I want to thank everyone who sent me encouragement and techniques for developing will power. You are all wonderful. I also want to report that my mental cravings subsided the very day after I wrote the article. Thoughts of food obsessed me until my body realized that I was giving it the nutrients it needed. Real hunger and my brain chemistry settled down to support me. Then all I had to do was control my habit of thinking about food.

It’s amazing how everything in my part of the world promotes food. It’s impossible to go anywhere without seeing a restaurant. I heard once that there are so many restaurants in the area that every single person in the local population could sit in a food establishment at the same time! Does anyone eat at home? And when we’re at home, there’s television. Oh, the food that happens on TV – there are people eating, people preparing, and people selling food of all manner, most of it unhealthy, but thought stimulating anyway. I’m sure many statisticians are being paid to compile the number of food-minutes we encounter in a day.

Well, I’m making progress with this health program. I’ve truly settled into few food thoughts. I plan my one meal a day with relish (no, not that kind of relish!) and I drink my protein shakes and I celebrate when I measure results. Eleven pounds and 15 inches, and I’m only 10 days into it! My biggest celebration is about my blood pressure, which was embarrassingly high and now has plunged to normal and stayed there.

What did I learn from all of this? First of all, I learned not to hide. My best friend was shocked that I hadn’t told him about my blood pressure creeping up. I was embarrassed to be caught not being perfect! I couldn’t hide my physical size but I did ignore it even as I worried inwardly that I was becoming unhealthy.

I also learned that I do have will power. I made it through that first day. That was a huge success for me. I’ve developed a healthy outlook when I think of food. Just today, my daughter mentioned getting an oat scone from my favorite bakery. When I heard that, I thought, “Hmm, those scones are really good but I don’t have to have one, at least not today.” It reminds me of window shopping – where we see things we appreciate but we know that we don’t have to own. It’s a lovely kind of freedom.

© 2008, Jacqueline Hale