Quit
Day

Excerpt from 
EATING IN FREEDOM

It's going to be war. Time to rally courage. Why do you want to win? Is it important? Are you ready to pay the price of pain for freedom? Can you see the victory? Do you want it? If you are saying "yes" with burning desire, you are ready.

If you are not ready to quit, don't even try. Quitting for a few hours or days is only a tease. It intensifies the desire. Almost quitting reinforces the addiction and strengthens the attachment to food.

The only effective way of ending an addictive behavior is to stop it. Anything less will only increase the addiction, making it more deeply engraved. You have to win the first time you try. No half-hearted effort will do. Struggling and losing will painfully increase the power of the addiction. When we fail with quitting an addiction, we come face to face with our helplessness and loss of control of our life.

Bad Food Hit List
Write out a list of the foods which you eat the most and rate them one to ten, with ten being healthiest. The toxic, high-fat foods go at the bottom of the list. The nutritious foods that agree with you go at the top. Write a line beside each food describing its qualities and effect on your body. We have a tendency to forget the bad qualities and remember only the flavor. We might like the taste of beans but forget how much we hate the gas problem. We eat chocolate, then remember its effect when a mountainous pimple appears on our nose as a reminder.

Decide which foods are the worst offender to your health, and score it off the list. It may be potato chips or french fries. A few times each day, encourage yourself by saying, "I am french fry free." Take the time to feel good that you have removed that food from your diet. Remind yourself why you have crossed it off. We think of junk food and addictive drugs in the same way; we forget the harmful effects and remember only the good. By remembering the harmful qualities of that food, it keeps you focused on why you choose not to eat that food.

I was addicted to bread. I loved the smell of toast. Banana, honey and peanut butter made it complete. But bread causes an intense reaction. It made me sleepy and unfocused. For me, eating bread was like using a drug. Numerous friends would comment on my condition, only to raise an eyebrow when I said "I ate some bread." I would wake up with my skin and eyes puffy. I hated what it did to me but loved the taste. One day I woke up particularly out of it and my friend, noticing my state, jokingly called me, ‘bread man. That was it; the bread was in the garbage. It was war. This stuff is out of my life. It was the point of having enough, and the term ‘bread man engraved my mind with the image of a spaced out bread junkie.

That is how you must see yourself: in the worst light. Look at how bad your addiction really is. It is humiliating that you are stealing your dignity. Remember the worst experience of feeling stuffed and bloated with gas, suffering from greasy skin and heartburn. See addiction to food for the ugliness it is. It has to go. Addiction has mocked you for the last time. You are up for the fight. You will not lose. You have the tools, the desire and the knowledge. Goliath is about to face David!

Getting Started Check List

Buy nutritious food.

Know triggers and weaknesses and have a plan to deal with them.

Decide on an exercise program.

Write your reasons for quitting.

Take steps to make the first few days hassle-free.

Share your intention and ask for the support of a friend.

Have quiet times to strengthen your resolve.

Journal
By the time we graduate from high school, we will have learned and forgotten several million facts. Most facts were worthy of forgetting, but writing them down keeps the most important ones. In your journal write the lessons you have learned, the good that you do, the good that happens to you, insights, successes and mistakes. Consider each day, then review to see how you are doing. When you consider the day, encourage yourself with your successes and bring the mistakes into perspective.