Wednesday was one of those days that I could have eaten more calories than I probably do in a week. I woke up with an appetite fit for a king…a big king that is. And the fact that it rained, got colder out it gave me even more fuel to get into MINDLESS EATING, as I call it.

As a young girl that kind of eating got me in trouble and helped me to escalate my weight to over 300 pounds. The feeling was there and I wanted to eat all day. For me, and to all food addicts, that is the worst kind of eating. You eat and don’t even realize the damage you’re doing not only to your body but also to your mind. Many years ago I would eat till I could not breathe and hated myself afterwards.

Anyway, I knew I had a business date for lunch, but I kept thinking that’s 4 hours away! You know the damage a food addict can do in a short period of time - but this was 4 hours. ‘Debra you need to get real about this and deal with it’. This is what I told myself or I was not going make it till noon. But that urge to eat was there and it was strong. I could have stayed in my pajamas all day and you all know my feelings about sitting around all day in sweat clothes or pajamas. That is a recipe for a calorie buildup typhoon. But trying to divert myself was not helping and I had to admit that something emotional was going on in me.

So, I made a cup of tea, took a deep breath and sat down and began to write in my journal. As I did, I began to feel better. I began to think of my life years ago when I did not have any skills to mentally help myself and would have just abused myself and not taken action. I taught myself how to be more mindful about eating and the choices I make. For the food addict, mindful eating is one of the toughest but most important things to learn. You can do all of the dieting you want but if you do not deal with MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING the weight will not stay off. Does it work every time? Of course not. But most of the time it does and that is how to win the fight.

I made it through the rain as my man Barry Manilow sings about. I have learned that by harnessing the power of MY MIND I no longer have to surrender control and abuse my body. Using these skills has been my salvation for over 25 years. These skills (known as The Mazda Method) will be available as a 4-pack CD set in our online store in January 2008.

Debra