As a newly minted graduate of the Nutritional Therapy Association, I have a LOT to be thankful for! Of the many things I loved about my education as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, the friendships and connections I made in our Weekend Workshops are among the things I cherish most (and can't wait to continue with many of them as a Group Leader). One of my classmates, Stephanie, recommended "The End of Overeating" by David A. Kessler, MD. I have 2 other books in my queue that fellow students recommended. I'll get to them soon enough (and share what I'm learning from those too). So far, I've only read the foreword to "The End of Overeating" and have found some nuggets (of gold, not chicken :-) to share with you. The Foreword opens with:
"Among the many internal conflicts that plague us - the unwanted thoughts, the anxieties, the compulsions and impulses that too often seem beyond our power to quiet - the struggle over what we eat is, for millions of people, the most daunting." Since my eyes have been opened to the world of nutrition and health, I am daily shocked at what people put in their bodies. I think the majority of people could stand to be better educated about nutrition and about how our magnificent bodies work (and can work even better if given the right fuel). But many of us have fallen into bad habits and a lack of understanding. We are assisted in these habits everywhere we look and everywhere we go. It seems like half of all the ads and commercials sell us processed, packaged, chemical-laden food and the other half sells us drugs to fix what the processed, packaged, chemical-laden foods did to our bodies while we were busy trying to live our lives. Dr. Kessler shows that there is power when we are able to admit that many of us addicts to these "hyperstimulating" foods. In fact, he says, "the only surprise may be that some people have managed to resist." I am here to tell you that resistance can be learned! Check out my "About Me" blog post to hear my story.
And bless your little hearts if you've made it all the way to the end of this long post. If you made it here, please tell me in the comments what your "one weakness" is (a reference to one of my favorite tv shows, "Larkrise to Candleford"). I have two: birthday cake and cookies right out of the oven. And this is not to celebrate our weaknesses, but to understand what they are. When we can stare down our enemy and know it no longer has power over us, we have won! Look forward to hearing from you!