The Stress Eating Cure: Lose Weight with the No-Willpower Solution to Stress-Hunger and Cravings

Rare Book

1

Confessions

Rachael's Confession :

The cravings were driving me crazy.

"I don't understand," I blurted out in frustration. "Why am I so hungry all of the time?"

It was the same question I had been repeating every day for months. I couldn't have expected my husband, Richard, to respond yet again, but when he didn't even look up from his work, I jumped at the chance for a showdown.

"Don't you even care?" I asked accusingly.

He looked up at me, his face expressionless.

"What?" I said, intent on provoking him. "Spit it out!"

As is his nature, he didn't rise to the bait.

"I was thinking," he answered with a quiet sadness.

"About what?" The nastiness in my voice had begun to fade, but only a little.

"I was just thinking that this should be the happiest time in our lives," he said simply.

Everything I had fought for, throughout my life, was about to slip through my fingers.

The great knot in my stomach loosened and gave way to sobs. It was true. This was the moment I had been working for all of my life. I had everything I had ever dreamed of and so much more. Still, I wasn't happy. Even worse, I was on the brink of losing it all.

I had conquered the carbohydrate addiction that had ruled the first 38 years of my life. Once I had uncovered the insulin imbalance that was the cause of my cravings and discovered a simple way to correct it, I had been able to lose nearly 200 £ds and, more important, keep the weight off without a struggle.

For the last 15 years, I had looked and felt like a naturally slim woman. I had come to assume that I would always wear a size 6 petite and the overpowering hunger that had ruled my life in the past would never return.

Now, suddenly, it was about to slip away. Though I had not gone off the eating program that kept my carbohydrate addiction in check, something in me was different. Terribly different.

An hour or two after I ate, I was back craving more.

No matter how much I ate, no meal seemed to satisfy me. I was eating twice as much as I had in the past. The more I ate, the more it seemed that I wanted. Delicious meals that used to bring me satisfaction seemed to hold me for only a short time. Desserts only whetted my appetite for more.

Had I allowed myself, I could have snacked from morning 'til night.

If I were to start bingeing again, I knew I'd never stop.

I was holding on to my self-control by a thread, and the thread was growing thinner and thinner. Though I looked the same to everyone else, I was one slip away from being more than 300 £ds again.

The terror in that thought brought my tears to a halt. I needed help. Real help. I needed my husband to really understand what was happening to me, how important it was, and how desperate I felt.

I forced myself to stay calm. Clearly, something was wrong with me. I suddenly heard the real meaning in my words. Though I'd been saying it all along, this time I really paid attention. My struggle was not simply the result of not trying hard enough or of not using enough willpower.

Something in my body was out of balance. The intense cravings; my powerful and recurring fantasies about food; my mood swings, foggy thinking, irritability, and anxiety; the feeling that I was not at peace in my mind or my body--all were coming from this imbalance, an imbalance that I knew had to have both a physical cause and a physical cure as well.

Richard's Confession:

I love Rachael more than anyone can imagine, but she was driving me crazy! As she continued her relentless complaints about her cravings and hunger, I felt myself turn off and close up.

The truth was that I wasn't having such an easy time myself. Her fears were making me wonder if we were both about to go down the tube just when life couldn't have been sweeter.

Oprah, Rosie, and People magazine! Who could ask for more?

We were about to appear on Oprah to talk about our highly successful treatment for carbohydrate addiction and our own personal successes as well. It was our third time back in 6 weeks, and once again, we were to be her exclusive guests. On Amazon.com, we held the top eight spots in the world, with more than five million of our books in print. We vacationed with Rosie O'Donnell, Demi Moore, and many other of this country's biggest celebrities, and People magazine was about to feature us in their upcoming issue. It felt as if there were no stopping us.

I was hoping Rachael's cravings would just disappear.I was not about to tell her that I was getting them, too.

The only thing that threatened to spoil it all was Rachael's continuing complaints--and the fear they stirred way down deep inside me. A fear I was fighting hard to deny.