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  CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE DIETER’S SOUL

  CHICKEN SOUP

  FOR THE

  DIETER’S SOUL

  Inspiration and Humor to

  Get You Over the Hump

  Jack Canfield

  Mark Victor Hansen

  Theresa Peluso

  Health Communications, Inc.

  Deerfield Beach, Florida

  www.hcibooks.com

  www.chickensoup.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Chicken soup for the dieter’s soul : inspiration and humor to get you over the hump / [compiled by] Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Theresa Peluso.

  p. cm.

  eISBN-13: 978-0-7573-9890-2 (ebook) eISBN-10: 0-7573-9890-1 (ebook)

  1. Weight loss. 2. Weight loss—Anecdotes. I. Canfield, Jack, 1944- II. Hansen,

  Mark Victor. III. Peluso, Theresa.

  RM222.2.C478 2007

  613.2’5—dc22

  2006033439

  © 2006 John T. Canfield and Hansen and Hansen LLC

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher.

  HCI, its logos and marks are trademarks of Health Communications, Inc.

  Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

  3201 S.W. 15th Street

  Deerfield Beach, FL 33442–8190

  Cover design by Andrea Perrine Brower

  Inside book formatting by Theresa Peluso and Dawn Von Strolley Grove

  We dedicate this book to

  those who face the daily

  challenges of

  overweight and obesity.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  Share with Us

  1. MIND OVER MATTER

  My Weight-Loss Journey Julia Havey

  Phone Friend Peggy Frezon

  The Swimming Lesson Susan Farr-Fahncke

  Weighing Heavily on His Mind Kathe M. Campbell

  Diner’s Club Tricia Finch

  Sit-Ups Till Your Eyes Pop Out Samantha Hoffman

  Chocolate Is Not the Enemy Jan Henrikson

  A Can of Peas and a Jog Around the Block Lori Hein

  Take Two Karen A. Bakhazi

  POACHED EGGS AU GRATIN

  You Choose, You Lose B. J. Taylor

  Whatever I Want Perry P. Perkins

  Finally, Success—A New Me! Sandra L. Tatara

  The Mirror Doesn’t Lie Candy Killion

  RICOTTA-STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

  The Thighs Have It Deborah H. Shouse

  Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

  Where Money Meets Resolutions Harriet Cooper

  2. EATING WELL AND STAYING FIT

  No Pizza? No Problem! Aly Walansky

  Morning Walk Deborah P. Kolodji

  Gone to the Dogs Greg Faherty

  Skinny Munchies Sally Clark

  AMAZING APPLE VINAIGRETTE.

  Trading Fat Cells for Barbells Suzan Davis

  The Exchange Rate Harriet Cooper

  Facing the Lady in the Mirror Barbara A. Croce

  GREEK RICE

  A Diet for Life—Literally Jessica Blaire

  A Skinny By-Product Ed VanDeMark

  My Own Way Colleen Kappeler

  Weight-Loss Wisdom from a Toddler Tricia Finch

  10 Tricks to Help You Stay on Your Diet Felice Prager

  RASPBERRIES &CREAM SOY SMOOTHIE

  3. NO PAIN . . . NO GAIN

  Slow and Steady Ken Shane

  Thin! Nine Years . . . and Counting! Linda Sago

  Peel-a-Pound Soup Gary Luerding

  ANYTIME SOUP

  Running from a Diabetic Coma to the Marine Corps Marathon Guy Burdick

  What’s the Point? Ken Swarner

  The Road to Self-Worth Jacquelyn B. Fletcher

  SESAME CRUSTED CHICKEN WITH DIPPING SAUCE

  Stop Dieting, Start Living Michelle May, M.D.

  One Newspaper at a Time Michelle McLean

  Joint Effort Debra Weaver

  Dieter’s Block Terry A. Lilley

  Jiggles Edwina L. Kaikai

  The Exercise Bike Ann Morrow

  4. INSIGHTS AND REVELATIONS

  Weight in the Balance Laura Schroll

  Just Listen to Mom James Hammill

  Spaghetti Head Jean Stewart

  Half My Size Suzanne Baginskie

  BROILED ZUCCHINI AND FETA BOATS

  The Secret Marilyn Eudaly

  Seeing Double Selena Hayes

  Drinking Herself Fat Jennie Ivey

  The Un-Diet Susan A. Karas

  It Takes Community Pamela Wertz Peterson

  NUTTY CARROT RAISIN BREAD

  In for a Penny, In for a Pound Ava Pennington

  The First Day of the Best of My Life Charmi Schroeder

  5. THE NEW YOU

  Fabulously Fighting Fit at Fifty (and Beyond) Janet Marianne Jackson

  A Second Chance at Life Nancy Julien Kopp

  OVEN-STEAMED ASIAN-STYLE FISH

  A Soul-Searching, Pound-Shedding Vacation Jessica Blaire

  7 Hints for Navigating Your Local Supermarket Tricia Finch

  Monday Morning Blues Georgia A. Hubley

  ROASTED SUMMER SQUASH COMBO

  My Last Twenty Pounds Kate Baggott

  Setting Goals and Reaping Rewards Felice Prager

  No More Pancakes on ThisWoman’s Shopping List! Roberta Beach Jacobson

  Beating the Genes Lisa Pemberton

  The Bargain Delores Christian Liesner

  Stroke of Inspiration Charmi Schroeder

  Couch Meets Table Harriet Cooper

  Worship Walk Jaye Lewis

  More Chicken Soup?

  The Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) Program

  Who Is Jack Canfield?

  Who Is Mark Victor Hansen?

  Who Is Theresa Peluso?

  Contributors

  Permissions

  Resources

  Acknowledgments

  Compiling, editing and publishing a book requires the energy and expertise of many people, but it begins with the support of our families, who are a perpetual source of joy and love. Thank you, Inga, Christopher, Travis, Riley, Oran, Kyle, Patty, Elisabeth, Melanie and Brian.

  Behind the scenes there are dozens of talented, enthusiastic staff members, freelancers and interns who keep the wheels turning smoothly at Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises, Self-Esteem Seminars, Mark Victor Hansen and Associates, and Health Communications, Inc.

  The vision and commitment of our publisher, Peter Vegso, brings Chicken Soup for the Soul to the world.

  Patty Aubery and Russ Kalmaski share this journey with love, laughter and endless creativity.

  Patty Hansen has handled the legal and licensing aspects of each book thoroughly and competently, and Laurie Hartman has been a precious guardian of the Chicken Soup brand.

  Barbara LoMonaco and D’ette Corona bring their endless cooperation and incredible coordination and organization of a million details to the table, time and again.

  Veronica Romero, Teresa Esparza, Robin Yerian, Jesse Ianniello, Lauren Edelstein, Jody Emme, Debbie Lefever, Michelle Adams, Dee Dee Romanello, Shanna Vieyra, Lisa Williams, Gina Romanello, Brittany Shaw, Noelle Champagne, Tanya Jones and Mary McKay support Jack’s and Mark’s businesses with skill and love.

  Allison Janse, our editor at Health Communications, Inc., makes every book a joy to work on through her sense of humor and her extraordinary gift with words. The incredible creati
ve team at Health Communications— Larissa Hise-Henoch, Lawna Patterson Oldfield, Andrea Perrine Brower, Anthony Clausi, Dawn Von Strolley Grove, Bernie Herschbein and Peter Quintal—combine their gifts to make each book special.

  Thank you to everyone at Health Communications, from the production team to sales, marketing, public relations and fulfillment, who get all of our books into readers’ hands, copy after copy,with exacting standards and professionalism.

  Readers around the world enjoy Chicken Soup more than thirty-six languages because of the effort of Claude Choquette and Luc Jutras at Montreal Contacts.

  And our thanks and appreciation go out to Michelle Abramovitz, Jennifer Campbell, Katy McManus, Darcy Newman,Marsha and Stephan Oldfield, Victoria Patterson, Leslie Steinberner, Kim Howe, Kenneth Thompson, Andre Villanouff, and Suzanne Weaver for helping us select the best stories by generously giving their time and sharing their feedback.

  To everyone who submitted a story, we deeply appreciate your letting us into your lives and sharing your experiences with us. For those whose stories were not chosen for publication, we hope the stories you are about to enjoy convey what was in your heart and in some way also tell your stories.

  And last, but certainly not least, to our readers. You are the reason we strive for the best and continue to bring you the magic of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

  Introduction

  I have to confess, I’m not a dieter. I’m one of the lucky ones who got to eat anything she wanted and be relatively inactive all of my life—until I found myself a few years away from celebrating the big “50,” weighing in at thirty pounds heavier and buying my third new size in jeans since my salad days. I had no stamina, energy, muscle tone or strength. My asthma and my immune system seemed to be in overdrive, making me highly reactive and allergic to dozens of things around me. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to count points or calories, analyze food labels, or deny myself my comfort food.

  Something had to change. For me the turning point was 9/11. After seeing so many lives senselessly wasted, I wanted to be healthy and strong—to not take the gift of life and a healthy body for granted any longer. I embraced exercise and made a commitment to eating healthier. So, although I don’t consider myself a dieting veteran, I have made the journey to reclaim my health and vitality, which is what dieting is all about—or should be.

  Working on this book has been an enlightening experience. Certainly, I’d heard all the news—we’re fatter than ever and our children are destined for lives filled with heart disease and diabetes unless we make some major changes in our lifestyles. I knew from other work I’ve done that we are a culture obsessed with unattainable standards of beauty and body image issues, whether real or perceived. But I had no idea how many people suffered lifelong with their weight, dieting repeatedly, hoping for the fix (it’s never quick) to be permanent (it’s usually temporary.)

  I sifted through hundreds of stories, and a pattern emerged. The success stories were those in which people realized their attitude had to change on a deeper level to create permanent change in their daily lives. Millions succeed to some degree or other with the popular programs and supplements that fuel a multi-billion-dollar dieting industry. But universally, more important than which program or plan dieters followed was the fact that they had finally reconciled their hearts and minds to changing their relationship to food. Success began when they chose to eat to live, not live to eat.

  The "simple" truth is that we must eat a diet of nutrient-rich, balanced food groups, in smaller portions, more frequently, and we must get daily exercise. It takes effort, as you’ll see from Guy Burdick’s piece, “Running from a Diabetic Coma to the Marine Corps Marathon,” but it can be fun, as Greg Faherty shows us in “Gone to the Dogs.” Trying to go it alone can be a daunting prospect, so finding a partner or making it a family affair is a great way to stay on track. Tricia Finch learned some solid tips from her “trainer,” which she shares in “Weight-Loss Wisdom from a Toddler,” and Peggy Frezon dealt with her empty-nest syndrome and got some exercise at the same time in “Phone Friend.”

  Why we eat seems to be as important as what we eat, and we have several pieces that get to the core of the issue of emotional eating. Jacquelyn B. Fletcher shares her experiences with food and feelings in “The Road to Self-Worth,” while Georgia A. Hubley’s transformation described in “MondayMorning Blues” is a blueprint for dieting success.

  For some, our early environment or our genes stack the odds against us. When all else fails, surgery is a viable option. Marilyn Eudaly describes how she chose gastric bypass in “The Secret.” In “Whatever I Want,” Perry P. Perkins tells us how growing up in poverty dictated his relationship with food. Anyone considering bariatric surgery needs to read Perry’s story.

  Exercise is the second, but equally essential, part of the weight management equation. Harriet Cooper met the challenge head-on and shares her insight in three pieces, “Where Money Meets Resolutions,” “The Exchange Rate” and “Couch Meets Table.” You may see a glimpse of yourself and have a good laugh when you read “The Exercise Bike” from Ann Morrow. And Charmi Schroeder, one of the former “stars” of a Richard Simmons’s Sweatin’ to the Oldies video, returns for an encore in an inspiring piece, “Stroke of Inspiration.”

  Throughout Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul you’ll find delicious recipes anyone can enjoy, taken from cookbooks authored by two physicians with a special interest in diet and health. Diana Schwarzbein, a California endocrinologist and internist, developed The Schwarzbein Principle in the early 1990s and has since helped thousands of type 2 diabetics and insulin-resistant clients reclaim their health and take control of their well-being. Andrew Larson, a specialist in bariatric surgery, teamed up with his wife, Ivy Ingram Larson, a fitness and nutrition expert, to create a diet and exercise program after Ivy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her twenties. The Gold Coast Cure is a life-saving program for anyone living with autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. In addition to stories, we’ve included a resource section to help you maximize the effectiveness of your weight-management program.

  Although dieting is a solitary, personal process, we offer you Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul as a source of companionship, motivation, insight and inspiration, empathy and encouragement. And we wish you—no matter what the number on that scale may be—a healthy, strong and vibrant life, lived to the fullest.

  Theresa Peluso

  Share with Us

  We would love to hear your reactions to the stories in this book. Please let us know what your favorite stories were and how they affected you.

  We also invite you to send us stories you would like to see published in future editions of Chicken Soup for the Soul. You can send us either stories you have written or stories written by others. Please send submissions to:

  Chicken Soup for the Soul

  P.O. Box 30880

  Santa Barbara, CA 93130

  Fax: 805-563-2945

  You can also access e-mail or find a current list of planned books at the Chicken Soup for the Soul website at www.chickensoup.com.

  We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed compiling, editing and writing it.

  1

  MIND OVER

  MATTER

  This life is yours: Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.

  Susan Polis Schutz

  My Weight-Loss Journey

  When we move out of the familiar here and now, we set in motion a series of events that, taken together, bring about changes at the very root of our being.

  Joseph Dispenza

  There was a time in my life when everything was completely out of control. I was considered “morbidly obese” at 290 pounds, my marriage was horrible and I was a die
t junkie but still gaining weight on every fad that I tried. Looking back, it is still difficult for me to pinpoint how I got myself into such a rut, but it is quite easy for me to explain how I broke the cycle that kept me in the downward spiral that had become my life.

  At thirty years old, I felt way too young to be my mother, yet there I was, weighing 290 pounds, unhappy all the time, in debt, lonely and eating for comfort. I so desperately wanted my life to improve and laid my hopes on the belief that once I lost weight, everything would! In an attempt to solve all of my problems, I went on every popular diet that I heard about—from the cabbage soup diet to the lesser-known “cantaloupe, tuna and Diet Pepsi diet.” Each diet left me overweight and disillusioned —certainly not the outcome I desired. I resigned myself to the fact that I was destined to be fat, lacked any willpower and would likely fail at any diet that I ever tried.

  One day in 1994, while opening the mail, I came upon an envelope without a return address. I opened it, read it and discovered that my husband was having an affair. It was like being punched in the stomach, but the pain didn’t go away. An argument ensued and I rushed out the door, needing to get away—you know, to get something to eat.

  I headed to the closest gas station to buy a candy bar and there he was—the man who would facilitate my change in destiny! As I got out of my car, I gave my sweatshirt the obligatory tug, pulling it down so that it covered my butt and thus hid my fat from the world—or so I thought. As I walked toward the attendant’s window to get my food fix, this man leaning on the side of the building, drinking something out of a tattered brown paper bag and wearing clothing stained with soot and grime, loudly observed, “Girl, you got too much food in you!” Not just a quiet observation, mind you, but very loud and heckling. Repeatedly and more loudly my tormentor kept up his chanting. Everyone, even the attendant behind the bulletproof glass window, was laughing—laughing at my fat and me. I took my candy bar and quickly retreated to my car as he got one last comment in: “Damn, girl!” I was beyond humiliated.

  Enough was enough. “Too much food in me!” I’ll show him, I thought as I sped off; giving him a parting gesture as I spun my wheels like a bat out of hell. I quickly opened up my Mounds bar and sought solace. Strangely, comfort wasn’t to be found that night—not in the coconut and chocolate, not in the ice cream that I ate when I got home, and least of all, not when I took a good look in the mirror.