Now Here Comes Thanksgiving: Enjoy Without Guilt
November 17

With Thanksgiving only a week away, now comes all the articles in magazines and newspapers about how to handle the Thanksgiving meal so you won't gain weight or destroy your diet. I'd like to add my two-cents worth. Here is my advice: Eat whatever you want Thanksgiving Day. Huge calories, high fat, lots of carbs. Enjoy. More

Hang with the Winners
November 7

As I pulled out onto the Atlanta Highway on Labor Day in 2002, I said out loud, "Do whatever they tell you to do, Ed." After two weeks of desperately trying to detox from more than two decades of daily alcohol drinking by myself, I'd given up and was on my way to the treatment center. I had a masters degree in psychology and a doctorate in counseling and I knew absolutely nothing about how to quit drinking alcohol. For the previous twenty years, I'd awakened each morning with a desire to stop drinking alcohol and every day when I arrived home from work I'd fill a glass with ice, vodka, and a splash of water and start again. Clearly, I had no idea how to stop drinking. The people at the treatment center were experts and I made a commitment as I drove there to get myself out of the way and follow their directions. Without question, that was the best set of directions I've ever given myself. More

The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Weight Loss
November 3

From what I've seen, most people who want to lose weight skip the necessary steps to be successful. Based on my experience, and on the experience of people who have been successful at losing weight and maintaining the loss, there are a few conditions that are necessary. They are also sufficient. Ninety-five percent of the people on the planet will lose weight and maintain the loss if these conditions are met in the order provided below. More

My Drinking Did No Harm
October 28

One of the things that helped me keep drinking alcoholically for more than twenty years was that I didn't think I was hurting anybody. I was aware that drinking a lot of alcohol caused physical problems, but for many, many years, the physical damage wasn't apparent. On rare occasions, I'd do some alcohol influenced thing that I regretted, but usually it involved me embarrassing myself rather than hurting someone else. I wasn't a mean drunk, at least to people. I did kill a baby swing in anger one time while drunk. During that act I also kicked an iron pole in our basement, severely bruising some toes. The baby swing never recovered. Fortunately, my toes did, but I never did such a thing again.

So, did my alcoholic drinking do no harm?. More