Lost and Found from Hell

We all know how it works. One day you go to concert. It was a great show and you are feeling wonderful as you head off for your car and then it hits you. “Oh crap, I left my jacket, my wallet, my purse, my bag my something in the auditorium.” So you race back and head for their lost and found and with a little luck and some prayer you might just recover whatever it is that you left behind. But sadly much of the time it is simply gone forever never to be found again, at least not by you.

But there is another version of this lost and found, one where virtually 100% of the time that which you lost can be all too quickly found again and again and again. That lost and found is weight.

Sure enough you lost that 30 pounds but it doesn’t take very long until you find each and every one of them and not unusually even a few more. Why? Why does this lost and found have to be so damn unrelenting? This is truly the lost and found from hell, but there is one critical explanation.

The problem comes from the manner in which those pounds are lost in the first place. Over the years there have been many “diets” that claim to help you lose that unwanted and potentially even deadly excess weight. Some of the more popular ones include the Adkins Diet, the Zone Diet, the Ketogenic Diet, the Vegetarian Diet, the Vegan Diet, the Weight Watchers Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Raw Food Diet and the Mediterranean Diet to name but a few of the most popular diets. They all claim they will help you lose weight and its true, you can absolutely lose weight with any of these “diets.” The problem is because of that evil lost and found department in our lives chances are you will soon find those pounds yet again.

Why is this so? The clear but frightening answer is simple. The diets do work insofar as losing weight is concerned but the long term solution is never a “diet” but rather a true and important change in lifestyle. The “Diet” will help take off some pounds but only a lifestyle change will keep it off. Anything less and you too will simply yoyo, thanks to that over active lost and found department in your body.

What you want, what you really need is the lost and never again found department and that occurs only through real lifestyle changes. And even then you must also add to your life a serious and real monitoring system so that a bump up of 5 pounds does not become the threshold to many more but rather a signal to get back on the right track right now.

In December of 2012 I literally dropped dead in my home. I was stricken with Congestive Heart Failure and at the time I weighed 315 pounds. After 26 days in the hospital I came away with a whole new perspective on life and a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes very common in obese people. But it wasn’t over yet.

Not long after that I was diagnosed with advanced stage prostate cancer requiring 42 radiation treatments. As all of this was playing out I thoroughly read a book given to me by my son Thomas. The book entitled:  Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabeteswas extremely motivational and informative. Although Dr Bernard is a devote Vegan and I never will be. His insight and wisdom is abundant and truly lifesaving. Now fully motivated I continued my research into just how powerful our dietary habits are to our overall health. Eventually I wrote my book Lose Live.

Lose Liveis a modest sized book, only 110 pages but extremely powerful pages. The journey for full recovery must always begin by owning the problem. I then go on to examine every important and relevant issue of understanding the huge importance of our weight on our overall health. Obesity, which is sadly rampant in our nation, is responsible for many potentially deadly diseases including heart disease and diabetes, both of which I once had. And while there is a fair amount of detailed information the key messages are: Own the problem; move more and eat less and substantially reduce your intake of sugar, salt and fat.

If you prefer a long and healthy life and just might be a wee bit over weight it is very well worth the modest cost of only $12.98, about what you might spend for a medium pizza. You can get the book — but not the pizza — here.

And sure, if you so desire you can try one or more of those wonderful “diets” but armed with the knowledge from this modest book what you can also do is avoid that horrible lost and found from hell.

Top photo by Tim Forkes