Great article

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Fantastic article! Very true we have abundant whole foods. I Don't know why it's so hard to move away from the center grocery aisles? I am going to try to put into practice mindful eating TODAY! Thais for your post. Can you share a bit about your successful journey for the newbies here? Thanks again

Sure.... My journey has been just that, a journey, I did not arrive where I am over night and I am not done yet  I have written a blog post that talks a little about my battle with the scale and you or anyone else is welcome to read that here gracioushealth.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/a-word-about-weighin g-in/  but my story in a nutshell is this....

I have struggled with my weight since about 3rd grade, I was always teased growing up and felt like i was different, and I really didnt know why I was overweight and other kids wern't I just thought I was made differently, some people were fat some people were thin, some people were asian some people were white etc etc... I didn't feel like I ate enormous amounts of food or anything like that, and in reality looking back, I didn't, I was just eating (being fed) the wrong kinds of foods, everyday and pretty much whenever I wanted, I had no restriction on what I ate as a child if I wanted ice cream or candy or soda or pizza I pretty much was given what I wanted, if I was not a very active child (which I was always swimming or playing sports or climbing trees or something) i probably would have been much larger than I actually was. By the I was in 8th grade I weighed 208 lb's and by the time I graduated high school I weighed 280 lb's this was mainly because of eating the toxic standard american diet daily and not knowing any difference, I also believe genetics have a part to play in obesity but they are not fully to blame. I hid myself, I had self loathing, I was ashamed and I also liked to eat, fast food and sugary food all the time, also drank lots of soda. I dieted many many different times from the age of 9 years old on up, but I never understood the concept of healthy living until I got to my late 20's I had an idea but  for a while took on the standard american dieters approach and bought all of my products labled "fat free" "sugar free" "low calorie" etc...   still toxic food as far as i'm concerned (part of my journey was learning this). I had dieted my way all the way to 322 lb's at the age of 29 and then I finally threw in the towel and decided that WLS was the only "cure" and I was going forward with it. Maybe it was because I finally gave up on diets and because I was praying a lot for the answer but my dad called me one day and said I want you to read this book called "perfect weight america" that was around Christmas time of 2008 while I was already on a waiting list to get my WLS sugery of which I still had more than 6 months to wait for. The book was so eye opening for me, and I started on a new journey toward total health I started to eat clean food, whole food, natural food and I uped my exercise (I always exercised, even at over 300 lb's) I incorporated a program called isagenix that helped me to cleanse my body and release a lot of toxic fat, and little by little I have changed just about everything in regards to the way I eat and exercise and how I think about food and feed my family, it has been a a total life change and I am a firm believer that there really is no other way or quick fix. It took (and still takes) a lot of spiritual and emotional work as well as the physical and mental work, I will say this though your mind is powerful and i am a firm believer that you lose weight in your mind first! i now have a love for eating and living naturally, there have been many bumps in the road, but it is all part of the journey, I have taken my love of natural health to the next level by enrolling in school to become certified as a holistic health coach and want to help others on in their journey to total health, that is my story in a nutshell, thanks for asking, sorry if I rambled too much

Very inspirational thanks for sharing. I don't believe there is a quick fix either. The surgery would only help the physical aspects not the psychological. The mind is powerful and so are our spirits. I wish more people were here working on the non surgical approach. I think I will look up that book you talked about. Thanks again.

Thanks! Yes I would recommend that book, it was the one that started it all for me, I have read many many great books since but it is a wonderful book to start with