On top of the other excitement (cake!!!), today was a swimming day.  It was a great workout, I felt in good form and my lap times were the best ever.  OK, towards the end of the workout the times dropped off a bit, but it was all acceptable.  So I felt fully justified in eating my entire controlled allowance today.  I hope this means my body is all better, after two whole weeks of intestinal unhappiness.  Or at least I am getting there.  

I had a very nice birthday.  No deep thoughts for today.  I do have some ideas for next time.  I have been hitting hard on the theme that weight control is the only fruitful goal, which comes in two parts: monitor the weight and regulate the food intake.  But I haven’t talked much about another important aspect of keeping on top of your diet: negotiation and persuasion.  It brings up an challenging set of questions:

• “Who are you, who are you persuading, and who are you negotiating with?”

I will talk about those later.  Some easier questions are: what are you persuading someone to do, and what leverage are you using to negotiate with?  That’s easy, because you are persuading someone to keep their mind on their new values when considering food.  You are persuading someone to pay attention and make sure their old thinking doesn’t come out again.  As for negotiation, you are using carrots, as in the carrot and stick approach.  By careful use of rewards, you are getting everyone in the negotiation pulling together in service of your new goals and aims.  I’ll talk more about who, next time.  Happy birthdays all!  

-The Doctor