Last night I saw a documentary about the difficulty of losing weight. A skin surgeon who was slim was the documentaries compare. Researchers were able to demonstrate two main things. Firstly there are different reactions in the brain when overweight people are exposed to images of high fat, high sugar junk food than in the brains of people with healthy weight. It is just more appealing to them. The second thing was there are hormonal differences which produce differences in appetites. The overweight people as a result of these hormone differences never really feel full so they keep on eating. After surgery to essentially remove the stomach, the overweight people were able to achieve a feeling of fullness, stopped eating excessively and lost weight.

The conclusion was that people that are overweight aren’t responsible for their condition because it is dictated by hormones and brain patterns. Well guess what. Hormones and brain patterns can change without removing organs. We are the master of our ship and the captain of our destiny. We are not hopeless helpless victims of our hormones, brain patterns, or anything else people like to blame.

I’m not suggesting it’s not difficult. It is immensely difficult. But you can do it, and you can remain whole without having organs removed. Yes you can! But if you believe the conclusions of this type of research you are beaten before you start. Of course if you have developed strong habits over a lifetime they are hard to break and don’t change overnight.

A hairdresser once told me she had a client who was a General Medical Practitioner. This G.P. had worked overseas in undeveloped countries and assured her if she knew anyone who had trouble losing weight she would take them on one of her overseas trips to Rwanda and would guarantee to solve their weight problem. I have no doubt she is right. Dropping the refined carbohydrates is a great start, you can probably avoid Rwanda.