Dear everyone,

I would like to post about my experience with finding Your Last Diet! after a lifetime of battling eating disorders. I was bulimic in high school and alternated between bulimia and anorexia in my twenties. In my thirties I quit the most obvious disordered behaviors, but I continued to compulsively try 'most every diet known to humankind, always hoping that "this one" was the one that would solve my problems (make me feel good and energetic, be in perfect health, and, of course, achieve perfect thinness). This was as close as I came to "healing" for most of my life.

I was aware of Potatoes not Prozac when it burst onto the bestseller scene, but there was no way I was going to read a book that I thought would tell me to eat potatoes—I was convinced that such carbs should never cross my lips!

Finally, a few months ago, I read PnP, The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program, and Your Last Diet! ... with tears in my eyes. Feeling understood is a powerful thing, isn't it?

I began Step One. Of course I tried to advance too quickly, but I took Kathleen's advice to slow down and do the steps in order. I am now on Step Four. I know that may sound a little fast, but I think it is right for me, as I've always eaten a huge, early breakfast. I plan to stay on Step Four for some time.

I panicked when I gained weight in the first month, but now my weight has stabilized, and if my body wants it to go down over time, I think it will happen. More important, I now don't think that extra pudge around my middle is the source of all my problems and that my top priority in life should be to make it vanish. In fact, I'm no longer really sure that I'm overweight for my age. If the pudge eventually disappears, I will feel great. If it never disappears, I will feel great.

One of the beauties of this program is that I finally know what to eat and how much in order to have energy and smoother blood sugar levels. When I became aware of my disordered eating in the past, I thought the cure was to just start eating sensibly. Kind of like “Just Say No.” Never worked for me. Especially since I would not consider any plan successful unless one outcome was to become the weight I was at the age of fifteen.

My old self would have thought that writing down our food and feelings and eating a specific amount of protein was not truly being healthy. I now see how wrong I would have been. There's nothing like experiencing improving physical and mental health to change one’s thinking.

I’m glad I’m here and I’m glad you all are here.

Love, Jan K