If the current trend continues, by the year 2015, 75% of Americans will be morbidly obese. That means that in the very near future, there will be significantly more people extremely overweight than those who are not. Obesity and obesity-related medical conditions are on the rise and have reached epidemic proportions. What has happened? Why do we have such a problem?
Today, there are so many diet plans, diet pills and other quick fixes that a solution seems daunting and complicated. Yet even with all these “solutions”, obesity is still a problem that plagues so many of us. Why do so many of us struggle with it? Why has “losing weight” been on our goal list year after year after year? Why can’t we get a handle on this issue?
When it comes right down to it, most of us know what it takes to lose weight. The basics are easy: Eat less and move more. It sounds simple enough; so why isn’t it working? What are we missing? Why aren’t we getting this?
The problem is that we are missing an absolutely essential part of the equation. The missing piece is the emotional attachment we have created with food. This is often the most difficult part to deal with because the connection between our emotions and food may not be immediately clear. Some of us may not even feel that we have emotional issues to look for, but the simple truth is, food comforts us, tastes good and makes us feel too good. THAT is the real problem. If food didn’t fill a genuine need, we would be able to “eat less and move more” and be free of our weight problems.
Food is serving a great purpose for us. That’s why it’s so hard to permanently limit our intake and follow healthy guidelines. But here’s the good news, the news that brings freedom, the news that is the key to untangling the mess we’re in: Food by itself is not powerful; the power comes from the emotion we connect to it. This is essentially why we’re only successful on a new diet program for a few weeks or months. We can give up food for a temporary period, but we can’t do it for a long period of time until we take the power away from it and separate it from our emotions.
The key to tackling a weight problem once and for all is figuring out the relationship you have created between food and feelings. Why do you eat too much or too often? How does food make you feel? Why is it so satisfying? When you answer these questions you can determine what purpose food is serving and begin to break that dependency.
It sounds simpler than it is. It takes ambition and trust to start asking the questions and searching for the answer. You may even be surprised where that path takes you. In my own experience, I was amazed at the connections that were revealed when I simply asked the questions and pushed through my typical “I don’t know” answers. When I began realizing what was really going on, I could take the steps to handle the emotions in healthier ways.
What is going on with you? Are you willing to start asking the questions and dealing with the answers? Are you ready to take the power away from food and start developing healthy habits that will allow you to achieve your weight loss goals? Check out my website at www.deannaadler.com for my whole story and extra encouragement. Believe me, if this is something I can do, you can do it too. The only limit to what is possible is what you choose to believe.
