The Beck Diet Solution

I was really excited to read this book, but it took me a while to get through it since, like most people with food/body issues, my interest in paying attention to diet advice waxes and wanes.  In general, I find Dr. Beck's advice to be reasonable and sound for anyone looking to live a non-disordered eating life, regardless of weight loss goals.  It's cognitive behavioral therapy: you need to be aware of every single thing you do in regards to eating in order to get yourself on the right path.  I.e. if you keep touching the hot stove and hurting yourself, you'll stop touching the hot stove.  If you keep eating M&Ms and realize they might have something to do with why you're carrying extra weight or feel sluggish, then you may stop eating M&Ms (or eat them less frequently).

Dr. Beck (Ph.D, not M.D.) is full of advice any road-worn dieter has seen, but she goes the extra step to explain why that behavior is advisable/inadvisable.  For example, she advises readers to sit when they eat - meaning no tasting while you cook or in a supermarket.  I find this to be a bit unreasonable since you should taste as you cook sometimes and sometimes you want to try something before you buy it.  Okay, so don't eat it if you have no intention of buying it; that's fair enough.

Some of her advice just won't work with weight loss surgery (wls) folks, though - like take sips of water after every few bites.  That totally goes against wls eating, but a smart wls reader will know which parts of Dr. Beck's advice to take and which don't apply. 

It all boils down to planning, which is a huge part of wls-life and something I am only now getting re-acquainted with.  I did well post-surgery because I had to.  If I didn't bring my own food, it was going to be hard to buy something that I could eat.  Now that I can eat much (much) more, planning requires even more conscious thought than it did before.  For a few weeks now, I've been planning out rough weekly lunch and dinner plans and taking the hubby to Whole Foods on Sundays to do the shopping for the week.  So far, it's working really, really splendidly.  Hubby needs to plan his meals a bit better at times (I see many, many Chipotle wrappers in the garbage), but all in all, he's doing okay, too.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to sit and think about how they eat.  It can be very empowering to have someone tell you (even if it's via the printed word) that it is okay to have whatever reasons you want for weight loss and that it's not abnormal to have to REALLY think about every single thing you eat. 

It definitely made me feel less alone in my struggles, even if I sometimes wonder if having to think about every bite I take is worth it.