i was watching a TLC program called "Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic", and was saddened by the images i saw. this is a place where morbidly obese people can go for help...physically and mentally. i commend all of the staff there, and they are treating it like a disease, which i totally agree with. Although there are patients there who "cheat" in this no fail environment. they will order in food from other places...not go to their physical therapy..and so on. i totally understand there "inability" to control their eating .... OR do i. there are many times that i make the right choices and do not eat what i shouldn't....and then, there are times that i do. *sigh* BUT i do not think that my food addiction is so severe that i would do this in this facility. i don't think we give ourselves enough credit.... if i walk into my pantry, i see chips, bread, snack cakes, cookies, etc. and i haven't eaten any of them in over a month. i am very proud of that! i even made my dh's fav meal today, gumbo. and for those of you know it is full of carbs....and i did not eat that. we are all on this forum because we want to live a fullfilling life, and stop this addiction to food. i know it has a lot to do with the mental aspect of dieting and i will cross that hurdle as it comes, but for now, i am happy that my addiction is "in control". i feel good about myself! and i know i will never give up.

so my point is, lets give ourselves some credit here...... we are losing weight on our OWN, in our everyday lives ! and that is something that should be celebrated ! thank you all for being here....and coming back here when we fail! pat yourselves on your back...you deserve it ! you are making the first step in saving your life !

hugs to all

I don't think I would cheat while IN a facility either. And though I've only 1 week under my belt, I resisted the family's trip for ice cream cones last week and while hubby didnt get one either (to support me) my kids did, and I was fine. In fact, I felt stronger for it!
Susan

I watched that to my control is OK till I go to my moms and for some reason I loose it fast when it comes to her cooking.

I have watched several programs that highlight Brookhaven Obesity Clinic and I really have to give kudos to that clinic. First, I really like that they treat their patients there as adults that are responsible for themselves and they give them choices and make sure that they are a partner in their program. I have noticed that when watching these programs that they do not dictate a program to the patients but rather offer them choices and then allow the patients to follow or not follow the program. By the way, if you see the food choices they give the patients, it's LC!!! They just don't say it on the program. However, it's obvious when you see the food given.

When I first watched this, I was bothered because I thought it should be treated kind of like a rehab clinic. I thought they should be "detoxed" and not be given any foods that would continue the addiction. However, I, like SO many other people do was equating fat with an inability to act like an adult and make decisions for oneself. I should be ashamed of myself for this!! I don't have pity for the patients in this clinic, I have EMPATHY for the patients in this clinic. While this may not seem to be a large difference, there IS a difference, and here in TDC, I think you may be the ONLY people who would understand the difference.

I commend the Brookhaven Obesity Clinic and I wish all of their patients my absolute heartfelt best in their journey. I am not sure if their approach is the absolute best but then again, who am I to say what is best and what is not?? However, I was impressed that they treated their patients with respect, which is SO lacking in this society towards the obese. After all, just because you are obese doesn't mean that you have lost the status as a human being!!!

Are you sure? I got the impression that its a pretty standard low fat diet, which has bothered me. I always feel that it would be much easier for the patients to get off the addiction rollercoaster if they were eating low carb with more fat calories.

I've been making myself watch it. 2 of the people they've highlighted have been at or below the weight I was when I started low carbing.

Very frightening.

See, I was watching it and I think the voice over says low fat but when I actually looked at the food on the plates, it looked pretty darn LC. For example, they served a large chef salad for lunch to one patient. It was loaded down with various meats, about 6-7 eggs, and creamy dressing. That CAN'T be what it considered traditional low-fat. So perhaps they offer various plans?? I don't know. But when I looked at the food on the plates, it did not mesh with the voice over. That's what I meant by saying the food looked LC.

I haven't seen this porgram and am going to look for it now....Thanks!!

My food addiciton is centered around my compulsive need to overeat when I am emotionally upset.....I say is and not was... as it will always be there for me to be aware and alert to.

I had always been a volumn eater and when I hit age 38-40...life as I knew it had ended and I did not cope well at all. I ate...and ate and ate....all refined carbs and before I knew it, I had gained 100 lbs.

It was a horror show for me and I spent the next 15 yrs of my life trying desperately to get it off...only ever getting rid of 50 lbs then gaining it back.

It was not until I put myself into the hands of a 12 step program, OA...that I began to understand what had happened to me. I honestly had not see it as a symptom of my overall depression about my life!!

IMO and IME...compulsive overeating is an eating disorder when you get into big numbers. I'm not referring to those with metabollic issues here so please don't get defensive on this. I am a compulsive overeater....its how I deal with upset and stress. I've learned to watch for signals and try my best to stay on top of them. I did have to get to the root of my issues and find a peace there....I had to get to why I felt so bad about myself before I could get a handle on my emotional overeating.

I feel that any clinic that deals with the moribidly obese should be focusing on this apsect of their eating also...not just the physical.

I look forward to watching this program!! Thanks for posting about it!!

Great post.

Yes, you could lock them up and only give them rations of low-carb food and take away their last shred of control... what goes in their mouth. It would "work" but they wouldn't be learning anything or affecting permanent change, IMO. The episode I watched most recently showed how the center tries to help the patient educate the entire family, since no matter how well you do or whether or not you adhere to the program in the center, you have to go home at some point!

I'd love to still be so flush with success that I could know for certain I would never end up like that, and certainly that if I did, I would never "cheat". I can say I feel more responsible for my choices now that I know better, and be thankful I'm in a better place... but I know through harsh experience that smugly saying "never" is a dangerous thing.

I saw a LOT of bread being eaten and bought. I wanted to yell... NO NO poison!!! so much easier when you're not hungry!!!!

Judy...I watch the show and they absolutely do deal with the emotional side of eating. Each patient there has access to a therapist. They do group sessions as well as individual sessions. However, as with everything else at Brookhaven, they are given the power to decide whether they go or not.

Thanks Charran!! Thats good to know that it is, at the very least, offered.

The next and last time it will be on is 6/25 at 10 pm. I will be watching.

Hmm..i'd like to see this show. I personally have a problem calling obesity a disease. I do think that it is the result of poor management of other conditions (being diabetes, depression..you name it). As a nurse i take care of large people and i take care of small people and i take care of those who are in between. In my experience...both personally and professionally....i truly believe that a desire to be healthy is necessary when it comes to losing weight. True, that if you have depression or some other underlying mental health concern...that your willpower may not be such that you can control your eating on your own...but i do not agree with the fact that some people just can't control what tey put in their mouth. Truly it takes determination and willpower, along with a desire to change. Those things are tough to get, and even harder to retain once you have them. I know that there are days where i could sit and eat an entire donuts, however if i Choose to take a step back (literally) from the food and ask myself "do i really want this"?...the answer is usually no....and i choose not to eat it...but if i dont take that time out, and i just pop it in my outh.....it's noones fault but my own for not learning to manage my being fat. I truly hope that i don't offend anyone....i guess i just have a hard time seeing obesity listed as a disease...instead of a resolvable state of health.

Samantha- I'm actually happy for you that it's so far out of your reach to imagine the loss of control that comes from addiction.

Anyone who's lived it or dealt with it up close has either heard or even said those words hundreds of times. "Why don' you just STOP doing that?" and the answer would be "I don't KNOW!"

It takes a LOT of work and help to get to the point where you can "just" control what goes in your mouth.

AMEN! and well said.

For the most part I agree. BUt when they allowed people to bring in pizza and other foods those smells would trigger my addiction cravings and I think that I'd give in from time to time. I was glad when they quit letting them order the food in because if someone came into my room asking if I wanted to 'place an order' and I knew that I'd have to struggle with the food aromas for an hour or more it would be hard to say no. However, put me in that same situation when I'm stressed out and I can see myself giving in and saying 'yes'...and then being really pissed at myself, which adds a whole new set of problems to the mix. For me it would turn my place of healing into a place of h*ll.
I understand that food is all around us and we have to learn to make decisions but if they were going to keep the order in (cheat) policy they need to isolate those pts so they don't harm the other pts who like me have cravings that are triggered by specific food smells. I still can't handle anyone eating pizza around me, pizza commercials (getting better about the visual of pizza!) I don't go to places that serve it and I don't let dh bring it into the house. I look forward to the day that I can handle it, but until then this is the best that I can do. If I was paying all that money in Brookhaven Obesity Clinic I would be raising all sorts of h*ll if my room was near the front door or one of the cheaters and I was forced to endure that. To me, my carb/sugar addiction is no different than any other addiction except that I have to learn eat carbs that don't trigger the crazy cravings.

"obesity" is not a disease and neither is "alcohol", but food addiction and alcoholism ARE. i for one find myself sometimes "unable" to stop myself....and i don't know why. we all have choices to make...whether they are positive or negative is up to the person. and i have to agree with Potato, when she said saying "never" can be dangerous....because i look at those people and say "not me, never"...but i also did that when i was 200 lbs and ballooned up to 280 at one point. it CAN happen ....

thank you all for such a great discussion.