At our October Gastric Bypass Surgery Discussion Group, in preparation for the Holiday Mayhem and possibility for the loss of Mindfulness, I had the idea of asking the group to think, for one month, about the phrases and or statements that they use against food that we all know is bad for us and also for those who, while they may be loved ones, are sabotagers to our success track - as we ramp up to or stay the course following Gastric Bypass Surgery or the Lap-Band Procedure.

The list that I use is blunt, like me, to the point and leaves little to know discussion:

• "I don't eat [insert sugar laden, low protein, high carb food product here]!'
• "[insert sugar laden, low protein, high carb food product here] makes me very sick, really sick...deathly ill!"
• and this is basically enough for people who know me to stop pushing bad food on me.

Well, my long time friend, Meridyth, wrote a Dear John Letter to food and it is attached. She makes several valid points, some of which I have adopted in my own daily struggle to keep at my fighting weight and my preferred waist size.

Weight management is a day to day and sometimes minute to minute self imposed project. Meri sheds a glaring light on some bad bad bad prior behaviours and I'm Thankful, for her, this Thanksgiving, because she's added some more strength to my project goals!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!! AJ