Thinking about food...

I had a new patient start the program who brought up an interesting point. Often, it is an erroneous impression for those who do not have weight problems that the overweight person "obssesses" about food or thinks about food constantly. Contrarily, the patient said that her problem is that she does not think about food at all...does not plan meals..does not think about caloric content, etc.

I was thinking about our 8000-plus patient experience and I really do think that rare is the patient who obssesses about food. The overwhelming majority of our patients do, of course, describe epsodes of cravings, but not constantly thinking about food at all. The main problem for most is not "strategizing" their food intake...allowing themselves to be distracted by personal and professional issues, thereby not prioritizing their food selections. When this happens, inevitably we find ourselves reaching for the quick and easy choices.

Successful long-term weight loss most definitely involves "thinking about food", and then planning ahead for the obstacles that confront us..whether it be a vacation, business trip, stressful work week, etc.