Our Healthier Size Support Group

In order to give credit to where credit is due, I shall prove a point made in a book by Brian Wansink, PH.D. called, Mindless Eating.  The cup at the right, which is an exact cup from Sweden, purchased from the Nordic Nook in Stoughton, Wisconsin, contained the tea presented on the left.  The tea was poured out exactly from the cup, with no cheating.  The author says there are "Hidden Persuaders" (a book by Vance Packard in the 60's, regarding advertising gimmicks) in the way food is presented to us.  So if you want to fool yourself that you're drinking more now and enjoying it more, do this.  If you don't believe me, try this yourself.

The reverse kinds of illusions can be applied to changing large supper dishes to smaller lunch or salad plates, or even kids' plates for adults, large bowls can be changed to smaller bowls, too. The amount of food appears larger on or in smaller containers.

     Marianne Williamson, in her book, Course in Weight Loss, takes the reverse illusions in plates a step further.  She recommends changing your plastic plateware to glass plateware, and using a cloth napkin.  I had already purchased smaller plates and bowls in colorful plastic, but decided to try the glass.  I didn't go so far as the cloth napkin in a holder, but I did have a different kind of feeling of treating myself to something special by regarding myself as a very important person,

who deserves elegance as part of her food plan.  The plastic is pictured on the left as a small bowl and kid's plate.  It's attractive enough.  The setting on the right is Corelle.  I don't want to waste the plastic, but Corelle is a good dinner setting.

The next thing to do is get organized, especially the Kitchen, as recommended in the book, Thin through the Power of Spirit, by Lucia Capodilupo.  The idea, in a nutshell, is that your home is a projection of yourself, your body.  So, with some guidance from a book on organizing, One Year to an Organized Life, by Regina Leeds,  I started organizing the kitchen. Instead of a cupboard, where you have to crawl on your hands and knees to determine what you have available, as well as up to date, you get trays from WalMart or your place of choice, put liner in them, toss the old stuff, and there you have it. Tossing the old stuff cleanses your soul and your formerly overstuffed body.

Most importantly, I recommend the following book.  It will change your perspective, and hopefully, change your life for the better.  The main premise is that your best dieting got you here, and it obviously, hasn't worked.  It's written by two authors, Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel, who specialize in eating disorders, and who tell us to get off the yo-yo dieting and get into "attunement" eating, 

                                         ..........as well as the following companion books.