower to take the weight off. We know that this time we will succeed. Because the whole problem is that we were eating, too much fat or too many carbohydrates, or too much salt or the wrong food for our blood type. If we just follow the rules for the diet du jour we will be forever thin. Eventually however, something happens and we let our guard down. We get tired or sick or depressed or stressed and our 'wild child' takes over. We rebelliously scarf down everything in the kitchen. We tell ourselves, we deserve that pint of ice cream because we have been good for so long. And those potato chips will go stale if we dont eat the whole bag today.

Eventually we wake up from the binge, and the guilt sets in. What a hideous cycle to be caught in! I have been caught in it most of my life. Each time I loose weight, I regain MORE than I lost. Thus my weight had inched up to 190 lbs.

What to do, what to do? Joy of joys, there IS an answer. Here is a place to start. Lovingly talk to the dictator AND the wild child. They both are just trying to help. To the dictator: 'You are trying so hard to help me control my weight, and I appreciate it. We need to work together with Wild Child to accomplish our goals.' To the wild child: 'I know you are afraid that you will be hungry and that there is never going to be enough. I have treated you as if your needs dont matter. I have ignored you. Im going to take care of you. You are safe.'

From that vantage point, Im going to sit back and just observe the interplay between the two parts of me that have been at war. The observer in me is the real 'me' This is the me that I can access and enlist in ending the diet wars forever.

This is the beginning of finding thinner peace.