Sisyphus -- tell me it ain't futile

Well okay, so there's this increasing sense of futility as the "rock" rolls back once more, putting me in the same place. 

But am I doomed?  Are most people doomed when it comes to their self-defeating choices? 

What if virtually all of what we think of as "happiness" is tied to our energy, life force, and sense of optimism for what's to come?

Isn't that mostly tied to our health?  And isn't our health linked to our choices?  And aren't many of our "choices" tied to instincts that are hard-wired?  So... is our "lizard brain" in control?  How can we override that strong force and gain the upper hand?

I am going to look at this some more...  I've been reading The End of Overeating and The Full Plate Diet, which has already given me some good tools.  I know it's mostly a case of cognitive re-wiring, rather than something simple like my lack of willpower.  I'm about to get the i diet to train myself to crave salads, and I'm going to listen to my audio book The Beck diet solution, to train my brain to think like a thin person.  (That's a little frustrating for me, because I used to think like a thin person, back when I was thin!   Huh. Weird. What happened?)

Alright, I'm not the only one this happened to.  I am not alone. That should provide some comfort.  I have gone to support meetings (WW, mostly), but they can only take me so far.  Knowing others have the same issues just makes me want to "solve" this even more, for the happiness of all humanity!

Ahhh... if the very act of acquiring a book could solve such problems!

Well, it's a new day, and new books are on their way.  Here I go again... urg... grunt, grunt...

Keeping track

For successful weight loss, I've learned it's critically important to have an awareness of what I'm doing each day.  Otherwise, I kind of get lost and return to my former bad habits.  The times I've lost weight most successfully were when I kept track of what I ate.  There are lots of food diaries and trackers available these days.  I'm a Lifetime Member* of Weight Watchers (WW) and I've gotten used to its etools, so that's where I do my tracking.  It's a program that's worked for me, both in terms of flexibility and usability.  Its online food tracker and recipe builder are well-designed.

Here are a few other great options I've found:

Changing my relationship with food

I love pizza.  I'd marry it if I could.  Seriously, pizza's one of my greatest temptations.  It's also really unhealthy, and that really bums me out.  Portion control?  Come on.  Just one slice?!

The first resolution on my New Year's list is to change my relationship with food.  I have to.  It's arguably the single most important thing I can do.  It's also one of the most confoundingly difficult things to start and then sustain.

When I first set out to select some of the links in the right column, under "thought for food," I planned to feature some of my favorite books on nutritious, healthy eating.  I also wanted to include a newsletter I love, one my nutrition teacher (now friend) turned me on to.  It's called Nutrition Action Health Letter, published by Center for Science in the Public Interest.  I always learn a lot about nutrition, healthy choices, and processed foods from it.  There's not a single ad in it, either.  Then I remembered how much I love reading what Michael Pollan has to say, so I wanted to include links to some of his writings.  Before long, I got really worked up and decided that it's not enough to change my personal relationship with food.  It's bigger than that.